A Small Lot of Wonders

The deep cleaning at the lodge is taking its toll on me. Little bumps and bruises appear mysteriously on my shins and forearms at the end of days spent scrubbing walls, moving furniture, and swabbing at the crease between wall and floor with a Q-tip. After the gloriously warm deer opener of yesterday, today’s rainy and it’s a bit of a shock to return to the menial labor grind after a weekend spent reading, writing and knitting in the sunshine. But rather than bemoaning my bumps and bruises here’s a list of the little wonders from this November day:

• The philodendron has two new leaves slowly unfurling from the little growth nubs that have been growing and growing over the last month. The spider plant has been growing steadily fuller and the Christmas cactus, despite having been moved during flowering, is holding its own.
• The bird feeders were put up this evening with the aid of Andy’s headlight: suet for the woodpeckers and sunflowers for the songbirds. The nuthatches have been eating dried corn soup mix out of a coworker’s palm. We’ll see how long before the birds discover our feeders tucked away in the wooded hillside beside the Shack. Hopefully the pine marten will let the feeders be for the time being and the birds will find the feeders by November 14, the start of Project Feederwatch.
• The elusive printer installation cd was discovered and I finally have a working printer hooked to my laptop. Alas, no black ink or printer paper. Yet.
• Mom’s Christmas present is knitting up quickly. Another skein needs to be joined the next time I sit down to work on it.
• The past few evenings I’ve had a chance, and ingredients, to make a few recipes that have been clipped out for the last few months, waiting to be tested. The results have been savory, but the real miracle is that they’ve made enough for substantial leftovers the next day, despite Andy’s seemingly insatiable appetite.
• No deer to deal with yet, although Andy spent a good portion of yesterday up in his stand. I feel a little like my mother did when my brother and I would go fishing when we were small. “What do I do if they catch a fish?” she would wonder. What am I going to do with a deer?
• A muskrat has made it a habit of paddling around the bay each morning.
• November may mark early, early sunsets, but we had a beautiful sunrise of deep pink and blue-bruised purple this morning on the way from the cabin down to work.
• Rain falling on the roof at bedtime.