Scattered Seed

Day three of my vacation. It was a busy one, and not one that I expected upon awakening.

School ended last Wednesday here, and George has spent several mornings at the bus garage, getting his bus clean and ready for DOT inspection. This morning he planned to make one more trip over to finish the job, and asked me to go with him. I almost said no, but then I realized that I don’t have many opportunities to be a helpmate in situations like this, so I tagged along. The bus looked pretty clean to me, but there were windows to wash, and seat belts to arrange, so that is what I did, and the job was soon done, and we were free for the rest of the day.

We had packed up our birding bag so that we could walk on over to the wetlands area near the athletic fields where we saw redwings, a cardinal, goldfinches, mourning doves, catbirds, grackles, and one lone mallard.

The sun was high by this time, and we were on the boardwalk in the tall grasses, so it was really too hot to stay out long. We came on home, and did some yard work, pulling out the Deadly Night Shade that was growing under the deck.  I cleaned out one of the nest boxes, and we planted another maple tree on the hill.

There really were no other plans for our day, so I sat down with my laptop, and George sat down with his model. We heard the rumbling of a delivery truck out front, and here comes the replacement cell phone we ordered Saturday for my dad and Evelyn. They have been without a cell phone since Friday, when their battery died, and we wanted to get them this one ASAP. It allows them free long distance, and a way to be in touch when they are out and about. We decided there was no time like the present, so we hopped in the car, and drove on up to Auburn. I took a container full of brownies with us, and Evelyn reciprocated with some ginger snaps she had just pulled out of the oven.

We stayed a couple of hours to visit, then the long ride home. The sky was really dark when we headed back, with a heavy rain soon after. The skies finally cleared as we neared Watkins Glen.

We decided we needed to get out somewhere today. When I stay around home when I am on vacation, I can only think of housework that needs to be done. I do like to be caught up with housework, but my vacations come so rarely, that I try to limit the time I spend on it.

We headed to Ithaca late morning, to check out the farmer’s market. We weren’t even out of town, when we came upon this accident. George jumped out of the car, and I called 911. I could see an arm in the back window, but both occupants made it out safely. They were very lucky. It brought back thoughts of another summer accident, seven years ago, that fortunately, Morgan was able to walk away from.

On to the farmer’s market, and a pleasant afternoon.

When we arrived, the lunch time smells were wonderful, with so many ethnic foods to chose from. George stood in line for a Cuban meal, but the wait was long, so he went for the flatbread pizzas instead. I was in the mood for some lo mein, so I stopped at the Asian booth. We sat on the dock with our lunch, where the ducks were most attentive.

With our hunger satisfied, we checked out the local crafts, music, and produce. We passed on the many greens offered, as George has to be careful of his Vitamin K intake, and opted for some kohlrabi and sweet cherries instead.    All of the offerings were a feast for the eyes,  and I hope we will make another trip back this summer.

On the way out, we noticed a vendor selling extra large chocolate chip cookies, and we couldn’t resist. There was a bench by the water where we could watch the boats head down the inlet, and sat and enjoyed the summer afternoon before heading towards home.

That would be me. I felt like I was functioning in slow-motion today, trying to get revitalized. It is day one of my vacation, and we didn’t do much. I cleaned the house and puttered around the yard this morning, then we went on errands in the afternoon. I hope tomorrow I will feel more energetic. The weather forecast for this next week shows rain, all but one day. Right now we are under a severe thunderstorm watch.
Here are some pictures from my day around home.

he came to see what the birds might have left for him

hollyhocks as tall as I am

a June bug that I pulled from a bucket of water, just to get a picture – yuck

the fuchsia (maybe now the spelling is correct!) recovering from some hot days in the sun earlier this month

tomatoes, peppers, and swiss chard growing by the front steps

the canopy over the deck, where I love to sit and watch birds or read in the summer

It’s time for a break. After a long, hard week at work, I have arrived at my nine-day vacation. I have no special plans. There is a list of things I want to get done, but that is the best part. They are things I want to do.

The kitty sisters have been showing me all week what rest and relaxation is all about. They are very good at it.

I have my regular stream of bird visitors this summer, grackles, redwings, mourning doves, chickadees, cardinals, house finches, house sparrows, chipping sparrows,  goldfinches.

The past two years I have had tree swallows using the nest boxes, and it was disappointing this year, when the house sparrows took over both boxes. So it was quite exciting when I saw four swallows swooping around the willows the other day. One landed, and stayed quite awhile. It appeared to be a fledgling, unsure of itself, looking around, not sure what to do next. Maybe the parents had brought him by to show him off.

It promised to be a nicer day, so we loaded up the canoe, and headed for the Chemung River. George thought that the best place to put in would be Fitch’s Bridge, so that was our starting point. We started paddling upstream, checking out the bird life as we went. We saw the swallow’s nests under the bridge.

We noted redwing blackbirds, grackles, gulls and crows.

