There were frosts and snows here in Heath, but in between we have been having the most delightful weather. Sun and warmth are such blessings at this time of the year that every ordinary (quotidian) task brings an awareness of the pleasures of the earth.  I have my morning routine, beginning with feeding and watering the chickens who are enjoying this weather even though it does not prompt them to lay eggs. I’m down to two or three a day, from the whole flock.

It is such a pleasure to be able to use the clothesline and have all the laundry smell so fresh and sweet after a day in the sun and breezes. A pleasure to hang out and bring in. Pretty soon it will not be so pleasureable. I’ll just use the dryer which is a whole different experience, but still, a pleasure when I consider the alternative of trudging out in snow and ice to let the laundry freeze on the line.

The harvest is over, and the vegetable garden is pretty well prepared for winter, but I’ve only just started on cleaning up the ‘herb bed’ in front of the house. The bed was enlarged this year to accompany the new paved entry leading to the Welcome Platform. The herb bed actually includes Black Beauty lilies, and a new Thomas Affleck Rose, as well as chives, parsley, thyme, bee balm, lemon balm, sage, black stem mint, tarragon and horseradish. This year it also included a couple of tomato plants which ultimately suffered the Late Blight.  The clean up has been such a pleasure in this warm weather.  The weed roots don’t seem to hold as tight, and there are no bugs. I’m not quite done and I hope the weather holds for a few more days.

And at the end of a day filled with ordinary pleasures, there was one of our extraordinary sunsets.  But I still had to look forward to a comfortable and pleasurable dinner with my husband, and being able to slip between those sweet smelling sheets at bedtime. A perfectly ordinary day.