Rosemary's Ramblings in October

Last month I said September was my favourite month. Now I think October is! At least in New Zealand. Propitiously, our three calendars had pictures of places I knew. There was Cader Idris, my 'home mountain' in Wales. There was Algonquin Park, a favourite part of Ontario, and there was Black Hill near Kyneton. But all too soon the pages are turned and it is November, the last month of spring. So did anything worth recording happen in October? that is the question. Even if it did not, I'll probably write about something anyway!

I have been putting a lot of time into the garden, trying to do things properly for once, having been studying an Op Shop gardening book and realizing how much I have been doing wrong in the past.
“Armchair husbandry ... is never unprofitable,” stated the introduction to the gardening book.
My problem is keeping in mind what I have read. The spring, beautiful as it has been was not conducive to doing much in the garden. It was colder than usual, though it did not feel it, so things did not get a head start. One day in October we ate the last of last season's potatoes and parsnips, and at the same meal ate new season's lettuce. I thought that worth a note! Also new rhubarb.

We watch very little television because there is nothing to interest us on our limited selection of channels. However we saw two programs of Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds, which were fascinating. There is so much we cannot see, which our eyes are not designed to see, which become visible with sophisticated digital cameras. It occurred to me, not for the first time, whether when we are in the spirit state, we can see all that stuff. What a clutter! I prefer my limited vision. Do you know that all the messages you send on your cell phones leave electronic traces in the air?

Oh yes, something did happen in October. Our washing machine died. The repair man said it had had it. If we bought a new one from Van Dyks we would not have to pay the repair man. We had already paid a deposit at Van Dyks to have the repair man come to the house. That came off the price of the new machine too. So a day or two later, we had a new one with a 5 year warranty.

Another thing that happened was that a piece fell off one of my teeth. We had been told that only in an emergency were old people only charged a $35 dental fee. However, my dentist did not know that. This was not an emergency, and I got examined and cleaned and still only paid $35. However I cannot get away with that again for about a year.