Wasn't meant to last

It was, as they say, not meant to last.
A killer frost did them in,
the deal sealed with a skiff of light snow.

Tiny pink ballerina skirts,
crisp with cold
and capped with a crystalline pouf.

The first snow of the season wasn't even in the forecast. At work last night, someone looked out into the darkness and saw tiny white flakes floating down into the pools of yellow beneath the street lights.

It won't last. The first one almost never does. It'll warm up enough to melt it away. But it is a hint of what's to come... the long cold of prairie winter stalks us stubble jumpers relentlessly.

Pips (aka That Damn Cat) darted out the door after me as I went to take the above photos. I didn't even know she was out until she chirped at me as I stood on the front lawn, snapping away with the camera. She sat on the sidewalk, with her pristine white paws tucked closely together, shivering slightly in the morning's chill. She surveyed the neighbourhood, not wandering off, and was glad to be picked up in warm arms when I finished the photo shoot. Silly thing would never survive outside for long... the temperature is right around the freezing mark and she thinks it's cold already! She has no idea....

Although we first touched base (no, not like that! get your mind out of the gutter) in August, just before I met up with the (Not So) Funny Man, things are very slowly beginning to take on an air of exploration. I'll call him the Long Haul Brit. He's been in Canada for six years, a long haul trucker and is not often in town, but we keep in touch via email and phone calls. He said October would see probably more than 11,000 miles logged... I cannot imagine spending that much time behind the wheel and although he's done it for decades, all over Europe and now North America, he is now looking for something local so he can have a real home and a life. Spending all your time in truck stops and sleeping in a cubby hole is not any kind of a life unless you are content with Me, Myself and I as company. So the search is on for a new line of work. We are both hopeful that will happen relatively soon...

It's not Spring, you know!

Remember about 10 days back, I showed you some photos of the flowers in my front garden?

They seem to have gotten their seasons mixed up.

They continue to grow and blossom with great gusto.

Despite the fact that we've had frost a number of times already since those first photos were taken.

Compare, if you will...

This is from October 13th.

This is from today....

And here you can see the leafless trees in the background,
proving Fall has indeed fallen.

Are they alien life forms? Will they take over the planet? Will they survive the winter to add a splash of colour to the bleak frostiness of our Winnipeg snow? If they did survive the winter, would the rabbits take great delight in nibbling away at their green crispy stalks during the cold days to come?

I really should pull them up soon. The forecast is for rain for the next four days... and given that it's been below freezing at night now with great regularity, the chances of these flowers surviving and not turning into blackened stalks of slime are slim.

But I am loathe to interrupt their valiant flourish in the face of Fall... their piece de resistence, so to speak. Perhaps I will just let them do their thing and see what happens.

Nothing new, really...

There really isn't much going on right now.

Other than work, of course. Which is always busy. Always overtime to be had to pad the bank account a bit. Dialysis is a growth industry, don't you know...

The man thing is in limbo, with a couple of things in the wings but nothing definite, so no details yet.

Since early September, menopausal symptoms have sprung to the forefront, with the onset of major hot flashes and night sweats, which are causing havoc in my life and increasing my water bill tremendously, due to increased laundry and more frequent showers. *sigh*

If this keeps up for much longer, my mattress will rot...

I am on day three of hormone pills in hopes of allaying the severity of said onslaught. So far, they've done nothing. I am going to assume it must build in my bloodstream to a therapeutic level before any action will be noticed.

I WANT THAT TO BE RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT!!!!

Sorry... one gets a tad cranky when the power surges occur about 20 times a day and gawd only knows how many times a night.... I sleep with the window cracked open (and night time temps are now below freezing) and the heat vent blocked. I still have to throw off the covers, completely drenched, to fall asleep, only to wake a short time later chipping icicles off my nose and nip... oh never mind. I'm sure you get the picture. In short... it sucks. I'm sleep deprived. I have luggage under my eyes that a family of four could use for an extended vacation.

It's rather embarrassing when patients at work notice the beads of sweat covering my face, my arms, my damp hair. I am constantly mopping sweat from my brow. It's a good thing my reading glasses are on a string around my neck or they would have fallen into many a messy situation. Ew. I don't even want to think about that!

So to lighten the mood, I will force you to look at photos of my girls, all taken today and none photoshopped to hide any imperfections. Because frankly, aside from the dog's drooling, they don't have any. At least not in appearance. Lila's behaviour, on the other hand, is a completely different story.

This is Zoë's attempt at alluring bedroom eyes.
She is in the bedroom, after all.

Lila as.... Sleeve Cat. I think that says it all.

Little Miss Pips... Pretty in Pink.
Doesn't the blanket just match her nose purrfectly?

(Did you notice that the cats are colour coordinated with their 'attire'?)

Will you look at that!?!?

Today is October 13th.
We've had only one frost so far this fall and not a very hard one at that.
So these Cosmos are going crazy with the warm weather and are continuing to blossom.

The seed packet said they got 4' in height. Do you think it lied? Some of these plants are well over 6' tall! They are actually blocking the living room window so the cats have to sit on the upper deck of their cat tree to be able to survey the neighbourhood.
The dog has given up looking out.
She has nothing to climb up on.
She lies in the sunshine and sleeps instead.

The colour variation is beautiful, isn't it? And look at how many buds are still unopened!
If it stays warm for a while longer, I just might have flowers in December!!!

(Yeah... I know... that's wishful thinking.... or is it delusional?)

I just love these!!!

What's that old saying?

Life has a way of offering up a constant stream of joke fodder to comedians. They just can't help themselves. Everything they see/hear/smell/do can be turned into a joke.

Sometimes, I laughed so hard, I had to worry about my non-waterproof mascara running. My sides would hurt.

But then my feelings were the things that hurt. Because I became fodder for the jokes. And putdown humour is not funny if you are the butt of the joke.

"Familiarity breeds contempt."

It appears to be true. As the New Beau and I became more comfortable with one another, the jibes about some of my clothes, a certain piece of furniture, my (hormone induced) forgetfulness, the colour of my purse became a steady stream. Even when informed that I was not at all comfortable with that and that I found it hurtful, it didn't stop. Because it was funny, you know, not hurtful. And I was free to do the same to him.

But I am not a comedian. And I am definitely not about to say hurtful things to someone. Because I don't think that's funny at all.

From my end, it wasn't in the least. And when it didn't stop, I called a halt to everything. Sent him on his way. At least, later that evening, he emailed and apologized for his comments, saying I didn't deserve them.

Which I certainly didn't.

I still can't believe that what had started out so well went down the tubes so quickly.

His loss....