I'll ramble with ya!

Congrats on your new pup! What's his name? Someone had de-barked my whippet before I adopted him. He could still bark, but it sounded more like a quack, and I only heard it at very important times (like when someone was trying to break in to my apt. in the middle of the night). He may surprise you with remnants of a voice yet!

I'm the eldest of an eldest, so I'm blessed to have a grandma at my age, but she isn't doing so well lately. She'll be 80 this summer, and has started to become seriously confused. The trouble is, she knows what's happening to her, and is powerless to stop it. She watched all of her sisters succumb to Alzheimer's or a similar form of dementia at the ends of their lives. At a family meeting to discuss the fact that her children have hired a live-in home health care worker for her, she sighed deeply and said "What a horrible inheritance my sisters have left for me." Everyone was silent until my uncle quipped: "If that's the inheritance, can you just write me out of the will now?" She laughed. Hard. I hope I have half her grace under pressure someday.

She was happy to hear that the health care workers will take her on her daily walks. She may be blind (since 12) and increasingly frail, but grandma is a power walker, and I have a hard time keeping up when she gets going. Hope her live-in has good shoes! She'll need them!

Steve's travels have gotten crazy lately. We realized last week that he will be home exactly one weekend between now and June. Trips include Florida and several other domestic destinations I have forgotten, a week in China, a week in Sweden, and a trip to Spain. I managed to convince him that he needs a wife to accompany him to (Seville) Spain, and have arranged a full-day cooking class and market tour for myself for the one day he's going to be giving his talks at the conference.

I'm thrilled, as I've never been to Spain and Seville looks intriguing: it's the birthplace of tapas, the specialize in fine sherries and making dried hams and such out of acorn-fed pigs. This is the part of Spain that the Moors influenced most heavily before they were driven out, so I look forward to discovering their imprint on the architecture, culture and foods.

Spring is in full spring in my neck of the woods. The daffies are going gangbusters, the leaves of the million trout lilies behind our house came up as in magic unison last week, and I'm starting to see tulips color up and think about blooming too.

On Saturday I trimmed on overgrown willow bush, cut the branches into 12-18' lengths and "braided" a sort of living willow perennial border edge. I cut both ends of the branches and stuck both in the dirt so they'll root. It's real low and subtle right now, but I'm looking forward to seeing if the experiment worked or not. I did about 60 feet before I got too sore to continue.

Oh, I found out all sorts of interesting things last week. In addition to being very allergic to ragweed, dust mites, and cats (which I knew about), I'm also allergic to dogs. And as inconvenient as that is, it's not what has been causing the chronic hives I've had for the last few months. No, that's caused by either an allergy to the naprosyn (Aleve) I've been taking for my persistent joint pain, OR maybe the hives and the joint pain are being caused by some sort of auto-immune disease like Lupus. Yuck! I've never found myself hoping for a drug allergy, but I am now!

And so, it's a cycle of flowers and rains on the inside, and flowers and rains on the outside. I'm looking forward to some literal and figurative sun soon...

Condroitin Glucosimine MSM, Devils claw, Rhodiola rosea for the joint pain.

Having Earl Grey in stead of coffee this morning, too hot and too sore and tired to make coffee in the Barista. The bergamot is a nice change. Hit 100 here yesterday and the roses are just getting to the first full flush, burned most of the blooms. Weather says hot today too and scheduled to trim a big Chinese elm. Big bottles of water are being packed in the truck.

Daughter in law had the last chemo a week and a half ago, her hair is about an inch long now. Will hear more from the Dr. in the next couple of weeks. Been out to Riverside the last 4 weekends for birthdays, Missy's, the twins, Missy's best friends daughter's partner and just to go. Putting some miles on the PT Cruiser.

Mothers day coming up so will be out there again. here is an idea for mothers day...

A young man shopping in a supermarket noticed a little
old lady following him around.

If he stopped, she stopped. Furthermore she kept staring at him.

She finally overtook him at the
checkout, and she turned to him and said,

I hope I haven't made you feel ill at ease; it's just
that you look so much like my late son.'

He answered, 'That's okay.'

'I know it's silly, but if you'd call out 'Good bye, Mom' as I leave the store, it would make me feel so happy..'

