So many posts have the title What a Difference, sometimes followed by “a day makes” and sometimes it is a year, but always making a difference. Many years ago I wrote this post and yes, truly what a difference once the tree was cut back.
“What A Difference A day makes 24 Little hours From the sun and the flowers Where there used to be rain.”
Well, what a difference. Yesterday the large tree that overlooked the back courtyard and bugged me with falling leaves, stood keeping light and what sunshine there is at this time of the year, away from the back of the house.
I saw a man working on a tree across the road and asked him to look at chopping my tree. Incidentally, he told me it was a sycamore tree, not a plane tree as I have been calling it.
He took one look and said he could chop it right back but would leave some of it there as in all probability it was holding up the bank. He gave me a very reasonable quote to chop it back, remove all the debris and also remove much of the German ivy that was trailing across the bank killing other things that had been planted there by an earlier inhabitant of this house. And he could do it right away.
Well, all things considered, it was an offer to good to pass up. So he set to work. He told me that by chopping it back the tree wouldn’t be killed but would grow again. He said in 20 years that it would probably be as big again. Of course, I then told him that was OK as I wouldn’t be around then.
Before the rain set in he had the ivy removed and the tree partly chopped back. When the rain stopped he cleared all the mess he had made and transported it off in his trailer.
What a lucky thing that I was home in the morning to see him working across the street.
This morning there was no rain and the sun shone giving extra light into my kitchen. And there are very few leaves in the courtyard today.
So tomorrow I have only to tidy the courtyard, replace the dead plants in the planter boxes and wait for ‘the man’ to come back and finish the tree lopping.
“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit. ” D. Elton Trueblood, 1900 – 1994, American Quaker author and theologian.
“What day is it? asked Winnie the Pooh. It’s today, squeaked Piglet. My favourite day, said Pooh”
Yesterday was a blah day on which I did nothing. The family rallied round this ancient soul and generally took over.
But today – all is well, and I am back to normal (or as normal as I will ever be).
The sun was shining brightly so after washing the towels which my grandson hung out for me, I sallied forth with my list of things to do.
But…Not everyone is back at work and so many shops have not yet opened again.
My first stop was to the other side of town to have a lamp repaired. The other night when lounging in bed watching television, I turned suddenly, and a pillow knocked the lamp onto the floor. The lamp is unbroken, but the wiring is adrift. Electrical repairers – well repairers of any sort – are few and far between nowadays. Do you remember the little man in the village who could repair anything? Those days and those men are long gone. There was no sign on the door to indicate when the shop would reopen.
The next stop was the drycleaners and yes, they are closed until January 17, so the clothes, together with the broken lamp came home with me.
Then a trip to pick up an ordered top – unfortunately they had ordered the wrong size; another wasted trip. They did say that when the correct size is available, it will be delivered to me. That is great customer service.
So to the supermarket. And wouldn’t you know it, several of the things I wanted were out of stock, so I had to go to another one.
So, my list of things to do is still long. I am putting it away until next week.
But the sun continues to shine so all is well. I sat outside. in the sun for a while finishing my book. Have you read State of Terror by Hilary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny? Fascinating and well worth reading. And that grandson brought in the towels for his Granma. Lucky me
We are told by NIWA (National Institute of Water and Air) that last year was the hottest on record for New Zealand – An average of 1.09 degrees warmer overall. And if you are still with me, and not dozing off during the weather report we are also told “”Of the six main centres in 2021, Auckland was the warmest, Dunedin was the coolest, Wellington was the wettest, Dunedin was the driest, Tauranga was the sunniest and Hamilton was the least sunny.”
And now as my day is coming to a close, may I add this. This was a particular favourite of my sister. She died in California last year and today would have been her birthday:
“If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be in that rich earth a richer dust concealed A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; A body of England’s, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.” Rupert Brooke, English Poet. 1867 – 1915
It’s Saturday again so here we go. If you would like to participate please either click on the picture above or click this link.
HOUSE IN NEED OF RUBBER GLOVING Instead I spent it READING BLOGS AND ENJOYING THE SUNSHINE.
When it comes to housework the one thing no book of household management can ever tell you is how to begin. Or maybe I mean why.
Katharine Whitehorn, British journalist, writer and columnist. 1928 –
Each day this week I have said “Today’s the day”. The day for rubber-gloving ie housework – ugh. I am a really organised and relatively tidy person but I hate vacuuming that is until I start. Each time I find so many reasons not to do this and then find it takes very little time and I am always delighted when the job is done. Dusting follows of course and as this is an old house (circa 1914) it attracts spiders.
I never see these invaders but they leave evidence of their having visited by weaving complicated webs. But this is a very strange phenomenon as they mostly appear in the living room and the only windows that sport these webs are in the living room. Oh occasionally I find a web in another part of the house but never on a window anywhere else.
So rubber-gloving was given up in favour of reading blogs and enjoying the sunshine.
I subscribe to so many fascinating blogs that just occasionally I get really behind in my reading and then have to devote several hours to this happy chore. Although now I come to think of it when I use the word chore I usually mean a disagreeable task ie housework. And this is most certainly an agreeable task.
Then later I met with a friend. We had coffee at a coffee shop sitting outside in the sun. And that was followed with a glass of wine and so I remembered my favourite Christmas song – Drinking White Wine in the Sun. OK – I know it’s not Christmas but sitting with a glass of bubbles brought this song to mind.
