A little of this, a little of that.

It was another busy week of work and pets and stuff needed doing.  My boss was on vacation, so I had plenty of time to catch up on things and focus on little problems that needed more time than they were worth to resolve, and I cleared out my to-do list.  

I spent all day Saturday in the kitchen, rearranging cabinets because I was tired of having to take something out to get to what I wanted.  How does it happen that the thing I want is never the thing on top of the stack???  This time, instead of organizing dishes by set, I have one cabinet with just plates, one with just bowls and one with the things we never use like cups/saucers and butter dishes...because when we collect something, we don't go half way.  That left me with a cabinet that looks like an antique store.  

Next up is the garage.  And, after that, my sewing room closet, which I had to work hard not to get distracted by this weekend.  

I got some nice pictures in the garden this week.  All the rain we've been getting has really made a difference.  There's still a lot of stuff burning up in the heat, but it's the stuff that's supposed to this time of year.  

Plumbago season is just starting.  I'll get these pretty blooms during the hottest part of the summer.  

The roses had a good week last week as well.  

This is a ginger that I had to move the other day.  After we had tress cut, it was getting too much sun so had to move it closer to the house.  The blooms have petals that are white, pink and a green tint.  It was an expensive, but good purchase.  

And, my Texas red star hibiscus that's in too much sun.  But, I saw another seedling and I think this bloom might have made seeds, so I'm hoping to find just the right place where this is happy.  

How about a recipe?  I make an egg casserole every Sunday.  I get a little of it and Rob takes the rest to work where he and a co-worker eat it for breakfast.  I started out making frittatas but potatoes don't heat up well in the microwave, so I've cut the potatoes out of it.  I have several versions of this and don't usually measure, it's hard to mess it up.  

Ham and swiss Egg casserole

3/4# diced ham

3/4 C chopped onion

1/3 C chopped bell pepper

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 C sliced fresh mushrooms

3/4 C shredded Swiss cheese 

sliced green onions

6 eggs

2/3 C bisquick

2/3 C small curd low fat cottage cheese

3/4 C milk

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the ham with the onion and bell pepper til the vegetables soften.  Add the garlic and mushrooms and let them soften.  Layer this mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray.  Add the cheese and the green onion.  

Stir the eggs and bisquick until well combined.  Then add the cottage cheese and milk.  S&P to taste, but remember the ham is salty.  Pour the egg mixture over the meat, vegetables and cheese. 

Bake 350* until brown and firm on top, about 40 minutes.  

I used an 8x10 casserole and the small casserole that I'll keep for myself.  If you want to make this as a 13x9, increase everything by half.  Or, just increase the egg mixture ingredients.  

Subject change:

I heard once that you can't make a prize winning quilt on a Singer sewing machine.  What a snob.  A sewing machine is a tool.  Sure, a different tool may make the job easier, but it's still just a tool.  A few years ago, I bought a Singer because I needed a machine that would make a good blanket stitch.  It's the only thing my Bernina 930 won't do and this little machine does it very well.  I've pulled it out to blanket stitch the wedding ring quilt to the border.  I got started yesterday and got the stitch set right and was moving along, but decided I'd chosen the wrong thread and picked it all out again.  It's okay.  Anything worth doing is worth doing again and again and again until I get it right.  

The orange man that said he'd bring the price of groceries down, even though he didn't know what the word groceries meant should have been in the store yesterday when I paid $20 for a canister of Folgers coffee.  I'd a given him an earful!  But, they warned us and that's why there's 10# of coffee in my garage.  And, a few pounds of chocolate, too.  And, two small roasts in the freezer with some steaks.  I can hardly wait to remind one of his loyal followers that this is what they wanted.  This is what they voted for.  Turn the world upside down so they can feel free to be bigoted and racist.  They'll whine louder than anyone when they have to give up their cigarettes and lose their healthcare.  When there's no one left that will pick their lettuce.  And, when all the home health nurses have been deported.  

On that bleak note, it's time for me to go.  Everybody have a great week!  May your cup run over with peace and may you find joy in at least some of what you do.  We deserve it!  

Lane

Clean my house

When I'm happy and I know it, I clean house.  When I'm happy and I know it, I clean house.  When I'm happy and I know it, my home will truly show it.  When I'm happy and I know it, I clean house.

There's a line in The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires that goes something like this; "Go home and vacuum your drapes, Grace.  You'll feel happier." I read that book with book club a couple years ago and for some reason, that line has stuck with me.  Probably because it is so unbelievably old-fashioned.

I remember my Dad telling me that when his Mom was stressed and couldn't sleep, she scrubbed her kitchen floor with a brush.  

I'm the opposite.  When I'm stressed, or depressed, or both, I sit.  I might look like I'm getting a lot done, but it's just me doing the stuff I want to do and letting the rest, the drudge part of life, sit and wait until I want to do it.  

I saw my doctor a couple weeks ago and she talked me into increasing the dose of my "don't go after people with a baseball bat" medication.  I'm feeling the "high" that comes from that...and I gotta admit, it feels good.  I'm confident.  I have my "I can do that" attitude back.  I'm less worried about the future and I have a more objective view of what's going on in the world.  It feels good.  

