a layered day

today was one of those layered days and i'm not comparing it to the yummy triple layer ginger angel food with lemon and toasted coconut cake that i served to the garden club this afternoon.....
we started our day with an automated phone call with a severe weather warning at 1:10 am. the program sounds soooo good on paper and my friend and i both registered. then the calls actually began. i have since gone back to the site to un-register, a process they say can take 4-6 weeks. i'll probably try again.
charlie and i took a walk.
i squeezed my lemons, made my goop, cut and assembled the cake (baked last night), did some last minute cleaning, ran to the grocery store, stopped to price a bracelet that had been calling out to me since my sister's visit, learned that it had been calling in vain, tried on my new boots (again), added the boot box to the garbage, etc etc etc.
i did'nt have time to check my email.
garden club happened, the cake was a hit, the dishes were cleared off and everyone in the business of leaving when i received a compliment on my hair. and for the first time ever in local ears i admitted that i was preparing for a trip this fall and needed to do my hair sans appliances and so had been practicing with a new look. (you know how a haircut looks best after about 2 weeks?? looks perfect for about 2 days?? then is suddenly, overnight too long?? in the last few days i've had several compliments on this particular cut which i got at the beginning of july.) paris. in november. with my sister. for two weeks.
i checked my email.
paris is off. i reread several times hoping i had somehow misread but no it was there everytime. paris isn't going to happen.
one of the responsibilities of a rational adult is having to admit in the face of disappointing news that this is not the worst thing to happen to me today or any other day. so let's just say i was bummed. yes, let's just say that.
in the discussion of the day's events with tim he did ask if i would continue to wear my hair like this 'cuz he likes it. and he finally understood the lowlights transitioning to gray concept and he's on board with that! (i've always hated the time and expense, the bondage, of trying to stay blonde and was planning -again with an eye toward paris- to just be done with it!! (i am at heart a low maintenance kind of gal and find myself surrounded with jars and tubes and formulas that i never would have forseen and do limit. but my advice is moisturize!! every morning. every night. every chance. and watch the sun. really.)
like i said - certainly not a candidate for 'worstdayofmylife' status.
my husband likes my hair. i have a home. a good dog. we're both healthy and working. (tim and i not charlie and me) the boots will look great where ever i wear them. and my itsy-bitsy, half price, half alive hydrangea bloomed.
bonne mercredi!!

work day

again, did i think to take pictures - of tim on the roof?? the big piles of leaves and other garden debris?? how about the back of the jeep loaded for disposal?? we had a glorious day and decided to finish some outside work. we were both quite productive and it is good to have this off the list. and the nap that followed was all the better for our fresh air and exertion. i could open this later (i'm on the laptop) and add a few pictures of my flower gardens to show you all what i cleaned up today. we'll see. in the meantime i have laundry to finish, ironing do to, a project for aidan to work on and the new by pd james to finish.



so here you have our smallest and last leaf pile. for about 3 weeks in november, city crews prowl the streets with loaders and dumptrucks, picking up leaves that the good citizens of gothenburg have piled in the street in front of their houses. normally our linden tree doesn't drop until after the pickup has ended. this year it's already done. i hope that's not significant....these piles can easily grow to 5-6 feet high, and run the length of the block. we are not anal about leaves in our yard - there are always those last few (or the first of the season)left where they fell. some peolpe are. they chase every leaf. their lawns are immaculate. i have come to hate the whine of leaf blowers. in fairness, though, i will say that they allow older neighbors to stay busy outside at a time when age related situations might have otherwise forced them to hire their raking done. and at our house i'll further say that i rake. tim uses his leaf blower.
this picture was taken monday morning. charlie needed a half bath so we've been up and at 'em already this morning!!
ps - the pd james was a good read.