AND IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING..!

 

The clouds rolled in, and then out again!  It was getting hotter and hotter.  However, despite the promise of the century, it did not materialise.  Ninety nine, ninety eight and back to ninety nine again. I was in my garden, Sunday afternoon, potting the last of the tomatoes and carrots.  Despite the 'prep' work I had done on Saturday, it was exhausting!  The excitement grew, however, when I saw the abundance of beef tomatoes that were growing.  As my friend says, "You can count the number of seeds in a fruit, but not the number of fruit in a seed".  One seed has produced more large tomatoes than I picked off the larger plant last year!  Boring as I may sound, it is fascinating to me how the plants have grown, each from one seed.  I am currently wallowing in the glory of rebirth!

My alarm was set on Monday.  As I reached the pool, it went off to let me know I had two minutes to get ready and go swimming.  It is a pointless alarm, as if I am in the middle of something I cannot stop, I cannot stop!  If I am already on my way, I am on my way!  I am not sure why I set it, but I have not 'unset' it yet.  The mockingbird that appears to be in our vicinity was not as useless as the alarm.  It went off and I stopped it.  I set it for my swim time and within two laps, I heard my alarm go off.  However, it only went off once.  I then heard another bird chirp and a repeat performance was not far off.  Each time a bird chirped, it was repeated from the same place that I had heard my alarm echoed.  Nearly a century ago, in 1927, the Texas Legislature adopted the Northern Mockingbird as the state bird!  Quite ordinary in appearance, compared to that of the other birds that we see, such as the humming bird, or the bright red cardinal (which is the state bird of Virginia) this bird has an incredible talent to put me off my stroke!  I carried on until my alarm warbled continually, and as I stopped it the mockingbird, once again, started to imitate.

"They don't pick up from there!" I told my husband when he said he had put the post in the outgoing box on Saturday. "They have to!" he said, stating that the postman must collect the mail from the box when he puts the incoming mail into the appropriate compartments.  It is a simple method.  We all have a key to our individual mail boxes, but there is one open slot where we can put outgoing mail, and the mailman is supposed to pick it up.  For some reason, he has not picked up the mail for months.  Yes, I notice these things!  The weekend's mail had been put in the box, but the outgoing mail was still there.  I went out with my 'grabber' to try and retrieve the letters that were still sitting there.  I know.  It is a federal offense to 'mess' with the mail, but this was still technically mine, if it had not been collected.  I managed to get all of our envelopes out of the slot and brought them back inside.  As I walked back to the office, I saw Grant's truck, and waved the 'grabber', opening and closing its 'fingers' as he drove by.  He did not wave back.  Upon his return to the office, I found out that it was not Grant's truck, and I had been snapping my grabber at a complete stranger, one who possibly witnessed my taking my (yes, my) mail out of the box!  Perhaps they just thought it was the crazy English woman, doing her thing! (Or thaing, as it is pronounced here!)  

The post did not arrive until after hours on Monday, but we were still working.  The outgoing mail was not retrieved, and I was quite pleased I had managed to collect it and get it into the hands of the other postman!

The mockingbird was not on duty on Monday evening, but the mosquitoes were out in force!  It was a reminder to put 'bug spray' on the shopping list, and keep cans at the front door, back door, pool bag and handbag.  I looked like a 'dot to dot' puzzle by the time I returned home!

Hummingbirds are fascinating.  They are not only beautiful, but their ability to hover, almost standing upright is quite incredible.  Each time I swam back to the other side, I could see the bird almost connected to the plant.  It was mesmerising.  My alarm was mocked again on Tuesday, only this time I had not completed one lap!

It was still very hot, and despite the promise of rain, the prognosticators were starting to change their mind.  "Maybe", they told me in an email.  "All day Sunday thru next week" turned into "we might get a sprinkle here and there!"  The temperatures continued to soar. "I'm going out.  I may be sometime", I paraphrased Captain Oates, each time I went to check the mail.  Opposite ends of the thermometer spectrum, I know, but it seemed apt!

My usual panache for creativeness appeared to be waning like the promise of rain.  It was sent further and further back into the recesses of my mind, and dessert was going to be far from exciting.  A swiss roll was all that I could muster, and I made the cake first thing on Wednesday morning.  However, for all the times I have made said cake, I got it wrong!  The mixture was too thick for the pan, and the cake, when rolled, split.  I would have to rethink.  Across town I went to see Michele, and to have her make up for my lack of creativeness. "What ideas do you have?" she asked.  "I want deckchairs", I responded.  Sometimes, I am just not understood.  (Probably more times than some!)  "You mean, what?  Wooden slats?"  I looked at the new colours, all glitter based, that sat on her table top.  Yes, I wanted them all, but they would not work for what I had in mind.  I pulled up a picture I had taken of the pool, and just in the frame was a chair by a table.  "Like that" I said.  "You mean stripes?  I can do stripes" she said.  I suppose I did mean stripes.  I chose different colours for each nail.  "But you have winter colours with summer, and fall", she said, in a disappointed voice.  "Yes!" I responded.  She had just responded to another client that she did not think that two colours presented to her would go together, and repeated this to me, but of course, I was the customer, so she would do what I asked.  When she was finished, she still did not really like the outcome, but I was delighted, so that was what mattered. "Did you put yourself in for that baking show?" she asked.  She had sent me a link to a new show that was asking for contestants.  I said I had not, as I was not really good enough.  "Nothing ventured, nothing gained", was her (not word for word) response.  "I can't make anything the same size!" I said.  I told her about my disaster that morning, to which she responded, "You can make something great out of that".  Like she did to my nails?  I thought they were great!

