Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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Northern weekend

Last weekend I was priviledged to spend three lovely days far away from my normal city influenced life, along the shores of my favorite great lake.  Though rain had been forcasted we got lucky and enjoyed the sunshine for most of our hiking and kyacking adventures.  I haven’t had time to sort through all the photos yet, but here are a few.  It was a wonderful weekend with a good friend and I am grateful that I had the chance to wander “up north!”  (The best way to view these is to right click once on the first picture, then click on the ‘next.’  Several are vertical and the slideshow shows them all horizontal!)

The weekend was a wonderful treasured experience, and I thank my host for the lovely experiences, the comfortable bed, the wonderful food, and the warm cat.


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It happened

They warned us that we’d get a frost.  I didn’t want to believe it, and almost didn’t pick all the flowers in bloom out in the garden.  After all, it was barely October, I should have a few more weeks to enjoy the garden…right?  Well, it’s a good thing I cut everything:

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…because this morning we woke up to this:

Katie 1914

The frost was thick on the grass and the air was thick with fog.  Katie was curious and uncertain about the frosty grass, tentatively stepping on it, sniffing.  Then she got excited about trying to eat all the frost she could.  Silly girl.

I already miss summer.

Northport September 2009 004


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The last garden surprise this summer

After the groundhog ate my green bean plants,  the deer ate my swiss chard and beets, and my two tomato plants didn’t grow because it was so wet and cold I totally gave up on my little vegetable garden.  Didn’t go over there to look at it, figured I’d just plow it all under later this fall.  This afternoon I was walking Katie through the yard over on that side of the house.  I noticed a last bit of summer; can you see it?

vegetable garden 2009 028

This rose bush always blooms first in the spring, and it looks as if it’s the last one in bloom this fall.

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As I was examinging the rose bush I noticed my little weed filled vegetable garden.  And guess what I saw?

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Though the two tomato plants I planted never did anything, a couple of “volunteer”  tomatoes grew up within the structure I put out for my nonexistent green beans!  I hurried into the house to get a bag to pick the red tomatoes, as we’ll have a hard frost tonight!  And while I was there I even found two bean plants that survived.  And they each had a few delicious looking green beans!

So tonight I’m having the last bit of chard that the deer missed, a few green beans and a ripe tomato. Or two.  The sad little garden did it’s best to give me something here at the end of summer.  What a surprise!

vegetable garden 2009 027


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Books can spark memories from waaaaay back

A definite benefit of working in a library is watching books come and go.  Lots of times books coming in end up on my “to read” list.  Sometimes, though, I’ll see a book coming back over the counter that instantly puts me back in time.  Suddenly a faint memory will tug at the outer most reaches of my brain and I’ll recognize a favorite book from years ago.  Most of them have been picture books my folks read to us over and over.  For example, today I ran across Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey,  copyrighted originally in 1948, the story of a mom and her daughter Sal picking blueberries on one side of the mountain while a mama bear and her cub were enjoying blueberries on the other side of the mountain.  And then…jackpot!  Someone turned in the Complete Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Miline.  This book included two books I had as a kid and I’m pretty sure I still own; When We Were Very Young and Now We are Six.  I immediately looked for my favorite poem, “Halfway Down the Stairs.”  The book opened almost directly on that poem, must be it’s a favorite with youngsters even today.  Or maybe their parents and grandparents are reading it!  I’ll share it with you.

Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair

Where I sit

There isn’t any

Other stair

Quite like

It.

I’m not at the bottom,

I’m not at the top,

So this is the stair

Where

I always

Stop.

Halfway up the stairs

Isn’t up,

And isn’t down.

It isn’t in the nursery,

It isn’t in the town.

And all sorts of funny thoughts

Run round my head

It isn’t really

Anywhere!

It’s somewhere else

Instead!

This was my favorite poem, and I used to sit on a stair halfway up the stairs as a kid while I watched TV with the family, especially if we were watching something scary!

Today I think it describes me in other ways, working part time, halfway to a position as a librarian, still not quite there.  Makes you think what funny thoughts are swirling around my head in these halfway times.

