Playing Hooky

  It was a hard week. The days all felt like 12 hour days. I didn't seem to be getting anything done or making any progress. I was tired. Laundry was piling up, dishes were piling up and I hadn't had time to practice my instruments or knit.
  Last night it stormed. The power went out and C had to sleep without his CPAP. When he sleeps without it the snoring could shake the paint off the walls. Of course this means that I don't get any sleep either. I managed to get a few hours and then lay awake the rest of the night wondering what I was going to do if the power was off for more than a day.
  I finally got up at about 6:30 am. the power was still out, but I had to feed the cats. I went into the living room feeling pretty groggy and was met by an anxious Scamp. I'm sure the noise from the storms bothered him. I sat down in a chair and petted him until he felt better. Then I got up and went to feed them.
   I read in the living room until C got up. We were trying to decide what to do. C thought we should go somewhere for breakfast and then run a few errands. I wasn't sure that was the right thing to do. After all we had no idea how widespread the power outage was. For all we knew every restaurant that we knew could be without power. I didn't think that the stores would be open either. We were debating this when the power came back on. I looked up and said a fervent "thank you". We made breakfast and decided that we needed to get a few things in case the power went out again.
  We had finished the last errand and were trying to decide what to do next. We were both tired. Going home and sleeping seemed like a good idea. Then I had another idea. We should go to the Arboretum. The last time we went there there was a lot unplanted and there wasn't much blooming. The gardens should be planted by now and it should be looking good.
  C wasn't sure. The chance of rain was 50 percent all day. There was a good chance there would be more storms. He wasn't sure it was a good idea.
  I thought that we would be all right. I had heard on the radio that the sun might come out. It could be good. We would have fun. I talked him in to going.
  First we called ahead. Since there were power outages we needed to know if the Arboretum was open before we drove all the way over there. It took a few tries, but we finally got someone on the phone who assured up that they were open and it was not raining.
   As we drove west the sky seemed to lighten. There were even some peeks of blue sky through the gray. By the time we got there,it didn't look like it was going to rain. At least not soon. We went inside and had a little lunch. I was eager to get outside.
  The sky was becoming bluer and bluer. The peeks of sun were getting longer and longer. Finally the sun came out and stayed out. It was going to be a nice,sunny day. We wandered through all the gardens we liked. The herb garden had food herbs and herbs used in beverages. The shrub roses had bloomed. The air was perfumed with the scent of roses. My favourite mock orange bush was covered with white flowers. I took them in my hands and inhaled the fragrance. It is my favourite scent. I wish I could bottle it.
   The wegelia bushes had bloomed. C took a picture of one that was almost all red. We went to the rose garden then over to the vegetable garden. I went to the cutting garden to see what had been planted this year. The cutting garden is planted with flowers that can be used to make bouquets. Nothing was blooming yet. We walked past the rock garden. C went to the Japanese garden to take pictures. I went to the fountains.
  In the spring the fountains are planted with tulips. Now that it is past tulip season the plantings had changed. It looked like orange was going to be a dominant colour this year. It was beautiful.
  C joined me satisfied with the pictures he took. We decided to end our tour by walking through the peonies. The were huge and gorgeous. Some of the blossoms were so big I could have worn them as hats. I bent down to smell several of them.
  I was glad that we had come. We were both happy and relaxed and not exhausted and stressed out. I knew I was going to pay for playing hooky. I still hadn't practiced or tuned any of my instruments. I hadn't knitted or cleaned anything up. It was all right. C and I needed this time away together. We needed to be in the sun and doing something fun.
  Tonight if the thunder wakes me up again and the rain pelts the house, I won't mind. I'll just close my eyes and pretend I'm sniffing mock orange. I may even get to sleep....