I spent the weekend cleaning house.  Way back in the corners and under stuff.  Veni, Vidi, Vici.  But instead of I came, I saw, I conquered, it meant I dusted, I vacuumed, I scrubbed the kitchen cabinet doors.  It was a lot of work and it felt so good.  And, I hope I can do it two more weekends.  That's about how long it would take to get things back in order around here after months of spending all my energy being angry and afraid and not focused on pushing my life forward.  Don't get me wrong.  I haven't spent those months sitting on the sofa eating potato chips.  But, I have been taking a very narrow view of what taking care of my business means.  

If you need help, ask for help.  It's intimidating and it's hard to admit, but there's help available, you just have to access it, ask for it, and accept it.  I don't believe in medication as a solution.  But, it sure helps calm things down while I wait for the solution.  That's my PSA and I'm sticking to it.

The umbrellas are up in the yard.  We're not consistently at 100* every day yet.  But, we're getting close.  And, it's gotten dry and windy, so the water just gets sucked out of the ground.  I can only water once a week, so my solution is shade.  And, I use umbrellas to create that shade.  I have a couple new ones this year that Rob got for me.  They are on tripod stands and work very well, but have to be staked to the ground to keep the wind from blowing them over.  

The hot summer bloomers are all doing well.  This Thryallis looks great!  I moved four plants to happier spots over the last couple years.  And, I definitely made good choices.  All four were struggling and barely hanging on and I gave them one last chance and they thrived.  There was this thryallis, an oak leaf hydrangea, a lemonade salvia and a yellow shrimp plant.  They were all in too much sun or too much shade, so I swapped them around and now they're "just right".  It's hard to see, but this is covered with little yellow flowers.  

I read an article last week about feeding the hummingbirds as they migrate south.  The thryallis, the hummingbird bush and the phlox are definitely doing that.  And, I must be doing something right because there are about a million of the little green geckos that are out there eating bugs.  My private army.  

We bought this collectible edition of Monopoly in Goodwill this weekend.  I haven't played monopoly in years and Rob doesn't play games, but I made him promise he'd play this one with me.  We'll see if he actually does.  $4.  A bargain.  

Someone sized extra large must have decided he was done with Hawaiian shirts, so I also got several of those, some were even from Hawaii.  Rob and I are both focused on buying shirts that are not plaid and Hawaiian printed shirts are definitely not that.  To free up hangers, I pulled out shirts I don't want to wear anymore so I could donate them back to Goodwill in the cycle known as "renting clothes".  

Rob and I have been talking about my kitchen remodel.  I am ready.  I'd like to say we've made some decisions, but I really never know if we've settled on a solution until the solution is paid for.  Not sure what he's thinking, but I saw this and have decided to go with it.  

This play set was abandoned in the parking lot of the restaurant where we had dinner on Saturday and I couldn't resist a picture.  On one hand, it's not good to leave your garbage in a parking lot.  On the other hand, it gave great exposure to something I hope was picked up and is currently giving some child a great deal of joy.  After all, we put my old grill out on the street on Saturday and it was giving someone else joy within a few hours.  

Do you have a secret pastime?  Something you can watch someone do on YouTube and relax and enjoy?  Mine is watching people use their lathe to make things.  I like the ones where they put something you wouldn't expect in resin and then lathe it down to something equally unexpected.  

This was straws that were one color inside and a different color outside.  He packed them into a bucket, filled the bucket with resin and let it harden, then used his lathe to cut it down to this urn.  

This one was wood scraps that he packed into a bucket, filled with resin and then cut down to this bowl.  The bowl is beautiful, but the bucket was really big to end up with a bowl this small.  

When I was cleaning, there were places I didn't let myself get bogged down in.  They would have taken all the time I had, so I left them for another day.  One was my sewing room closet.  So much work needs to be done in there.  Every couple years, I have to take everything out and put it away again.  Because I am truly the worst about putting things back where they belong.  THE WORST!

Find your joy, find your peace, find your happy.  Watch your back with one eye and your neighbor's back with the other.  In a world where being your worst is getting rewarded, remember to be a beacon of what's best about being a good person.  

Lane

Old and new

On Friday, we had beef k-bobs.  I opened my grill and saw that one of my grates had split and started to rust.  I'd been pondering on a new grill for a while, wondering if I should replace the insides of the old one or replace the whole grill.  I'd replaced parts three times before, meaning my old grill was old...really old.  We'd spent many years doing battle over food and the fact it only had two temps; arctic snow and fires of mount doom.  Despite the fighting, we made a lot of good food together...and a lot that had to be microwaved to finish it...and a lot of char.  

Goodbye old friend

Hello new friend

We were fine with the smaller grill.  There's just the two of us, but the smaller grill was the same price as the larger one, so we went for it.  We'll see how it works when I do some burgers this week.  

