I had a much more relaxed start to the day yesterday.
I was up on time, before the poet left for work, and he’d made me my dirty cuppa alongside his portable black coffee, which was a nice surprise. I had that while I had my first reading session of the day.
I fed the dog, put some crocks away, put some dishes in to soak, fed the birds as part of my activity hour, did my physio exercises, then sat outside in the garden for 10 minutes with the dog (he likes to sit on the bench with us), timer on, Merlin bird identifying app open on my phone.
The idea was to give myself just 10 minutes of natural daylight on my retinas. Recording the birds was an afterthought. But in just that 10 minutes, the app recorded (and I subsequently identified):
🐦⬛ robin
🐦⬛ house sparrow
🐦⬛ carrion crow
🐦⬛ blackbird
🐦⬛ goldfinch
🐦⬛ blue tit
🐦⬛ rook
🐦⬛ chaffinch
What a fantastic haul for just 10 minutes in the morning. Of course, after I went back in again and once I was installed at my desk, I also saw, throughout the day:
🐦⬛ wood pigeon
🐦⬛ jackdaw
🐦⬛ collared dove
🐦⬛ feral pigeon
We’ve seen buzzards flying overhead and at the weekend we watched a large flock of crows mobbing a buzzard. From our house we can see the first lot of trees that line the meadow and the heath. That’s where the rooks live, and probably the other crows too. And last week during the night we heard an owl!
I’m going to sit and record the birds again in a 10-minute reflection session throughout the week, and if it’s raining, I’ll wear and sit on something waterproof.
I evicted a giant spider from the bird food bin, and I hope my future me will thank me for putting a box of dog poo bags in there too.
After my breakfast, and once at my desk, the first job I did was update my diary for the week, as I’d forgotten to do that the day before. I started today’s blog post, washed another load of crocks and put another lot in to soak (we’d had crustless quiche the night before – which reminds me, I must send the recipe to a friend – and there were a lot of ‘pots’, as they say in Yorkshire), and moved into the lounge with the editing job.
After a few Pomodoros on the editing job, I was suddenly at the end of my chores for the day. What a wonderful feeling! I had something to eat. I read a bit more. Then I made a pudding for the next 3 nights: a pear & almond crumble. The pears have been in the fridge for weeks. It was about time I used them.
The poet came home from work and we took the dog for a walk. When we got back, I finalised and scheduled today’s post.
More of the same again today, with the addition of a book to republish, Wordsworth Short #24, Sunnymead Farm. Today’s baking will either be some choc-chip drop cookies or a couple of dozen mini blueberry muffins.
This post appears on Words Worth Writing and Medium.
