Yesterday morning I surprised myself by feeling a little teary.  I'm not much of a crier.  Wait - that may not be true.  I tear up at unexpected times, times when my soul is engaged and my brain is on autopilot. I cried when I was making pesto this weekend.  A stranger was in the hospital dying. The pesto was an ingredient in a dish I was making to send over for visiting family.  Also strangers ... a mutual friend made the request and I was happy to help out.  1/4 cup of walnuts ... olive oil ... parmesan cheese ... a silent tear sliding down a cheek.  Usually those little tears are happy ones.

I would expect there might be tears associated with a child leaving for college. In my case this was the last of five to take that step and I hadn't shed a tear at any of those other transitions.  Maybe it's because this is the last one. She was unexpected at 42.  I didn't cry then  I laughed when a friend gave me a maternity t-shirt which read "OVER THE HILL AND OFF THE PILL" even though I wasn't off the pill at all. My career plans changed and I felt blessed to have one more chance to help build a foundation and I thought I'd be pretty good at it being an old hand.  I continued to work "part-time" and enjoyed the sweetness that a baby brings to a family. She flew with me a good bit before she was old enough to begin preschool.

The time flew by as it tends to do.

Maybe it was coming around the corner and seeing her room empty of those things that made it hers. A few favorite snapshots were hanging forlornly in an otherwise mostly vacant room.  Taking the cute little kitty cat bank out of a storage box in her closet and setting it out on an almost empty bookshelf in her room didn't make me feel much better. I remembered my own mother saying, "If I'd known you would never live at home again when you left for college, I wouldn't have let you go".  I thought that was such a weird thing for her to say.  That was years later.  I expect them to build their life in a nest of their own.  It's great when they come home, but it's different.  My Dad sent a hallmark card to me late in that first semester away.  It had 20 bucks in it and a note in his own writing which said pizza money ... money was tight in the home I grew up in, I knew he had converted it from his beer money.  The card was a perfect reflection of my dad's sense of humor.  On the outside it read "Since you've been gone we decided to convert the room where you spent all your time..." and on the inside "... we are using it as a house bath again."

My girl cousins on my mother's side are coming in for Labor Day weekend.  I don't know any of them at all.  I've maybe seen them twice at the most over my life but they are Facebook friends.  Weird, huh?  It was my idea and quite frankly, I vacillate between hoping it will be fun or at least helpful, to just cautious preparation.  My mom and her sister shared the most contentious dynamic that I've ever seen outside of political circles. I don't know why ... or how.  On of the cousins was asking about my mother trajectory once she began to decline physically.  In visiting with her via FB messenger I realized she was as adrift as I felt back when Momma was first diagnosed. Two of the cousin sisters have already opted out with pretty sound excuses (which I do not take personally, they may be even completely legit).  They all have slightly closer ties to each other than I have had with any of them.  There are some mean words between the different sets of cousins that seem to be generating plausible excuses for opting out.  We're planning on driving up to see all things "MAGNOLIA" for one of the days. I've asked every one to bring an already written description of a fun/funny event featuring their momma which will be read to the group and we can guess which of the four sisters that was.  I also asked everyone to bring a little token wrapped gift to be exchanged fire drill style. Company coming in, strangers to me basically.  That's why I'm fussing around in V's room. Making ready.

After that my husband and I plan on spending a couple weeks at the coast camping out (just us and the dog).  Then I have to get to class for a couple of days to do a FIRC - flight instruction recertification process.

I have a few things planned other than those delightful little trips.  I am relearning conversational Spanish.  It's tricky because I haven't found a "Tex-Mex" app and we don't really speak Español here in Texas. The app I'm using is set up sorta like a game.  It's fun.  I'm also relearning how to dive from the side into a pool.  I don't really like that - it hurts my face a  bit - but I think it will amuse grandkids one of these days. I had a really fun grandmother. I need time to work on that!  She baked a beautifully decorated cake to welcome Daddy's twin home (he lived overseas).  I'd forgotten the story, but was recently reminded by Daddy's cousin.  When my Uncle's bride (star of the visit) cut in to the cake, while everyone circled around, the cake exploded sending sticky bits everywhere and filling the room with (mostly) laughter.  Grandmomma had secretly hollowed out the cake and planted a blown up balloon inside.  I would never ever in a million years think of doing that! It was funny (mostly) ... I laughed to think of my super prankster G laughing her little 4'6" self silly, but I have a lot of work do to get anywhere near that level.

