a wonderful day

[asakiyume]

Today was wonderful!

It started out with meeting a young woman in a wheelchair, birdwatching by a small pond with cattails.

"I think I saw an American bittern," she said.

Later I brought some catalpa blossoms to a friend, and they gave me an iced, homemade-banana-syrup-and-oat-milk latte to take with me on my errands. It was a hot day and the drink was perfect!



My errands included buying a sickle to cut this long grass.



Not now: now I want to let it alone, as the fireflies and butterflies and bees enjoy it (and also I enjoy it). But later, in the fall, when the time comes to cut it. A lawn mower does a horrible, chewy job, and the shears I have are blunt.** So I want to try a sickle. I saw people cutting grass with sickles in Timor-Leste. Here is my sickle. I've named her Kusakari (grass cutter).



Now, as it happens, I also have a lump hammer, which the healing angel named Petra, and which is great for smashing open hickory nuts or acorns. Here she is, posing with some of last year's hickory nuts.



Well ... if we introduce.... Petra to Kusakari.... OMG!



Then on the way home from my errands, I was driving along a stretch of road that's marked "Turtle Crossing." Usually this is a depressing stretch of road because in spite of the sign, what I mainly see are crushed turtles -_-

But today I saw a live one, craning its neck, preparing to risk its life to get across the road. So I pulled over, went back, picked it up, and carried it across. When I set it down, it trundled on down to the water that was waiting for it.

ONE TURTLE LIFE SAVED. Yaaay!

And now I'm going to eat strawberries and whipped cream. PERFECT DAY.

**Yes, I could sharpen them. In fact I have sharpened them in the past and probably will in the future... but ... sickle!

ETA: The sickle's name should be KusaKARI, not KusaKIRI--corrected that now.

Comments

[house_wren]

Thanks for posting about your day; it does sound wonderful.
I had strawberries and whipped cream today also -- a good ritual for the start of summer.

[asakiyume]

It is a true taste of summer!

[sovay]

So I want to try a sickle. I saw people cutting grass with sickles in Timor-Leste. Here is my sickle. I've named her Kusakiri (grass cutter).

I love the idea of you as harvester.

[asakiyume]

Thanks! Let's see how I go.

Also, I got my own name wrong: my first instinct was Kusakari--which in fact was right! But I'm so rusty with Japanese that I corrected to Kusakiri (because "kiru" is to cut). But just now when I checked with Wakanomori, he confirmed that my original name was right. ... I tell you this because I've gone and corrected the text you quoted, so we have a mismatch. Not important really! But I feel compelled to tell you.

[sovay]

Not important really! But I feel compelled to tell you.

I appreciate knowing! I am glad she is now rightly named.

[puddleshark]

Well ... if we introduce.... Petra to Kusakiri.... OMG!

I laughed so hard at this.

A beautiful post, full of wonders. Thank you.

[asakiyume]

Oh thank you, I'm glad you laughed--I thought it was hilarious but sometimes my sense of humor is odd!

(Also, I made a mistake in my Japanese: it should have been Kusakari, whoops! So I've corrected my original text to that.)

[cmcmck]

The catalpa tree is a real rarity here (not the so called Indian bean tree but the big variety)

There's one in the grounds of Rochester cathedral in the town where I grew up which is the oldest in the UK.

I believe there are only a few dozen examples at most.

[asakiyume]

Whereas in these parts some people regard it as practically a weed tree. Not me though: how could anything so magnificent be considered a weed? ... though of course the most beautiful things get called weeds if they grow where their not wanted.

How cool that you grew up with the oldest catalpa in the UK! Imagine the stories it could tell.

[cmcmck]

This was it in bloom when were were down last year:

[asakiyume]

lovely!

[heleninwales]

We not only have a sickle, we also have a scythe. We used to need them to cut the grass in the back garden, but in recent years I've been using an electric strimmer (from "string trimmer"). I think you call those weed wackers. I realised recently that a strimmer/weed wacker it the modern version of a scythe because you swing it in a similar way.

I'm glad you could save the turtle and ensure it got safely to the other side of the road.

[asakiyume]

I love the name "strimmer"! I only recently figured out that it must come from "string trimmer." And you're right, over here we do call them weed whackers--but I knew the other term because that's what Wakanomori, being from the UK, always called them. We have one of those too, or did, but my recollection is that there was something fiddly about it that made it hard to operate. But maybe it was just cumbersome. It's probably just a matter of getting used to things.

I think--I hope!--that I'm going to like the fine control that a sickle gives me. But I have only tiny patches of long grass. If I had more, I'm betting I'd try to go find and resurrect the strimmer.

[mallorys_camera]

I love your day. ❤️

[asakiyume]

It was a good one ^_^

[raven]

You have a hammer and sickle 😂☭🚩

[asakiyume]

Exactly, comrade, exactly! Tickles me no end.

[light_of_summer]

Yay for your wonderful day—thanks so much for sharing it!

Speaking of seasonal treats, do you know about the Blenheim variety of apricots? They are in season now, and I find them the best tasting of the apricot varieties that I know of. They don't travel well (and therefore mostly used to be canned or dried), but if you have a farmers' market or an especially good produce place nearby, I recommend watching for them and giving them a try if you can. They aren't the biggest apricots, and their color leans more towards yellow-orange than rosy-orange, but in my opinion, their taste is pretty good even if picked a bit green, and it is transcendent when tree-ripened.

I also find Apache and Robada varieties of apricots to be worth buying, if I see them and can't get Blenheims. The other apricot varieties I've tried just don't measure up to those three, and I go buy yellow nectarines, instead—freestone and tending toward acidic, if I have multiple choices. 😏

Wishing you a summer of much personal happiness!

[asakiyume]

I don't know about them, but they sound lovely! I will keep my eyes peeled at the farmers market!

Likewise, much happiness to you this summer ^_^

[sartorias]

A turtle life saved, huzzah!!!

[asakiyume]

It made me SO HAPPY that it was alive and well and that I got to be part of it.

[osprey_archer]

I love that you now have a sickle of your very own. And I hope you use that hammer to have some delicious hickory nuts soon!