Sunday, November 22, 1998
3:15 PM
Connie was here for the weekend, and she's gone on her way home now... I've been goofing off, reading, surfing, playing around with the computer, and just trying to find something to do. That restless feeling has come over me again, and I'm looking for somewhere to direct my energies.
If I weren't such a lazy bum, I might get out and go for a walk. Would be good for me, I think... I need the exercise. But that means I'd have to put on shoes and socks, dry my hair the rest of the way, and actually get outside. It sounds too much like work, to me! And yet, the reason behind the restlessness is a need for change, and a need to improve myself. So I'm putting on socks, and putting on my watch (I hate going anywhere without a watch), so after I feed the cats in a few minutes, I can get outside for a bit. The cold snap we had a couple weeks back has given way to some fairly nice temps for mid-November, and there are still a few red leaves on some of the trees; this weekend is probably my last chance to get out for a walk before it gets too cold for my tastes.
4:28 PM
No, I didn't stay out all that long... less than fifteen minutes, really, but I did get out for a bit. I wandered out the front door and around the side of the house to the backyard, where I just stood in the afternoon sunshine for a little bit, listening to the sounds around me, and smelling the crisp, bitter scent I associate with autumn leaves. The great tree outside my window is nearly bare now, just branches with a few yellow-brown leaves clinging, high out of reach.
The garden, which is hardly a garden without its white fence and the overgrown cherry tomato bush that usually dominates it, is bare and overgrown too... the soft green grass creeping in around the edges, where the soil is loose from turnings and weedings and the likes. The rose bushes are mostly bare, but one bush had a single fuschia bloom, a small bud just halfway opened, and bright and beautiful against the rusts and browns and grays of autumn. I had a pair of sewing scissors in my pocket from some time when I'd been cross stitching, so I snipped the stem and brought the flower in with me, to place in a vase here on my desk. Now I just have to keep my cat from eating it, as roses seem to be just about her favorite flower.
I think when Jev and I settle down in a house of our own, I'd like to have a little garden. Maybe just a sort of border garden, around the outside edge of the backyard; something where everything would be within easy reach, and not in the way of having a picnic or fun and games in the yard (if we ever have kids of our own to play there, or friends' and family's kids to come over for visits). I'd like to have a few tomato plants, strawberries (of course!) and maybe even some rasperry canes (yum!!). I love fresh veggies, especially green beans, and squash, and watermelons and canteloupes are nice to have, too, even if they never grow all that large when I try my hand at them.
Sunflowers always make me smile, and I love the seeds, as do the birds, I'm sure. A birdfeeder of some sort would be another must. One of the things I do enjoy, living here in Mizery, is the colorful wildlife... big, bold bluejays, cheery red cardinals and their mates always somewhere nearby, laughing robins (it always sounded like they were laughing to me, anyway), and even the little glossy black birds with the iridescent heads.
*sigh* Someone's had their car stereo blasting out a bass line, that I can hear even through double storm windows, for a while now. I like music, but I do try not to impose my choices on the neighbors. Hmm... I wonder if they turned it down, or if it was just the end of the song. At least it's not so loud that I feel the windows about to vibrate now... I put in a nature sounds relaxation CD to help drown out some of it. Ah, yes, they've turned it down. *sigh of relief*
Jev's at home for Thanksgiving Break, and won't be online for another couple hours yet, so I'm off to play games and relax for a bit. Type to you later...