We had trees cut last week.  We had a limb come down in the wind and since the tree guys were here, we got an estimate to do some additional work, including taking out the dying maple in the front yard.  This was one of my favorite trees.  We think it was put in when the house was new in 1978, so it had a good long life.  The arborist told us long ago that this tree should not have thrived here and it must have tapped into some water source.  Over the last few years, it's started to slowly die and we'd been having pieces cut off it.  This year, only half of what was left leafed out and dead limbs started to fall off it in the wind, which was dangerous.  And, for a while, about every three days, someone that was cutting trees in the neighborhood would ring my bell to see if I needed it cut.  When they cut it down, it was dead in the center and only had good wood around the edge.  

I miss you tree, mostly because the leaves that grew on this side shaded my office window from the afternoon sun.

All that rain we got a couple weeks ago has brought on its own set of problems.  Mosquitoes are swarming everywhere and just walking around in the back yard, I get multiple bites.  I can wear bug spray, but if I don't want to smell like that all day long, I put on long pants and a long sleeved shirt to go out and do stuff.  Yesterday, I was out in full sweats with the hood up to set up the grill, but I didn't get bit at all.  I wore the same outfit to do some hand watering last week and it worked then too.  

The other problem it's brought is mold.  Every day I'm taking an antihistamine to get through the day.  That happens in summer around here, but not usually for this long.  I keep reminding myself that the garden looks great because of that rain and the water bill was lower last month than it's been for June in years.  Everything has its good and it's bad.  

I didn't take a lot of pics last week.  It's hard to get a pic outside when I'm running through the yard before the mosquitoes can find me.  I barely think 'that's a pretty flower' before they zero in and attack.  

When they were cutting the trees, Dottie was freaked out.  Rob took her on a walk that day and she wiggled out of her harness and got away from him.  He called me and I started driving around the neighborhood.  I found her on our street, running fast as she could for home, tongue lolling, clearly panicked.  I tried a couple times to get her to stop, but she wasn't having it and eventually crossed the street to avoid me, but then crossed back over and ran for our front door.  I cornered her there and got her inside, then went and picked up Rob, who'd been running behind her, wearing his work clothes and shoes.  

They both hurt their feet.  Dottie tore her front pads up and for a couple days, walked around on her toes, something I'd never seen a dog do, but then things got better and now, she's ready to be walked, but her pads are pink and tender, so we're going to have to build her back up to the long walks she was getting before.  I still see Rob wince once in a while, but his feet are doing better too.  

With all the things going on with the crook-in-chief, the one I care about the least is epstein.  I have struggled to understand why his followers care so much.  They thought they'd catch the dems up to no good and now trump is trying to keep his own no good out of the news.  I mean, with all the sexually deviant things we know about him, surely no one is surprised that he needs to keep his friendship with epstein quiet.  I wish that this would be the thing that would take him down, but you know he and his crooked clowns are trying to think of a sufficient distraction, like bombing Greenland or some other such nonsense bullshit.  While the letter and whatever else they're squealing about right now doesn't feel important, it would be great if Murdoch turned on him.  Let's face it, Murdoch is into him because the stupid shit trump says is good for ratings.  When torching trump is good for ratings, Murdoch will do that too.  And, that day can't come soon enough.  

I hope Stephen Colbert finds a new place.  Someplace courageous enough to let him keep his platform.  The truth must be spoken and if CBS has lost the will to speak it, then someone else will get a try.  We don't lose until the last one of us stops speaking truth to power.  

Everybody have a great week!  Find something you love to do and a comfortable place to do it and relax.  Find peace, love and joy for yourself before trying to assist others.  

Lane

I should have written that down

During the week, I come up with all kind of funny things that Rob and I say to one another and I think, that would make a great story on my blog.  And, then, here I am on Monday morning, wondering what I'll talk about.  

It's still raining here.  Not all the time, but almost every day.  The yard and garden are loving it.  Normally, things would be winding down by mid-july, but it's still going strong.  So much green and even though it doesn't show up so much in these photos, there are still a lot of flowers.  There's a robin that's spending considerable time in that birdbath while I wash dishes.  He's very entertaining as he bathes and preens.  Sometimes the hawk will sit on the edge of it and try to drink, but it's not really deep enough for him.  

I made another macrame hanger this weekend and put the fern in it.  this one looks good enough to bring in the house.  

On Saturday, I bought a new pair of shoes.  Well, I bought a pair on Tuesday and a pair on Thursday, but the Tuesday pair was too big (and too flat and had no arch support) and the ones I bought on Thursday were so narrow that I don't think a baby could get it's fist in the toe.  But, the ones I bought on Saturday were just right.  (Now bring me 3 bears!)  The first two were online purchases but on Saturday, I got to try them on before I bought them.  

Buying new shoes had gotten to the point of having to get rid of old shoes to make room for the new ones.  Or asking Rob to build more shelves, and I still have some pride, so wasn't going to ask for that.  I packed a large box of shoes to donate.  It's a really big box.  And, it is full.  

I even gave away my dancing shoes.

I would not be exaggerating if I said those brown boots have a couple thousand miles on them (mostly going in circles) and have been re-soled at least twice.  But I was afraid if I got my foot into it yesterday I wouldn't be able to get my foot back out.  I bought them in Fort Worth at the Stockyards and they were my first grown up pair of boots.  I also bought a hat that day.  I already had the jeans and shirts and a belt to complete my urban cowboy ensemble.  And, I wore it well.  Good times.  