She then went
through the checkout, and as she was on her way out of
the store, The man called out, 'Good-bye, Mom.'

The little old lady waved, and smiled back at him..

Pleased that he had brought a
little sunshine into someone's day, he
went to pay for his Groceries.

'That comes to $121.85,' said the clerk.

'How come so much? I only bought 5 items..'

The clerk replied,
'Yeah, but your Mother said You'd be paying for her things, too.'

Then catch him on the way out and say it was a late April fool joke, unless he looks rich.

I have a mom about to turn 90, she just was able to get outside for her walks, in the poor weather she walks in the apartment hall/stairwell..and she walks long enough to get in 3 miles a day..in nice weather she walks to the cemetary and takes care of all of the relatives and some not so relative graves..

she is much more frail than I would like having fallen and broke her back a couple years ago she walks more bent over.

She was so happy to get out and see things starting to bloom..but we are having a cold cold rain this week, 47 for our highest high yesterday and our daffodills are still tight in bud.

I too am turning over an old garden plot into a fruit and nut orchard..my fruit trees are up around the house close in, but the berry type fruits and the nut trees are mainly in the old garden area..there is a circular lawn back there with paths going off N,S, E, and W with a swing under a grape arbor on the S end..and metal arches over the other 3 paths..

So with a canadian cherry in the center of the lawn circle there are new plantings in an arch to the north of hazelnut (6) ..and behind and either side of the swing are two baby paw paw trees, ..North of them and either side of the arch are 2 lavender lilacs and beside them will go mulberry trees when they arrive..the beds between the arches and arbor have flowers in them, and the path leading south of the swing has a hardy pecan on either side as well as asparagus and rhubarb and horseradish.

off to the far west of this bed are two sweet chestnut trees and up to the North of the entire garden i have put in 1 black walnut, 1 carpathian walnut and 1 butternut equally spaced at the beginning of the woods.

This bed will also contain newly ordered plants when they come of 4 kinds of raspberry including black, red and gold in everbearing and singlebearing, strazzberries (the strawberries are closer to the house) 4 blueberry bushes ordered, and 3 blackberry bushes (also have blackberries by our garage that bore beautifully last year).

There will be multiplying onions and jerusalem artichokes going into this garden area as well as regular onions, garlic, and probably a whole passel of annual vegetables like corn, beans, peas, potatoes, etc..as many as i can fit in..my more tender vegetables and melons and things go up nearer the house..this is back 200 plus feet behind our house.

I also had 2 mammoth hickory trees, but didn't want them back here, as that would have been just too many taller shadier trees, so those also went in our front area..where we can use the shade.

it is nice to have summer coming on.

as for your relative with the cancer, my sister is just growing back her hair now..she was in Karmonos Cancer Hosp for 4 months from August through Christmas, and she has a tuft..almost a mohawk of grey and black hair on top of her head in curls..funny she WAS a readhead..

she is starting to gain..after losing nearly all her excess weight down to 110 pounds..her muscle strength is coing back..blessings on you and yours

Let's see what he looks like Suzy! I'll bet he's cute ;) I so, so, so miss the symphony. I still haven't been to the Schermerhorn, how very unNashvillean of me. Time and money are the issues there; too far down the list, but you've pushed it back up. LF tells me it's sad and grand. It bothered him that Schermerhorn himself never saw the place. I told him he was certainly celebrated as a son of Nashville. That ameliorated the pangs some. I'm glad and sorry he'll be like I am in that sense, sensitive to the plights of others. Empathy is hard to deal with and impossible to live without.

Michelle, from what I hear, you'll very likely fit in with the Spanish. They are territorial about their area where they live, in a way that is patriotic. They're also very laid back people. You'll do fine. Tell your gran to keep walking, dementia is greatly mitigated by physical exercise. It is a lack of blood flow which speeds up the process, so keep it flowing. Best of "luck" at being allergic.

Don, best wishes on the chemo kickstarting her new life here. I'll bet she loves her hair. Happy birthday to all.

Just got back from the physician who is one of the thorns that prodded me into losing weight. I guess it was worth it to lose the weight. He was a little too giddy about having jumped 2 categories from mildly (like 0.1) obese into the mildly overweight category (I started back on the diet today to finish the remaining half of my goal), it was funny to watch. He obviously worried about my weight every time, but chided me (it's ok, I pay him to say that to me, it's his job) to lose weight and now seems thrilled he had an affect on me. You have to understand he's my cancer doctor, and weight is a concomitant factor in higher proclivity towards cancer. He wants me to avoid cancer. He's right. But I love to eat.

