I just had the absolutely best two days, all because of my sister!
My youngest sister has always been good about checking out her summer calendar and making commitments to visit with us, early in the season. We have two visits scheduled during June and July, and I know that we will drive to visit them at least once in the Fall, perhaps twice.
This trip was a short one. Nan and her oldest daughter drove up mid-day Sunday, and had to leave this morning, about 11:00. We crammed a fair amount into those 42 hours.
We spent Sunday night catching up. Monday morning, Elegante Mother, Sis and I went to exercise, the post office and the grocery store. By the time we got home, the kidlette was up and about. After lunch, We made a quick forray to the basement to look for some summer clothes EM was missing. THen, we changed into “getting dirty” clothes, and Nan saw to it that the perennials were planted across the face of the house! She also planted the rest of the basil, and showed her daughter how to trim the chives. Kidlette also trimmed the flowers off the sage and lamb’s ears, too!
It was just about 2:00 at that point, and Sis and EM put on their Red Hat finery to make a trip in the cutest little red Mazda Miata you’ve ever seen. Elegante Mother has been longing for a ride in a little red convertible. My brother-in-law has been watching for a little red two-seater, and decided the time was right to snap one up. Nan drove it up this weekend, just so EM could have that ride! There will be pictures to share soon.
While they were off making EM’s purple boa fly, I took my niece to have pot stickers at a local restaurant. She’s developed a taste for them, and they don’t seem to be available in her neck of the woods. It didn’t seem as though we were overdoing at the time, but we both left the restaurant TOO FULL….just in time to fix dinner.
We baked Rainbow Trout, made a mixed green salad, tomatoes vinaigrette, and roasted asparagus. SOME of us had to eat rather lightly! *G*
After dinner, Dear Husband suggested a trip into town to see the dragons and dragon-hatchling artwork, with a stop at the local ice cream joint on the way home. It was a wonderful evening! I got to ride home in the little red car, and as we were slowing, getting ready to turn into our driveway, I looked up to see an egret flying toward its nighttime roost. Just a perfect ending for the day!
I made an early trip out to the periodontist, Sis got in her long walk, and then we played with fabric! I asked her opinion about several projects, and was comforted that her take on the situation was the same as mine. It’s always good to know that someone who’s opinion you value agrees with you! *G*
And the visit was over too soon! They took off down the drive with a cheery waive of the hand and a Vrooooom-VROOOOOOOOMMM! DOn’t forget to call and let us know you got home safely!
And THANKS…..for everything!
Daily Archives: June 13, 2006
Clay Soil
We live on top of the mother lode of CLAY!
It’s a lovely dark soil when it’s moist, but when the heat of midsummer comes along, it becomes a grayish cement!
I was moaning about the clay across the front of the house, and complaining that I needed to amend the soil so I could plant the perennials this week. A good friend told me that his mother swears by “Clay Breaker,” and I said, “What’s that?”
Well….there are several varieties of this product, and it seems they are all produced and sold in either England or Australia. I checked at Google and the first two pages of listings were all from those two countries. Luckily, one of the entries talked about how to improve clay soil. Rather than searching for the clay breaking products, it told how to use sand, organic matter and lime or gypsum to improve the soil.
Dear Husband and Second Son spread sand, gypsum and compost for me last week. We had a good rain over the weekend, which made the soil easier to work. The next step is to incorporate all this into the top 8-12 inches of soil.
Sharp sand will improve the drainage and aeration characteristics of the soil, and encourage strong root formation. A good “grit” sand will have a reasonable amount of tiny pebbles in the 3-6mm range. These are sometimes called a “concreting” or “Horticultural” sand. It is NOT the soft, fine sand that builders use.
Organic matter also aids drainage and aeration, but it will also add to the fertility of the soil. Well-rotted compost, spent mushroom compost or well-rotted leaf litter are excellent choices. You do not want to use green organic matter, or partially rotted compost as it will feed from the soil to aid decomposition, rather than feeding the soil.