Happy to report that grocery shelves were well stocked yesterday, as shown by the lovely Carol Merrill.  We seriously hated taking anything off this aisle and messing up this lovely fronting.    

I spent a good bit of the weekend basting the wedding ring quilt.  First, I sewed all the way around with the machine and a quarter inch seam, then folded it back along that line and basted it down by hand.  This is now my prepared appliqué edge that I'll sew onto the border fabric.  I plan to assemble the border like a frame, lay the quilt on top of it and pin it all the way around, then machine appliqué the top to it with a blanket stitch.  All 10 fingers crossed.

I also sewed the pony-tail hole shut in two ball caps that I bought, not realizing they were women's hats.  I bought them for the color and I still like the color, so I found matching thread and sewed them up.  I have enough trouble finding hats without wondering if they're gender specific.  

Everybody have a great week!  I'm hoping for a better week than last week.  We're being audited at work and had to supply data last week, so it was hectic and stressful.  There was a file that wasn't important.  Then, someone said it wasn't important and my boss took that as a challenge to find something important, so I spent two days on that...and I found it.  And, it was bad.  So, I guess that made him happy.  He can never be accused of accepting the status quo.  

I hope you find something wonderful to focus on.  And, that it's not wondering how many times trump is mentioned in the epstein files.  They hoped they'd find a democrat and instead found their leader in the middle...I'm thinking about starting a pool where everyone gets to pick which lie they think he'll tell and the winning lie wins the pot.

Lane

Wet

We were on the rainy side of a tropical depression breaking up last week and it rained for 3 days.  Nothing like what they saw in Kerrville, but lots of rain.  Everybody but Rob and me stayed home.  We went out and ran errands.  We laughed and joked and got wet and parked close to doors so we could stay dry.  Stores took advantage of it to play some really good music.  There were maybe half as many customers in Goodwill as employees and they were trying to sell speakers, so they really cranked it up and everybody danced a little.  We laughed about not being able to work in the yard and how much time that freed up for us to spend having good fun.  

Friday was our anniversary.  We didn't have much planned and that turned out to be a good thing since it rained most of the day.  We watched Independence Day themed movies and I made a good lunch that was supposed to be a fantastic lunch...best laid plans, right?  And, we spent parts of the day together and parts of it doing our own thing.  I was using this little quilt as my leader/ender and got really close to the end and decided to just power through and get it finished.  At the end of the movie The Patriot, the narrator says that Burgoyne was surrounded and I told Rob that was the name of the quilt block I was working on, Burgoyne Surrounded.  

I pulled out my book by Elizabeth Hamby Carlson because I want to make some more of these.  They take a good sized piece of background, but everything else can be cut from small scraps.  Dreams, dreams, dreams of quilts to make.  And, there's at least a dozen unfinished hanging in the closet.  

Piecing is fun, quilting is work.  

It shouldn't feel that way.  But, that's how the longarmers are making money.  

Quilting changed and I didn't.  I think that happened to my mentor and I know several other quilters it happened to.  It looked like they were stuck in the past, but maybe they were just choosing what they preferred.  I like what I do and I like the stash I already own (well, most of it anyway).  I don't need to change.  Just get back to sewing.  

I'm toying with buying a new machine.  Not even dating the idea yet, just cruising it over my shoulder when it walks by.  I love my Berninas from the 80's, but I have to face the fact that they are old and they have many miles on them.  

I used this glass bowl as an open terrarium (how's that for an abrupt topic change?) and the plants quickly proceeded to die.  Like, it was a race to see who could die first.  I like the idea of using the bowl this way, so decided to plant just one fern in it.  I found my fern and it looks great!  And, it's lived a week without any yellow fronds, so I'm calling that a change in trend.  This should be the perfect place for it in summer, but in winter, it's below the ceiling vent and whatever I put here has to stand up to a blast furnace blowing on it periodically.  

I also wanted this one that was way too big for my bowl, so I got it too, and am searching for a good place to put it.  

I finished my first two macrame hangers.  They're not fancy, but they'll keep a plant off the floor and in the sun.  I say finished, but I might make a couple changes to the one with the green beads.  It's kind of long and needs a wider pot, which might mean changes near the bottom.  

We painted the inside of the house a couple years ago, except for the foyer and the small hallway (can you call it a hallway if it's basically a square room with a door in each wall?).  When we had the windows done a few years ago, we had a larger window put into this space and it needed interior sheetrock work done.  Rob's working on that, and he's painted it and we decided it needed a new curtain.  This is the old fabric.  It was meant to keep the space behind the TV dark...and it did.  Very well.  

But, we decided to try something that would let in more light and we're trying this white curtain.  If we like it, I'll look for a nicer fabric to replace it with.  

Tariff chicken and ugly bills.  Just because there's an emergency declaration doesn't mean there's a FEMA to make anything happen.  There was produce on the shelves yesterday that was overripe and I can only assume it's because there wasn't fresh in the back to bring out.  It's not a bang like I expected, but instead a series of small pops that are each slightly louder than the one before.  

