Sunday, June 28, 2009

Flowers I can't reach




Queen Anne's lace is one of my favorite flowers. I have at least half a dozen different vases that it looks lovely in. There it is, blooming away, and I can't stagger out through the waist high weeds on my crutches to cut some and carry them back (in my teeth?). Sooo frustrating!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009




I hobbled out onto the porch with my camera around my neck, trying not to let delicate electronics smack into the crutches, and took these pictures of the hostas in bloom a month early, rising from the sea of weeds that I can't let anyone else cut for me, because only I know where I put the transplants, most of which are smaller (and in the case of narcissus foliage, deader) than the hostas.

Monday, June 22, 2009

4.5"

That's how many inches of rain we got last week. And it rained a little yesterday. And it's raining right this minute, even with the sun shining.
 
So anyone who wonders where their rain went can come collect it now.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Solitary bliss

Wednesday we got my father to his doctor, who admitted him to the hospital. In the two hours after they put in a catheter he emitted about a pint of urine. I'm so glad I don't have a prostate gland, enlarged or otherwise. 
Since my friend is staying with him, and her daughter's truck broke down, I am alone at home for the first time in two and a half years. It's so wonderful. Slightly scary, too, since I'm on crutches, but I'm wearing the phone and my keys everywhere I go, and hoping that if I need help I'll be able to reach one or the other of them. This being the country, if I set off the car alarm, one of my neighbors will come investigate. 
My sprain is improving. I can stand with my weight equally distributed on both legs, and my knee bends 90ยบ, but I'm not quite ready to try walking. 
Bag Lady, I'm not willing to share my daily rain with you until I can water my outside plants myself!
I hope the reason I'm amazingly tired is that my body is busy healing.

Monday, June 15, 2009

still with the knee

Consider this a weight-loss advisory: if you ever need to haul your body around with your arms, the less you weigh, the better. Tired, now!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

sprained knee

Tuesday I sprained my knee catching my father as he fell. We both landed on the bed, but my foot stuck to the floor, so my knee bent sideways. Spent yesterday in ER,  being xrayed and acquiring a knee brace and crutches. My best friend's daughter is staying with us, helping out. Not being able to carry anything while using crutches is very annoying. Will catch up with blog later. Tired now!

Monday, June 8, 2009

noisy neighbors



These two sparrow nests are under the floor of my bedroom balcony. There don't seem to be any hatchlings yet, and already they're waking me up at five a.m. talking back and forth from nest to nest. 
The nests seem to be made mostly of moss, which means they brought it from fairly far away.
It's a pity I can't see down through the floor; the cracks are in the wrong places.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

seduced by flowers

Yesterday I went to the hardware store for vacuum cleaner filters and allowed a pack of portulacas to sneak into the car. (Have I done any plant moving from my old house since April? Have I weeded and dug anywhere to plant annual seeds? Do I deserve any more plants to take care of?)





When I cleaned the weeds out of this pot, I found one of last year's pansy plants surviving, with a bud. It hadn't been watered all winter except for the rain; there was plenty of rain.



Thursday, June 4, 2009

beyond sentiment






When I first brought this up from the basement and washed the dirt off, I didn't think I'd ever seen it before. Then the shape of it reminded me. I've only seen it on the oven rack with a roast or ham or turkey on it to keep warm, after being removed from the roasting pan so gravy could be made. 
I wonder where it came from? The traces of pattern don't match anything either my grandmother or my great-aunt had. What am I going to do with it? Putting it in the garbage seems disrespectful of its long useful life, and it's too beat up to give away, but there are limits to sentimental attachment, even for me.


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

application for conditional use permit

in hand. Now to fill it out. Eek!
(Then I can get a business license and start a business that consists of more than my friends' dogs.)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Stony learns to crochet



I have no idea how he did this while he was attached to it. Some dogs just have talent.