yuck with flowers

Today I feel yucky. I think it all started last night when I was reading a highly improbable romance set in 1817. The book starts in India and moves to England. I, myself, am still on the ship with the main white character and her best friend, and native to India, handmaiden. The girls are 22 and unmarried because they’ve had so much fun being young and carefree. They are traveling to England because 4 years earlier the main character’s dad died and recently his two brothers were killed and thus the girl has inherited the title and property. The mom of this carefree, playful girl stayed in India and remarried two years after the death of her spouse, who moved his family to India 22 years earlier. He was a British government official. The girls’ clothing is entirely native, they were unable to get clothing made for them in British styles before leaving since no one made it. The two speak both Hindi and English fluently and often are found twirling around together in complete joy. The best friend is with the heiress because she is alone in India, except for a bunch of cousins. At the moment, the heiress has discovered a document stating her mother and stepfather have not only found her a chaperon while she’s getting acclimated to England, but they’ve also betrothed her to the stepfather’s son. I stopped reading to pick up a fun mystery because the girl is furious at being treated like a child and is wondering how to get out of it. I love fiction, I can wrap my head around a lot of crazy things, yet, this seems so unrealistic it annoys me. Little Bear, when I shared it with him, said it was ‘rewriting history one fiction story at a time.’ Strider was annoyed, too. But, he’s a history buff.

Meanwhile, I found a mystery series I missed when I was a kid. Penny Parker mysteries. They were written by the author who wrote Nancy Drew and I’m totally enjoying myself in this world of teens (although, I was annoyed when Penny said she didn’t ever want to be fat, cuz fat girls never had fun and the boy who wanted to play tennis with her was given the brush off cuz he had pimples. This, however, was how women were shaped by literature and later cinema. THAT was a totally fascinating read called: America’s Women: 400 years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines.)

I also managed to get outside and take more yard photos. I accidentally took a video with my new camera, too. (The buttons on the back are teeny and my finger slid onto the record button!) So, without further ado, Kris’ Oregon Yard in mid May. (there isn’t a video since I didn’t realise I had taken it until AFTER I loaded photos on the desktop.)

From top to bottom: My first iris are blooming, it has been YEARS since I’ve seen iris in bloom; a fun plant I was told is cut and come again, but I can’t find it by that name online; a super pretty petunia purchased in a pot and planted; a giant orange poppy not yet blooming; sweet woodruff herb; and a fun ‘plant’ that showed up. It is really a catnip and a CA poppy, but it looks like it is a single plant. Last of all is a lovely picture of one of my favorite flowers, a fuchsia.  The Craftsman thought it was a bleeding heart, which I would have liked, but not sure where I’d have put it.

I think I’ll go read some more of Penny’s adventures or rest. Today my throat hurts like the dickens! Have a splendid weekend and share the colors you find!

Mother’s Day-again.

A year ago this minute, I was having lunch out with my guys. We were driving the ’56 Merc and visited a drive through restaurant that was almost as old as the car. The next day, I flew to Alaska. It is truly a different world today. My guys went off to a nearby town to scrounge through old stuff to purchase and bring some home. (I don’t exactly know what they are getting, they enjoy bargains that often don’t work well) I am hanging around thinking about cleaning the dining room table off. (why on EARTH does the dining room table always end up covered in debris??? Oddly, most of it belongs to the kid. The Craftsman actually tidied a lot the other night looking for a tax form!) We ae supposed to have the MIL down for dinner on Mom’s day. I figured it doesn’t matter. They go and see her every day and she’s been out and about herself. I’m the only one who was in the most isolation and I got some kind of flu the start of April. At any rate, in order to have more than the dad and the kid here, I need to make sure things are a bit cleaner. I hate mussy and this is a mess!

I have some things I want to do outside, but I need to wait til Monday. If I work outside today, I’ll be worn out tomorrow and will be unable to cook. (Why is it on certain days when the ‘dad’ cooks on a grill, the mom still needs to set the table, plan the menu, make dessert, the side dishes, and clean it all up when it is done? Yet, the dad gets all the credit???) OH, I don’t need to make dessert!!!! I asked The Craftsman to buy a coconut cream pie cuz Friday was coconut cream pie day. He purchased a chocolate cream pie, which he and Little Bear and the MIL very much like. Thus, the strawberries he also bought (I was going to make chocolate scones with whipped topping and berries) can be frozen, except for a couple I’ll eat, and they can have pie!