In the meantime, make something you like and enjoy doing it.  Don't worry if anybody else likes it.  Find your pleasure, find your fun.  And, smile like everybody's watching, because they are.  Be the difference the world needs.  I'm moved by how many people smile in response.  

Lane

The last row

It feels like the arcs and wedges for the last tow of the wedding ring quilt have taken as long as the other 6 rows did, combined.  But, it's only because it was spring and my priorities were elsewhere.  The last row is pulled from a different set of scraps.  All the main fabrics got used in the first 6 rows and I had used every square except some dark blue and brown ones, so I had to cut more.  Before I started piecing them into blocks, I wanted to lay it out and make sure it wasn't going to stand out.  I needn't have worried.  There's so much variety that it would be hard for anything to stand out.  But, I can see the subtle difference.  I was so worried about using too many dark squares that the new wedges are a little lighter and flatter than the rest of the quilt, but I can only see it because I'm looking for it.  Now, I just need to sew them into blocks and then a row and then add them to the quilt.  Then I can add the borders and start quilting.   

I didn't take many pictures last week.  There's this beautiful geranium.  This was such a good purchase.  The flowers are so cheerful.  

And, this picture of Bella.  Bella doesn't want to be picked up or held or cuddled, except first thing in the morning when I wake her up.  She's fine being cuddled and scratched and rubbed then, and the rest of the time, she doesn't want to be touched.  But, she doesn't want me to be out of her sight either.  So, she watches me.  All the time.  

Most of my pictures were of "light summer supper" recipes.  It is too dang hot to cook.  I'm looking for something I can toss on the grill and serve with a cold salad and be done with it.  There are so many to choose from.  The internet is getting so hard to search, tho.  It's all about the monetizing and it's getting harder to find recipes that will sit still long enough for me to gather the ingredients (the ads make them jump around on the page and suddenly I'm supposed to add an ingredient I didn't even know I needed or I skip an important step in the prep process).  So I've started taking screenshots of them, and if they're good, writing them on recipe cards.  That way, all the frustration of the ads happens at one time, generally while I'm relaxing, and not while I'm trying to cook.  We had some really nice food last week that we ate with two kinds of pasta salad and a potato salad.  This week, I'm planning much the same, except with more green salads than pasta.  There's a pineapple chicken that we're having with green salad and an asian garlic-ginger dressing, grilled shrimp, tilapia cooked on the grill in a foil pouch with asparagus (never done anything like that before).  We don't go out a lot and don't spend money on a lot of things, but we eat like kings!

Tomorrow is a work event.  Yay.  I'm not sure that anyone from my job group is going, so it may just be me and the testosterone boys.  I guess I'll need to study up on my sports-ball-whatever so I can participate in the conversation.  Except it's really just two of the five that are like that.  I've always gotten the feeling that the other three would rather talk about what they do at home, watch on TV, what they cook and eat, and their success with plants, if only they could get a word in edgewise.  

Remember when the news was about things other than the orange mf whining and demanding and being a big fat baby?  Oh, I miss the days when what was going on in the world was important.  

I'm struggling y'all.  Struggling hard right now.  Struggling with how to interact with my birth family when they seem so determined to harm my real family.  Struggling with how to interact with my jewish friends, a few of whom believe Israel is entitled to commit genocide, despite the fact Israel exists as a country today because of genocide against the jewish people.  Struggling with my ability to interact with the world when what I really want to do is punch half of it in the face.  With a crowbar.  

Every day I get up and take those interactions as they come.  Dealing with whoever I need to deal with to get through the day.  But, my introverted self is feeling more and more comfortable just staying at home, inside, and letting the rest of the world tear itself apart.  

Everybody be strong.  Hang in there.  Deal with it one day at a time and try not to feel overwhelmed.  One day, one person, one interaction, one thing accomplished at a time.  Then, one more thing.  And another, until it's time to start over with a fresh day.

Lane

Summer lovin'

Here we are, about to slide into July.  And, while we seem to be getting a little bit more rain than some years, it's getting hot.  I'm about ready to put the umbrellas up over the garden to shade it and help preserve the water I can only put down once a week.  But for now, I'm enjoying the summer colors.  

The colors in this little bit of the garden caught my eye.  Purple, pink, multiple shades of green.  And, the 4 o'clocks weren't even open yet.  When they're open, the purples and pinks kind of fade behind them, so this was a good chance to see those flowers.  

And, the echinacea are going strong.  The pink ones have already bloomed and faded and I'm about to dead head them so they can bloom again later.  But, now the other colors are getting ready to do their thing.  This orange is already singing a sweet summer song.  

I lost one of the colored ones.  Not sure if it was the yellow or the red, but I bought this one to replace it.  The flowers are yellowish and fade to pink.  

And, the Texas Star Hibiscus gave me a flower.  I've got to move this.  It's in too much sun.  I have a seedling that I planted in a better spot, but it hasn't taken off like I thought it would, so I need to move the parent plant so I can make sure I preserve it.  But, it's been in the ground a long time and I"m a little worried about trying to move it.  

And, the last couple of daylilies that are in shadier spots and have survived the heat have bloomed.  

