It's a sunny, temperate day so far at the farmette. Just 21C at the moment, although it's supposed to hot up quite a bit.
The world seems to have gone completely crazy. Locusts plaguing Africa and South America. Hurricane season starting up. Riots in the streets of U.S. cities egged on by a president who really has lost the plot. And, of course, COVID-19 is again surging in Europe and Asia and continues to take an enormous death toll in the U.S. Some younger Canadians are getting sick and tired of the pandemic, so now they're now getting literally sick as the target of the deadly virus.
Yikes. Luckily life kind of bumps along here at the farmette. I was talking by phone to friends at the end of last week, and we were all agreeing that it's actually pleasant to have a boring life where nothing much changes. I have to admit, living in Canada in a rural area during these times has its distinct advantages, and I'm so fortunate to be here.
Anyhow. We do have our share of interesting times. Yesterday, when I came in from harvesting yet another round of beets, I discovered a wee SKUNK in the lily-of-the-valley patch that's adjacent to the deck. Three of our fur balls Calvin, Hobbes and Fred were out wandering the yard at the time, so I yelled for Rob to gather up the felines and get them inside lest we have an, ahem, accident.
My dwarf sunflowers started blooming this week. I was going to make a bouquet, but because they have multiple blooms, I didn't have the heart to make the cuts. So, we'll enjoy them in situ, as it were.
The astilbes I planted under the black walnut trees last year are doing great!
Need to get at some weeding, but they're looking pretty spectacular, no?
I'm feeling kind of all over the map today, as you may have noticed.
I think I grasp at good moments because these are strange times, and crappy news seems to be bombarding us on an almost-hourly basis. For example, we also found out that our veterinarian Melanie is winding up her practice because she's too sick to continue.
Cancer has taken hold, and she just can't shake it. Modern medicine has failed her and, while she's going to try some naturopathic remedies, the path forward seems tenuous at best. It's just so unfair. She's a brilliant diagnostician and many, many animals, including our Hobbes, owe their lives to her. She also has a wicked sense of humour and is generous to a fault. Oh, and way too young for a disease to take her from us.
Well, that went dark quickly. I guess sometimes we just have to give in to the grief. Can't be happy, happy, joy, joy all the time.
We will get through this. Just need to take a bit of a break to reflect and re-group.
Until next week.