Thursday, May 16, 2019

Howdy all!

I'm still terribly busy with the house, yard, and ridiculously large vegetable garden. (Me to self, passing the plant display at Lowe's: "you already have 31 tomato plants. You do not need another tomato plant!")

The shed is painted, and various other projects were finished. And then it was on to getting chipped wood from tree companies to 1) spread around the garden paths and 2) use to kill grass and weeds. I finally got this pile moved, but there'll be more coming later this year.


I planted my vegetable garden and annual flowers that I grew from seed indoors, and I replaced what perennials didn't survive the sub-zero week we had last winter. I weed around the whole place twice a week. When I take a breath and stand back and look, I realize how much I've accomplished in a year. But mostly, I don't have time to stop to admire; I simply put my head down and work. Hot weather is coming soon, and I won't be able to take six-hour work days out there when it's hot. By July, I'll be preserving the bounty of the veg garden.

At least I hope it's a bounty!

I moved back to where I grew up in large part to be around the people in my family who are getting older, wanting to spend time with them while I still could. The last remaining person of my maternal grandparents' generation just broke her hip--and that often leads to pneumonia and the end, particularly at the age she is. We had just had a wonderful lunch together last month, and I was able to give her a copy of my large print paperback of Storm that I had done in large part for her. I quizzed her about the old days and my great-grandparents, and she had wonderful tales to tell. I do love stories of days gone by.

That's it! I wanted y'all to know what I've been up to and that I'm still in the land of the living. And come autumn, I'll be in the land of the writing again.