Weed, water, feed, replace the dead, move things to a better location.  It's the cycle of gardening.  There's always something that needs doing and never enough time to get it done.  And, I keep doing it, year after year.  And, I'm about to take up macrame, y'all.  Because my greenhouse shelves are full and I need more places for plants, so I'm gonna hang 'em from the rafters.  

Obsessive much?

But, it's easier than thinking about the terrorist attacks that our 'leader' has likely brought down on us.  Easier than thinking about what we're doing to our own country.  Easier than thinking about the lies and deceit and corruption.  Easier than thinking about the things that were missing from the grocery store shelves and where the food chain is vulnerable.  Easier than thinking about how the store doesn't have the staff to keep the products on the shelves.  Easier than to think about what comes next for my home, my family, my city, my country and my world.  

We are so busy at work, I could barely raise my head last week.  I have about 5 top priority projects going on at once and one day last week, I found myself asking two people to wait their turn while I helped one and while I was helping one of the other two, someone else got into my queue.  And, they all wanted to talk about something different, so I had to be really careful about staying on topic.  And after that, I took a break and played the uke for a half hour, just to let my brain cool down.  Two full time analysts and I are pulling data as fast as we can and when they get stuck, I'm going in and explaining the anomaly...that one item that didn't do what it should have done and figuring out whether that's a problem with the data an unusual customer request?  And, all of that while we're preparing to launch two new products later this year.  

Calgon, take me away!

No wonder I spend so much time in the garden and puttering with orchids and making quilts and playing the uke and cooking.  My brain needs simpler things to think about.  

And, if you don't know what Calgon was, then you didn't get that little joke.  But, the rest of us laughed out loud.  Age has its privileges.    

Everybody have a great week!  Find things you enjoy and immerse yourself into them.  If hard times are coming, they'll get here fast enough.  Enjoy the things you can now, and try to put off worrying for another day.  There's a time to worry, but there's also a time to relax and enjoy the small stuff.  

Lane

Taking care of business

Normally, when I have to be away from home, I spend weeks of angst, dreading it.  I'm trying to live life more day by day now, giving up some of that dread and worry, and I have to say it worked out for this trip.  There was just the normal level of anxiety that most people feel about getting to the airport, through security, and on the plane on time.  And, of course, the trip went well.  

I traveled alone this time.  My work team usually travels as a group, but one missed the conference because of a family reunion and another went up early and stayed later to spend time with family, so I was by myself this time.  I didn't mind.  I listened to music and read, walked the airport hallways and got my steps in.  

I got to Cleveland just as festivities were beginning, so I ubered to the hotel and checked in, then ubered to the restaurant and joined in the buffet.  I met quite a few people at that dinner that I hadn't met before and got to spend time with people I only see once a year.  This was the view from my room on the 27th floor.  Not too bad, eh?  Lake Erie as far as you can see.

There wasn't a lot of time for looking out the window, tho.  From that Monday night dinner, there was constantly something going on.  There were so many speakers.  The CEO spoke, then the leaders of all the different products that we sell, speakers that talked about what's coming next for the company and a speaker that talked about insurance fraud and how we catch people.  And I was ready for it.  

I fell asleep.  Yep.  I did.  I didn't fall out of my chair or anything.  But, I fell asleep at one point and realized I'd missed something the speaker said.  God, he was boring.  We were playing around at dinner, trying to find someone that didn't fall asleep while that guy talked.  Yes, there were people that could say they didn't drift off at least once while he spoke, but not many.  

The food was good, the time passed fast, and I got to talk to a lot of people.  At these events, everyone generally moves table to table and once in a while, you end up being part of a small group.  Those are the best.  Young people wanted to talk to me about my retirement and about planning for it and about why I postponed it.  And, when I told them that part of our early retirement plan depended on us being married and now I'm afraid we'll lose that, they hung and shook their heads in commiseration.  I felt very seen and heard.  They also wanted to talk about company history and how I got from where I started to where I ended up.  And, I explained that at one time, my job was a career goal, but for the younger people, it needed to be a stepping stone on the path to a career, they took that to heart.  I explained that I'd stayed at the company 41 years because there were opportunities to move from job to job as the company grew and that we're in a growth cycle now and it's not always this way, so they needed to take opportunities and new experiences as they come and not wait for the perfect job or to be tapped on the shoulder and asked to apply for it.  

It was a great opportunity to reconnect with young people and with the job, and I enjoyed it but was glad to be back home.  And, flying United wasn't bad at all.  They've certainly fixed the issues I had with them when I flew them several years ago (before switching exclusively to Southwest).  Most of the United Airlines employees were great!  Helpful to me and to other passengers.  No more treating us like the customer didn't matter.  There was a gate attendant in Houston that was probably ending a long and stressful day due to weather delays.  She wasn't very nice, but she was balanced by the flight attendants from my flight that were waiting at the gate with us.  An elderly flyer that didn't speak English walked up to them for help.  They all tried, but the young woman that spoke Spanish was the one that helped the lady, who turned out to be part of a group of elderly travelers that came by to express their appreciation and tell her how 'bonita' (pretty) she was.  It was a moment that touched my heart.  So, when I got on the plane, I took the opportunity to tell her what a nice moment it was and that it made a good impression.  

