Soggy day…

Today is one of those rainy New England days that is so welcome.  We have planted the veggie garden and it is drinking in the rain…I can almost see the plants growing as I watch.  We moved all my huge pots of herbs outside and they are enjoying the moderate temperatures and the rain bath that is cleaning all the indoor dust and cat fur away.  Three of my four huge pots of geraniums are out on the porch, over my objections…the original geranium (the last remaining indoor geranium) is the “tree” that my now-deceased boss was cultivating as my Christmas present in 1998…his wife gave it to me Christmas 1998, after he died…over the years I have broken off pieces and propagated new plants.  And I was so happy to get a lot of my outdoor lily and iris and and shrub beds cleared out over the long weekend, so now their roots can soak up the rain and there will be more and stronger plants for me to dig up, break apart and replant after they bloom.  It’s going to be a good day for my gardens.

Not such a good day on the mother-in-law health front.  I found out yesterday that my beloved m-i-l is in the hospital up in Maine after passing out at home Monday night.  They have run all the tests and don’t know what caused it…but since that means she didn’t have a stroke and her heart is fine, that is not all bad.  We now have the difficult task of gently convincing my very stubborn, independent, wonderful, 95yo f-i-l to move from their little summer house on the Atlantic ocean back to assisted living for the near term.  This will break his heart, which means it will break ours.  But he is currently driving the 16 miles each way to visit her in the hospital and that just can’t continue.  Sigh…

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…I’m going to drive the back roads today to see what the rain is doing to the pastures and ponds I pass.

Ahhhh….

Friday before a long weekend…need I say more?

Another sign of spring…

I know I have babbled on before about my gorgeous daily commute to and from work.  I ramble through bucolic old New England towns…farms and homes and pastures all the way.  One of my little superstitions is that if I see the cows or the horses or other animals in any of the fields I pass, it will be a good day.  Well, the herons are back and it is definitely a good day.  A swampy, dying-tree-filled stretch separates two towns.  Three huge heron nests nestle into three very tall dead trees, up at the very tip top.  Much of the year, those nests just sit there.  But every late spring, the herons come back.  I think they are blue herons; they are large birds.  At any rate, the first sign is the arrival of adults birds.  They hang around in the nests, occasionally thrilling passersby by sitting on a branch looking majestic.  Much later, the eggs in those nests hatch and the babies grow.  Soon, we commuters are rewarded with just a hint of the tops of little bird heads.  Of course, it is a dance between driving safely (and making sure that the big truck behind you sees your brake lights) and slowing down enough to be able to watch the show.  Welcome, little baby birds…I look forward to watching the herons every year.

It has been too long…

It has been almost a month since my last post and for that I am humbly penitent.  Around this time each year, it is if my brain gets overloaded and decides to go walkabout.  I’m hoping it comes home soon.

We finally got the vegetable garden tilled and mostly planted…I’m still looking for two red cabbage plants and two Brussels sprouts…planted two new grapes and two blackberries.  Today, I will plant the last of the herbs and the tomatoes on the deck and hopefully have time for a bit of weeding between raindrops.  I’m researching mulch or hay or straw or something to keep the weeds down, didn’t want to go with the black landscaping stuff.  Soon it will be weeding, weeding and more weeding.  But I love it.  I actually look forward to going out to weed…a sickness, but I freely confess it. [Well, we're back inside, nursing my back spasms...so much bending and stretching both days...got a lot of things planted, some weeding done, don't feel too guilty.]

Hard time of year to be in community theater, as well.  We are consolidating and have to move years worth of furniture, props, costumes and assorted STUFF out by the first of June….a parade of memories of shows I have worked on over the last 14 years…a wall paper here, a gown there…so sad to see it go, but can’t afford to keep it anymore.  Also working on new season, deciding order of shows, directors, venues…all that good stuff that is necessary but so much work.

I’m actually growing roses!!!  We have tried to grow roses since we moved into this house 14 years…we amend the soil, plant and they die.  A couple of years ago, we managed to keep two alive, now it is four and we planted a new, healthy one yesterday (don’t know what kind, beautiful yellow with red or pink edging (changes as the rose ages)…I’m hopeful!

OK, now we’re off to make pizza dough for a thin crust pizza for dinner…yum!