Marge Piercy

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Birthday and Museum Weather

20160208_154924It was shirtsleave weather Thursday, almost too warm in the house and baking on the sunporch. Yesterday and today it’s wind blasted rain, heavy at times and showery at times. But by Sunday, it’s supposed to get quite cold, below freezing both Sunday and Tuesday nights. I don’t think that will harm anything we’ve planted in the garden. Often even gardeners don’t seem to understand the difference between hardy and tender plants. We haven’t taken anything from the greenhouse that can’t take several degrees of frost. Plus we have agricultural cloth over them. It had been our plan to spend Friday night at a fancy hotel on the Boston waterfront to celebrate my 80th birthday. However the weather is not cooperating. We couldn’t see spending a pile to sit in a hotel room while the wind is howling and the rain is pouring down. We had planned to stroll around the harbor, but it would not have been pleasant. So we cancelled. We had lobster on my birthday with a great baguette from the French bakery with champagne and a salad. Woody went out that morning and brought me an almond croissant.It remains windy. March went out like a lion after coming in like a lamb. We finally signed our wills Wednesday at our lawyer’s office in Hyannis along with powers of attorney and those documents that set up a health care proxy and stipulate how long and by what method you wish them to keep your body from dying naturally. Then we went to Whole Paycheck and then to Petsmart. We brought in a good supply of catfood since we’re traveling so much in April. Besides the canned food, we got a big bag of Science Diet indoor adult; I have the cats conned into believing that’s treats. Well, Xena tried to open a can after ripping off the plastic, but she hasn’t yet mastered the canopener. However, she found the bag of science diet kibble way in the bottom of a box, ripped it open and began sharing it with the other cats. They celebrated my birthday with a feast of their own, provided by Alpha cat Xena, truly the warrior princess, although I address her as queen. Today I’m starting the last of the seedlings inside until August when I start the cole crops for fall and the second wave of cucumbers. I’m about to start sunflowers, patty pan summer squash, one hill of yellow squash and lots of zucchini. I am in the process of decluttering somewhat, getting rid of lots of things that have been hanging around – clothes that are perfectly fine but not for me; many vases we have accumulated; books I will never read or never reread; old makeup; old medicines; shoes I just don’t wear because they turned out not to be comfortable enough; broken cat toys or other broken objects I will never fix; just things we have accumulated. I can’t get Woody to throw out his unused stuff, his never to be read or reread books, but at least I can get rid of some of my unnecessary and unloved things. I tell him it doesn’t matter what something cost originally or that’s it’s still in good shape. If it's not something I will wear or use or read, bye bye. It’s an ongoing project.