Pickin' & strippin' basil....musings....

So I found out today that pulling up basil (or pickin' it) and stripping the leaves off the plants is a process that provides a good deal of time for musing...reflection...or whatever!!

• I have this pain in my pinny (as my mother used to say) and I've learned that it usually means that I'm stressed over something. So...I think tonight, I will carefully go over the landscape that is my life and try to figure out what the problem is. In the meantime.... I drink water....lots of it!!
• The neighbours have their back door open and their voices are carrying over to our yard. This is a new experience for me as our previous house was on 3/4 acre and we either didn't hear our neighbours or weren't around when they spoke loudly enough for us to hear. In any case, I can't really hear what's being said apart from the fact that the father seems to be on the phone a lot (I keep hearing him say things like "See ya Monday" "Is that all good then, See ya later" etc, etc, etc, ). The dog keeps wanting out and then when they let him out he turns around and wants back in again, so the screen door is opened by an unseen hand and he's back in again....and then it happens all over again.
• We have these unusual little bugs that have arrived on our deck....they fly, and they're red, and they crawl....sometimes on my foot!! We have a container on the deck that we use for water for the dog and cats and it has become unwittingly a receptacle for bugs who have "drownded"....I try to deter the animals from drinking before I can empty it, but my mate says...."Ah, don't worry...just more meat" Eeeewwwww!!
• My fingers are greeny brown and smell deliciously of basil....
• Why does our patio table get a coating of something dirty on it that you can't see unless you feel it and/or wipe it? Where does it come from....is it something to do with the mill that spews that atrocious odour which we get if the wind is blowing the wrong way? Is this something that we are breathing?? Scary......
• Nice new computer....reeeeally reeeeally fast....keyboard doesn't stick and we finally figured out (with nephew's help) that our optical mouse skips because it needs a texture surface, not a smooth mousepad surface. I guess that's why my laptop one worked really well when I was blogging in the car in Osoyoos and using it on my leg!!!
• Lady on t'other side of us has emptied her swimming pool. It's quite a process....at least we think it is...we watched surreptitiously and intermittently (from our bathroom window) as she cleaned the pool with that long pole thingie and then she fiddled with the pump and then she covered the pool with the winter tarp....and put the weights around the edge. So, over the past few days we have watched the water level descend slowly and I expect if I looked now or tommorrow it will be empty. My question is....where does it go....does it go so slowly that it doesn't affect the city's sewer system? In any case, when her pool is empty, you just KNOW that summer is over, even if the temperature is 27 deg. outside.
• I have started practicing again.....concert at the end of the month. It wasn't as horrible as I had imagined...I expect that the interim practice sessions that I had during the summer kept the embouchure from totally withering!!
• Going to the coast and staying at J Little Bro's place on Friday and Saturday nights. We are heading to Victoria for the day on Saturday for a 75th birthday celebration. Yes, Travelling Offspring...we will say hi to Victoria for you!! Chauncey's in the kennel to catch up with little friends during our stay. They say that dogs don't have any sense of time and that when we return to pick him up, he doesn't really realize how long we've been gone. It's nice to believe that...cuts down on the guilt a little.
  
• So, one thing about the new computer....my mate has been able to install his Age of Empires III. My question.....when will the novelty wear off??

OK, my musings are scattered and somewhat disjointed....but then that's the condition of my mind. I have basil left in the garden (purple variety, which is hardier) so I expect at a future date more things will be contemplated, blogged or not . Now it's time to go up and try to grind up the leaves that I have so studiously picked and sorted, add the oil and put in the freezer for winter pesto..
Mmmmmm....

Slainte!!