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!
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
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
Word game
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 clich
Yet Livin’
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??
To Play??
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.
No More Stump
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.
Red Hatters
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.
Verdant
..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??
I am a Boat Widow 2006
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.
Books
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.