Today, I'm repotting my Meyer's lemon tree and working around the house for the cousin's visit. Mostly though, I'm sitting here listening to the pool fountain, chewing up perfectly melted ice cubes and attempting to get back in the habit of noting stuff here.

As far as "home improvement" goes, I have sheer drapes up next for this room. Next up tweaking the masterbath - haven't done a thing in there yet.

Recently flew Delta to ATL where TWO would be having a minor surgery.  It felt good that she wanted me there.

 I hadn't seen this technology in the seats. Pretty cool. They were getting a ground speed of 595mph with that 82mph tailwind.
I was a bit "creeped out" by the flight. It was delayed for over an hour and an equipment change was made and broadcast by the gate agent as she implored us to use the new seat assignments on a boarding pass that she swiped in from our original ones one person at a time.  She was really frazzled I thought. Why are the seating assignments changing I asked and she said it was because of an equipment down grade ... was to be an A321 per my ticket confirmation email and from where I stood near the window at her counter I glanced out and saw what looked to me to be an A321.  "Oh, what are we boarding?" I asked casually as she worked the angle of my phone to get the scan.  An Airbus 321 she said.  Hmmmm.
The Captain was greeting everyone as we boarded.  I may have been the last to board. "Did y'all get her all fired up?" or something like that I asked in passing and he weirdly responded that they had been dancing in the aisle before the passengers started arriving.  Weird right?  I smiled faintly in response and kept on moving to my seat.  The very same seat that I would be sharing with the lady beside me as part of her squeezed under the armrest and into my seat.  She flew the entire way, most of the way, with her eyes shut.  I was concerned that she might be a queasy flier, but later I thought maybe she just doesn't have great experiences in a sardine can. Because of the flight crews choice of words about weather at the destination I wanted to, and was unable to in flight, look at radar weather graphics. Honestly, the entire bumpy flight was smoother than a smooth day in a Cessna 172.  The landing was note worthy as we sat down rather firmly on the right mains and shimmied just a smidge before the left set made contact.  I've never experienced an actually carrier landing, but I have been accused of making them and it's never been a compliment ... hmmm, carrier landing, I thought followed by nice to be safely down.
I wasn't the last one off the plane and I thought it was really neat that the folks further back waited to let people more towards the front out.  People flying to ATL are probably well schooled in the Southern graces.  "Thanks for the safe flight." I said, head down, as I passed the crew members standing in the front galley.
My smile started as soon as I stepped off the plane when thoughts turned fully to my girl.  She said she'd meet me at the escalator.  I don't fly into ATL often enough to know what that meant exactly, but she seemed perfectly certain that I would automatically find my way there.  It didn't occur to me to think otherwise. I dodged into the ladies room to check my lipstick, wash my hands, and bring up an airport map.  Phone in hand I reemerged and starting walking briskly with the flow ... seemed like a plan.  Next thing I know the captain of that flight was at my side making small talk. He told me he used to be a hornet driver.  That may be perfectly normal talk in piloting circles - idk - I just really don't like people walking up bragging on themselves.  I like to decide if someone is impressive without the shortcuts.  "So, lots of carrier landings?" I asked and he said he was an instructor pilot and taught carrier landings even ... . (Oh gee whiz). I asked him what the delay was coming out of AUS to which he responded the cabin crew was late having worked a flight the night before and getting only six hours of downtime.  Pretty rough glamor job.  I kept on walking when we got to the proper turn and had to double back after some time had gone by - quick pit stop to shed my new friend.
Once on the airport train I started looking at my map but by then I was headed to the International Terminal and my daughter was texting somewhat frantically.  This is exactly how it feels when they think you're too old to navigate (life) I thought. I remembered fetching my mother-in-law from ATL over the years.  Eventually we worked out a way to meet her at the gate - you have to set that up in advance, but it can be done, at least it used to be.

