My first day back in Baltimore, I intended to get lots of schoolwork done. I set my alarm, thinking I’d be up before dawn and get hours of work done before church…. But I turned my alarm off in my sleep.
I did get up a couple of hours later, and I did go to school while I still had my suit on. It usually helps me work more efficiently. But not yesterday. I intended to get ahead of myself with work, but all I could do was get ready for the first day back. Ah well…
When I got back home, I walked past my pond. It was choked with algae and trash and leaves. I decided to do a clean-out. I waded in and plunged in up past my elbows. It was COLD! I noticed two fatalities: a tadpole, and a big orange and white goldfish. But I got the pump cleared, and the waterfall at full strength. I’ll show before and after pictures, even though they sort of look the same. It’ll be like a “find the differences” picture game!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
I spent the rest of the afternoon playing Skyrim (my Xbox game). Woo hoo!
My first grading pen of the year has run out. I started with green this year. There’s something pleasant about green. It ran out in the middle of a comment I was writing on a student’s paper. I finished the comment in black ink. Then I looked at my multi-colored pack of pens to decide what color to go with next. This is a different brand than I’ve used for the last three years, so I had different choices. One of the new choices was pink. I haven’t used a pink grading pen in a long, long time. So that’s the color I chose. Pink.
Speaking of pink, today is trash day, and last night when I took my trash to the curb, I noticed my camellia bush. It’s covered in flowers! I’ve never seen it so bloomiferous. What a cruel twist of circumstances that this gorgeous bush is exploding in color and I can never see it in the daylight. (Until Saturday) … (If I remember to go look at it)
I got some work done in the garden over Thanksgiving break. Most notably, I placed the rocks that I had acquired from the field in Pennsylvania. I’m very excited about having placed them. I ‘planted’ many of the rocks in a vertical position. I think it looks really interesting. I’ll enjoy seeing what they’ll look like as the seasons change.
I’ve also given myself a delightful task. After supplementing an existing rock circle with even more rocks, it now has a substantial look to it. There used to be a cherry tree in the middle of it, but now that it’s cut down, I’ll need to find something new to plant in the circle. It will be a nice long search over the winter and will be fun to dream about.
I did a short movie to show all the rock placements:
Someone was commenting the other day that they thought the autumn leaves have redder reds this year. I think they’re right. Was it the large amount of rain we had at the end of the summer? Was it that the temperatures were just right? Whatever the case, I know my fothergilla hasn’t looked this good before.
The Crimson Pygmy Barberry plants that border the long edge of my porch are also really pretty right now. Do they do this each fall, or am I just noticing it more this year for some reason?
I think the reds are last. I think the leaves on the trees started with yellows, went to oranges, and are ending with reds. The yellow-leafed trees have dropped their leaves already. Interesting. And how interesting that I have noticed the leaf progression in the trees. I always thought Fall leaves were pretty, but never remembered specifics before like I am now. Maybe it’s just that I left super-early after school yesterday and got home before the Early Dark.