Good deeds have their own rewards, but it didn't hurt that just before takeoff, she tapped me on the shoulder and offered me a seat in a nearly empty row, where there was more room.  I think the guy across the aisle had his eyes on that seat.  Oops!

How about some flowers that aren't daylilies.  There are just a few daylilies left and it's gotten so hot that some of them are wilting before they open, but other things are really starting to pop.  

This is Turk's cap.  The red flowers draw hummingbirds, so when I look out of the kitchen window and see motion in the leaves, if I watch long enough, the hummingbird will come out and go for a more visible flower.  

These are swamp lilies and they aren't fully opened yet, but I couldn't wait to share a pic.  I'm sure there will be another one later of the fully opened flowers.  For such an unattractive name, they make a beauty of a flower. 

When I was walking yesterday, I came across a line of painted rocks.  This isn't unusual.  We have several rock painters in the neighborhood that do beautiful work and occasionally leave a rock at our house with a special message and we see them all around the neighborhood.  This time, there was a message written on the ground "If it speaks to you, take it."  And, this one spoke to me loudly (shouting!), so I took it.  And, waved my thanks at the front of the house.  

'The happiest people don't have the best of everything...they just make the best of everything they have.'

Words to live by.  

I really want to talk about politics, but I'm pretty sure the whole country spoke on that topic yesterday.  The few.  And, the many.  

Everybody have a great week.  Find something that makes you feel good about yourself.  Tackle something that normally gives you pause.  Rack up so many personal wins that you get tired of winning.  That's how I believe we 'win' in this situation.  

Lane

I'll fly away

 Today, I'm off to Cleveland for an annual conference.  Several of the senior people in my job group have retired and there are going to be a LOT of new people to meet.  Young people.  Selfishly, the people I want to get to know and have ask me questions.  Since I postponed my retirement just before the inauguration, I've been looking for ways to remain relevant in my job...I call it 'getting people to say my name.'  Or even better, being mentioned in an important email or 'getting my name in the paper'.  It used to happen all the time, but because I was retiring, I got missed in a cycle of projects and now I'm trying to create a project that becomes important.  I'm just hoping I can get something big in the next cycle.  

In the meantime, we're being audited by an outside organization and I'm trying to get all up in that and smear my name all over it, as in 'Lane provided...' and 'Lane was very helpful' or even better, 'Lane thought of a way to...."  

Vanity, thy name is Lane.

Anyway, I'll go up and make a good impression and shake a lot of hands and offer good advice and help and we'll see how it goes.  I will not indulge my terror of being the old man that fell asleep in the meeting and snored out loud.  That is NOT how I'm going out...but I've seen the agenda.  It might be a challenge.  

This is a new daylily.  The camera didn't quite catch the color.  It's more of a dark red.  All the nice daylilies are spread around, outside of the major clumps of yellow and orange.  If my Mom was right and the yellow and orange change the others to yellow and orange, then hopefully, these are far enough away to not be affected.  

These are also very red on the three dark petals and a pink-red on the lighter ones.  

This is a basket we picked up from the side of the road quite a few years ago.  I've struggled with what to plant in it.  I don't want to rust out the bottom of the basket, so I've been very careful about lining it.  This time, I used a huge plastic storage bag that has a flat bottom shaped into it and cut it to size and some drainage holes, put the coco mat around the sides and inserted the bag and filled it with soil.  We went to the garden center and picked up these pentas and vincas to fill it and this is the best that basket has ever looked.   

This was a trough I found in the phlox bed when I was putting in mulch.  I had forgotten it was there.  It was half full of soil, so I added some and two white begonias (one of which was obviously lying when I bought it...I swear they both had white flowers) and I had bought that trailing ground cover when it was on sale half price and nursed it back to health, so I put it in too.  Loving this little bit of different, surrounded by the phlox.  

I was walking around the garden yesterday.  I'd been out there working a couple hours and was trying to get "finished".  What a joke.  Everywhere I went to finish something, I found something else needed to be done.  It's never going to be finished.  And, that's the beauty of it.  It's like getting to work on the same quilt for years, starting small, growing over time, blocks taken out and replaced with something more colorful.  Or less.  Arranging colors and textures so they look balanced.  And, picking off loose threads (the equivalent of perpetual weeding).  And every year, when it's in its peak, I love it a little more than I did the year before.  

And, soon after that it becomes a chore as I try to save it from the blast furnace of climate change.  

Ya, there's plenty to talk about politically.  They're trying to pick a fight with the gays now, think pride month is the right time.  Renaming the Harvey Milk.  Blocking the park DC Pride is scheduled to happen in.  Intimidation.  The National Guard.  Fear.  

I keep thinking about Rep Sarah McBride (D-DE).  She's transgender and serving in congress.  Her days are much harder than mine.  And, yet she keeps getting up and living each day.  I can do that.  Not the congress part.  And, not the tolerating Nancy Mace's bigotry part.  But I can do the getting up and living each day part.  

