Arrrgh!!!

I'm having an odd morning. The house is strangely quiet, and it almost seems as though I'm in the wrong house. Elegante Mother has gone to visit with another of her daughters for four or five days. Her rooms don't have the usual inviting halo of light, and there's no jazz playing in the background. Normally, I'd hear EM conversing with the cat about whether he should go back outside or not. It seems very strange.

We have a wedding coming up in our family this weekend. True to form, I've put off shopping for an outfit until the last moment, so this morning I will have to take myself off to the mall. Just one mall, if I'm lucky. If not, then to several. The wedding is at 5:00 and it seems that the general attitude is that dress should be semi-formal. I clean up reasonably well, but I'd really rather be in my gardening clothes.

Ed (Edward Scissorhands, the cat), had a doctor's visit on Saturday. We've been watching over him since his radiation treatment for hyperthyroidism. A month ago the vet ran some tests and determined that he needed to go to a low protein diet. We have been gradually changing him over to the new food, which he really doesn't care for. Last week, in desperation, he tried to take down a bunny his own size. I'm happy to tell you that bunnies are very good at playing dead and sneaking away. We're waiting for the results of the blood tests, but the one ray of good news was that Ed had gained an eighth of a pound over the last month! YEA!!

I was browsing through Prevention Magazine while I was waiting in the vet's office. Did you know that people who have at least 20 drinks in one month are 66% less likely to develop insulin resistance? I have intended for some time to start serving wine with dinner. I keep forgetting that it's sitting there in the wine rack. Besides, this would be a nice tip of the hat to our late son, who was our personal wine expert.

I was gardening in the rain on Saturday, and I moved a stepping stone and uncovered an ant abode. In way of thanks, they sent visitors to my wrists to BITE ME!! Those itty bitty darned little red ants HURT.....and my wrists STILL itch. I'm going to have to look for some topical antihistamine, and wear long sleeves today.

So....there are my thoughts for this morning. You can see that my brain is on hold, not quite ready to jump into the day, but more awake than it was an hour ago. I hope you're all facing the day with verve and aplomb!

Have a great one!

...that's the word of the day. See....look over there to the right. You might have to scroll down a bit to see it.

We have numerous gardens around the house, under cultivation. There is a patch of ground north of the house that is waiting for Dear Husband to cultivate, in preparation for veggies.

We cultivate low maintenance friends.

Raising a family could be considered the art of cultivation. You prune away bad habits, and supply your children with a healthy stream of nutrients in the form of food, ideas and experiences.

Go forth and cultivate today. You'll be better for it, no matter which medium you choose.

We have a very interesting banker. He's been our banker for a number of years, but it was just this year that I learned he is the age of the son we lost on New Year's Eve. I'd never given any thought to how "young" Joe is. He's good at what he does, and brings a wealth of experience to the table.

Today, he guided me through the steps to accomplish something that our business required, and then we drifted into more general conversation. It lead to the fact that we are both dissatisfied with the options we have in the voting booth. I started to say that I felt the welfare system needs to be overhauled, but he felt that it needed to be closed down! We frequently see things alike, but it turns out that he is a Libertarian, while I am a Centrist.

I know this because he sent me to take The World's Smallest Political Test. This is a Libertarian site, but the test is interesting, and will give you an idea where you stand in relationship to the Libertarians. If you have a couple of minutes, go take the test. You'll see it in a turquoise box on the right side of the site.

CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government
control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on
the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention
and sometimes support individual freedom of choice.
Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind,
tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what
they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.

You know....it's really shocking to pull up your own blog and see that it's been so long since you posted that there's no message box on the screen!

Edward Scissorhands (our cat) is helping me with this entry. Or maybe he's saying that I had better get off my duff and FEED HIM! It's tough to tell. This time of the evening he generally comes around looking for attention, but he behaves the same way when he wants to be fed.

Okay...stinky cat food set out, dishes rinsed, dishwasher started....(see what keeps me from blogging???)

I think I have finally come to the time when I will have to admit that I might have to cut back on my beloved drink of choice (hot or iced tea), after dinner. I have not been sleeping well this past year. There are a number of issues involved here, but I'm pretty sure that by switching to decaf tea, or water, I might be able to improve the issue of getting to sleep. Time will tell.

