randomly rambling

This is a photo of my lunch today.  The lettuce and radish were fresh from my garden, picked no more than 15 minutes before consumption.  The carrots were from the grocery store, because my carrots need about another 40 days in the ground.  It’s OK, they are coming along nicely.  My salad was delicious, by the way.

On Facebook, people post all sorts of food porn.  Not only food that they’ve ordered in a restaurant, but also recipes that show delectable (decadent?)  deserts.  I don’t often take pictures of food I’m going to eat, but sometimes I take photos of something I’ve just baked that turned out well.  It never looks as good in the photo as it does in real life.  I suppose that’s true with most things...although with picture editing, we can enhance the appearance of some things (better than real life).  I don’t edit photos, but perhaps it would be a useful skill.

I planted flowers in pots yesterday.  I enjoy doing that.  In my imagination, the little plants are thanking me for freeing them from the tight plastic tubs they are trapped in when they are sold at the nursery.  Their roots will have space to grow, and their leaves will have room to spread out and breathe.  In my imagination it’s all good, but there’s a nagging worry in my mind that they might not be pleased with their new environment.  Like, maybe they know they need more sun and space for optimum health than what I’ve provided or planned for.  They’re thinking, what the hell?  Do you expect me to bloom here?  We will see...perhaps they are more grateful than I’ve given them credit for. Perhaps humans are much more critical than plants (and other animals). 

Emily moved out of her college apartment and has added all sorts of new clutter for me to deal with.  Most of it is now stacked in the basement...as if the basement needed more crap.  She will be taking it when she moves out again, in two or three years.  We will manage.  It is hard to deal with because Someone tends to be a hoarder.  My tendency is to be a minimalist.  Like, I don’t like lots of knick-knacks and stuff collecting dust.  I detest junk mail and magazines laying around.  My preference is to keep important papers filed. I hate small kitchen appliances that set around on the counter tops.  Also, I hate to have more supplies on hand than we can use in a three-month period. 

Someone stockpiles (aka - hoards).  I’m pretty sure we will never have to buy another light bulb in my lifetime.  When LED bulbs first came out, they were expensive.  We only had a few, but as soon as the price dropped, Someone went nuts.  I had to remind him SEVERAL TIMES to please not buy any more lightbulbs.  We have an entire shelf in the closet devoted to lightbulbs.  We also currently have a paper towel collection, air freshener collection, laundry soap collection, and a peanut butter collection.  We probably will not need to buy any of these for at least 18 months.  It’s nice to not run out, but it’s a lot of stuff in the house.  Someone likes to shop, especially when he can find a good deal. 

So, the real reason this blog post is happening tonight is that there is something important that needs doing, but I don’t want to do it.  Don’t misunderstand; I want it done in the worst way.  I’ve been putting it off for MONTHS now.  MONTHS!  And look at the time.  I will post this and go straight to bed so that I can get an early start on this important thing tomorrow.    

welcome summer

I’ve been way too busy lately for somebody who considers herself to be semi-retired.  I’m pretty sure I logged 50 hours last week (in three days) – I was trying to catch up with my classes and get ahead before Someone and I took a mini-vacation (Thursday through Sunday).  Then when we arrived back home Sunday afternoon, I dug deep into the rut to catch up work that came in while I was gone, plus opened a new session for University #2. 

Much has happened since my last blog post.  Erin and Emily graduated.  I’m a proud mama as you might guess.  Both graduated with honors and both will start graduate schools in August.  Someone and Someone’s parents attended Emily’s graduation in Morehead, and Sarah and I attended Erin’s in Louisville.  I hated that I couldn’t attend both, but on the drive home from Louisville, we stopped for lunch (still well over an hour away from Morehead) and watched the live cast of Emily’s graduation on Sarah’s phone (which has a bigger screen than my phone).  We got to hear Emily’s name called and see her walk across stage for a brief second or so.  It was better than nothing, but it made me sad that I couldn’t be there. 

Evening after graduation - Emily and Erin let me take photos of them

And then they got all goofie

   

Silly girls

I don’t think a girls’ vacation is in the plans for this summer...it’s on my mind to take one but corralling three girls for a few days in one place is nearly impossible.  I might wait until fall and rent a cabin at Natural Bridge State Park, inviting any girls who can make it.  It’s a place I’ve been wanting to see, and it should be beautiful when the leaves change.        

I don’t have seasonal allergies, which is a blessing because many people in the Ohio Valley suffer horribly with allergies.  A few days ago, I took Gracie out for her usual walk.  It looked like rain but I thought we had plenty of time to get a walk in.  Well no...we got about a mile from the car and all hell broke loose.  The sky blackened, thunder rumbled, and then the wind came.  So much wind!  Wind carrying more pollen than you can imagine.  As a contact lens wearer, my eyes felt like rocks had blown into my eyes.  My nose felt liked I snorted cotton balls, and so then I began breathing through my mouth which made things even worse.  I started coughing and sneezing and wheezing.  Gracie did too.  We were both miserable and grateful to get back inside the car.  Gracie and I are still coughing.  It kind of feels like a summer cold now...hopefully it will pass quickly.  

