Losing a room

Well, it isn’t a room really, but for a few months a year it feels like one.

During those months, this is where I take my freshly made cappuccino in the morning. I guess I could call it my sunroom, even if there aren’t any walls.

It’s a lovely start to the day. Watching the birds at the feeder. Reading the Guardian on my tablet. Stella curled up on the other chair. (Or, if she was pushing her luck and I was feeling tolerant, on the table.)

In August the sunroom got even better. That’s when the Steller’s Jays came back. Hadn’t seen one for over a year. I immediately hauled the peanut feeder out of storage and filled it up.

Watching these guys swoop in and dislodge peanuts is very entertaining.

Yes, I love this “room”, while it lasts, but, as I don’t live near the equator, it doesn’t last year round.

It started raining a couple of weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong: the rain was long overdue and most welcome. But it was heavy, heavy rain that put the back room out of commission.

It stopped raining a couple of days ago, allowing me to start stacking the firewood, delivered in the rain and under a tarp ever since. It also allowed the back room umbrella to dry out properly. Obviously I didn’t want to take it down and put it in storage while it was wet. Imagine the nice mouldy smell next spring if I had done that. The umbrella is now in storage, the back room officially dismantled. I’ll miss it.

It’s a lovely September day today. The tablecloth and the cushions are back outside temporarily.

It would have been nice to take my computer out there and write this entry outside. Unfortunately the battery in my on-its-last-legs computer stopped taking a charge quite a while ago. There’s nowhere to plug it in outside and it doesn’t work unless it’s plugged in. Why not just buy a replacement battery, you ask. Well, the dead battery is just one item on a long list of reasons the computer needs to be replaced, but, you know, money. So I’m writing at my desk, losing some of what may be the last sitting outside day. I also need to get the rest of the firewood into the shed before it starts raining again.

So, having marked the official closing of the sunroom for 2019, I’m now heading outside with my coffee. Time to fill the peanut feeder and enjoy the show.