Wind in the Gum Trees...

 With red Camellia Roger Hall and blue forget-me-nots.
Pond Cottage in the Trees

Humph. Make that a noisy, roaring humph. Like the gale force winds which woke me up at 4am in the cottage, roaring through the gum trees above. Too noisy, too scary. Left Minimus alone to cope (as cats do). Relocated myself in the house, to the delight of Red Fred (one of my large tabby cats), who was curled up on my indoors bed. Felt a frisson of guilt changing cat partners in the middle of the night, but hey!

Off balance...

That rude roaring wind has nudged me and my plans for today off balance. Was going to go for an early swim - have put that off until later, when driving will be less unpleasant.

Was going to work in my glass-house. Also put off until later - have no desire to have panes of glass blowing out and breaking on my head (they can do that, in the big winds).

Have spent the morning playing Albeniz on my piano - very cautiously, listening to the delightful muddiness of the chords (made even muddier by my incorrect interpretations of double sharps, oops).

And now, a walk with the dogs to check for any tree damage. A huge piece of a eucalyptus tree did crash down on Henworld (a wee garden with hen and rooster statues) a couple of weeks ago in the last wind storm. Lots of potential firewood, but thankfully no visible chook casualties. Might start clearing it up a little so the dogs can snuffle around (they will think they are doing something). Might not, too - depends on the noise from above.

 Near the old Hen House.
Gum Tree Branch Down

Five minutes later...

Nope. Not with a temperature of five degrees Celsius, and blustering sideways rain. I scuttled back inside, then decided to head out to the swimming pool. Got as far as the corner, where my little car was whooshed by a big gust of wind. Nope. Not today. Drove back home to the warmth of my new library books and my piano.

 Covered in small gum tree branches.
Hen Statues

Thursday 14th October

Yesterday I ended up feeling moochy and unsatisfied. Another session of Albeniz didn't help - he is soooooo difficult. Had also been stewing about the Covid issues in my country. Wondering what to do with my choirs - super-spitty aerosol-dropletty things, choirs. All are in recess at the moment. Then started worrying about me (nothing to do with Covid). What would I do all day to stay happy if I couldn't be a gardener?

So this morning I have written a pen and paper list, which contains thirteen items - far too long to be included here. My instruction to myself is to tick when done : writing up this journal page is on it, plus having breakfast. Yeay! Two ticks already! Sneaky self-motivational tricks, ticks. I've also included 'Put away clothes', 'Make up the house bed properly', and 'Wash the towels'. Three more easy ticks, I reckon, hee hee...

Much, much later...

It worked! Thirteen ticks, and I feel great. I've done everything - even an hour and a half on Albeniz piano practice. And I took the bonfire seriously, adding four barrow loads of hedge trimmings to the pieces of gum tree. I also weeded part of the garden border along the water race as an extra! Yeay for me.

 Crab-Apple, Rhododendron, Phormiums, Maple.
Spring Colours

Now a shower, clean clothes, and a modest evening meal (with raspberry sorbet for dessert). Maybe a ride on a YouTube train (Slovakia is the Destination de Jour), maybe a wee read of one of my books. All great rewards for a great day.