Lucky in our own way...
Good morning. Brr... Another frost, quite an impressive one, maybe minus five degrees. Dogs have fur to keep them warm, people aren't so lucky. But then people can light the log-burner and sit in front of it with a hot cup of tea. And put on warm socks and slippers. So I guess we are all lucky in our own way (wouldn't mind having fur, as long as I could take it off at times)
Lucky to be Furry
Speckles the stray cat is certainly lucky. He came for breakfast this morning, and got annoyed with me trying to pet him, swiped my hand with his claws, and bit my elbow. Ouch!
A Speckles Smooch
So lucky?
He is still very much in touch with his wild side, and I don't think he's ever been touched before by a human person. I am so lucky to be that human person? Sitting on the verandah of the cottage in a freezing five degree frost while he bunts and smooches (and bites) me? At such times it feels like a very one-way relationship.
On with this cold morning. I am off to my Silver Swans adult ballet class. Yeay for me (no exclamation mark, feeling a bit slow).
A bit later...
Blast. Today has turned into a molto adagio day, with everything working really slowly, including my brain. I was happy but hopeless at my ballet class. One of my knees was misbehaving and I couldn't manage even a semi-graceful hop arabesque. My toes wouldn't point, and my legs felt like they were stuck to the floor. So rather than sulk I have taken a magic pill (!) and am now off to walk the dogs. They might be able to knock some sense into me. Then maybe a shower. Or a snooze.
Baskets for the Cottage Cats
On the way home from ballet I bought a warm little snuggle-bed from the Op Shop for Speckles the stray. He may not use it, but I've put it on the cottage verandah, hopefully out of the weather. Minimus sits in hers in the daytime - the cottage gets the afternoon sun.
Frosty Fairy Rose
The biggest frost!...
It was definitely the biggest frost so far of the winter this morning - cold enough to ice up the dogs' outdoors water bowls. Cold enough for Minimus my cottage cat to burrow underneath the bed clothes and refuse to come out. Hope the pelargoniums in pots on the patio are OK. Oops. Forgot about them.
Friday 24th June
Today is a new New Zealand holiday, called Matariki, which celebrates the rising of the star cluster Pleiades, AKA The Seven Sisters. It's a mid-winter solstice thing. Non-Gardening Partner has gone for a fly, but he is allowed - the sky weather is perfect.
Not so the ground temperature - I spent all morning inside cos it was just too cold. Went out at midday and worked hard for over four hours. I dug up and replanted Anemanthele grasses around the bend in the driveway. I spread all the horse manure in the Hump and planted a green Phormium in the interior. And then I burnt all the rubbish from the Welcome Garden - mainly old, woody half-dead pieces of Hebe. And now - oh joy! The things that I love so much in winter - clean body and hair, clean clothes, warm socks and slippers, the evening meal organised and cooking, a detective novel in front the log burner. Yeay for me!!! With three exclamation marks!!!
But first of all I need to pop over to the cottage and feed those cottage cats, before it gets too dark. Didn't see Speckles last night. But hey! He can't complain - I put some dried food and milk out for him, and it was all gone by the morning.