Both lime and gypsum (calcium sulfate) work to aggregate the clay particles in clay, to make it more permeable. Gypsum accomplishes this without raising the soil pH.
My information, and a great deal more, can be found at this site: Improving Clay Soil FAQ.
If you’ve been battling clay soil in your gardens, this site has loads of information about easy ways to improve the soil. When it comes down to it, grit sand and well-rotted compost in large quantities are the cheapest way to improve the soil. Good luck!
Second Birthday Quilt
My grand daughter turned two in May. Her parents invited all her grandparents and every friend who had children to join them in celebrating. I had a great time. I was invited to read “Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” I got to help little ones blow bubbles. We ate birthday cake and other goodies, and generally had a good time.
We watched our little one open her gifts and thought maybe we should have purchased stock in Fischer-Price! Dear Husband bought a table and chairs that were 2 year old sized. I was working on a quilt, and finally had to admit the night before that it wasn’t going to be done on time. I had decided to machine quilt it on my own, and it’s been a while since I tried machine quilting. I broke two needles and one quilting foot and was only two-thirds of the way done, but it was time to go.
I put the quilt into a fancy bag and as the little one and her mom opened the quilt, I called out that I’d need it back to finish it. There was silence for a moment, and I was worried that I’d made a serious goof. Then, every woman in the room started to talk. My granddaughter turned to the quilt, opened her arms as though to gather it up, and kissed it! It was a success, even unfinished.
In the picture below, you’ll see the bottom half of the quilt. Diagonally from the upper left to lower right, there are five pictures of our granddaughter built into quilt blocks. I made the center block a star block. The fabrics in the quilt are from every pink in my quilting stash.
A friend from quilting bee is going to bring me a darning foot for my sewing machine that won’t break, and I’ll finish the quilt in a day or two. I’d like for our daughter to let our granddaughter use this quilt up, wear it out, and throw it away, but I don’t think I’ll get my way. She was talking about hanging it on the wall.
OUCH!!!
First, let me say that both the luncheons this month held at the Buffy Bed and Breakfast went well! Half our exercise group attended the first pot luck, and everyone had a good time. There were still iris in bloom, peonies, roses, ox-eye daisies and Dame’s Rocket, so we had color, and the gardens were still lovely. Saturday, the Red Hat Ladies appeared on our doorstep on a rainy day, and we held a birthday celebration for one of the ladies. We chatted, and had a great meal, and they were kind about well-trimmed, but mostly flowerless gardens. They were here just as the Spring flowers had faded away, and the summer flowers were not yet in full force. Luckily, one exceptional Peace rose, a red shrub rose, several lilies, the coreopsis and a couple of poppies were open, so the gardens weren’t totally bare.
You can imagine how I felt as the last of the ladies left Saturday afternoon. I’d been working hard to get the gardens into shape, and working on the linens and china, cleaning the house, keeping the laundry done, AND working for DH. I was thinking…..”I can nap, read…..watch T.V. or just SIT!! I don’t have to do ANYTHING!”
And then I realized my knee hurt. It wasn’t a bad hurt, just a little tightness. As the afternoon progressed, the knee hurt a bit more, and I found it difficult to bend my leg. Then it hurt to walk down stairs. I got into the whirlpool and let the warm water work on the knee for a bit, but it was still stiff when I went to bed, and still stiff the next morning. I was getting a toothache from gritting my teeth!
I had a periodontist visit this morning, and the doc happens to be a runner. I asked him what he knew about knees, and all he could tell me was to take Ibuprofen, use heat, and if it wasn’t better in two weeks, get an MRI done.
Bad back, bum knee, toothache…..I NEED A NEW BODY!!!
I figure my body knew that I had made it through my goals and it was okay to go to pot. Do you suppose I could scare it into shape by reminding it that we have a 90th birthday bash to plan??