It's a sunny, cold day at the farmette. Getting girded to take another swipe at cleaning up the tonnes of maple leaves that have carpeted the property.
The days are getting so much shorter. Feeding time for the felines stays at 7 a.m., even though now, it's pitch dark.
We've been working pretty hard at the outdoor chores. Rob and I joked that we're sure there are more leaves this year, in spite of the fact that we had two big trees taken down in the spring. Hagar is now only a home for squirrels and birds. She doesn't put out the green or drop the red any more.
The dependable John Deere and our sturdy little cart have been put to the test, and have come through with flying colours.
While we do have a bagger for the lawn mower, we left the job a bit too late this year. With six inches (okay, maybe four) of detritus on the ground the pipes get clogged in a big hurry. So, we went back to the old ways. Next year, we'll try and be smarter and start earlier. You'd think, after 10 years, we would have gotten it right. Oh well.
I swear we have cleaned off the deck furniture about 17 times in the past couple of weeks. It's fantastic to have the big old maple's cooling shade during the scorching summer, but quite the task when the weather turns and the leaves drop.
It wasn't all work, work work over the past week. We had a nice drop-in visit from our long-time friends Bryan and Diana Colleran last Sunday. We enjoyed tea and fresh-baked banana muffins on the tidied-up deck.
They were on their way from Thornbury, where Diana's mother lives, to their home in Princeton, near Paris. Bryan quipped that Princeton is the Versailles of Ontario.
Rob and Bryan have known each other since high school, and we've kept in touch over the decades.
The Collerans brought their wee rescue doggo Frida, who was extremely well-behaved, snuffling quietly around the farmette while we chatted.
It's a gorgeous day, so I think I'm going to have to suck it up and get out there with the rake again. A last push to get leaves up and furniture stowed before that white stuff comes down. Until next week.
Gratuitous cute cat photo courtesy of Calvin, who never saw a paper bag he didn't want to test drive.
