Lake Jessup at Overlook Park. Winter Springs, FL

The circle bed has some peas just barely sprouting, some potatoes, and the coneflowers I transplanted over there. But for such a huge space, it's pretty barren. I've tossed out a bunch of zinnia and have some gaillardia to put out there, and possibly can move some of the cosmos once they bounce back from the hail damage. I want a tree, or bush, maybe the elderberry I got at spring fling a few years ago. Then fill the rest with perennials that can survive mostly being ignored. But until then, I'll use it for annuals and anything I can get to grow to improve the soil. And aside from the tomatoes that pretty much all got wiped out, the rest seems to be recovering. My potatoes are doing ok. The sunflowers are still taking over the entire bed. The chamomile that HJ gave me has about tripled in size, the 2 little comfrey are starting to grow (the bigger ones didn't survive sadly) and I keep finding feverfew seedlings in everything. I didn't even plant feverfew last year! And my lone celery started growing new leaves. Doubtful it'll actually do much, but I just planted it as an experiment. Most of my wintersown containers have sprouts; only problem is the sprouts look alike in multiple containers so I'm pretty sure they're weeds. Or sunflowers. Down side to recycling your dirt, you don't know what you'll get. Next up is to start planting cucumber and squash. My neighbor asked about squash so I told her I would start a few for her, even though I've never had good luck with squash.

I added All About Me! by Mel Brooks to the game thread a while back, and thought it might be a good read. I’m on page 130 of 806(!) and finding it really rather dull. I checked out I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai. It’s supposed to be a gripping murder mystery. The main character is a podcaster in LA and she returns to her New England boarding school to teach a winter mini-mester, where she and others from her class find new evidence that the wrong man is in prison for the murder of a classmate. I read about five chapters of her moaning on about being the kid who didn’t fit in and remembering her time at the school. Not very gripping in my opinion, so I returned it. I’m also trying the first book in a series by James Patterson and Mike Lupica, but it hasn’t really grabbed my interest yet, either. Donna

I have been busy unraveling some medical mysteries…so annoying and somewhat stressful. Today I finally saw an ENT for a sore throat I have had for 3+ months. Something about a sore throat, for me, says ”you’re sick” or ”you’re getting sick” so it has really kind of messed with my head and my energy level. Anyway, I was diagnosed with larygopharangeal (sp?) reflux, or ”silent reflux” and start taking meds tonight. I will be so happy if it works! I have no heartburn or any other stomach symptoms, just the sore throat. Meanwhile (I feel so old) I have had a foot issue that the podiatrist thought was bursitis, tried 2 cortisone shots with no result, now doing PT and he thinks it’s actually a trapped nerve. It is just another minor annoyance and doesn’t affect my activity except that it’s hard to get motivated to exercise when you wake up every morning with a sore foot. We will be away again this weekend visiting DS but DH and I have both agreed that next week we need to re-start our healthy eating routine and maybe even start ”dry January” a couple weeks early (making exceptions for a few holiday gatherings). We keep trying to establish a routine of walking 1/2 hr after dinner every night but it is reallly hard to start that up when it’s cold and dark! We should have started in the summer so it would truly be a routine by now.