Someone and I visited Williamsburg, Virginia last weekend.  It’s a long story about how we happened to go there, but it was supposed to be a 3-day golfing vacation.  I booked it several years ago.  Our travel dates were flexible; however, I waited until the vacation deal would expire (at the end of May), so it became a use it or lose it situation.  As luck would have it, it poured rain the whole time we were there.  Fortunately, it was showers during the day and thunderstorms at night, so we were able to walk around and see things with our umbrellas.  What I liked most of all were all the flower and vegetable gardens.  Most houses there in historic Williamsburg section have gardens in the front or side yards where people can admire them.  

What a good sport!  He posed in the rain so I could take this photo  :)

  

A marvelous vegetable garden

A beautiful border of foxgloves

Beautiful poppies

Governor's Palace - we toured the inside.  Long rows of catalpa trees (blooming) on both sides of the green

In the garden behind the palace

A magical place

Yesterday, I visited two greenhouses and purchased what I thought would be enough flowers and vegetables (now I know it was not enough).  Today, I set out tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and egg plants in the big garden (we already have cabbage and broccoli growing).  Someone still needs to plant corn and beans...when he’s damn good and ready.  He likes to wait so that nothing is ready to pick until August.  God forbid that I should plant the sacred seeds before he wants them planted.  Fine – he can do it.  My raised bed has radishes that are ready to pick now, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and carrots.  My sweet peas are just starting to sprout.  I can’t wait until they start twining up the trellis and put out spectacular, sweetly-scented BLOOMS (I am hopeful). Sometime this weekend, I’ll plant flowers in pots, and zinnias and snapdragons in the big garden for cutting – weather permitting, of course.

I love planting and gardening.  It’s a wonderfully mindless thing to do.  When I was a kid, I hated working in the garden.  It was boring and nothing but a dreary chore to me.  Now that I’m an old woman with one foot in the grave, I love it.  (Honestly, I’m not quite old-age yet...and I don’t think the grave is in the same county...or maybe that’s just denial on my part).    

It feels like summer.  AT LAST!!  Once I’ve taken the kayak out, it will be official.  Next week?  Next week!   

off the rails

KyLady has gone a bit off the rails lately.  If you remember that dress in a prior post (the one that I was going to wear to Sarah’s wedding), I didn’t wear it.  In fact, it’s still hanging in my closet with tags on it.  I like it, so maybe I’ll wear it to Someone’s niece’s wedding in late May rather than returning it.  

Then, there’s this “rustic trellis” project I started and was so excited about in my last post.  Nope!  Not happening.  I bought a large planter and then decided the trellis was too damn big for it.  Even cut down to size, it’s still too big and heavy.  I think the best bet is to just use a small trellis that I already have and that’ll be my sweet pea attempt for 2018.  And by the way, KyLady has still not started the seeds yet.

KyLady is usually as reliable as the tides, or clockwork, or death and taxes, or some such very reliable thing.  But lately, not so much. 

On a happier note, the raised bed is planted with two kinds of lettuce, carrots, radishes, and Brussels sprouts.  In the big garden, we have cabbage and broccoli planted.  Next week, I’ll visit the greenhouse and buy some flowers (annuals) to put in pots and in the garden for cutting flowers.  I have favorites, so it seems like that’s all I ever plant and nothing else...maybe that’s not a bad thing.  It’s also time to get my hummingbird feeder out.  I love spring!  It’s finally here. 

University #1 had their graduation ceremony tonight.  This year, I didn’t go.  I wanted to, but they didn’t announce the keynote speaker and that’s the main reason I go.  I watched the ceremony on the live stream and was glad I didn’t go.  What a total disappointment!  There was no keynote speaker.  It’s really not fair for the graduates to have such a crappy ceremony.  As the camera panned over the faculty and honored guests section, there were MANY empty chairs.  There have been lots of lay-offs at University #1 (and across all the state universities in Kentucky)...I suppose morale is really bad and nobody wanted to attend. 

Erin and Emily will graduate a week from tomorrow (Saturday).  I am excited for both of them, and proud (of course).  What a lucky mother I am to have such brilliant, talented daughters (all of them).  Emily’s robe has been hanging in my doorway for several weeks now...to remind me to press it for her.  Erin will not even get hers until late next week.  I can’t wait to see it!  Emily’s school colors are blue and gold (at Morehead State); whereas Erin’s are red and black (at University of Louisville).  They will look very different.  Someone and his parents are attending Emily’s graduation.  Sarah and I are attending Erin’s.  I HATE that I can’t be at both of them.  Both girls have been accepted into graduate programs.  Emily will go to Marshall University and be...a buffalo?...they are the Thundering Herd.  Erin will stay at Louisville and remain a cardinal.

Emily's regalia

I scrubbed the winter filth off the screened porch on Thursday and carried all the plants out of my kitchen.  The plants are delighted to be outside where they have fresh air and space to spread their leaves freely.  All will be fertilized with the next watering and they will surely take off.  I am delighted to have my kitchen back to livable condition.  With all those plants in there, it's a bit suffocating, like a jungle...we only have a narrow path to walk through the kitchen, and space for only two people to sit at the table.  The kitchen looks so bare now...I think it’s given me a bit of postpartum depression.  But not for long; I’m already adjusting to the extra space. 

Some of my lovelies

SPACE!!!