So I have had a relaxing day; blogs are read but chores are still not done. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. And just as I wrote that I remembered a song from my teenage years called It’s Almost Tomorrow. If you feel like a trip down memory lane to 1955 when this recording was made click here for the Dreamweavers singing this song. And again I am reminded of how naive gentle and innocent were the songs of my teenage years.
And on the subject of memories and nostalgia, one of the blog posts I read today was this one from my blogging pal (well really I think we are sisters, we think so much alike) Dor at Technicolor Day Dreams.
We all recycled although we didn’t know the word for it. As Dor says, we all washed and returned milk bottles – our milkman who came to the door, uplifted them daily and replaced them with full bottles of milk. Paper bags were re-used, wrapping paper was carefully folded to re-use, diapers were washed and hung out in the fresh air to dry and most of all we pushed our babies in their prams to the shops and didn’t need to go to gyms and use their electrically operated machines. We were not the original recyclers, our mothers and grandmothers certainly recycled usually from necessity, but we all indulged in it during my early years.
“Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me would we? Could we?
Memories, may be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget…”
As sung by Barbra Streisand – The Way We were.
Do you know what loonies and twonies are? I have just discovered they are the $1 and $2 coins that have replaced the paper bills in Canada.
Where did I find this fascinating, earth-shattering, fascinating information? Well I was reading a report in the Vancouver Sun describing the confusion caused when a truck crashed scattering millions of dollars worth of coins along the highway. This has also of course, been reported in newspapers across the country.
Apparently when the Brink’s truck carrying the money crashed into a rock face on the side of the highway the complete load of somewhere between $C3.5 and $C5 million in coins was scattered across the highway.
This caused a chain reaction of course, and one of the casualties was a truck carrying candies. It too lost its load over the highway.
“Crews used a one-metre round industrial magnet on a backhoe to pick up the toonies and loonies..” And having commented that it would be an onerous task the Constable on the scene said “I walked through the scene where there was more money than I will ever see in my whole life,” Ontario Provincial Police officer Marc Depatie with the South Porcupine detachment.
So if you have a sweet tooth are short of a few dollars head to Northern Ontario where I am sure they are still scooping up coins.
Back now to Wellington where the good weather is set to continue at least for a few more days, according to our local paper The Dominion Post.
Photo CRAIG SIMCOX/Fairfax NZ
Perfect weather in Wellington is fleeting and this could be the last opportunity to bring out the togs for many long months. The weekend is shaping up to be sun-drenched with 18 and 19 degree highs forecast for Saturday and Sunday. After the dismal summer we enjoyed endured, this will be a welcome change.
But the Metservice has also warned that the weather is set to deteriorate by Easter, and urged people to get out and enjoy this weekend.
And now the summer is really ending. Daylight saving ends at 2am on Sunday April 1; is there a message in that? And the nights will draw in and fires will be lit in homes in this street. Ah well, this weekend will be the last of the summer weather.
We know it is summer. Our calendars tell us so but the weather is anything but summery. But wait – we have had four good days in a row. Sunshine, mild (not hot) temperatures, no rain and no wind. So yes it is summer.
Summer in New Zealand means sizzling barbecues and salads, sauvignon blanc, swimming at the beach, and long lazy days at the bach or crib – Kiwi for a holiday home.
Well that is certainly what we expect but unfortunately this year it hasn’t materialised. The site goes on to say:
From December to February, New Zealand is alive with the sound of crickets, and not just the insect variety. As soon as the weather warms up, Kiwis vacate the cities and head to baches, campgrounds and holiday resorts up and down the country.
Christmas is a time for relaxed al fresco dining, and the weeks leading up to it and those following are celebrated in Kiwi style. I wrote about this in an earlier blog.
Image Dreamstime free
So you can expect to see an influx of Kiwis/New Zealanders in the northern hemisphere during your summer, After all we have most certainly missed out here.
And just because I liked her and love her books –
If life is a bowl of cherries what am I doing in the pits.
Erma Bombeck.
“What A Difference A day makes 24 Little hours From the sun and the flowers Where there used to be rain.”
Well, what a difference. Yesterday the large tree that overlooked the back courtyard and bugged me with falling leaves, stood keeping light and what sunshine there is at this time of the year, away from the back of the house.
I saw a man working on a tree across the road and asked him to look at chopping my tree. Incidentally, he told me it was a sycamore tree, not a plane tree as I have been calling it.
He took one look and said he could chop it right back but would leave some of it there as in all probability it was holding up the bank. He gave me a very reasonable quote to chop it back, remove all the debris and also remove much of the German ivy that was trailing across the bank killing other things that had been planted there by an earlier inhabitant of this house. And he could do it right away.
Well, all things considered, it was an offer to good to pass up. So he set to work. He told me that by chopping it back the tree wouldn’t be killed but would grow again. He said in 20 years that it would probably be as big again. Of course, I then told him that was OK as I wouldn’t be around then.
Before the rain set in he had the ivy removed and the tree partly chopped back. When the rain stopped he cleared all the mess he had made and transported it off in his trailer.
What a lucky thing that I was home in the morning to see him working across the street.
This morning there was no rain and the sun shone giving extra light into my kitchen. And there are very few leaves in the courtyard today.
So tomorrow I have only to tidy the courtyard, replace the dead plants in the planter boxes and wait for ‘the man’ to come back and finish the tree lopping.
“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well
he will never sit. ”
D. Elton Trueblood, 1900 – 1994, American Quaker author and theologian.
I choose how I will spend the rest of my life 