I do hope they remember to buy some petunias today. There is a container..well, it is not exactly a container, I’m told it originally was a very old street lamp. At any rate, it is super cool and is a good sized white bell shape that cries out to hold something. I have often tried to keep plants in it, but the one area I wanted it was a bad area. The yard is squareish and in one of the corners there was a sort of empty spot. Last spring I buried the end of the bell in that corner (the shape has a bit on the end that sticks out, probably where the actual light was), popped a flower pot in it, added flowers, and left for the north. Unfortunately, the corner is in sunshine close to the entire day and Eastern Oregon summer sunshine can get up to 80 degrees a couple times a week. I thought white reflected heat, but it is a metal shape and the poor flowers frequently fried, even with underground sprinklers every other night. So, I am moving it. At the back of the square yard I have a pink metal bathtub (The bathroom in this house was all pink before renovation. Seriously. Pink tub, toilet, sink, and walls. The junior high boy’s budding man card was disturbed. Actually, so was the mom!!! Thus, we removed the pink and the tub was mine to use as I wished. It has finally graduated to having flowers planted in it, most of the bulbs didn’t bloom this year, but it was a bad year for bulbs anyway!). So, next to the tub, I had a hops plant that after several years, it was determined was too much for the neighbor on the other side of the fence and us. (The darn thing would clamber into the filbert tree nearby and removing hops from a tall tree is ridiculous!) The empty space needed something. I did purchase a white poppy, but then I remember the light case. I am going to put that there with petunias again and add climbing flowers like nasturtiums. That area is cooler and gets water from the neighbor’s yard as well as the UGS. After weeding past the ‘tree’ (it grew out of the container!), I realised I will put the poppy where the closer plants are (see photo) and leave around the tree….or maybe I’ll put the container there….Oh, the ideas one can have in a garden!

I also have discovered this week, critters. The honeysuckle in the bath has aphids and holy heck in a handbasket!!! Do you know how many ‘tried and true’ ways there are to eliminating aphids??? Granted, you can use ladybugs. But keeping the ladybugs in the area you want..well, they don’t make leashes for ladies. (OK, they DO, but that is totally different!) I visited a Farmer’s Almanac webpage and learned you can also use these methods to deter aphids: brake fluid (you need to be careful with this…insert eye roll!), nasturtiums because the aphids love those and will leave the other plants alone (I also love nasties!), catnip (which is already growing nearby), and one that Little Bear was startled by (How would you collect that, mom???) a ratio of 1:5 cow urine and water. Soapy water is supposed to be good, but the day after my application of that, I went out, flicked a leaf and watched tiny bugs fly off. Blasting the plant with water is not entirely useful either, because the bugs land elsewhere!

There was one ladybird on the honeysuckle the other day, no spots, but I do hope it reproduces fast!! And in one of the white lilac trees, robins are building a nest. Not much cover, but the fragrance must be divine! Imagine being a mom living in a lilac!! Speaking of lilac, check out the itty bitty tiny bit of purple. Flowering in spite of being just a stem. What a world this is!

May Day 2020

What a year! So far, here in this part of EO, there have been floods, bad water from flooding, Covid, Little Bear found a black widow spider ‘ready to pop’, and now we have a new insect landing. Asian Murder Wasps that can reach 2 inches in length with stingers of a quarter inch. They prey on honey bees, ripping their heads off to pulp thoraxes for a delicious carry out. They can sting multiple times and aren’t afraid of humans. Washington State U is getting the word to people so the insects can be removed safely. (Now, I really don’t want to go outside!!!)

My May Day was pretty low key. I’d forgotten The Craftsman wouldn’t be home. We did get to watch an older movie later that night, ‘Willow’. Fun fantasy starring one of my favorite Little Person Actor (Warwick Davis) and a favorite taller actor (Val Kilmer).