Ed fired his attorney. We can't talk him into getting another. I worry about the poor fella. But that doesn't mean I'll rollover either; I have a small child to take care of for a very long time. He should be more worried than he is about how it'll turn out for him. I hope he'll hear someone else tell him he needs an attorney.

I have a paper due tomorrow, final this week, final next week, and my final final forever in three weeks. Good thing it's all by itself with enough time to focus studying, it's gonna be killer. After tonight's class, 32,4000 seconds left of sitting in class! 7 classes to attend left ever (including tonight's which will probably be really short, so I am not counting its seconds). I'm getting wound-up, fired up, and wwwwhhhoooopppppping a lot. It's time.

Not much to say. Nothing bad, nothing sad, nothing glad, nothing mad.....

Thanks for the interesting, informative posts. Rambling is an art, I think. For all the crazy, disjointed thoughts spinning around in my head, I find they don't make much sense when they're typed! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the above *ramblings*.

I rather miss the ridiculous business of late March, April and May in the nursery and greenhouses. But, I don't miss going to work a 6AM or earlier and not getting home until 8 PM and most days lunch was just a word. Tried to always have an apple on my desk so there would be something to eat on the run. I don't miss scheduling for the help and I don't miss the alarm going off in the middle of the night if the power went out in very cold weather and having to fire up the reserve propane heaters.

We are beginning to show a bit of green in our complexions I fear, spinach salads daily. Last evening that was just about all we ate. But with a couple of hard boiled eggs and some crisp bacon a box of fresh mushrooms and some chunked radishes in it there is a pretty good meal. We like the dressing made with red wine vinegar, sesame oil, a little olive oil and a couple of TBSPs of toasted sesame seeds. The weather has been quite cool but it hasn't frozen for a couple of weeks. The spinch was planted last August and winters here just fine. The only time we couldn't get spinach through the winter was when the temps. dropped to almost 30 below and the wind blew hard for a week or more. It takes 20 below just fine.

Heard from 97 year old aunt. She came back from Costa Rica about a month ago and said she wish she had stayed longer. Says it is cold in upper New York state. Said she is learning Spanish because she intends to go back there next year. Claims most people speak English but thinks it would be more polite to talk to them in their own language. Said she had the Rosetta Stone program, I"ve seen it advertised but know no one that has used it. Probably what I should be doing trying to learn French or Swedish. Seems like the biggest share of our visitors at the museum either speak French or Swedish. We get a lot of German speaking ones too but almost all do quite well in English. Well, so do the Swedes and most of the French but it would be nice if I could at least greet and thank them in their native language. Oh, the reason we get so many Swedes is because our heritage here is mostly Swedish and they are curious about us I guess.

Squills and wild tulips are blooming and a couple of brave daffodils have opened in sheltered spots. The goldfinches are turning bright yellow so I guess spring is really here

My life is nice. My best friend is having such a rough time, I almost feel guilty. The worst part of hers is that her sister (late 40's)is on life support, lungs full of fluid,with Sepsis and her liver starting to fail. I don't even know what to say or how to comfort her. When I hug her, she tears up, any trivial thing I am facing isn't worth mentioning. She is being tested all the way around.

On a lighter note, soccer for boy wonder is starting up soon, I started a second job, and I think I have reclaimed most of the marbles I lost. : )

Suzy, Congrats on the new pup. Post a picture & give us some details.

I love April (and May for that matter). Our weather has been wonderful & the heat has held off so out flowers are just beautiful. The roses are all bursting into bloom & every morning I go out to enjoy the show. I'm hoping to get busy with the long, put off gardening tasks as my own gardens are looking pretty pitiful right now.

Our MG Garden Tour is a week from Saturday, so we're busy helping the wonderful home owners who have let us open their gardens to the public. I love the garden tour & always get some good ideas on either landscaping or plants that I want to add to my own garden.

My vegetable garden is in the ground & I'm hoping for an early harvest. I pulled my first sweet onions out of the ground this weekend & DH cooked up some yummy onion rings with them.