I'm also trying to take good advice offered to alternate tea with water. We ALL need more water in our diets. Most of us don't recognize dehydration when we experience it because we are frequently borderline dehydrated to start. I used to think that because I drank so much tea, I couldn't have a problem, but I was wrong. You need to drink WATER....not just liquids!

I've been pondering weighty issues this week. Earlier, I posted a link to a political quiz. The past few days I've been thinking about pro-choice and anti-abortion issues. It's a sign that while my hands have been busy with chores, gardening and piecing quilt tops, my brain has been wandering. I'll let it wander a bit more and then share a couple of those thoughts with you.

Did I tell you that we had planned to rent a RED convertible for the coming weekend? About six weeks ago, I tried to pin one down, without a great deal of success. Hertz finally told me that they had convertibles coming in, but they couldn't guarantee there would be any red ones. The agent suggested that I call this week to see if they could accommodate me. Well, this time I got an agent who didn't give a rip about my needs. She said they couldn't guarantee what color or type of car I would get. The color was so important, that I canceled my order for a convertible. I had planned to drive Elegante Mother around for the weekend in a jazzy little red car, but we'll do it another time when I can find a RED ONE!

Why is it, when you are not near the keyboard there are dozens of things you'd like to write about. And, when you are AT the keyboard....you can't remember any of them?

I'll come back when I can remember some of them.

Have you read Fred First's new book??

I ordered one, and received it within three days, and was all set to read it, when I realized that it would make a wonderful Mother's Day gift. Since my youngest sister was with us last weekend, with her husband and daughters, I gave it to her as a Mother's Day present.

This week, I ordered two more copies. I'll give one to Elegante Mother and keep one. I'll FINALLY get to read it. Yes!!

Go see what Fred has to say about the life of an author living in the hills of Virginia.

yep...the time has come. On Saturday it becomes official....boat widowdom for 2006.

Dear Husband had to part with the Arr!! so that the transmission could be overhauled during the winter. When the boat yard worked on it, they discovered that the support, or housing, for the transmission had cracked, and it had to be replaced. They let DH have the boat back long enough for the annual scraping and patching, varnishing and minor repairs to be done, and then it had to be returned to the boat yard.

By Saturday, the yardies should have put the boat into the water, taken care of the loose wires and tested the engine. Dear Husband will collect it, and motor twelve miles north to the mooring. I hope for his sake that the rain we had today, and expect to carry over to Friday, will have abated before he takes the wheel. It's going to be COLD out there. He doesn't need for it to be raining, too.

When the boat yard was located on the Chicago River, I enjoyed the trip upriver in the spring. It was astonishing to motor though the glass canyon, and see Chicago's magnificent buildings from an entirely new perspective. Now they have moved south along Lake Michigan, so the trip is not quite as much fun.

Dear Husband is always eager to get onto the water and get squared away. After all, he's been waiting all winter to return to the water. So, the very next day after the boat returns to the lake we celebrate Mother's Day. Next weekend, we celebrate our granddaughter's second birthday on Saturday. In June, there's a family reunion the day before Father's Day. I wonder if he will get to sail at all that weekend.

Don't feel too bad for him, though. Once we get into summer proper, he'll leave here on Saturday morning, and we won't see him until Sunday evening. He hires my nephew to mow, and everything else has to wait until October 15, and the end of the Chicago sailing season.

I've been making a list of things I want to do on the weekends while he is away.... The Sandwich Antique Faire, the bookseller's fair in Chicago, a number of movies coming out shortly, the Farmer's Market, perhaps the Art Museum. I want to QUILT!!! I plan to put the frame back up in the living room and watch reruns of Gray's Anatomy, House, M.D. and Boston Public, while I improve my quilting stitch. I'm starting to collect "summer" books, and there's always weeding...

I'm a boat widow.

..should be the word of the day.

This morning, around 6:30, the herb garden looked mysterious and very verdant, much as I think a secret garden might look. The shadows, dissipating as the light grew, outlined the leaves, and heightened the darker colors in the garden. The lighter lamb's ears glowed against the darker background.

Its cold and rainy in Chicagoland. We are not likely to see any sunshine today. But, the view out our windows is amazing. Everything has been responding to the cool, wet Spring weather. The chives are almost ready to bloom. The herb garden has gone from slowly waking up to looking almost mature in the past week.