We hit a patch of shallow water, where the current was especially fast, and we couldn’t get our paddles deep enough in the water to overcome it. So, we went with the flow, and let the current turn us back downstream. No paddling was needed, except to steer now and then. We continued on towards Elmira, enjoying the beautiful day, but keeping in mind that we needed to find a place before long to pull in, and make the walk back for the car.

Several mallards were ahead of us, and as we got closer, took flight.

We scared up a school of ducklings. They startled us, as much as we startled them, and I couldn’t get my camera soon enough with the current carrying us on down river. The only other interesting bird we encountered was a green heron near shore.

Eventually we heard signs of civilization, and saw a place to pull in. A young girl was biking towards us, and told us of our location. I stayed with the canoe, and continued to watch the activity around me – butterflies, tadpoles, small skinny snakes gliding through the water, and a cardinal that came down for a drink.

George was back in half an hour, and we loaded back up and were on our way. The next time we do this we will plan a little better, so we are free to make a longer run and have a ride back to the car.

We didn’t go anywhere today, other than my trip to the grocery store. This morning we worked around the house, catching up on projects that were put aside during the week. I planted some swiss chard out front, and started a second pot of parsley. George pulled the canoe out from under the deck, thinking that we could load it up and take a little trip down the river, but storms moved in, so that outing will wait for another day.

Stuck inside, he worked on his model that I gave him for Father’s Day, and I baked up a batch of cinnamon-topped rhubarb muffins.

There were bills to pay, clothes to wash, and the house to clean. I made new hummingbird nectar, and caught up with some of my eBird entries. All in all, it was a quiet day, but one that I needed. Work has been draining on me lately, and I’m counting down the days till vacation – seven.

We have had a mix of both, but the past few days it has been mostly rain. The temperature is about 35 degrees cooler than it was earlier this month, and we have pulled the windows down, and closed the doors the past couple of evenings.

On a walk around the yard the other day, I noticed the hollyhock had begun to open. George had been wanting to plant it for quite some time, so last year we planted the seeds, not realizing that it would take a full year for them to bloom. The seed packages showed several colors, so we have been surprised that, so far, the blooms have all been a dark purple, almost black. The purple is only evident in the sun.

Somehow it is Tuesday, and I feel like I’m running behind. Yesterday is a blur, as it was too soon back to work, when I still had so much I wanted and needed to do around home.

Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day with a picnic at my sisters. I was especially thankful to have the day to honor my Dad, who has had a great influence on all of us through the years.

It was also a day to celebrate my husband, who has journeyed with me through parenthood these 31 years. Garrett was able to make the trip over from Buffalo to spend the afternoon with his dad, and later he took us to a movie in Auburn before we parted ways.

It was a nice day at my sisters. We don’t get to see each other often enough. She has such pretty plantings around the house, we couldn’t resist taking some pictures.

This is my third installment of A Day in My Life, hosted by Little Jenny Wren.

I was up at 7:30, enjoying a little extra sleep since it’s Saturday. I got washed up, took care of the animals, then set the table for our breakfast. We had just cereal and orange juice, as George was soon to be out the door, loading up his bike, and heading off with his friend, Dave, for a ride on on the Catherine Valley Trail.

I set to work on my Saturday chores, stripping the bed, doing laundry, giving the kitchen a thorough cleaning.

Outdoors, I filled the bird feeders, planted a new dahlia we found at the farm market, and set some green pepper plants.

I picked some of the rhubarb, which hasn’t been its best with little rain.

Thinking we would again have a dry day, I gave all my plants a good watering. I set the sun tea jar out with four tea bags, to perk a nice tea to have iced later.

The morning’s dishes were washed, and the day’s laundry was hung to dry. I spent some time checking my email, reading the blogs, and having an early lunch of leftovers.

Just past noon, Martha started her barking, and I knew George had returned. He set to mowing the lawn, the second time this year. He zipped around and did the neighbor’s yard too, and later was thanked with a treat from the bakery.

We sat out front and visited a bit, as he cooled down with a drink. Martha laid on the stoop next to us, her favorite place in nice weather. Dad called and we talked about plans for tomorrow. There was a brief rain, maybe twenty minutes, but a needed soaking. I heated up the rest of the leftovers for George’s lunch, then made a run to the grocery store picking up some things on sale, and the items I need for tomorrow’s picnic. Put away the groceries, looked through the mail, and put my feet up for a bit, as George had dozed off watching the History Channel.

We had dinner out on the deck, under the canopy, as a light rain fell (twice in one day!) George had grilled a steak, while I steamed some carrots and made long-grain and wild rice. Birds were all about us, redwings, mourning doves, house finches, goldfinches, chickadees, a chipping sparrow, and a norther flicker, high in the tall tree out back.

After I cleaned off the table, I brought my laptop out back, and saw that Garrett might be on instant-messenger. We chatted back and forth a bit, as I watched the clouds roll in.

After dinner, I prepared an orange-zucchini bread for the oven, washed the dishes, and jumped into the shower. My day has wound down, and I am ready to finish this post, and settle down for the evening and read a book. Saturdays are my favorite day of the week, with another relaxing day to look forward to tomorrow.