end of the line on the ATL terminal train

The AUO ball cap was on her coffee table and she let me borrow it because it rained in Atlanta the whole three days I was there.  It felt so good to have time with just her.  Time. Time to focus on one person is rare in my family.  I loved it.  We had two days before her surgery and spent time exploring indoor places that she wanted to see.  My favorite treat was a glass of whiskey with a very large solid ice cube in it.  I love those ice cubes that are clear as glass. She's fine.  I hope to go back for a few days in October. I got in a hour later than expected (that may be a Delta thing because it seems to happen often) and was very glad to see my husband roll up to the curb.

Next morning and a long time planned "girl's weekend" with some of my oldest friends was on tap. I drove down to San Antonio for a weekend of silliness which included seeing Mamma Mia (cute), mani/pedis (Mani only for me, I dropped something on my foot and broke my big toe nail in half.  The proprietor really wanted to build a new toenail with filler but I declined), some shopping, and a Chinese foot massage.

AND a Chinese foot massage!  

Let me tell you about that.

I drove us there taking direction from the backseat.  You know how you're carefully following someone's directions but at the same time thinking "this couldn't be right"?  That's what was happening.  San Antonio has the feeling of hap-hazard urban design, and the streets seem narrow, pot holed, sorta dirty really. "Pull in here" my friend directed and we were in the Big Lots parking lot.  The Chinese Foot Massage place was a few doors down.  Pictured is the sign in their window extolling the many benefits of foot massage.  Re-live stress jumped out at me ..."Uh, how much is this gonna run?" I asked.  

We stepped inside and found a very dark room.  Ok, the room was completely dark like the forbidden pool hall in the town we all grew up in was dark, darker though because there were no pool table lights illuminating the space. There was a tiny spot light at the register and as my eyes adjusted I could read "One hour foot massage/$35.00 CASH ONLY".  I was in for 35 bucks worth of foot tinkering. I have a kind of a foot thing anyway so that seemed okay.  I wasn't even bothered by my lack of nail polish or complete nails for that matter.  This just didn't feel like the sort of place where one might be judged. I was glad it didn't smell like stale beer and cigarette smoke.

Behind a partition wall of cubbies, which were full of crisp clean white towels, was a row of oversized ottoman type beds with a moveable foot stool which if it was pushed along size the larger ottoman would combine to be the size of a narrow twin bed.  I took off my overshirt, revealing a cammy, and pulled my yoga pants up above my knees.  A woman brought a big vessel of hot epsom salted water in and indicated that I should sit down put my feet in and lay back.  My friends were on either side of me and I could see that they already had their eyes closed.  I should say all of them had been here on previous visits, I was the only novice in our group ... and closing my eyes seemed unlikely. The lady draped a nice smelling hot wash cloth over my eyes and told me to relax now.  From under the cloth I watched her squeeze something from a bottle and rub it on my feet.  I decided that closing my eyes would be more in the spirit of this adventure.  She moved from my feet leaving the soak tub in place and moved up to my head.  I could feel her trying to figure out how to take my hair down and I reached up to help.  Let me say now, as much of a sucker as I am for a foot massage, I am really all in on a scalp massage. Keeping my eyes closed became very easy.  She massaged my neck, face, shoulders, arms, legs and tapped me on the shoulder.  I was thinking, too bad this is over - money well spent - but I was actually instructed to turn over and at that time I noticed the lady had moved over to one of my friends and this was a tiny man helping me.  He moved the pillow and below it was a hole for my face to fit in just like the regular massage tables.  Then he massaged my back, my shoulders and arms and hands and my legs again. The whole thing was pretty much bliss.

I liked it.  It was fantastic.

