Tid Bits on Labour Day

On my way home from garage saling on Saturday morning (I spent $2 and got two great gourds, a picture frame and a display shelf for painting) I saw three deer. The two young ones were very curious ... too curious ... and their mother had to return mid-flight to remind them to get off the road. After telling them, she leapt over the fence into the safety of the field. The little ones did what little ones often do ... started after her (under the fence) but then came back out onto the road for one last look. I wonder if they will survive the next year.

Still on the subject of very relaxed wildlife: a black bear and her cub came to my neighbour's yard to eat apples. The sow reared up and pulled the branches down to mouth level and ate till satisfied. Then ... she lay down on the ground under the tree and fell asleep while her cub played nearby. That is very odd behaviour for a black bear when people are nearby.

Corey, the very sad Golden, was picked up on Saturday afternoon, and changed from depressive, near suicidal state into bouncy happy dog as soon as he laid eyes on his daddy. He shed five years in an instant. That is the first time I have seen that but I seldom look after Golden Retrievers who are said to be the most loyal dogs anywhere.

Zeke left the following day at noon. I will miss his warm little body snuggled into bed with me at night, but I won't miss the alarm barking that kept me awake most of the three nights he was here.

The corn roast: The horseshoe tournament was almost interminable, and as a result, I drank too much before the food finally arrived, but I arranged to have the siding installed by the carpenter who installed our pine floors (and a good friend of Erin's), I met a couple of people I didn't know before, and our old next door neighbours arrived to chat for a few minutes ... so I had a good time.

I finished the pair of adult socks in Congo colours I have been working on. I measured the last sock in movies: it took 71/2 movies to knit it. Quick reviews: The White Countess VG;Captain Corelli's Mandolin VVG; Pretty Woman S(sucky but satisfying for someone who wants happy endings);Sylvia VG but depressing; The Hours Excellent but also depressing;Paper Moon Affair VG; The Squid and the Whale VG; Shall We Dance (the Japanese version) VVG. That is 810 minutes per sock ... or 1620 minutes for a pair. So ... 27 hours to knit a pair of adult's fine wool socks. The wool cost me about $10. I will receive $28 if they sell, so I will receive $18 for 27 hours of knitting. Hmmmn! 66 cents per hour ... maybe I should start wearing the socks I am making!

After Zeke left, I resumed work on the cradle. It is always scary for me to take the first step drawing something, especially something new. My first thought is that I don't know how to draw so I will screw up. Then I have to keep on reassuring myself that no screw-up is irrevocable; that there is always sandpaper and more paint for repair jobs. Only then (and it often takes days) will I pick up the chalk and begin. Anyway I have now done the drawing of the main image: a horse with three children on his back flying through the sky to dreamland. The other images will be of counting sheep and of animals snuggled into bed reading their bedtime stories.

This morning I received word that an old friend and colleague had died. She was my age. I seem to be hearing about far too many deaths or impending deaths lately. I guess it is inevitable at my age, but I am reminded of a poem about a single leaf hanging on at the end of fall. "He" was feeling bereft but was still unable to let go and join "his" fellows.