We're prisoners of habit. While they lend structure to our daily lives, they also demand of us predictable responses. So since today is Monday, it's also house-cleaning day. Beyond time-consuming. There may be other things you'd prefer to do, but they're set aside for another time, if at all possible, while you get on with cleaning the house. At least I do. 

Because Tuesday is another kind of ritual day, the day the municipality collects household waste, Irving was determined to collect all the detritus he had created in the last three days, sawing and lopping branches off trees in the backyard to ensure there is adequate space for the fence-builders we've contracted with to replace our 31-year-old fence that is beyond creaky and prepared to collapse. Our neighbours, needless to say, are all facing the same dilemma: replace the fence before there's no fence at all.

Not many have to be concerned over access to the fence itself to enable its removal and replacement. We have planted so many trees and shrubs on a very small lot over the years that it's become very crowded out there. The contract we signed makes no mention of any difficulties in access, nor did the owner of the company who came around to assess the situation and write up a contract. Irving feels obliged to make things easier for whoever will be doing the work.

So he was busy with that this morning, and then later, while I was cleaning the house, dusting and dry-mopping prior to floor-washing, he came in and did the vacuuming. The day quickly warmed up. Each time I popped into the backyard to see how he was faring and to give the puppies a bit of an airing and the opportunity to relieve themselves, it got progressively hotter. Even when the sun disappeared behind clouds that eventually covered the sky, it remained it with nary a breeze.

Finally finished, I put together a potato salad for dinner, refrigerated it, and felt a sigh of relief that dinner too was done. While I was draining the can of salmon, and cutting up vegetables, Jackie and Jillie stood faithfully by my side at the kitchen counter. It always pays off handsomely for them; in this instance with salmon and vegetables of their own.

And then, finally everything completed, we went off with the puppies to the ravine for our afternoon poke-about on the forest trails. Although I could only see them from a distance, below the bank of the creek alongside the trail, I finally realized what those tall stalks were, with suddenly-blooming yellow flowers: coreopsis. Tickseed escaped from someone's garden, brought to the ravine as seeds perhaps in some bird's droppings. They're over four feet in height at the very least, likely taller, and the flowers identified themselves to me. Amazing what we find in the forest.

Finally, back home again. The obligatory little stroll around the garden beds to assess the condition of all the plants and discover new appearances. The pink hydrangea that so far has deigned to bloom with a single flowerhead though it's quite mature and the foliage is large and healthy, is putting out another flower...Huzzah!

Than it's into the house to prepare a small vegetable salad for Jackie and Jillie, their afternoon treat, and finally a rest for all of us. To read the newspapers, look at what's happening on line. Catch up with emails. And there's still plenty of hours left in the day...