The green leaves of the day lilies seem to be jumping out of the ground in their haste to grow. We won't see blooms until June, but the greens are full and tall. Almost everything has come back in the herb garden except two pods of thyme that I'll have to replace. I've never seen it die back like this, and I can only assume the mild winter, coupled with the drought, finally did it in.

Two of the iris are open! "Infinite Grace" and "Rare Wine" are the two along the brick wall of the garage that are the first to open. Most of the rest of the iris are showing buds, even the one which I know will be last to bloom.

The stump of the viburnum has STILL not been pulled. I think I am going to ask them to wait until next week, because I feel that it is important I be here when they pull the stump, and then plant the redbud. I've been told that the root system is as deep and wide as the tree or shrub was tall, so there's a whopper of a root to pull out. I'm concerned about the extent of the damage to the existing garden, and I don't see how they can avoid damaging the lawn, after all this rain.

Dear Husband gave the lawn it's first rough cut about a week or ten days ago. He's going to need to hire a fleet of mowers, the way the grass is growing! We can hear the grass calling to him at night....and the dandelions have a nasty laugh, rather like Peter Lorre in the "Maltese Falcon." (Heh heh heh)

To recap, the gardens are astonishing this year, there's a lot of work left to do, and DH gets to mow. Don't you LOVE SPRING??

Today was a Red Hat Lady day. We meet once a month, frequently to share a meal. It was gray and cold, with threatening clouds scudding low across the sky. Elegante Mother and I found the new restaurant, and made our way to seats, while we waited for the others to gather.

I had the opportunity to visit with one of the first women I met when we joined this group last year. Library Lady was in good form. We swapped a few stories, including the one where she beaned her husband with a guitar (she was crazed with fever......the flu, you know), and chatted about the situation in the USA in general.

It turns out that we have the same religious background. I was raised in the Congregational Church, and when I was a kid we sang the Doxology at each service. Perhaps some of you are familiar with it. It goes:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The lyrics are by Thomas Ken, and they are sung to the Old 100th.

For several years, I sang in the choir at the Methodist church, where they sang the Trinitarian Doxology: Glory [be] to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Library Lady and I wonder why these doxologies have fallen out of favor at church. We both miss hymns that we grew up with, now that church music has become so secular. Does anyone have an explanation for us?

Our conversation wandered on to the government's attempt to remove God from our schools and the government. My understanding is that fourteen per cent or less of our population is atheist, and they have succeeded in telling the rest of us that we can't mention God anywhere but in church. The silent majority needs to stop being so silent. Our country was founded by people seeking religious freedom. Their religious background was a part of the government they created.

At this point in the conversation, the President in Charge of Vice jumped in, and said that she felt the government needs to put this issue aside and focus on things that really matter. We have Americans overseas in a war that is no longer popular. We have homeless who need help, people in the US who are starving, citizens who have no health insurance, and those who are still reeling from the effects of last year's hurricane season. We could be focusing on finding other forms of fuel, and we could improve the quality of education.

See why I go to these meetings? I know the Red Hat Society is assumed to be focused on quirky apparel and frivolous pursuits, but with conversation like this, you can tell that we are not just a gathering of air heads. Join us. There are Red Hat Society chapters springing up everywhere. If there isn't one near you, start one!

Library Lady.....thanks for the kind words about my blog. I appreciate the support.

Well, the landscaper showed up this morning and took out the stump of the viburnum.

I was at the salon, and my mother called to say that the landscapers had arrived and were busy taking out the stump. They were originally supposed to have done it last Tuesday. It was rescheduled to Friday. No one showed up.
I talked with the landscaper's wife and told her that I didn't want them to work on the stump unless I was around. So much for communication.

So, when I got home, they were about two-thirds of the way done. I watched as they took out the rest. Unfortunately, I had to point out an arm of it they had missed, and you know that if I was able to see that one arm, there are others just below the surface that I missed.

I plan to add LOT of compost to the area, working it into the soil. Once the area has been cleared, I'll plant new perennials and then mulch everything. Can you envision Bluebeard, Russian Sage, Sunrise Coneflower, and Homestead Purple Verbena leading from the brick walls out to the edge of the garden?

The last thing the landscaper did before he and his crew left was to plant the new redbud. We agreed on how far forward of the house the tree should go. We have the species that has just one trunk, rather than the kind that grows multiple trunks. It's just a baby tree. It will be a long time before it fills out and shades the area again.