I think there's a Chinese foot massage place between the Ramen place I like and the Korean grocery store where I shop in Austin.  I am absolutely certain that from my family, only one of my sons would be willing to go there with me.  I'd feel weird going in alone.  But ... it was really good. Not sure if my "flexibition" was improved or not, but I do know the massage was a bargain value and deserved the generous tip.

A few pictures from National Seashore campout -

I'll be back soon to write some notes - 

Just really busy!

Pictures from recent Colorado trip

Train tracks in the center of a four lane city street
never seen that before (and no guard bars, yet it works perfectly well)

next three photos - drive from Ft. Collins to Estes Park - I saw lots of mountain goats

These two are of potted flowers decorating the Pearl St. area of Boulder. Plants like it there.

Three at the botanical gardens in Denver.

My dad's main hobby during my growing up years was organic gardening.  He would love that this kid is a professional gardener.  

BTW - we stayed one night at the Best Western in Raton (NM) where they had an absolutely fantastic breakfast buffet - even the coffee was outstanding. It's the only hotel I've seen with two exits from ones room - there's a door to outside and another door on the opposite wall that opens to a large atrium type space with an indoor pool.  Seemed really smart where the weather is less hospitable.

Some of the back yard landscape work -

Yesterday, while working on removing a white plastic pipe and the little dirty white rocks that encased it underground, a huge butterfly flew over head.  I wouldn't have noticed it had I not been looking up in to the trees.  I was trying to spot a fussing mockingbird. And I was thinking about hanging the individual crystals from the chandelier that came with this house ... hanging them from fishing line and letting them fall like raindrops from the branches that shade the yard over where there's still a lot of work to be done.  

This yard came with significant drainage problems and "layers" of failed attempts to solve those problems.  One of the solutions was to ring the entire house with a ditch, I'm guessing its about a foot deep and two feet wide, filled with walnut sized rocks.  I don't know when that was done, but long enough ago that the rock ditch is know filled with dirt that has compressed around the rocks like Karo syrup around peanuts ... it's brittle. And when we strike the rocks, the dirt breaks up in to pea sized "nuggets".  I am using the fire pit screen as a sieve.  My husband says he will reuse the rock we are culling out of some areas as the underlay for a drainage path/ walking path/  patio.  I know that doesn't make much sense without picture!  I'll go snap one in a few ... the only reason I have time to write now while I should be watering plants is because there's a cloud layer blocking the morning sun. 77% humidity with a 30% chance of rain ... which in Central Texas usually means there is one small cloud that will unleash a downpour over one quarter acre lot somewhere ... not here.

Today I will mix up a portion of Miracle Grow for every plant in our yard.  

Our daughter, C ... aka Four, is here staying with us for I hope all of July before she starts her teaching career.  She doesn't think we have made much progress, but then, she's not picking rocks out of where planting beds should be!

Plus, we pack up and go on little trips pretty often.  Next one scheduled this month - a camp out at the National Seashore where I hope to see some spectacular night skies.

I am really happy with the way our work is looking.  There's still a lot to do.  

rocks to repurpose as underlay 

This is that area where we are focusing our efforts right now.  The PVC pipe was a water sprinkler project (we think - no heads so not sure yet what the plan was) begun by a former homeowner. There is TV cable cord which cuts through our yard, goes under the fence and I'm guessing services the backyard neighbor (weird). We have cable guys scheduled to come out in October to upgrade that ... apparently it's supposed to be inside a conduit of some kind. I am postponing planting anything along the line where that is to be installed. My husbands idea is to provide a channel for drainage through the sidewalk pictured here but to expand it to pick up another "branch" under an expansion of the grid patterned sidewalk that we have already laid.  Those aggregate stepping stones were buried under thirty years worth of Asian jasmine ground cover. You can see where dirt and vegetation were piled against the fence and the casita causing wood rot.  As we replace fence boards, I am going to build a trellis which will attach to the back fence supporting the three vines my husband planted out there - two star jasmine (small fragrant white flower bursts) and one evergreen wisteria (Vibrant vermilion flowers which cascade like grape clusters reminiscent of wisteria).  I am very excited about the vines.

