Hi ho, hi ho...

I love this time of year! Cool mornings give way to warmth, warm afternoons slip into refreshingly cool evenings. Is the term Indian Summer politically correct these days? If not, how else do we describe perfect gardening weather so succinctly?

Regardless of what we call it, I am free to take advantage of this glorious season, having completed many long-standing committments. I am, however, refusing to acknowledge all I need to do in my garden. Four years of benign neglect makes for a dauntingly long "to do" list. I'm choosing ignorance - if I were to realize how much I had to do, I might never find the courage or the energy to take the first step. So I begin, realizing that it doesn't matter what I do, as long as I do something.

Those first steps are doozies. My gardening efforts this weekend filled up 3 yard debris bins (thank you, neighbors, for lending me yours) and the back of our pickup. At 5:00pm yesterday, I paused to look at all I'd managed to do, feeling smugly satisfied by my accomplishments. That was a mistake. I had managed to do so much because, even when I slowed down, I did not stop moving completely. But now I'd done it. I'd lost my momentum and it might require more energy than I had left to ever move again. I was feeling every single second of my 48 years of age and then some.

Oy.

Somehow, I summoned up the energy to move again. Good thing I did, or else I might still be out there, covered in morning dew. Hmmmm, perhaps that was the source of my motivation.

But enough talk. It's time for action. I'm going to ignore my aching muscles and (if you'll pardon the cliche) just do it.

That pickup won't unload itself.

Darn it.