Spring is here & it's wonderful!

I think that Mother Nature has finally gotten over her snit and given us Spring! The Temperatures have been up and down so many times that the thermometer on the back porch is worn out.

Our computers are all still sick. We think this one that I am on now, may be recovering. If this posts correctly, I will breathe a sigh of relief. We found out yesterday, that for some reason, Our ISP was holding all our emails. We had 79 dating all the way back to March 10. Thank heavens they dumped all the spam.

DH has been working too hard around the homesite lately. With his bad back and painful gut he doesn't need to be laying rocks! But he's doing it, because he loves to play with rocks and is good at it. The muddy morass between the back of the house and the old rock wall which contains the flower bed will be all ROCK.

Spring is trying to be here..the dogwoods are just coming into bloom. The daffodils are all gone, the creeping phlox is going wild, the rhubarb is up (pie, soon) and maybe..just maybe..the berries will do something this year if we get enough rain. The peonies are full of buds. I hope we've had our last freeze.

I need to mow the grass. That's my job, by my choice, because I don't like the way DH does it; and he's hard on MY lawnmower! I love driving the mower around, with the suicide knob on the steering wheel, and amazing all onlookers with my sophisticated pattern which leaves no blade unmowed without ever stopping and backing up.

Tomato and pepper starts are living under the fiberglass leanto outside now, getting strong before moving to the garden. We've had too much wet in the past few days, so the garden area is untillable, and it's still really too early to plant.

I planted two rows of Swiss Chard in the middle of the newly-cleaned out strawberry bed, with a row of radishes between the berries and the edging. Why not combine? It's close to the house, and I might even water it. I have rhubarb in the front flower bed, with the butterfly bushes and forsythia.

The weather has been weird! A couple of warm, dry days..then two or three days of rain. The plants love it, that's for sure..but it cramps my style when I have to work on the only days that are sunny and dry.

Planning a trip in August to the west coast to see kids, grandkids, and old friends. Haven't checked on prices yet, and am prepared for sticker shock. Haven't told DH I'm going, either, but he will support me in my need to connect with family and friends. It will be a busy, busy, trip; I dare not stay with DS and family for more than a week, or we would certainly NOT stay friends! Just too different!

I just walked around the yard, and some asparagus is up! Spears the size of my thumb..but not enough to make a meal. I hope they do better this year than they have done in years past.

I am getting creative urges..so it SURELY is spring! Replaced a wicker seat in a bench for a friend, and have been looking at my old basket books. Another friend wants me to paint an old window for her for her exercise area, so she has something to look at besides a blank wall. I have the window, and the paint, now all I have to do is do it!

I should have done a lot of things this week in the garden. Due to the "What not to do" in the previous post, I still have to take it easy a couple of days. I just peck on the keyboard right now.
An hour ago I was in the backyard. We have a blue sky with a few white clouds for interest, it's 85 degr., a rather stiff wind, luckily it's warm and the dogwoods are in full bloom. Underneath a couple of white and yellow jonquils. On the feeders and on the ground and tree are a bunch of Indigo Buntings, male and female, I guess they are just moving through, of course the cardinals are here too and to give a little more color, the goldfinches are also visiting. Add to that the always present robins and jays. I wish they would hurry up and get me that implanted camera.

It's up and down here in the twilight zone. Some very frosty nights and then - zap - a three day heat-wave, temp in the mid-nineties and a hard, dry wind blowing. Of course, my cooler is still under wraps, I am glad the house stayed cool until late afternoon. Gardening? watering was the only thing done.
But since then it had modified and a lot got done before and after the heat-wave.
I have a bed of low water vegetation, mostly California native and one of the species is the plant formerly known as zauschneria, now renamed something I keep forgetting. Why do they do that?
When I began to garden - as opposed to yard work - I knew most plants by their common name or "that little yellow number over there" and this appeared to work pretty well until I started communication with other serious gardeners and reading garden-books, so I made an effort to use proper, botanical names and forgot most of the common ones. Now something like zauschneria is hard to pronounce and harder to spell, what is the idea to come up with a different name.
It's not the only flora under the re-naming regime, they are doing it also with birds ...I think it's an ego-trip or having too much time on their hands.
Off my soap-box now.