it has come to this...

November. Openly disliked by me for its weather, dark days, with a promise of darker yet to come. So of course, coming as no surprise, we have a day of drizzly cold weather. I expect nothing more from this month. 

There is a window of such light drizzle that it almost feels like someone is spraying rainwater cologne in the air. Millie is bouncy, joyous today! Wet air? No problem!

Breakfast for her is still on the meh side of things, but I have a topper to urge her on. And then she brings her toys to the corner chair and waits for me.

Here's a lovely detail about November: it will be Millie's birthday in a couple of weeks!

The girl is so full of vigor that I take her out to her yard for a decent zoomie spin.

She then plays, muddying her paws while I dig out dandelions. I'll never get even half of them, but the big ones at least are out!

The clock moves toward 1. The time of my first neighborhood Mahjong game. I had Chat GPT give me a five minute lesson, but honestly, I'm more than a novice. I do not play games in general and so I am a poor candidate for playing with serious gamers. But, it was sweet of them to ask me to join their group (um, they desperately needed a fourth!) and I hadn't the heart to say no. Besides, the hosting person lives just three houses down from me. How convenient can this be!

Today was just a trial run so that I could get the hang of the game. And guess what -- I won! (Which is a good indication that luck plays into the result. By no means entirely, but I assure you, I could have lost just as easily.)

It was, for me, a rare visit to one of the homes in the new development. Everyone here is a newcomer of course, though I may well be the newest of the newcomers on the block. This particular home had a different layout -- one that had room to support the two hobbies of the two who live there -- hers -- quilting, his -- woodworking. But let me stay with the quilting. This is no small quilting set up. She has been churning out the quilts for twenty five years now and they are spectacular. Here, I'll show you one or two:

She also does mosaics, but I think that's just an add on. My other neighbor turned a bunch of people here onto that hobby! 

I felt like the person who somehow skipped that part of growing up where creativity was forming and blossoming. I'm not crafty at all, I don't paint, I don't knit or crochet (these women do all those). And no, I don't weave or make quilts or throw pots. Sure, you can tell me that writing and photography require creativity and I don't disagree. However, neither of them require the use of hands. Gardening you say? It's a hobby, and it does require skill and lots of work with your hands, but once you've planted a garden, the maintenance part is just plain work. If you do not expand (I cannot!) or redo (I hope I don't have to!) failed plantings, you're pretty much tied to what you have put in place. You can improve the garden, but you're not producing something new. And importantly -- it's very seasonal. I'm playing Mahjong because my gardening will soon come to a total standstill. Water the overwintered pots once a month. How creative is that?!

But let's get back to Mahjong: I have to admit, the game itself was quite fun. There are challenges and strategies of course, and in my head,  I am still working through the reputation that it has (old women in China, playing late into the night...), but I had promised them availability once a month and at the end of the game I changed my mind and told them I would see them next Monday. It has come to that.

 

And what's going on with the roses? Well, they're still in transit and besides, the weather isn't good for outdoor work. I am resisting looking at rose websites because they are all launching their bare root collections (which are sent to our state in April)  and if you think there was an assortment beyond belief this summer and fall, well, the spring collections are about five times greater. I suppose it's a good thing that I simply haven't the space for more or else I really would spend all my retirement money and efforts on ... roses. I suppose there are worse ways to fade -- my father drank himself to pieces and my mother -- well, there wasn't much that brought her pleasure in her final years. Losing myself in the world of roses beats both those outcomes. Right Millie?

 

 

 with so much love...