Yarrow and Yuletide

Back I was in the garden again this morning. Today's challenge: weed all the clover, grass, and yarrow out from around the lavender and strawberry plants. Yarrow is quickly becoming even more despised by me than clover, due to its deep and extensive overlapping root system (at least clover's runners are above the ground!). I ended up using a shovel to dig some of the biggest masses of yarrow root out, which were so large they wouldn't fit in my weed bucket; I had to put them directly into the burlap sack of garden waste being taken to the transfer station.

Tired and hungry from my gardening, I came in and had lunch, then brewed myself a nice cup of tea with milk and sugar. I set it down on my desk, turned to move some papers, and when I turned back somehow managed to knock the whole cup over. Mercifully my computer was mainly spared, as was my iPod, attached to it and charging, but the tea sprayed rather spectacularly across the floor, desk chair, and wall behind the desk. It even managed to get into the desk drawer and seep back out and drip onto the floor (thankfully I don't keep anything in that drawer). So rather than have a nice relaxing cup of tea and a rest after my morning of slaving in the dirt, I had to spend another twenty minutes mopping up tea, washing the floor and desk and chair and wall, and cleaning my computer. I ended up doing a load of laundry just to ensure nothing was stained.

After my own little Boston Tea Party incident it was doubly pleasant to phone up Warwick this afternoon and ask if I could come over to return the Christmas Carol music he lent me and play the piano. We ended up playing together for over 2 1/2 hours; he dug out an old duet book, so we worked our way through pieces by Mozart, Schumann, Weber, and Clementi. Those exhausted, we moved onto playing and singing four-part Christmas carol arrangements (he played bass and tenor, I played soprano and alto). It was great fun; I so rarely get an opportunity to play duets, and we had just as much fun chortling whenever we played the wrong notes or messed up rhythms as we did when we played things perfectly. I had such a good afternoon I lost track of time and had to run back to Skye's at 5:12pm as we were leaving here at 5:30pm to drive up to Waipukurau to sing Christmas Carols at St. Mary's church.

When I got back here I phoned my dad to wish him a Happy Birthday, and caught up on how their passport applications are coming along for their planned visit to New Zealand in the spring (well, Canadian spring, New Zealand fall). Skye overheard me on the phone and asked me to tell my mom that "You have a wonderful daughter", to which my mom responded, "Tell her I'm glad she likes my 'I'm a frayed knot' joke!" Sigh. I have a feeling the two of them would get along quite well if they met...

The carolling at St. Mary's was a lot of fun, as many people from the Waipawa Christmas Cabaret performance were there singing, and seeing as I had spent the afternoon singing with Warwick I was well warmed-up and ready to tackle carols like "Ding Dong! Merrily on High" and "Angels We Have Heard on High". Tomorrow there is supposed to be carolling and a picnic outside in the park, but the weather has been so miserable these last few days there is talk of moving the singing indoors into St. Peter's sanctuary. At least the rain keeps the gardens happy!

I'm exhausted from all my gardening and singing today, so I'm going to go have a shower and then hit the (metaphorical) hay. Night!

~Carolyn~