Saturday was ridiculous. It was pretty nice out, so I decided to put up a trellis for sweet peas and nasturtiums. Eons ago, in Tillamook, I asked for a shower curtain to be cut in half and holes put in the sides to make a nonrusting support for a trellis. I still have those, but over the years I’ve used different middles for the actual trellis. This year, I decided I’d try bird nettings. (I detest that stuff, but it is a good way to hang things. Like climbing plants) It was incredibly frustrating. I was outside hammering the posts carefully (I didn’t want to ruin the hollow rods) into the soil and as I muttered my way back to the house for another idea, The Craftsman spoke to me from where he was sitting in a garden swing. (I had no idea he was around, he just came down to get something he needed for a job up at his mom’s.) He asked if I needed a larger hammer. I said no and eventually he left again. I opted to use zip ties to secure the netting to the rod, in the past I’ve used string, but most string is limp and very hard to thread through holes in a hollow inch wide rod. I used several ties before I realized I hadn’t cut the fabric carefully enough. It was almost as long as I needed, not as long. A difference of about 3 inches in one section of the netting. I was doing this during a dry thunderstorm, it didn’t stay dry long! About the time I realized I needed to do something else, the sky opened up! Little Bear came home from his grandma’s (the metal roofed shop was super loud from being hit with giant rain drops!) and found me a tool I thought was a funny sort of clippy pliers. Apparently, it is really called a side cutter. (the first photo is rain a ways off, the second is a dust storm that also showed up~)

After the rain stopped, I took the cutter thing outside and removed all the ties and turned the fabric around. Although, now it was WAY too long in a different direction, so I cut it… Eventually, I was starting to lose my sense of ‘I can do this’. My glucose was dropping, I needed to finish, I needed to make dinner, and I was so tired. I also needed to find a way to keep the fabric from blowing around at the bottom of the trellis, the top was pulling the sides together (The Craftsman today reminded me he’d put in a pole other times) and I found some plastic thingys that worked. I’d have preferred clothes pegs without metal springs, but I cannot find those. At any rate, I let it alone in the wind and the rain. (you can barely see the netting in the photo!)

Weather has a tendency to move garden projects, so I thought I’d wait to work more on it on Sunday. Sunday arrived and I hurt. My back was aching with pains shooting into my legs from my ample booty. I wanted to cry!! My neck hurt and my glucose was higher than I wanted. I did wander back outside and realized as much as I liked that lovely almost invisible black netting, it was a bad idea. Birds could get caught in it while they fed from any flowers that might grow on it. So, rather than take it down, I found a bright gold Christmas garland of beads. I started to string it back and forth accordion fashion and decided it was very good. It still needs secured, but I do like it.

At the moment, it is 5 pm and I need to make dinner again (easy, biscuits and burger stew). For some reason the guys like to be fed. They are out and about I’m not sure where, the garden at grandma’s isn’t planted, Little Bear’s rabbit tractor isn’t finished, and that storm yesterday knocked the temps down almost 10 degree! Last week, mum’s Obi crossed the rainbow bridge. It is another tie to mom that is gone. He was incredibly annoying, but he was so well loved by the gal who adopted him and by mom and one of my favorite older ladies also died from cancer complications. Now, she’s with her beloved, too. In the midst of sorrow, there is so much joy. I am eternally grateful for those golden moments surrounding us with laughter, learning, and love.

Bloom and Not

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The Craftsman’s African Violet is finally showing beautiful blooms after a long dormancy. I, however, am not.

Saturday of this last week, The Craftsman said he wanted to spend as much time with me as possible since I was leaving in a few weeks (2, as of that particular date). I was skeptical, but agreed. Skeptical because this last week was the start of a tulip festival several hours away that I’ve always wanted to attend. (for at least a decade!) I had mentioned it, put information on the counter about it, and the time is passing. Little Bear even asked about it. This next Saturday night I could have gone to a musical with our former librarian, but opted out. In case The Craftsman should want to do something.

We’ve finally watched most of the Marvel movies (still need to see Ant Man and the Wasp, which I was told is more crucial to understanding End Game than the last very bad Marvel movie) and I suggested we should watch ‘Newsies‘ last weekend. It is a favorite, but we’ll get to it eventually. (it might be one I take north with me!!) Sunday night I was asked if I felt like going through boxes up at his mom’s from our move to EO in 2008. After about 30 minutes of sorting, a neighbor stopped by to ask a car question (they are both car buffs) and in the ensuing discussion the two discovered more mutual hobbies. This time of Hot Wheels and model railroading. (I laughed and left them to it) I eventually went home with the kid.

