Not a very auspicious start to the day this Sunday morning. Irving had suggested that it would be less trouble for me to just make pancakes for breakfast rather than the waffles we've been enjoying. It's true doing pancakes is far easier, but we both like waffles better, and I had already mixed up the batter meant for waffles, though the batter can be used for both. But I decided to go ahead with the waffles. Our old waffle iron has been misbehaving badly lately. The heat control is unreliable, and on occasion the batter becomes stuck hard on to the waffle plates, making detaching them quite difficult.

 

Piddling about with the waffle iron is also a delicate matter, since it tends to get very hot, and it's easy enough to sustain a skin burn. Sometimes it's the first waffle that presents as a problem, the rest baking very well. This morning the device went completely haywire, the batter clung to the waffle plates and absolutely refused to detach. I finally gave up, and resorted to using the remaining batter for pancakes, after all. No harm done, but time-wasting and a bit of aggravation. 

 

Minor irritations are easy to shrug off. It's when you're really and truly 'inconvenienced' that stress ensues. Like what happened while we were away a week ago in New Hampshire. On our arrival at the cottage, we hugged our hosts whom we've known for so many years and with whom a mutual fondness had ensued. We always greet one another warmly. We know from previous years with the pandemic that they were as scrupulous as us in keeping up with their vaccines. But two days after our arrival, Byron tested positive for COVID, while Donna was in the all-clear. They wanted us to know ... just in case.

 

Now, that did indeed cause some uncertainty and the stress of concern, since at our age and with both of us being in the group percentile of high vulnerability with poor outcomes with infection, we dreaded the possibility of having contracted the coronavirus. Happily, we did not, but in the interim until we were certain, we felt quite vulnerable.

Today is yet another beautiful early fall day. So far this month we've been in a paucity of rainfall, after August's all-too-generous rainfall events. There haven't really been many rainy days yet in September and we may be moving into drought territory. We can see the Leda-clay base on the forest floor being affected by a lack of rainfall. There are cracks appearing everywhere. 

 

Meanwhile, we take advantage of yet another lovely day of warm, but not hot temperature, slight wind and alternating sun and shade. In the shade of the forest canopy it always seems cooler than out at street level, understandably, but moving along briskly creates its own inner warmth in energy expended. The dry atmosphere is reflected as well in leaves beginning to fall from the crowns of trees despite fall colour not having yet set in. 

 

Back home again, doing our usual turn in the garden to assess the state of the vegetation there, a few mysteries have presented. One of our oldest rose shrubs has oddly enough lost most of its leaves, which is unusual, The Annabelle hydrangeas look positively pathetic in a droopy condition. The garden annuals, while still blooming, aren't as bright and fresh in appearance. Everything is beginning to slow down and fade...