I've wanted a redbud for a very long time. Cop Car tried to help me out by transplanting several of the seedlings from her lawn, but we lost them over the winter. We'll have to hope that this one lasts.

Those of you who came in recently may not know that I am a retired grade school band director. It's been ages since I taught, but once a band director, always a band director.

There's a fascinating post over at "Talk With Desiree" that I'd like you to go read. One of her children has been introduced to band instruments at school, and has been given the option of joining band. The band director has given the parents a page of reasons why a student should join band. I second all he has to say.

If you're contemplating letting your child join band, I'm here to tell you to go for it! Now, go read what Desiree had to say.

We're all yet living at the Buffy Bed and Breakfast, and doing fairly well. My week has been filled with accounting, household chores, errands, quilting and gardening. Actually, HUGE amounts of gardening and quilting. I had to make up some office time this afternoon because I was so busy with other aspects of my life.

Each year I hope to get started with my gardens in March, and each year I find myself at the end of March wondering where the heck the month went. So...things I had planned to do in March get heaped onto April, and some of April's chores get pushed back into May. When we FINALLY got rain this May I had to work around the showers.

We live where the soil is this wondrous black clay that turns to cement when it dries out. The rain we received over the last ten days was a gift from heaven in several ways. By March we were thirteen inches behind on precipitation, so the gentle rain was desperately needed, but the real gift was that it makes weeding a breeze. The roots slip right out of the ground, and you don't have to use a trowel or a hoe to ease them out.

While it was raining, I worked on the quilt I was making for my granddaughter's second birthday. I plan to blog more about that in the next few days. Unfortunately, I was just about halfway finished when it was time to give it, but it was well received despite the fact that they had to give it back to me to finish.

Last Saturday, Dear Husband motored the Arr!! up the lake to its summer mooring in Chicago. Today was the first day he went to the lakefront to sail, so it's official: I'm a boat widow. I assume that he will spend two nights and three days on the boat this coming weekend. I'm going to continue working on the quilt and the gardens and see at least one movie, possibly two. And, I think this weekend I may make my first trip to the farmer's market.

It's not too early to be thinking about our Memorial Day meal. We usually have an indoor picnic, with hamburgers and hot dogs or brats, and potato salad. I need to be looking for alternatives to the high carb potato salad, or make that for Elegante Mother while DH is away. When we hit tomato season, I'll be eating lots of tomato, cucumber, green onion or broccoli salad, but I'm holding out for the homegrown tomatoes!

The exercise class will be coming for brunch the second of June, a week later than we usually see them. Unfortunately, the iris may be past their prime by then. We have clouds of blooms on the iris on the garage side of the sidewalk. (I'll try for pictures tomorrow.) The iris on the outer edge of the sidewalk are just opening, but it will be a stretch for them to hold on for ten days if we get any heat. The peonies are loaded with buds, so maybe they will be in bloom just in time.

I've planted a climbing rose that EM ordered, on the west side of the arbor at the end of the herb garden. I planted another rose that is larger than a miniature, but smaller than most roses, in the herb garden. I felt it needed a little color, and I can always move the rose if I need the space.

I'm halfway through cleaning out the walkway and beds of the herb garden, and I have about 90% of the east driveway garden done now. There's still a lot to do at the front of the house and in the garden at the lower end of the drive, but I'm slowly getting there. I've started planting some of the things we bought this week. If there's time tomorrow, the herbs and tomatoes will go in.

I plan to plant good sized groupings of fewer plants in two of the areas, to get a mass of color. I'm also trying to choose plants that will be able to deal with sparse watering. While I may have help on Fridays this summer, the plants at the end of the drive may only get watered when I have that help, so they need to be hardy little suckers.

So...you can see that I am preoccupied with getting the gardens in shape for the summer, and preparing for three weekends of partying. Everything is normal here. How about at your place??

The other day, a friend sent me a word game in an e-mail. The idea was to change just one letter of the last word on the list and send it on to a friend. I sent it on to my sister over at "Just My Opinion." I think my word was "rude," hers was "dude."

I love word games. I love knowing definitions, and using interesting words. I like crossword puzzles, and I prefer an author who writes well rather than using trite phrases or clichés. I can thank my parents for a good deal of that interest in language, as well as my Latin teacher in high school.