Braun and Badger 017


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Irony

This morning as I make my way down the driveway to the mailbox I am struck by the irony of the two cards I am sending.  One is to my husband’s aunt who turns 94 this week.  The other is to a friend whose father died this week at a young 72.

I am slapped up the side of the head again with the fact that you just don’t know how long you get.  Walking back to the house I smile at the little sheltie girl waiting for me behind the glass door.  She’s happy Happy HAPPY for TODAY, right here, right now.  Not going to worry about tomorrow Mom, going to have fun RIGHT NOW!

Lucky dog.  Lucky me.

Katie 1847


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Pictures and such

pictures 001 This morning I was looking at the calendar, checking to see when I need to be at work today.  Katie was wandering around between my feet as usual, because…well…that’s what Katie does.  Absentmindedly I picked her up while I studied my work schedule for next week.  I shifted her in my arms and realized that she was staring intently at the picture attached to the calendar.  Because of course my calendar would feature shelties.  And she was very interested in the two representing September.  I know that on occasion she will notice a dog on TV, but I mostly thought that was about the sound.  But here she was very obviously studying the photo of two pretty shelties.   It’s a cool calendar.  A couple of months ago I thought the photo sort of looked like Ludo and Katie.  pictures 002

I’m going to go visit a friend next weekend, up on a Great Lake.  To get in the spirit (as if I needed to!) I’ve been painting a scene from my visit there last fall.

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And of course the neighbors are still getting their new roof.  Katie and I spend a lot of time watching.  Just to make sure everything gets done correctly, don’t you know.

Katie 1907


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This and that about a sheltie

Trees 1163We’ve had a series of really beautiful days, warm and sunny, makes a person (and a Sheltie) want to go camping again, even though all the camping equipment had been put away for the season.  So on a whim I put up the little tent because it’s easier than the larger one to assemble.  Of course this little tent doesn’t have a doggie window, and it’s too small to put my inflated mattress inside.  So I dragged out a bunch of pillows and a couple of blankets and we settled in.  The first night we made it until 6 a.m. when I woke up FREEZING cold.  The temp outside was just under 50 degrees.  I reached for my second blanket and found that it had been taken over by Katie who was curled up in a tiny little ball, her nose in her tail, sound asleep.  I tried to go back to sleep but I was too cold, so I woke her up and we went inside.  It was worth getting cold, though, because the stars at 6 a.m. were absolutely amazing.

The second night was forecast to be even colder.  It was already only 50 degrees at 11:30 when I was heading to bed.  I decided not to sleep in the tent, opting for heat and comfort instead.  I asked Katie as I turned off the TV if she was ready to go to bed, then I headed into the bathroom to brush my teeth.  When I came back out she was standing at attention at the back door, figuring we were going camping again.  I laughed and said OK, and we grabbed MORE blankets and settled in, me with four blankets and her with her own pillow and blanket.  We only made it to 1 a.m… she heard something and that was the end of camping out.  She barked and crawled on top of me and kept whining.  So we gave it up.  That might be all the camping for us for the summer.  We’ll see.

Trees 1177

Yesterday the neighbor across the street was getting a new roof.  We were alerted to that fact by our Sheltie alarm dog.  They had a truck in their driveway, lifting the new shingles up onto the roof, and she WANTED US TO KNOW ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW!  She and I sat out in our front yard for quite awhile, watching all the work going on over there.

And tonight I spent four hours watching an obedience trial where a few people I know were showing their talented dogs.  I’ve always watched video of excellent dogs and thought that Katie wasn’t ready for trials, but tonight, though I did watch a lot of really great dogs, I saw several in novice and even higher levels that weren’t any better than Katie.  I kept saying, “Well, KATIE could do that!” as I watched.  It inspired me enough to come home and do a heeling pattern with her around the living room sofa!

When I walked in the door tonight she was all over me.  Sniffing all those other dogs, she’s pretty sure I cheated on her.  Silly girl, I’d never do that!

Katie 1890