When I got up this morning (and it was still morning, but barely) and looked out the window, I saw that it had been raining in the night. The paving stones were still wet, and there was standing water in the upturned bucket I keep in the middle of the garden for some reason that I can no longer recall. So I thought I was off the hook. I’d planned to get some yard work done today, but I couldn’t do it in the rain.

At the post office yesterday I’d forgotten to ask if there would be mail delivery today. Schools and state offices were closed yesterday to observe the Veterans’ Day holiday, but today is the actual day. Since there was mail delivery yesterday, I assumed there wouldn’t be any today, but I had to check on line to make sure. After I confirmed that, I knew I had no reason to leave the house today. No use checking the mail if there for sure isn’t going to be any.

So I was pretty much settled in for the day, but in the middle of the afternoon I got a little restless. The sun was shining by now, although it was that washed out late fall sunshine that never quite warms up the air. I knew I’d feel guilty if I didn’t do something, so I dragged the yard waste container out of the garage and started filling it. My immediate goal was to clear the walkway between the driveway and my front door. I’m always a little embarrassed to have visitors, since I know they have to dash through weeds and stickers to get here.

As I worked around the fence, trying to make the opening wide enough for an adult human to get through without getting snagged on something, I realized that the pussy willow was being choked by blackberry bramble. You could hardly see the original bush for all the vines and leaves, even though it’s a bush that towers over the fence. So I went to work on the vines, which can fill the container pretty quickly. I knew that from the fact that it took me three weeks to clear the back porch of those brambles.

Then I went a little deeper and realized that the honeysuckle vine on the trellis next to the side garage door was also being choked by blackberries, and by the time I got that situation taken care of, the yard waste container was filled to the top. So that’s as far as I got today. It took me about 45 minutes and pretty much wore me out, but I’m sitting here tonight guilt free. Now go ahead and let it rain. I don’t get the yard waste container emptied until next Friday.

There was plenty of work I could have done inside the house, but instead I decided to spend the next hour or two reading. I lasted an hour before my eyes got too tired to go on with the book, so I picked up Rachael’s magazine and thumbed through that. I’m hosting Christmas dinner but not doing the main bit of cooking, so I’m looking for ideas for something I can contribute. I didn’t find anything today, but I’ll keep looking. I have to try them out at least once before the big day, just to be sure I can do it.