Monday, I baked and did chores all day. When The Craftsman called after work, he said he’d stop to pick up some things at the store, meds and what not. He also said he was going to help someone with their car that evening. (he did bring me home some delightful purple mini carnations. Although, I never buy flowers in the spring. I pick garden ones and have vases in several spots full of flowers! He got back from working on the car about 930 and after his shower went upstairs to do something.) Tuesday he has a weekly meeting to attend (Little Bear is going to try to see End Game. Neither will be home til after 9.). Wednesday, Little Bear is working after work for one of his bosses on her ranch and The Craftsman is maybe picking up some materials in a different town after work for a project he’s started. (about 40 minutes from here, so not too far away) Saturday is a city wide clean up and dump day (I got my pond and rocking yard chair different years from that particular day!). I’ve asked if we can got to End Game on Sunday afternoon, we’ll see.

As for me, one morning at the end of this week I get to have my blood drawn and then on the 7th I visit my endocrinologist. My glucoses have been ridiculous! I need to return to the north where I don’t cook or eat much but low sugar ice cream and chicken! Although, I did discover an excellent way to eat a yummy cheese spread I make frequently. It is cream cheese mixed with shredded cheese and a packet of dry ranch dressing. I started filling celery sticks with it and those are devoured like candy by all three of us! So, I think I’ll make that up there, too.

I missed Book and Flower day this year. It was on my calendar, but I decided not to give away either one and stayed inside. I also missed Earth Day..Since Naked Gardening Day is on Saturday, I’ll miss participating in that, too! I reckon I’ll go back in time and give you an army of frogs (that is what a LOT of frogs are called!) post Earth Day. These are from a few years back! (I love their little ‘hands’!)

Around the Yard

We are going to walk around the yard. This house in this small city is on a bit more than two lots. Whatever size that is!!! The fence around most of it is illegal (the city has an ordinance as to where the fence should be. Thankfully, the fence was put up before the ordinance, so it is ‘grandfathered’ in.) We’ll start in the front yard and wander out to the back.

In the front yard, most of my spring flowers are done. The purple pasque flowers are going to become adorable Dr. Seuss seed heads soon.

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Also in one of the front beds are orange tulips. These are close to done, but I absolutely love how bright they are! The geranium are inside for the winter/late spring. I know you are supposed to put them in a dark place, cut down, and then repot them in the spring. I like to leave them in the laundry room. They often bring bright red blooms to white a winter day. They will go outside as soon as we are certain sure it won’t freeze.

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Through the gate along the sidewalk are more pots of tulips. (I’m going to put in a few more this next weekend. I purchased several gone to pot pots of varied bulbs. I LOVE bulbs!) Near the gate is a giant pot of catmint. The cats prefer catnip, but Moses will sleep in the catmint. (there is catnip in one of the front beds) They only eat the mint if I break off some for them. The red tulips I call Audrey 2 tulips.

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Along the inside of the fence are assorted flowers and bushes and tulips and iris. And a peach tree! They go on for quite a while. (I’m only sharing a bit of what is there) The mound of green between the giant cement leaf and the tulips in the first photo is rose geranium. It looks GREAT this year! It is under a purple lilac. The second picture shows sweet woodruff, it was crowded with grass! There are also bulbs and a flowering purple spikey thing I forget the name of at the moment. Also unknown is this pink flowering bush/tree. It showed up from somewhere and has leaves and flowers and that is it. The humming birds like it, so it stays!

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The back of the fence is a bit of a mess, still. Little Bear and I dug up most of the hops and I planted bulbs and a honeysuckle in the pink tub. The dry creek on the far side of the pond has oriental lantern flowers and little iris. Near the bench are giant orange poppies, hosta, Bishop’s weed (also known as Snow on the Mountain), and many other flowers and bulbs. Hmmm, I don’t have a photo of the tub area! (after the bulbs in it go dormant, I’m hoping the petunia and zinnia take over.) I also have a gnome display on a large glass plate. (I’ll share that in a different post!)