The alarm warbled, only it was not the alarm.  "Can't you mimic something else?" I shouted to the air, as I could not see the State bird anywhere.  It seemed to chuckle, or at least that was the mimicking sound it produced next.  Chuckles all around!  "Mocking me?" I said, perhaps a little more aggressively than necessary, as the bird was doing what it does! 

"It's a gateaux Swisse, with strawberry lime coulis" I said, when asked, "What are these?" having taking the few left overs into the office.  As the Swiss roll had broken as I had unrolled it, I decided to use the pastry cutters, and create 'rounds' filled with cream and strawberry puree.  "Wow, these are amazing".  Another success from a bad apple!  I laughed to myself.  "Mock me now, bird!"

"I just met the new neighbour", I told Dana when I came in on Friday.  "Just him.  Not her", I said, presuming he would know about what I was talking.  "What's he like?" asked my husband.  "He's twelve!" I said.  I am getting old!  A lovely, polite young (very young) man had just got out of his car, and I was in my garden. I thought it would be good to introduce myself.  He appeared to be shy, but wanted to be friendly, and I did not 'push' it.  I just introduced myself and let him know that if he needed anything, just bang on the door, or call.  I had left a note with my number, being neighbourly, the weekend before.  "He must be at least seventeen if he is driving", said my husband, tongue in cheek.  

I had enlisted Grant's help to move my tub in the sunroom, as it had slipped off its wheels.  He had agreed, but as they had not come to 'work out' on Thursday, I said that Dana could help.  However, I knew it would not be that easy. "He will make a mathematical conundrum out of it", I said, perhaps unkindly.  "But I will ask him, and see how it goes".  The mathematical conundrum was indeed worked out, and the tub remained unmoved, as we failed to maneuver it back onto its wheels.  I had an epiphany!  It was really not that difficult, and I am surprised that my husband's extremely logical mind did not come to the same conclusion.  I removed all the plants out of the tub, and then moved the tub back on to its wheels!   Simple!

I had to take myself shopping on Saturday.  It was hot!  The mockingbird failed first thing in the morning, as I did not have a pre-alarm set.  Instead, it repeated the sound after my alarm had gone off. However, it somehow managed to get a similar sound without prompting later in the day.  

Suddenly, around four o'clock, there was a slight shower.  As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas, so it seems just as apt that if it is slight it is very slight.  Drops the size of golf balls, but only about half a dozen!  Some neighbours appeared pool size.  "Did you feel that rain?" I responded that I did. I half expected the mockingbird to come out and sing, "Me too", but that would have been a little too mocking!  The promise of rain at four had been pushed back to five, and then seven.  I doubted we would see anymore precipitation today, but hope was still abound!  Another neighbour came down to the pool.  "I remember you", she said.  "Last year you said you have lived here for many years, and when I said, 'Austin, or here', you said, 'In this chair'."  I smiled and said, "And here I am, still in this chair". We all laughed, and chatted about the heat.  Another neighbour came down, with her new boyfriend.  "She swims, summer, winter, whatever", she said to him.  "She has a wet suit!"  I responded that I now have too, thanks to my step-daughter, so I can swim more! "I hid when I first got it, as I thought people would think I was a bit crazy", I said.  "Oh, you didn't need the wet suit.  We all knew you were a bit crazy, swimming in March and November!" said my neighbour.  I shrugged my shoulders, and smiled.  "A nice crazy though", she added.  I know her well enough to know she was being nice.

I spent a lovely afternoon, chatting and then went back to water the garden, after which Dana and I decided on somewhere to go for dinner. As we walked out, my neighbour was there with his father. He introduced us, and we exchanged pleasantries.  "You are right.  He is twelve", said my husband!

Around eleven, the storm hit.  It came in with a vengeance.  Lightening struck all around, and it was not until after midnight that we heard thunder.  Whether it was hail, or just giant raindrops, I know not, but it was pounding at my windows.  I wondered if the mockingbird was safe.  I assumed he was growling like the thunder, and then chirping like raindrops, or perhaps he was asleep!

The temperatures dropped.  Sixty four on Sunday morning, meant that I took a jacket with me to put on after my swim.  It was going to rise to about seventy eight. Twenty degrees colder than we have been used to for the past couple to three weeks.  It was most refreshing, although the skimmers needed cleaning.

I will probably not encounter human company today at the pool, as it will be much too cold for the Texans.  I still have not met the female part of the couple that live next door, but perhaps today she will venture out at the same time as me.  The mockingbird did not sound this morning, but that does not mean he is not around.  I shall listen out for him tomorrow.

The rest of the week is going to be milder than we are used to.  The trip to the post box will be much easier. I may be even longer, though, as it will be nice to experience a cooler walk.  I am wondering if I will have enough time to take a little time off work to do some shopping for a project I have in mind.  It is a bank holiday this weekend, and I have lots of plans for indoors, if it is cool enough to stay indoors.  Jubilee celebrations are going on at home this week, as there is an extra long weekend to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II seventy years on the throne.  Bless you ma'am!  Thank you for your service!  Memories of the other jubilees come to mind, but they are all very distant now.  Somewhat like .......... another story!