It's time to lie down in the hammock in the tipi. The blackflies don't like being inside. I really don't like it either, but I really needed to lay down and rest my weary body.
I sat by Ben's bridge for awhile and noted how the bridge just goes onto a tiny island now. It's so peaceful over there, and shady under the alders, too. I'm so blessed.
I used my long handled foot clippers to remove all the grasses growing around each of the tamarack trees Willem and I planted a couple of years ago. I wonder if it was last spring. It may have been. I'm glad I put the stakes in to mark them, the little thin wood ones which I replaced with the road stakes last month. I tossed out the thin ones, to be picked up from the roadside ditch later. I was surprised at how many of them were still growing. They'd put on a few inches of growth last year, too. Two of them had died. It took awhile to figure out where the tamarack sticks were, as they were quite little.
A pair of tail pounding phoebes just flew into the tipi. One flew through it, the other came in and immediately turned around after sitting to look at me for a moment. I wonder if they are neting in here. Could be! How special is that! I have my iPod camera handy, just in case they come back.
I put some of the dead trees that had slid off the side of the tipi back on to cover up the fabric. The sun is shining through them, making lovely forest shadows on the side of the white fabric. It looks like I'm in the woods from here! One day the tamaracks will create a privacy forest around it! Can't wait!
It's so neat to work towards things, to create spaces, to tend and cultivate my gardens. The marsh marigolds I dug up and planted around the tipi are still growing, much bigger than before, even. I clipped the grasses around them. I should put down landscaping fabric to give them a bit of an advantage.
I'm glad to see some of my basketry willow is also growing, shoots that I didn't know were here are doing well. I'll let them grow a bit till they have an inch thick trunk and then I'll start cutting them back all the time. Well, I'm already cutting them back and replanting the grown parts.
It's so peaceful in here. There are some blackflies with me, but they aren't bothering me much. I wear my long socks, long skirt and long sleeved tops to make sure there is less of me exposed. I love the temperature. It's about 10 or 12 out here now, I think. I like it cooler cos I don't have to take off layers and get exposed to the bugs!
I should probably take myself over to the cedar post place and harvest more bark. There isn't much coming in over there that has been cut during bug season when the bark is easy to remove.
I love to write. I was thinking lately of writing for the local paper again if they'll have me. I like to do photo journalism, feature articles. I was asked on Saturday about that, why I stopped writing. I do love to describe the things around me, the way the grass bends at the top and bounces and waves in the wind.
Here comes the pileated woodpecker. But it's chirping for a long time. Is that the flicker then? I forget. I think the woodpecker chirps when he flies, and a bit when he's at his hole. Someone just drove slowly past. I wonder if someone will stop to pick up my wheely walker chair. They had better not!
I hear a nearby duck call, I think. I love hammocks. They are the best way to lie down and to be comfortable! They don't make my back hurt like lying in my bed does.
I even have a makeshift outhouse down here. I have a little routine with it, keeping it clean and tidy, too. It's important to have such amenities if you are going to be happy in a place.
I sometimes feel sorry for the neighbour whose property line my tipi is near. They are not home much, so I'm not concerned about it, but when I come down and play my violin at 5:30 am, It did occur to me that I just might be being a royl pain in the butt to them! J He's the one that asked me what 'we're going to do about that tipi'. I didn't know what he meant. So he said it was an eyesore. I was dumbfounded. Finally I responded, "Well, it's on our property!" That was the end of that conversation. J