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I hope you enjoyed your brief glimpse of the place I hang out in Eastern Oregon. At least, until it gets too hot!!! Most of the summer I spend inside til it is night. Only then does it tend to cool off a smidge! I’m not fond of the over 70F daytime temps. I’m also not fond of the wasps who swarm around the pond. The yard needs a ton more done to it and until I leave on May 12, I’ll do as much as I can. I’ll share those soon.

Phew!!!

In The Garden

Thirty minutes in my garden on the cusp of Good Friday. It was warm outside, I wore my long jacket anyway. The dew was already thick on the grass, soaking my socks through my garden shoes. The moonlight illuminated the yard, I only used the flash I was carrying to scout for Moses. (He found me and later took up most of the bench with his back to me cuz I didn’t want him on my lap!) 

I sat down and stared into the sky. Wispy clouds were moving quickly across the moon. It was odd, the earth, where I was, was calm. Not a speck of wind. In the heavens it looked busy. Almost like the moon couldn’t decide which gauze would look best this night.

I started to think about friends and mom and what I was going to do. I prayed for my friends. I talked to God. I’m often tired and my body is not the one I had two years ago. (It definitely needs something!) I cried to Him about how all the decisions were in my hands. He overcame the world, but my worn fraying thread of life is still made up of my own choices. The moon bathed me in gentle light as tears flowed down my cheeks. I felt so alone. I’m always alone. 

I listened to the water constantly filling the pond from itself and felt it was me. I listened to the frogs nearby and the busy night on the city roads (it was just after midnight ). I looked at the moon perfectly framed in darkened branches with new leaves on the chokecherry tree (I hope The Craftsman doesn’t clip those branches!) and grew thankful. I remembered a poem I taught the boys eons ago, quietly repeating it aloud once again. “I see the moon, the moon sees me. God bless the moon and God bless me.’ 

I smiled and asked for blessings and peace and rest and healing for different friends across my lifeline. A college friend is dying on hospice, Becky is in chemo, another Canadian friend is also battling a carcinoma. My roommate from Canada posted the church her dad pastored in for decades had lost an elder in a church shooting. Other friends have lost family members and are hurting. More friends just hurt, both physically and in their souls. I prayed for them and for you. I sat there crying and remembered songs. Random tunes from church and the radio. The song ‘I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses….He walks with me and He talks with me..’ was followed by ‘Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be.’ I breathed deeply and closed my weeping eyes. ‘Let it be.’ Not, ‘what will be, will be’. But, simply, ‘Let. It. Be.’ 

I scrubbed my cheeks with a soggy tissue. Nothing was really resolved. I was still like the pond that needs a thorough cleaning, but the pump had been. So, the water was now moving freely. It was still recycling from itself, but it was doing what needed to be done for now. I went and stood on the bridge over the pond. I looked at the moon from this different perspective, wondering. Moses joined me, waiting. Eventually, we walked across the wet yard to go back inside.

Thirty minutes in my garden in moonlight during the first minutes of Good Friday. Not a long time, but it was enough. It’s time to let go of ‘Que Sera, Sera’ and ‘Let it be.’

  (Although, I will always adore Doris Day!) 

Lessons in the Dirt-more or less

Wishing I wasn’t here. Yet, at the same time, I’m glad to be in my yard and garden and house. (usually) The last couple of nights I’ve been sleeping in the living room with the cats. To keep them from bothering The Craftsman while he gets the dubious amount of sleep he can. (he did a home sleep study, but he’s not heard back from the clinic yet. He got an MRI the other day on his neck. Aging is hard on a body!) I leave for the north in a bit more than a month. They will miss me when I go, no one will be here to make dinner again. (speaking of, I need to get that started soon. Chicken soup) I had to cancel my appointment with my MS doctor. It was for the end of July and I cannot dash back to the states and then turn around and go back north. No one knows what tomorrow brings, even when it is planned for. My next appointment is in November. We’ll see. I am hoping my primary doctor can reinstate the Vitamin D dosage I was on. (I sincerely felt better taking so much, even if those numbers on the blood tests were significantly higher than they were supposed to be.) There is a great deal to do and I’m not eager to do any of it!

