It's a blustery, rainy day at the farmette. They're calling for hurricane-level winds and I hope they don't do too much damage to all the maples we have circling the property.
This week was packing up week. We tucked everything away ahead of the white stuff.
Here's how we started - with the deck furniture. The couch, chairs and coffee table we've had since we moved in 2012. They're getting a bit long in the tooth now and we're thinking of getting new pads in 2021.
The table and chairs we got later and they're still holding up. We didn't make much use of these, given COVID and all.
But we did manage to get in a late-season deck visit with Bryan and Diana - who we've known for decades - before we closed up for the season. They zoomed in on Bryan's motorcycle from Thornbury on one of the last days that was incredibly warm.
We had tea and cookies and a great chat from a pandemic-respectable distance. Rob has known Bryan since the two were in high school - more than 50 years ago. It feels like it's been donkey's years since we hosted guests outside the family. Gotta say, it felt really good.
Packing day is a ritual every year. Between the two of us, we're able to load up the CRV and the wee John Deere cart and hoik everything out to the wood working shop in about an hour.
This year, when we opened the shop, Rob remembered last fall, when we had two wee kittens boarding there in their own kind of 'quarantine'. We had to keep Fred and Wilma away from the rest of the felines because we had no idea what kinds of bugs they might be carrying.
Hard to believe almost a whole year has gone by.
Hard to believe how much wee Wilma has changed. She was so timid she'd hide every time we entered the shop. She's now become a big sucky tortie - who sleeps soooo soundly you can play with her paws and doesn't flinch. She also loves a good head scratch.
It's also hard to believe what has transpired in that time. The pandemic and the turmoil it has created has been truly devastating. And there's the craziness happening in the U.S. with a golfing maniac and his lunatic followers refusing to admit defeat. None of it's over yet.
But we have our five fur balls. We have our health. We have good friends and family. So there's that. Hoping everybody is staying safe and warm. Until next week.