Morning Musings

July 13, 2020

If you manage to read all the way to the bottom, you will see that I began this ages ago. There's no excuse except for mundane things such as dentist, eye doctor, eye glasses, etc. I have ordered the glasses from Costco which means that I had to do some shopping while there. It has been an expensive ten days!

This morning started with a call from 'The Police Association.' The recorded opening line is, "You're harder to get ahold of than a roll of toilet paper." Boy, that really makes me want to donate to a scam charity!

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

But total happiness first. Yesterday Emily brought J. and we started our visit at Groff Park which is barely 10 minutes from my house. They have just recently refurbished it, spending over $1 million. And it looks it with sturdy plastic equipment and big, tall shade umbrellas. My favorite part was the squishy floor material so if a child falls it's not as catastrophic as in 'the old days.' We had a great time and J. did too! 

At 17 months old, J. is a delight. Of course, I only get to see him when he's smiling and playful. Emily changed his diaper at the play ground and it went zip zop, no problems. She remarked that usually he's fighting and making a fuss. 

We all enjoyed some homemade strawberry ice cream before they left for a nap at home. I thoroughly enjoyed our morning together!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

As much as I would like to pretend that my gardens are riots of color and blooms like Martha Stewart's, I cannot. In reality, apparently, I belong to the Bloom of the Day Club. I seem to get only one bloom each day. The exception is the orange day lilies which are a saving grace because they don't mind sharing space with a myriad of weeds. 

7-12-20

7-7-20

I was so happy to discover that the flowers below are actually bee balm and not weeds. To the left is a climbing red rose bush that has finished blooming. It was years before I discovered it and now I'm trying to be nice to it and giving it some fertilizer. I hope the humming birds find it.

On July 6th I went to Andrew's Greenhouse and the colors and plants in profusion were a tonic to my soul. I enjoyed the garden accoutrement, but most of it was too expensive for me.

I thought this was the cutest bird house!

Below is the view from Andrew's Greenhouse's parking lot. This is about 6 minutes from my house, part of the south Amherst neighborhood. It's a couple of doors up from the church and the South Amherst Common.

Needless to say, it was a gorgeous day to go to a greenhouse! Of course, there are lots of plants outside but by the time I got there, it was HOT, so I did not linger to take pictures.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

This is the last of "the little lilies" in the front. There are orange and pink -- pink first to bloom, then orange. One at a time.

July 5, 2020 last bloom.

June 28, 2020

****************************************************************************************************************************************************

This post is beginning on July 2 in the morning, but as you may have figured out, sometimes a post is written over three days or more. 

Carole sent me a missive from her UCLA health plan with suggestions about coping with the pandemic. There was a section called "Lift the Spirit" and one of the suggestions was to get out in nature. I guess doing battle with the wild roses and other weeds in my garden is getting out into nature.

My leg actually looks a lot better after some soapy water cleaned it up.

[Update on 7-13: You would never know I had those scratches. But ... I seem to have poison ivy scattered around and it did not show up until about three days ago. I have not been in the garden since!Weird, huh?]

 

Another suggestion was physical exercise and the aforementioned gardening and landscaping escapade must have been good exercise because I hurt in muscles I didn't even know I had. I guess the one cubic yard of soil and mulch is heavier than I thought.

Under the good nutrition and socialization area, they suggested a zoom dinner party. Helpfully, they provided some recipes which all seemed to be bean based. I guess it's a good thing that your dinner guests would be on screen so that nobody has to inhale the inevitable gaseous component of beans. 

Finally, one of the suggestions that I took to heart is to communicate with someone daily. He's not talking back much, but I sure am having fun yelling at that darn chipmunk who keeps digging holes in the garden or on the front walk. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It's back to July 13 and I wish you all good health and a great week! I have been knitting some and I may show it to you later but I'm still in the design phase and I would rather complete the blanket before showing it to you.  Cheers!