The sidewalk will fan out providing a junction for a gravel path coming from behind the casita.  That is the area set aside for garden "utility" such as our compost piles, a potting bench, a raised bed, etc.. we get good sun back there and it's hidden from view by the little building.  Where I drew on the picture in red - that's the area for our fire pit and a couple of Adirondack chairs.  We are planning on building a little table height rock ledge near the fence to sort of hug that seating area.

This area was covered by the Asian jasmine ground cover - it had really gotten out of hand and was a big part of the drainage issue in that area.  I really loved laying sod ... it's like instant gratification after hours and hours of root removal and dirt repositioning.  I planted caladiums there this year. Next year I;; plant begonias with them.  That's elephant ear in the blue pot.

Here's looking back the other way.  We plan on veneering the casita in the same rock as our house (eventually - husband will pour the ledge for that as part of the drainage job) and where that red is drawn on - a privacy fence and gate to hid my work area.  The drainage fix is really driving this project right now - the slab of the casita is about a foot below grade right now. It's going to look really nice and be functional as well.

This is one of my favorite parts about the yard work - cooling off in the pool!

Kitchen changes ...

Before:

Here is the "mid 70's" kitchen that this house was built with.

I think the cabinets - real wood - may be the best feature.

We found the house online and asked our realtor to arrange a viewing. 

This picture was how it looked when we bought the place from the "flipper".

They closed the door way which lead to a dining room (currently a study), took down overhead cabinets on the sink wall and increase the size of the opening between the kitchen and the living room. They upgraded the counter tops, the tile back splash, the appliances (except the refrigerator) and painted everything that unfortunate purple brown/grey ... taupe.  Yesterday I read an article about paint colors which said that color actually decreases the property value substantially. Every wall and every ceiling in this house was that color ... it might have been on sale.

I painted the walls white as soon as I could get to it which I thought made the room "better".

The cabinets were in rough shape.  The knobs were "whopper jawed" because the holes hadn't drilled uniformly on all the doors and some of the doors were crooked, unable to close. The finish trim was "glued" on crooked, with gaps, or missing entirely, making the whole cabinet system look "crappy". All except tow of the cabinet door hinges was painted over - the height of laziness and telling of hidden shortcuts made by the flippers. We replaced all the janky hardware as we set about repairing the deficits.  

Tile was haphazardly applied (everywhere it had been put it was done amateurishly.  I think this was a first time attempt by someone who is not detail oriented.  I don't like the tile selection - it's a mosaic herringbone pattern - but the real problem with it is the lack of craftsmanship.  People say a lot of flippers really don't care about anything but the time line and this house seems to support that.)  

Overall, from picture 1. to picture 2. progress was made and I was glad for the head start.  

I removed the tile that had been here. It just didn't make sense to me to have tile applied to the cabinet. That little section of wall maybe.  Someone said "they probably had tile left over and couldn't bare to not use it.  A plastic wood product was applied and sanded where wood came away with the tile mastic (thin set might have been a better choice there, but these guys seemed to love their adhesives - even a hinge pin for a 3-0 door was "monster-glued" in place, upside down). The wall duplex had been halfway fastened with a sheet rock screw which made getting the cover plate on impossible.  I'm pretty good at patching sheet rock so that gouged out looking section wasn't a problem. Here's a detail of the after:

After:

The refrigerator is too big for the space, but after two years with the tiny broken-down one at the rental house I really needed a super nice frig. When we get ready to sell this house we'll replace it with a counter depth unit because that one is going with me. 

The cabinet paint color is Annie Sloan's Aubusson sealed with clear wax.  In high touch areas I enjoy the soothingly soft feel of waxed wood and it wipes clean easily.  I realize that not everyone will love this color as I do ... but ... I do! Left to do - change out faucet (the one the flippers installed is plastic! And while I'm being critical ... the grain on the marble makes a 90 degree turn at the "peninsula" seam - just silly - can't match it now). 