However, I have too many other things to worry about today than what the orange and his false christians are doing.  I need to be focused on staying awake in meetings.  And, not getting lost in Chicago's O'hare.  

Everybody have a great week!  Do something you're good at.  And, be sure to also do something you love.  Lane

Ah-ah-ah

Choooooo!

Happy season of sneezes.  Before I took my allergy pill yesterday, I told Rob I thought I'd come down with something, but about a half hour after the pill, I was fine again.  Not quite sure what I'm allergic to right now, but whatever it is, it's got me good.  

While Rob was gone, I did some grout repair and it went so well, I'm going to do some more.  I'm doing an extra special job of sealing this time.  I've always sealed it, but not enough apparently because of the way it stains, so this time, I'm doing more and I am pretty sure it's going to be more effective.  And, if it's not, then I'm going to start looking into new countertops.  I love the 4" white tiles, but they are a pain.  

I also did this spot, which is almost finished.  This is the space between the house and my greenhouse.  It was a mess.  So, I pulled everything out and weeded, then put down weed barrier fabric and then did a string line and marked the center of the pavers and lined them up, giving myself more cement at the end where the hoses are.  I put in that little flowerbed along the foundation.  I also went around the greenhouse base with a galvanized steel edging.  The problem we're trying to solve is that our lawn slopes down to the greenhouse, so soil washes down the hill and gets to the greenhouse and builds up around the base.  That caused the board at the base of the greenhouse (you know, the main one that the whole greenhouse is built upon) to rot and Rob had to replace it in the greenhouse re-do (we got lucky that there was still enough he could do that.  In addition to the edging, I want to put a narrow flowerbed in front of it to also catch some of that water and soil rushing down the hill.  

I'd have liked to take a pic while the hoses are rolled up, but if we wait for that, you may never see this space.  

Yesterday, we took out two crabapple trees, one that was dead and one dying.  My dad gave them to me soon after we moved into this house.  They were old and had lived out their full lifespan.  The arborist said they wouldn't ever do anything because our soil was not acidic enough.  And, he was right.  They never did anything, just stood there and grew and made leaves and crabapples.  They never sang or danced or played the fiddle.  Disappointing trees.  There was a lot of acidic fertilizer put down around them.  

The yellow and orange daylilies are done.  They were beautiful.  But, now a whole different set of daylilies is getting started.  

Okay, this one isn't new, but it was the last one and was the largest and most perfect flower I've seen on this plant.  It was huge!

There is so much going on in the garden.  I just wander around, stopping every so often to look at something.   Some effect I've created by putting a certain group of plants together by chance, because there's certainly no plan, except bring a pretty plant home and find a place for it.  A couple weeks ago, there were yellow daylillies all around the yard to tie it all together.  Now, the phlox have started and they're doing the same thing.  No plan.  I just had a ton of phlox, so I put them here and there...and there, and there, and there.  In the sunny spots where it's too hot for phlox, the echinacea does the same thing.  

Labor Day weekend, I put the wedding ring quilt together and put it on the bed to see how it looked.  It's supposed to be one row larger than the other quilt...except I seem to have struggled with the maths and made a quilt that's the exact same size as the other one.  Dagnabbit! (yeah, let's pretend that's what I said).  Anyway, I've started another row.  And, am hoping I can make a row that doesn't stand out as different.  I pulled fabric over last week and started the arcs (7 blocks = 15 wedges = 30 arcs).  I had 20 usable templates left, so I'm making 20 arcs.  Fortunately, the last time I was in JoAnn's, I bought the last couple yards off the last bolt they had of the background fabric (I don't know why, but am glad I did), so I have plenty of that.  I was very disappointed, but am so glad I decided to make the extra row.  There was considerable discussion about how maybe we didn't need it...but I'd always know that I "cheaped out" and didn't make the quilt I wanted to make.  

Yesterday, I made blackberry jam.  We can pretend it was from the blackberries I grew, but my $70 blackberries ended up being just over a cup of fruit.  We will not be calculating that into the cost of the jam.  It went very well.  I guess jam takes a little practice, and having practiced a little, it went very smoothly.  We were in goodwill the other day and I bought a practically new water batch canner for $7.  It's much smaller than my old one, which was designed for quart jars.  I donated it a couple years ago because I don't can quarts of anything.  On Saturday, they had two, a small one that would have done half pint jars and a larger one that was great for these half pints and is deep enough that if I wanted to do some quart jars, I could.  

So, I feel like I'm all set for jam for a while.  Let's hope I don't have to go back to baking my own bread to eat it on.  

I really don't have much to say about politics right now.  I can share that I'm enjoying watching truth and lies collide.  Pretense and reality, crashing into one another, and I think this is just the beginning of that trend.  I'm still preparing for hard times, but I'm feeling less certain that they're impending.  I'm more focused on keeping my life moving forward and doctors appointments and home repairs and the garden.  What can I do something about vs feeling like I can't do anything about anything.  What's the most important thing I can do today?  What will help me or someone else today?  What keeps life moving forward today?  And, how much time can I steal to sew arcs or play the ukulele today?  And, just remember, TACO.  TACO, TACO, TACO.  

How about tacos for lunch?  

Lane