Anatomy of a Lazy Sunday — Was it "Sublime?"
Rather than my usual type of content today is going to mostly be dedicated to simply taking a slow Sunday afternoon and getting away from screens. I was hoping to get something practical done but the most practical thing I'm going to do today is some weeding.
We have a messy corner behind our shed where the compost bins are... and it really needs getting to.
I'm not going to be working by myself as I can see our two resident crows Langdon and Lucy have arrived on the scene to supervise my efforts. I'm not sure how we gave them those names, but they are definitely a bonded pair, and they insist that our topless spruce tree is their eternal lookout post.
The sometimes make quite a ruckus in the morning!
Weeding is pretty cathartic all in all. I guess a lot of people wouldn't agree... but that's OK. I often get my best ideas while doing something completely unrelated... so you could argue this is part of the creative process! And I get to do it next to a spot that has built-in snacks in the form of our blackberries which are starting to ripen.
I like weeding when it's really dry — as it has been for the past couple of weeks — because I don't end up with giant clumps of sticky soil that have to be beaten off tangles roots... but you also have to be careful because there are things that hurt you in the form of stinging nettles...
... as well as big thistles hiding down in the thickery that all of a sudden will put razor sharp spines in your hands. Hence I tend to wear heavy welding gloves when I do this kind of work, which will also include cutting thorny blackberry vines.
But doing the weeding is not just about getting the weeding done, it's also about seeing what's there and observing nature while I'm in it. Like this tiny passenger I just spotted.
A lot of people might look at what I'm doing here and say "but wait, how can that possibly be relaxing? How can that be a lazy day?"
Well, to me it's relaxing in the sense that I get away from the screens, and it's a pretty mindless exercise all in all. I also like the fact that I can very tangibly and visibly see my progress and of course there is the purpose of making it easier to get to the blackberries as they come in to season and ripen over the next few weeks or so.
The there is sudden motion, and a hawk lands at the opposite end of the fence. I feel like telling it that "it's about time!" as we have had an infestation of rats and voles... but hey, better late than never!
There's also the secondary objective of getting the thistles out before they start throwing seeds and I'm running a little bit late this year. Thistles are one of the most pervasive noxious plants around here and I've been trying to get rid of them for years but it's probably an impossible task given that the finches like to eat the seeds and then they poop everywhere and more thistles come popping out of the ground!
As I stand here doing this I'm definitely grateful for the fact that I no longer live in a really hot climate where this just wouldn't be possible!
I hear a nearby thump, a reminder that the apples have started falling. They are falling pretty early, this year...
I that one thing I wanted to do while I was out here was harvest the seeds from a particularly beautiful red poppy that grew next to our compost bins. A lot of people consider puppies a "trash plant" but we think that they're very pretty and particularly if you're able to contain them within the space where you want them to be.
Time goes by quickly when you're working on something pretty mindless, and your thoughts can otherwose wander. It only took me a couple of hours to clear out a patch that was totally overgrown... four garden carts worth of "nasty noxious thorny stuff" in the back of the truck.
It looks a lot better now, and starts off cleaning up the whole fence line so we can add some new boards to the fence... which is looking very delapidated in places.
Maybe it wasn't exactly a "sublime" Sunday, but I'm pretty happy with it... except for the handful of invariable nettle stings on my arms.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week ahead!
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2026.08.17 01:28 PDT
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Good job!! This alone... already looks sublime enough to me.