As we do intend to sell this home within the next couple of years, further kitchen modifications don't really make fiscal sense.  BUT if we were keeping this house I would definitely move the microwave to a built in spot below the counter tops (in that "L") and install a stainless steel vent hood over the gas stove.  The microwave has a vent that can be turned on, but it just vents into the living space. I would also (and maybe still will) change the tile out to a plain white subway tile.

For how much I love to cook the kitchen is a bit small.  It's a one cook kitchen - perfectly adequate  for us most of the time.

-from kitchen through to great room-

I'm working out in the yard now. 

Eventually I'll post some more before and after pictures of our work here.

Memorial Day

HT ~ ntkfab

who writes "a photo of my brother @sgt_chern (center)

shared with permission

I am proud and blessed to be an American,

May God bless their sacrifices.

Oliver has found V's knitting basket.

Coming up on a year in this house and I will sheepishly note - the unpacking isn't complete. Yard work has been a huge push lately, has to be so before the Texas heats chases me back inside for the most of a day.  Already if I neglect to water the potted plants or my hanging baskets they appear to be "sleeping in" the next day.

Husband and I are back to walking an hour and a half or more each early morning and sometimes in the evening - after his cocktail settles in.  Surprisingly, retirement is even busier than when we both worked (and raised our house full of kids).  I guess it seems so because there are no huge chucks of the day scheduled by obligations and little things fill our days.

Come August we will be "empty nesters". It's still easy to remember the joy when back in 1986 we brought our first child home.  Last night he drove down after work to spend the night and drop off his dog for the weekend. The dogs (mine and his) like each other and have worked out their differences. Four's cat, Oliver, is here too. My dog barely spares a glance for the cat and over the past couple of weeks Oliver has settled nicely as far as the dog is concerned.  The Australian Shepard is seeing him for the first time though. AS does not differentiate between small furry animals. He seems to believe they are all feral and probably rabid. He seems bent on total eradication.  The cat delights in taunting him ... rolling around on the floor, mere inches away, separated by large expanses of glass which flank the back of the house. Oliver appears to wink at the dog, showing his soft furry belly as he flirts with a quick end save the glass.  Yeah, there's dog slobber and paw prints all over the place.  I'm a bit OCD about the windows so Monday, or Tuesday, not sure when vacation is over for One, I'll be spraying that wonderful foam window cleaner and buffing them back to invisible. When AS arrives the cat who sorta lives here goes elsewhere.  He and Oliver are not friendly as it is.  I had never seen a cat preparing to kill another cat until these two met ... and it hasn't gotten any better over the two weeks that Oliver has been here. "My cat" stands tall with his fingers splayed, claws unsheathed as though on tippy toe.  His eye are golden slits and his ears are pressed back looking all the world like a special forces guy's flat top.  I mean ... my cat has a notch out of one ear and the other is pierced waiting for a pirates golden ear ring. He is a bit of a thug cat.  He comes here for for a place to heal essentially ... and I think he enjoys sitting with me when I have my coffee first thing. No matter who is doing the accounting, there are too many animals here. Four may come home from her summer camp job for the weekend.  In the Fall she'll begin her career as a science educator. In the meanwhile her household furnishings are neatly stacked in one of the garage bays and her cat is on the prowl for trouble.

I like downsizing.  By American standards I am a minimalist. I still have more airplane stuff than I'll ever want to use again.  That stuff has a emotional attachment I guess ... I'd give it away, most of it, to the right people or place.  One of the local high schools builds an RV every year, sells it and uses the proceeds to buy an new kit for next year. I might look in to that for a "good" place to donate some of my current materials. I have read that actually flight proficiency deteriorates rapidly even among high hour pilots even as their self-confidence increases during long absences from routine flying. I haven't flown in over a year but I'm still keeping my instructor certificates current. As of today I doubt I'll ever take (or give) another flight review.  I miss flying, but I don't miss all the hours in the air it takes to stay good at flying.

And dishes.  I like dishes.

AS keeps on getting in the pool then coming over beside me to shake off. My dog is conserving energy in the shade.  I may smell like wet dog while I do my housework today!