Photo by Gratisography on Pexels.com

I was driving back to the house yesterday, thinking about where I am. I am not sure if there is a romantic love in my marriage. I’m pretty sure it is a caring, duty, sort of love. I have serious diseases that are mostly taken care of. I have a house I enjoy here (not the place, the house!) I mostly get to do things I want to do (I have mentioned several times we should go driving in the Mercury. I was out working in the yard last Sunday and The Craftsman came down to say if I wanted, he could get the car out. Surprised, I mentioned it was close to dinner and did he have time. He said not really, but it would be a good thing to spend time with me. I gently reminded him I was dirty and would need to get tidy and perhaps we should go a different day. He agreed. He also was supposed to grill our dinner, but wasn’t home til almost a half hour after I usually eat. I made dinner in the new frying pan Little Bear bought me. It was delicious, The Craftsman was a bit annoyed and said he got home as soon as he could.). It is crazy. This guy habitually watches Hallmark movies, so he must have romance in his soul. He is a very good kisser (when they happen) and he’s always touching me if we are in the same area. Yet…there is something missing. If I was a betting sort, I’d bet it was enjoyment.

I often wonder what I can do to make things better. I see so many instances where I ask and nothing happens (like the driving). I was going to make an earring holder. I bought some items and found out The Craftsman was working on a plan. It is in the basement in bits. I have a cross puzzle decoration idea I’ve been wanting to create for YEARS and The Craftsman was given the shape sizes and he’s still working on it. I know I need to sort through my things and get rid of some..they are underneath debris belonging to The Craftsman or Little Bear!!! (Moving their stuff is akin to misaligning a rocket booster!)

I was sharing with TnT that I felt a bit like a plant in the kitchen. It isn’t a Boston Fern, but an African Violet. It is green and has a million leaves, is huge, and is taken care of each week. But, it hasn’t bloomed in years. I seem to bloom best in Alaska.

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One of the things I did this week was pull a root. It reminded me a great deal of life. (I was also struck by a comment made by Jack about pulling them up instead of letting them stay in the ground) One of the things I don’t like about spring is pulling up baby trees and flowers. This particular locust was rather tall and I wanted it out of my flower garden. So, I decided to take it out. I eventually cut it off when I got to the fence. The darn thing went under the fence and sidewalk and I’d already managed to get almost on my belly to remove it! (The lighter bit near the shovel handle is the ‘tree’ part.)

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I found out later it had been mostly dug up when the septic line had been put in last summer. Then, it had been reburied. (I wanted to cry, but I suppose it was good for me to get on my knees in the dirt!) When we find things that need sorted and rebury them, it isn’t as simple to pull them out again later. They make more rootlets and start to grow again. This was also a sucker broken off the main towering tree in the middle of the yard. Suckers are little bits of trees pulling life from the host. They can sometimes be dug up and moved, creating a new tree, and even more rarely, they can be left alone to grow uninhibited, but more often, they just need taken out. My marriage has those reburied bits where I’m supposed to sedately grow the way I should. Or maybe they are bits that need removed? That is the problem with analogies, they work in many situations!!!

Life goes on

This last week my Gramps died. Gramps was my 4th dad’s step dad and a huge (even though I hadn’t seen him in more than 10 years) part of my life. I always knew he was around. I mentioned elsewhere that mum was immortal, Gramps and Dad were constant. I’ll totally take consistency over immortality. I decided to NOT wear my amethyst today and instead donned forget me not earrings with opal/diamond ones Gramps bought Grams. (Grams died when I was in college and I was given an opal set she loved.) I always think of Grams when I wear it, now I will remember Gramps, as well.

Spring is really truly on the way. My crocus (I looked at my plant photo calendar–I write and photograph when things appear/bloom so I have a record–and one year they didn’t bloom til mid March, so this week isn’t that far off!) are looking spectacular! I will need to pick dozens of them before it rains this weekend. Rain turns fragile dark purple crocus blooms into mashed up goo. I weeded one of the garden areas and accidentally pulled up my old fashioned peony. It is such a pretty, fun flower and I plumb forgot the ‘root’ is a carrot shaped thing. It takes three years for it to get going and last summer it had 3 blooms on it. (I think I just set it into cha cha mode….) The first photo is one I shared before. The second two are after. The peony is under the chair, the pot in the chair has petunias that appear to come back each year. Since The Craftsman likes petunias, I’ll put a bunch of those in the brick edged bed before I head north. He removed the netting I’d put up for sweet peas and nasturtiums. (The bed was full of grass). I’ll put another peony next to the green pot, it used to have hosts. The white ring has orange oriental poppies. The ‘fence’ holds them upright.

