Good Friday………….I mean Great Friday!

Friday, Apr. 14^th opened up like a flower in the spring with the sun rising predominately in the east. No question that it was here for the day and no clouds were going to interfere with that. I woke up around 6:30 and ‘sneakily’ crawled out of bed at 6:45 so as not to disturb my sleeping babes.

To the east

To the west

It wasn’t until after I’d opened blinds and turned on my laptop that Bill and Clemson rose to meet the day as well. Coffee and tea out of the way as well as yesterday’s blog posts. Instead of a morning newspaper with scads of unfortunate news, we prefer this. It keeps us in touch with our friends and fellow travelers. We watch the 6 o’clock local news for everything else.

From inside the Suite

I was out the door for a walk shortly after 7:30. No traffic sounds, only nature welcomed me as I wandered across Baptist Church Road to new sights. The storage shed/barn the neighbours were working on seems to be finished, solar panels et al. This is a lovely walk down the gravel road (North Line) to the west and I was taking my gloves off as I approached home.

So inviting, eh? Now add NO human sounds

Our place zoomed in from the road

I have a pair of nylon pants, unlined, that I like to pull on over top of my other pants if I’m going to be working in wet weather. Today was certainly not going to be a wet day but I wanted to work on some brush at the end of the driveway. These pants would not be hot but would protect my clothes. Since it was only 5C so far I also layered up, put my ball cap and work gloves on.

Today's project

Looks like a bramble patch for sure

From 8 until 11:30 I worked steady, cutting saplings that tend to make walking difficult in around the trees along the fence line. The only time I’d walk in there is when I want to pick apples off the tree. Last fall I tripped and scraped myself up so much trying to reach them that I decided I’ll attack the small growths before they get too big.

Just the piles to clean up now

It was a productive morning

Once I had made 4 large piles of brush, branches, brambles, vines Bill hooked up the trailer to the garden tractor for me. I got a quick training and off I went, back and forth up and down the lane 4 times with loads. I know I will pay for this tomorrow, my body is not used to the bending, reaching and twisting that I put it through this morning.

I’m very pleased with the result though. While I was doing that Bill was working on dumping the black and grey tanks in the Suite. There has been a challenge using the Blue (grey) Boy here because of the level variance from the top of the hose on the B.B. to how low the ground is into the outhouse hole. Something needs to change and I trust Bill will figure it out.

Robin Redbreast foraging for food

By noon hour we were starved and I made up a simple lunch, to tide us over. Nothing like a couple of pieces of toast and peanut butter in a pinch. I was finished working for the day and Bill soon cleaned up the job he was working on. More related to the dump valves for black and grey than I care (or understand enough) to go into. The bottom line is that by 3 he asked me to walk down with him and show him what I’d done. Now that makes two of us happy with it.

This has been a fantastic day with such a clear blue sky. Couldn’t have asked for a better day to putter around on stuff outside. Clemson has also had a good day, being outside with us even though he had to entertain himself for the most part.

I love this feeling of relaxation, the feeling that we can work on something in the morning and the rest of the day is ours to sit and read, walk or do absolutely nothing. I believe it is called retirement.

As I was working, because I take my camera everywhere, I caught these two flyers go over making a silly noise. We watched them to see if they would land but they didn’t, at least not in our vicinity. 

I didn’t know what they were, not geese, but the pictures clearly show that they are herons with their long necks and legs. These are the best shots I could get. Then later, we saw these two hawks floating over the ponds looking for something delicious.

They weren't close enough together to get one picture
Seems everyone is flying in pairs on Good Friday

About 5:30 we realized that we were hungry again! LOL if it wasn’t for having to eat some days for energy we would forget all about it! Well, some days maybe. We are working on emptying our freezer and that is going well although it doesn’t give us much choice in what to have for supper. I just want to clean things up that we’ve had for a while before we stock up again.

Bill taking time to read instructions for his ARF kit

Tonight, it is sausage and salad. My salads are quite filling, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mushroom and peppers topped with shredded cheese. We always walk away from the table with full tummies. We were surprised while doing dishes.

Clemson enjoyed his day watching Mom and Dad work

We got a call from Bill’s cousins (hey mine too now!) Peter and Linda from Peterborough. They wanted to welcome us back right and proper. We can’t wait to see them up here for some camping, soon we hope. It was a great surprise.

The little stone house directly across the road from us

I’m sitting here looking out at the view of the pond, so peaceful and yes, the peepers have begun practicing again. They start slow with just a few in attendance. While looking out I watched Gabe bathing and fluffing feathers.

I soon realized that Gabe is Gabby when she tucked herself off in a corner at the edge of the pond up on some reeds. Obviously, she has a nest. Bill noticed in the pond across the lane that a gander had been standing in position for a long time. So long in fact that he appeared to be sleeping. We wonder if this is Gabby’s mate. Interesting to watch them and before long she swam out ever so gently and floated around the full perimeter of the pond looking for food. Mom needs a break apparently.

Looking back towards home

I’m going to close this up for the day and settle into some more reading. I hope you have had a great day today and a great holiday. Possibly it has been spent with family celebrating the Holy Day or perhaps, like us, it has been a quiet day alone.

Thank you for taking the time to read today. I love to hear from you.