Let's Try This Again
Yes, I am still alive and doing well. It has been 4 months since my last blog post. So much has happened and some of it I have photos for and some things I don't. There are a fair amount of photos attached to this post.
After my last trip to Decatur to see my son I used the breadfruit I bought and made a breadfruit stew. It was really good. I took lots of photos for a blog post. I took the girls and we went on a several mile walk through the Guilford Battleground National Park. I took lots of photos of the statues, the trails and all the Dogwoods in bloom. I made new meals and took photos so I could do blog posts,,,then my 10-month old laptop got a virus and crashed, gone, toast, wiped out, and all above mentioned photos with it. Now me being me, I got over it and carried on.
While the weather was cool enough I enjoyed meals on the back deck.
We had always had flowers out front and the thought of looking at an empty flower bed all summer was not very appealing. But with no job and no income how could I afford to buy the plants I needed. The answer came from next door. My neighbor Sherrie's lawn mower was in the shop for repairs. We agreed on a price and I mowed her lawn for her twice. We then picked a weekend and headed out to The Guilford County Prison Greenhouse. I spent my lawn cutting money on flowers.
Before I got to planting, my neighbor Randy, and I put a fence up around the bulk of the flower bed. Some of the neighbor's dogs run through the flower bed or dig in it. This was my solution and since I had everything I needed already laying around it was a free fix. My newly planted Marigolds are now safe from roaming dogs, not that Lili and Kele never ran through there on occasion.
I bought some Portulaca, further down you can see how big these little plants got.
Then there were more dinners outside.
Aside from my laptop a few other things bit the dust. My fountain was one of them, but it was 8 or 9 years old so I really wasn't too surprised. I bought a new one on-sale at Lowes that I can use either inside or out. I love the sound of running water in the background, it is so relaxing.
I got a crazy notion one day to color my hair. It is not as blonde as I was hoping for but I am still working on finding the perfect shade. My son's reaction was mild dismay that I had gotten rid of all the grey but then he said as long as I am happy with it, its cool. My daughter at first said I looked 10 years younger. Then said that she thought I looked younger with dark hair but understood that with as much grey as I had keeping it a nice shade of brunette would be a lot of work.
Wahine (my Honda) got a terminal illness. At 263,325 miles a valve went out. I got some money from the estate and bought the best car I could afford. Here is Nohia, a 2005 Dodge Caravan. No rust, no dents, no stains or tears in the upholstery. I did have to put about $1,400 into her in repairs but now she is running great and I got an extended warranty for her. She has cruise, tilt, power windows and locks, intermittent wipers, heated mirrors, power driver's seat, power sliding doors, AM/FM/cassette/CD and a DVD player for the back seat riders. All that and with her V-6 engine she gets 21.6 mpg around town, that is what Wahine got with a 4 cylinder engine.
By this time I had gotten a part-time job. Some of my shifts were late afternoon to close and I was getting home at 10:15 at night. I took a day off and purged the garage so I can park in there. Much nicer to be able to pull in late at night or on a rainy day than parking in the driveway.
Now that I have a job I was able to take off for a few days and head south to see my grand children. I loved being able to watch my granddaughter at swim class.
The summer has progressed and I am now a slave to my flowers. I am outside every morning watering them, unless we have gotten at least 1/2 inch of rain. These are the 4 little plants from above. They are really neat as the flowers all close up at night.
From a distance you can see how big all the flowers have gotten.
As I write this, sitting in the office, I love looking at what my hard work has given back.
I have made some interesting meals and took photos of them since the great computer crash and will be working on adding some meal posts to the blog. Plus posts on my getting ready to relocate to Jacksonville. We are talking major downsizing. I'm going from a 1,700 sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bath house to a 983 sq ft 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. Lots and lots of stuff has to go, starting with the Broyhill end tables and coffee table I bought last fall,,,geez.
After my last trip to Decatur to see my son I used the breadfruit I bought and made a breadfruit stew. It was really good. I took lots of photos for a blog post. I took the girls and we went on a several mile walk through the Guilford Battleground National Park. I took lots of photos of the statues, the trails and all the Dogwoods in bloom. I made new meals and took photos so I could do blog posts,,,then my 10-month old laptop got a virus and crashed, gone, toast, wiped out, and all above mentioned photos with it. Now me being me, I got over it and carried on.
While the weather was cool enough I enjoyed meals on the back deck.
We had always had flowers out front and the thought of looking at an empty flower bed all summer was not very appealing. But with no job and no income how could I afford to buy the plants I needed. The answer came from next door. My neighbor Sherrie's lawn mower was in the shop for repairs. We agreed on a price and I mowed her lawn for her twice. We then picked a weekend and headed out to The Guilford County Prison Greenhouse. I spent my lawn cutting money on flowers.
Before I got to planting, my neighbor Randy, and I put a fence up around the bulk of the flower bed. Some of the neighbor's dogs run through the flower bed or dig in it. This was my solution and since I had everything I needed already laying around it was a free fix. My newly planted Marigolds are now safe from roaming dogs, not that Lili and Kele never ran through there on occasion.
I bought some Portulaca, further down you can see how big these little plants got.
Then there were more dinners outside.
Aside from my laptop a few other things bit the dust. My fountain was one of them, but it was 8 or 9 years old so I really wasn't too surprised. I bought a new one on-sale at Lowes that I can use either inside or out. I love the sound of running water in the background, it is so relaxing.
I got a crazy notion one day to color my hair. It is not as blonde as I was hoping for but I am still working on finding the perfect shade. My son's reaction was mild dismay that I had gotten rid of all the grey but then he said as long as I am happy with it, its cool. My daughter at first said I looked 10 years younger. Then said that she thought I looked younger with dark hair but understood that with as much grey as I had keeping it a nice shade of brunette would be a lot of work.
Wahine (my Honda) got a terminal illness. At 263,325 miles a valve went out. I got some money from the estate and bought the best car I could afford. Here is Nohia, a 2005 Dodge Caravan. No rust, no dents, no stains or tears in the upholstery. I did have to put about $1,400 into her in repairs but now she is running great and I got an extended warranty for her. She has cruise, tilt, power windows and locks, intermittent wipers, heated mirrors, power driver's seat, power sliding doors, AM/FM/cassette/CD and a DVD player for the back seat riders. All that and with her V-6 engine she gets 21.6 mpg around town, that is what Wahine got with a 4 cylinder engine.
By this time I had gotten a part-time job. Some of my shifts were late afternoon to close and I was getting home at 10:15 at night. I took a day off and purged the garage so I can park in there. Much nicer to be able to pull in late at night or on a rainy day than parking in the driveway.
Now that I have a job I was able to take off for a few days and head south to see my grand children. I loved being able to watch my granddaughter at swim class.
The summer has progressed and I am now a slave to my flowers. I am outside every morning watering them, unless we have gotten at least 1/2 inch of rain. These are the 4 little plants from above. They are really neat as the flowers all close up at night.
From a distance you can see how big all the flowers have gotten.
As I write this, sitting in the office, I love looking at what my hard work has given back.
I have made some interesting meals and took photos of them since the great computer crash and will be working on adding some meal posts to the blog. Plus posts on my getting ready to relocate to Jacksonville. We are talking major downsizing. I'm going from a 1,700 sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bath house to a 983 sq ft 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. Lots and lots of stuff has to go, starting with the Broyhill end tables and coffee table I bought last fall,,,geez.
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