 Mexican Sage to replace those five plants we lost during the extended freeze.  I was able to find a small root ball in each of the holes which I'm experimenting with "reviving".  They are in a nutrient rich tub but no sign of green yet. These guys form a "hedge"line behind some native grass clumps - picture to follow in the months ahead as things take shape.  I am tickled with the front yard first phase of landscaping.  Still have metal edging and mulch to do out there but the back yard is more of a priority right now.

Two pots, alike, flank the front entry.  Still, the new door waits to be hung.  We are incredibly busy with the back yard projects.  I think the door installation is waiting until end of the summer - plus, we haven't decided on traditional key lock or some of the new, finger touch entry systems ... and other details to enhance the front elevation.  For now, the orange flowers are really beautiful. 

Here is the back yard bed where I'm still pulling remnants of drainage blocking ground cover.  This is behind the coolcrete pool deck and abutts the house.  Yesterday we began pour black tiny gravel between the stepping stones that my husband had so carefully placed.  That permeable walkway was designed to help with back yard drainage. The trees are huge and provide a full canopy of shade for the patio.  The elephant ear that I'm "starting" will be moved to this bed once everything is ready for them.  Yesterday I learned that our zone (8b) isn't wonderfully hospitable for wintering over in-ground.  I'm looking for plan B plants for this bed, but I'll still put the elephant ear in ground with the intent to dig them up every year.  If we sell this house in a few years, I wouldn't want to leave the next owners with a gardening job every fall ... so the elephant ears will be joined by some hardier buddy plants.  An hour and a half South of here (@ about 80mph) is practically a tropical zone!  

On selling - L. hasn't settled in to this smaller in-town lot yet.  He doesn't like all the noise that comes with in-town living.  I barely hear it.  Once the trellises are up (and the backdoor neighbor stops peeking over the fence at will) he may like it better.  If not, I'm not opposed to another move. All the landscaping and detail work inside the house will make the property value significantly higher (plus the additional square foot added by the casita addition).  All this work might just be a hobby that pays.

That back fence line is where I'm putting most of my effort lately.  Turns out, there was an entire row of big, too heavy for me to lift, rocks. They must have been placed there to delineate a flower bed from the lawn.  This house is a lot different from our longterm home - better for us now, and I love having a pool, but the yard has been interesting.  We bought the other house knowing that we could "fix" the house over time (and we did) but the yard was already amazing, neglected, as the house had sat empty for a year or more, but pretty close to  Southern Living photo op quality.
I developed a real love for gardening over there.  Those older ladies, the garden club set. really brought me along.  Good women.

The starts I potted and brought along are now in the ground here.  The daylilies are thriving, and that one little hosta start is going to make it.  The empty looking pot in the foreground of this shot contains four elephant ear bulbs, two regular giant green and two of the dark purple ones.  We are clearing a bed behind this picture where those will be replanted once were ready for them.  I think those bulbs can stay in the ground in this zone, but I may dig them up every Fall anyway.  I'm learning about here.

There's a sack of seed and four empty feeders which I hope to hang this week. Once we return from our graduation trip I'll get right on planting that bed along the fence.  In the "opening" where the backdoor neighbor's fireplace can be seen, we plan to build some trellises for evergreen wisteria - a magenta cluster that does look like wisteria but isn't at all - some of the pink honey suckle and I think star or Carolina jasmine.  My husband intends to build five separate trellis to enhance the looks of this area. I'm planning on mostly purple blooming things interspersed white daisy plants and an assortment of bedding plants ... we'll see.  It'll look nicer this year, but really won't fill in oil next year I think.  Lotsa fun.

It's the prettiest thing I've seen lately.  I really smiled at the "blue-eyed grass", periwinkle is one of my favorite colors ... this egret. Wow.

I don't know who to credit.  I came across it used as an enticement to read a short story on LONGREADS, a recent subscription for me.

I've asked an artist whose life and work we admire to draw it for us.  I would put it over the fireplace.  As a matter of fact, I can see it there already when I close my eyes.  I hope he says yes.  And I hope I can afford it.