Dear Husband adores simple puns. He inevitably goes for the lowest common denominator....the quick and dirty sneak hits that make Elegante Mother giggle.
His puns are scrupulously clean...but easy plays on words. I like the long convoluted kind...the ones where I either remember the wind up or the punchline, but never both. We believe that studying Latin brings you added insight to the English language. It may also be what causes us to enjoy puns. We think we "hear" things differently because of the Latin background. If you've studied Latin, we'd be happy to hear what you think about that idea.

And then there's the pun that ends......."the beer that made Mil Famy walk us." Anyone know the wind up??

I cribbed this from Bogie, who had some very strange results. My profile is a little closer to being right, but I don't know where the 5% Dixie came from. I've lived within an hour of Lake Michigan for most of my life, and all of my formative years. It's about 20 questions or so, a quick test.

***Your Linguistic Profile::***

70% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofamericanenglishdoyouspeakquiz

We're in one of those weeks that Cop Car shudders to think about. Half of our exercise class will be coming for a potluck brunch on Friday. If they walked in the door now, I wouldn't be ready for them, but I should be ready by Friday morning.

I've been trying to put in two to three hours a day on the gardens. They won't be perfect, but they'll be reasonably acceptable by Friday. My friends will understand they are a work in progress.

I have a body count of 22. The question is.....do I trust that count? Nah...I really don't, and I don't want to get caught at the last minute without enough chairs and place settings. I'd like to add a small table for four, just in case someone brings a guest, or perhaps a class member didn't get to sign up. Beyond that, I'll have to punt.

I'm making a double recipe of Baked Ziti, and maybe a Caesar Salad with chicken. We'll also provide beverages, bread and butter. (Nice alliteration, huh?? *G*) I'd like to set the tables Thursday night, but since we have a cat, I think I'll wait until early Friday morning, just to be safe, so everything else has to be done by Thursday night.

I need to put away the two current quilting projects, and straighten the area where I sew. I'll deadhead the flowers and sweep the sidewalk, and not worry about anything else that needs to be done. My friends will understand that there is only one of me, I'm sure, and we'll have a wonderful time together.

I had to laugh. Of the 22 who have signed up, at least NINE are bringing dessert! *G* You can bet I'll have to blog about that!

I need a QUILTING VACATION!!!

I may get one. Cop Car may be coming to visit, as soon as I tell her what weeks I have free this summer. Can you see the two of us quilting together??
I can't wait to see what she's working on. Her color sense is absolutely the opposite of mine, and I love it. You should see the sample from a lesson on making Flying Geese that she sent me. I've been trying to find the fabric in stores here, without luck.

I'll have to encourage her to bring her digital camera, so that we can show you what we're working on, and how it's coming along.

Friday morning at 11:00 is our exercise group pot luck luncheon. Friday night is quilting bee. A week From Saturday, the Red Hat Ladies come for luncheon. I wish the flowers would be at their prime for these visits, but the garden peaked this weekend. We had heat in the 90s for a couple of days, and then punishing rain this evening. Maybe the lilies or day lilies will have opened before they arrive.

Of course, I'm in the middle of two or three quilting projects, too. I've begun collecting hand prints for the genealogy quilt and wall hangings. One of my nieces is going to help me by satin stitching around the hand prints, and machine embroidering the names and dates of birth on the blocks. As far as I'm concerned, that's the hard part. I'll use one set of the hands to make a full sized large quilt, and the other set will be divided up to make a wall hanging for each of my siblings, with just their branch of the family. I have my Dad's hand print from a quilt that was made 25 years ago, and I'll copy it for this quilt. Unfortunately, our quilt will be missing my stepson's hand print. I'll have to think of something else for his. He wore an American flag every day after 9-11. Maybe I can do something with that.

I've been fortunate that the office hasn't needed me this past week, but I know I'll have to put in some time this week. With the end of the month there's always a little more bookkeeping to do. I've been filing, and creating folders for a new file. I want to create a way to track hiring and release dates for our employees. Some of them come and go, and the computer only retains the most recent information. When an employee seeks a loan from another company, they will call and ask how long they have been employed, and I can only go back as far as 2003 right now.

In the next two weeks, we have several appointments sprinkled over the calendar. Elegante Mother has a check up, I have to see the periodontist, and there are the standing salon appointments. We'll be busy, but after June 15th, things slow down a LOT. It's time to start looking for summer reading. I'll take mine inside where it's cool and shady, thanks!

Quilting Vacation, here I come!