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I’m glad to be in ‘my’ garden. That was something I wanted to do at mom’s and she resented it. It isn’t really mine, though. I plan and plant and dig and weed and then The Craftsman decides to cut something down or dig up something and recreate the UGS system. Oh well. I did discover a couple of interesting things. Honeysuckle will replace the hops plant in the yard. (Hops tend to go bonkers and a single plant will grow literally anywhere!) Strider suggested honeysuckle. I also inadvertently found an easy way to keep my hands clean. I am one of those who wears gloves just long enough to be driven nuts. Then, I dig in with bare hands. The other day I had rubbed almond oil on them and, later, washing off the dirt was easy peasy!!! Then, I learned from google that lily of the valley is probably more toxic than a daffodil. 😳😳😳(although, dead is dead. I guess it is just how much you ingest at a time. NOTE: Do not eat flowers unless you are darn sure they are edible!)

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This, above, is entirely edible. I try different low fat sorts of ice creams and most of them are nasty. When I need to use a fork to eat ice cream just to pry it out of the container, that is silly. This product above has, as Gaz would say, an excellent mouth feel. (creamy, soft, smooth, decadent.) It also loks like it is made in the PNW, Portland. I laughed after I ate the whole pint, though. I thought the carb amount was for the pint instead of a serving. Really. Servings belong in larger containers. Pints are most assuredly a single serving!!! This company makes other flavors, but this is my favorite. I rarely buy it cuz it is freaking spendy. Usually, I end up with some other stuff that is ok, but not stellar. I generally need to ‘wash’ off my taste buds with something else after eating those. Like this sweet made with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. (I think that company uses a special ingredient to make their treats so tempting!) You cut up canned cinnamon rolls, shake them in cinnamon sugar, put them in a greased pan, drizzle butter and brown sugar on top, bake, and eat and eat and eat and eat!!!!! Oh, I did put the ‘frosting’ on top, too. (But, not all of it!!) EVERYONE likes it.

I may see how many ways there are to make cinnamon sweets! Are any of you Americans old enough to remember Jolly Rancher Fire Stix?

Growing Cat Nips

Two little ladybugs flew around a flower, Then crawled beneath a leaf to nap for half an hour. –Anonymous children’s rhyme

As much as I love winter, spring is by far the most amazing time of the year. The yard slowly wakes, a little bit more each day, until it almost explodes with color and sound and scent.  As if it is trying to rush to reach the lazy days of summer. I particularly love all the violets hiding in the grass. Most people tend to turf them out, I ask they be left alone. I often think I can almost eat them because they smell so good! (I haven’t eaten them, you can, but I generally just pick them for tiny little vases). When I’m out in the new grass, Moses usually joins me. (He joins anyone anywhere!) I was taking photos of the purple and white violets one day and found a ladybug getting ready to hitch a ride on our orange kitty. I moved the little guy. Ladybugs are red for a reason! They are toxic little things who release a nasty bitter substance when provoked. I didn’t want Moses to accidentally lick the creature and get sick!

The Money Plants in my Oregon yard

Garfield, from Garfieldhugs, talked about and then posted pictures of her money plant. I thought it was very interesting, because the plant in my Eastern Oregon yard is also called a money plant or dollar plant and it is totally different! The plant I have is often considered a weed. It has a bushy long stem with serrated leaves. The stem has tiny hairs up and down the plant and the flowers are either white or purple. They may be other colors, in my yard, they stay to these two hues.  They are great companion plants and smell very nice. I like to use the dried seed stems in fall decor, too.

After the plants go to seed, little pods, like coins appear. Those pods open very easily and seeds are broadcast everywhere. These little pods are also thought to look like coin purses or silver dollars. It has many names such as the money plant, the silver dollar plant, the honesty plant, and moonwort. If only real money spread like this flower does! Oddly, before I left, I noticed many of my plants had spots. It was a fungus, so I hope they survived and are still around. (apparently, they don’t like watered with the UGS system.)