I could draw it.  I'd try gold and silver prism colors with all that grey scale ... and I keep the color true in the bill and feet. I don't even think it would be very hard. But my husband would like it even better if it was done by a real artist. Maybe an anniversary gift.  He misses the view of the San Gabriel river and the birds who lived in that area.

I've never seen a baby bird breaking out of his shell.  I've seen a nest being built.  I've seen eggs in that very same nest when the parent bird flew away for necessities. I've seen the hatchlinsg craning their still wet pink heads and orange beaks up in the open air demanding attention.  I need to check for the shell breaking on you tube.  Somewhere along the way I've come to believe that the shell breaking is accomplished by the baby bird ... unaided ... and on his own time table.  I think I can hear my dad telling me not to break the eggs in a nest because the baby bird was still busy becoming ready for the world. I think he told me that the momma bird doesn't want people smells on the eggs so I wasn't to even touch them.  Maybe it was my big brother who told me that.  I don't remember why I think it's true.

This morning I was trying to explain that to my husband.  Seventeen year olds are exactly like baby birds.  They are struggling to peck their way out of the shell.  I bet it's not easy making those first few intentional neck movements ... their wings would be crammed against the shell itching for room to extend a bit ... the cartilage in the feet still soft.  Baby birds are incredibly demanding. They're vulnerable too. I imagine that all they know is they need. 

I've seen them make the flight out of the nest.  It's a joyous thing to see. Then the nest is silent. Maybe there are birds who return to their nests to hang out with each other. I don't know much about the habits of birds ... what ever the birds who nested around our house were ... they flew out, not very gracefully, and never came back as baby birds.

The 24/7 hands on days of parenting are almost done.
It feels good.
It feels like an accomplishment - they are people who I love, like and admire.  Pretty cool.

It's that time of day when shadows stretch silver and gold across  the pool.  Soon, the hush will fall and insects will start to sing.

There are twenty of those tall brown yard bags full of tree debris lined up for curbside pick up today.  My husbands right eye swelled shut yesterday and was seeping so bad that I teased him about being a cry baby in order to get out of yard work.  Yesterday morning found me on top of the roof blowing that stuff down to the ground ... we wanted to scoop it up before it got blown into the pool where it really becomes a mess! Another wave of it was blanketing everything again before we'd finished a late dinner.  The blower was still plugged in so I blew the bulk of what was around the pool back from the edges last night in the dark.  In a awhile I'll snap a pic of the pool surface.  It looks like we are setting up a habitat for snapping turtles! And water moccasin!  

The picture up there is of the front yard - that's society garlic blooming.  We seem to have lost all of the majestic Mexican sage, and what I call wandering Jew, but am now wondering if those are an unfortunate choice of names nowadays. I'm trying to locate replacement plants.  We have edging material ordered from amazon to start delineating the beds.  I'm excited about that.  I have almost all of the perennials and shrubs in for the front beds.  I'll add to the bulbs over time. The backyard plantings are a priority right now. Last year we put in two palm trees and five knockout rose bushes, two short as it turns out. we'd like to supplement the privacy fence with several staggered trellises planted in trumpet vine, coral honeysuckle and probably some other flowering vines as I figure out the blooming cycle.

Best news! The doctor who is looking at the proteins in my blood - said (this isn't verbatim and all the applicable disclaimers are thus invoked), after a long explanation about those markers, the volume of protein in my blood is (optimistic, but confirming he said) not sufficient to even red flag. Mine are at .1% and the beginning of the potential problem area starts at 4-6% and even in that pool increases at such a slow rate that the progression to multiple myloma is extremely unlikely for me. He did have several vials of blood drawn which he said he'd give me a call on next week. Any concern about that isn't even on the back burner now. It is an interesting thing to consider though - one's own life in light of an early death. I understand as well as anyone how suddenly the death angel might appear, but in my paradigm He's always been coming for someone else.  I may write about some of those thoughts later.

Grateful.  I'm very interested in what comes next, but I really do love being alive.

Sand dollars