short stories 15

Pecans

Perhaps I was a bit hasty in my assessment of the end of the pecan harvest. They aren't raining down but they are falling fairly steadily. I picked up a good gallon's worth between yesterday evening and today mid-morning. We have a slight breeze this morning and the trees' leaves were steadily drifting down as I was out there. So far I have shelled 4.3 pounds of nuts. That's the post shelling weight. This is my evening activity and also on Saturdays while I work at the antique store.

Spider

One morning last week, Marc called me out to see a spider web that was being lit up by the morning sun. Usually, spiders weave their webs in the evening and take them down during the morning. Apparently not the shield spiders as this little lady was busy spinning her web. She was putting it up right in one of my paths and so during the day as I went back and forth, I made a conscious effort to avoid crashing through it. I had some idea about taking another picture later in the day. Early afternoon, distracted by something, I crashed right through it.

Chandelier

before

I finally started cleaning the Dresden porcelain chandelier, a massive chore so I try to do a little every day. (and by that I mean I worked on it last Thursday and not a day since.) It will take an entire giant box of cotton swabs...or two. I don't know if you can tell how really dusty/dirty this thing is.

after

Trees

These two beauties are on my main artery between my house and the Square downtown. These are the two biggest specimens of these I have ever seen. The raintree is gorgeous and mine is puny in comparison but I'm glad this one is not in my yard because I swear every seed in every pod sprouts if it hits the ground. I'm already pulling up raintrees everywhere in the yard all year long. And this confederate rose is enormous! That's a carport underneath it on the left. It must never freeze back, being in a protected spot and they must never cut it back.

Work

I have so many things on my to-do list that I can't seem to pick any one thing. I need to work on the flower beds and plant stuff and start on the raised beds for next spring's garden. I want to work outside but it is still just so hot out there in the sun that I quickly abandon any attempt. I need to organize waxes and start making molds and casting stuff for the annual open house the first weekend in December (and it's probably already too late for that) and the show at the gallery in Florida next spring. And, I have two small proposals to write for commission work besides actually getting in the shop and finishing the commission we have.  

Sunset

Last night's sunset after a beautiful cloudless day.