Can you guess what my hobbies are?

I doubt that it is cost effective to start garden plants from seeds, especially if my time is factored in. But it sure is fun. Every day I have to check if they have enough water since the containers are so small and some are made of peat or some kind of fiber so they dry out fast. Then as they grow I have to transplant to a bigger pot. As you can see from the picture, I start out with the pots close to the light and then lower them as they get bigger. My "automatic" system is to place a shorter box under then to lower them. Not a real exciting picture, but it gives you an idea of how I am doing it.

For my relatives in NM, I was able to order Big Jim pepper seeds and planted them today.

A few weeks ago we had friends over for dinner and she brought a basket of plants as a gift. There were about eight various plants in the basket, which were now overgrowing it. So I planted each one in their own pot. The challenge then was to find the perfect spot in which to place them. I am trying an east window. I am trilled with them because they have such a great variation in color, texture and shape.

Gardening while the sun shines

Mowing, weeding, tilling, planting, cutting dead stems off flower plants, picking up rocks, babying the small plants that I started from seed. That pretty much sums up the last four days of my life. To expand on that, I mowed the entire lawn, tilled the garden and the area by the deck that needs to have grass seed planted, planted peas, spinach, lettuce. The onions and garlic are already up. From seeds, I am starting three kinds of tomatoes, broccoli, herbs and several kinds of flowers. They have to be transplanted as the grow, but are not ready to be planted outside yet. I dig out rocks from our fields to use in my landscaping. (DH thinks this is really silly, but did admit that if he were retired he might be out there helping me.)

It is encouraging that the daffodil and tulip bulbs that I planted last fall survived and are blooming nicely.

In gardening and landscaping there always are warnings about plants that are invasive, meaning the are very prolific either from seeds or roots spreading. I noticed in my garden that I have many, many plants of dill, cilantro and parsley. I purposely planted the mint outside of the garden for that reason. So, it seems that dill, cilantro and parsley are weeds in the right conditions.

Itchiku Kubota

Today I went to an exhibition at the Canton Art Museum titled "Kimonos" by the Japanese artist Itchiku Kubota. You can see some of them here: http://www.kimonoexhibit.com/exhibit.htm
but the pictures do not begin to show the amazing beauty of each piece. Each one is made of silk. The colors are dyed layer upon layer. It was like a tie dying. He has embroidered on them and used ink for detail. Each one took about a year to complete. His story is fascinating. He saw a small piece of fabric made with this technique, but was centuries old. He was able to duplicate the technique after years of work. The kimono with the sun on it is especially powerful. He was a POW in Siberia during WWII and the only thing of hope for him was the sunsets. The exhibit was stunning. It is hard to find words to describe it.

Surprise party in Albuquerque

None of us had our camera ready to get a picture of Mrs. de-I when people arrived for her surprise birthday party. These pictures revolve around the food preparation.

One of the co-conspirators preparing to bake the birthday cake.
Her sisters and Mom are taking it easy!

Other kitchen help (mostly dish washing for me).

As you can see, they are making a very "deep dish" lasagna.

There was a meat and vegetable lasagna.

Help was available to blow out the candles. Is she only six years old?
No, we didn't want to melt the cake.

April 15 - exhaused

I hope this is not a pattern with me, but I left taxes to the very last minute. So for three days before April 15, I was sitting at the computer for hours. On the 14th I think I was there for 10 hours. Please do not feel sorry for me as I was the one who procrastinated. Anyway it is done and DH brought me flowers as a thank you. What a great guy. It is not like he is lying around doing nothing. He has been fixing up the mowers for the last 2-3 evenings, so I can start mowing the grass.

I have two pictures that I just must post. I would title them, "Like Father, like daughter."


















Ok, I will give an explanation. Something fell behind the washer and S is trying to get it out. K is looking at the muffler on my car. There is never a dull moment at their house. Of course the addition to the family makes it even more so. He is a really good baby however.

I was able to get the "red eye" out but not the reflection on S's glasses. Help Mrs. de-I.

It's your mother

There is a phrase, "If it's not one thing, it's another." Those of you who remember Rosadanna (Gilda Radner) on Saturday Night Live, will recall she changed it to "If it's not one thing, it's your mother". That later is a saying I use sometimes. But I will add, I am not being disparaging to my mother. I just think it is funny to use at times.

One of these times was this week when we received new credit cards from Citi with the explanation that some business that we use had its data base compromised and we were in danger of someone having access to our credit card. Not further explanations were given. So I had to get the new card activated. Then I thought of the various accounts that I have taken out automatically, mostly utilities. So I have to contact each of them to change to the new number. Actually it was only three. That was when my comment was, "If it's not one thing, it's your mother".

I, hereby, give my children permission to use the phrase. Especially if it is really appropriate!

A more serious posting

It looks like Thursday was my last day of staying with my neighbor who has cancer. She and her family made the decision before I came on that day that she would move to the Hospice facility. I helped her get ready to leave. For some reason no family member was there. I helped her pack and answered questions for the ambulance drivers who came to take her. It may have been more emotional for me than for her. She has had time to come to accept what is happening. I just kept thinking "she is never going to return to the home she has lived in for 50 years." This whole experience is one for which I had no training. But I went in to it hoping to help make life a bit better for the lady and her family and to have it be a learning experience for me. Death was discussed in a matter of fact manner. Maybe tears were shed over the last several months, when I was not involved. It has been helpful to talk about it with my next door neighbor who recruited me. But she told me she has been working as an RN for 30 years and has never been involved in this type of situation either, so it was new for her too. It has made me pause and think about life, death and to be grateful for my health.

Busy week

I will post a couple pictures of grandchildren. When I visited on Wednesday I had parked my car in their drive way. When I was out in the yard playing with K she got down on her stomach and looked under my car. I got down there too and asked, "what is under there?" She said, "Grandma G, you need a new muffler." If you have read her father's blog you will know where she learned that.

Little brother just sleeps and eats, while big sis is quite busy.

Next week I will be better at blogging, I promise.