In case you have not yet grasped what a miracle worker Firewood Man is, I thought I would post a photo in which you can see the original state of the grass in my yard.
Incidentally, you can also see that ground cover that I had to dig and dig and dig and dig out of the space where I put the raised bed. And you can see the rhododendron that died over this past winter. I admit that I was not all that sad over its death, for I happen to think it is only attractive whilst blooming. With the boxwoods dying in the front yard and needing replacing, the corner bed behind the chair is going to remain empty until next summer.
Anyway, as you can see, I have luscious grass all thanks to Tim's hard work in restoring my yard. I will admit that I do struggle with a bit of vicarious pride over the yard. For most of my neighbors are plagued with dandelions and clover flowers, whereas my yard is merely an uninterrupted sea of GREEN.
I thought, perhaps, my photo from yesterday did not adequately show just how large my basil plants are ... how large the basil, thyme, and sage plants are. So, I took another photo. See? It is not a fanciful wondering as to whether the basil might grow taller than the fence! After some Googling, I have armed myself with recipes for basil paste and basil butter, which freeze well. I have also found a recipe for basil salt, which keeps in the cupboard. There is a recipe for basil vinegar, but I am not sure what I would do with basil vinegar. Finally, I found a recipe for freezing the leaves themselves via the blanching method. Clearly, I have enough basil to explore all of these recipes and more, given that I have four Towering Inferno basil plants (bushes).
I'll probably be making sage butter, paste, and salt, too.
And thyme butter, paste, and salt.
Too bad I donated my ice cube trays.........
Today, I played musical pots. You see, when I used the GREEN frog pot for the broken birthday sedum pieces, I forgot that I was still rooting the last three pieces of the giant spotted begonia from my grandmother's yard that I nearly killed this winter when the airing porch door blew open in the solarium without my knowing it. Giant spotted begonias are most awesome plants, but they cannot take temperatures below 50 degrees. They winter inside rather well ... unless outside doors blow open and they are exposed to temperatures in the 20s and below.
So, I moved the sedum to another GREEN pot I had. Actually, this pot does not have a drainage hole, which is why I never manage to keep anything it it for long periods of time. Round pots that fit inside are too small for lots of plants, and I have never come across a plastic square pot to use as an inner liner. I put some rocks and then some gravel at the bottom, because I know that sedums don't require all that much water. So, the plant should be just fine without a drainage hole since I won't have copious amounts of water building up inside the pot.
I also took the opportunity to go through the rocks I have in a pot out in the garage since I have less pots with plants than I did in Alexandria. I decided upon the three polished rocks I have because I find them to be an interesting contrast with the crackle glaze of the pot. It is a prettier shade of GREEN than the photo shows. But the photo does show that it is a square pot that better fits the corner of the iron post where I had put the original pot.
As you can see, in the rooting process of the last three cuttings, I already had leaves starting to grow. There were also quite a tangle of roots at the bottom of all three cuttings, so it was actually long past time to take them out of the vase of water in the window sill and put them into a pot. The other three pots of giant spotted begonias I had done are growing well.
Two of the three have started to bloom, as you can see here.
These are the other two potted footings that I did (right and left). This was 40 days ago.
If you look hard, you can see the one on the right has a bloom peaking out. The one on the left has been rather busy growing. Sadly, I forgot to rotate them for a while, so they are kind of kattywampus just now ... such as with the upside-down leaf. The one in the GREEN pot is not yellowed ... more lighting issues. Anyway, the point is that I never have managed to keep plants growing in the shaded areas of the porch and now I have all three pots filled with a plant that adores shade, with more rootings in the spot where the original giant spotted begonia was. The added benefit is that these plants won't have to be replaced since I can just winter them inside.
Something else the two photos show is how Mr. Jade has gotten all tall. I find it odd that just being outside the main trunk went from being draped over the side to standing nearly vertical. I forgot to rotate him, too, so there is still a bit of leaning.
The beleaguered hanging pots that I am trying to make out of the Wandering Jew cuttings at least no longer look like I got them out of the trash can. In fact, one almost looks like a proper hanging pot ... just a young one. The other one is still in rather sad shape. So, last night I did some plant surgery to harvest more bits for rooting. I plan mostly to beef up the still-beleagured basket.
The one that is growing more vigorously has thicker stems, so I am hoping that, once rooted and planted, they will take hold more quickly in their new home.
Waste not. Want not. Because the one basket is so very pitiful still, I even took the smaller bits and put them in a miniature vase with water to root, too. I admit that three of my neighbors now have rather luscious hanging baskets, which are ... interestingly enough ... some of which are Wandering Jews. I am jealous of the instant gorgeousness hanging from their porches, but I am trying to remain focused on the fact that my two baskets are: 1) from an original dropping off my best friend's basket; 2) a plant that I can winter inside and thus eliminate having to buy baskets each summer (because with a fantastic porch like mine hanging baskets are a necessity); and 3) mine are free baskets.
Today, I also dusted the upstairs, including the baseboards and window sills, and vacuumed the floors in the hallway and all the bedrooms. Amos does not care much for the vacuum. However, as much as I was loathe to have to buy a new vacuum last fall, my second Dyson is so very superior to the first one I had. That ball technology is rather wonderful.
The soil puttering and giving into the guilt of not cleaning the second floor was a result of spending hours writhing on the bathroom floor last night. I am not sure why I was back in that most miserable of states, but I was. I had forgotten just how bad it can get, just how swollen my abdomen, from sternum to below my hipbones, can be. I had forgotten the agony of having food start to spoil in your stomach from an overlong stay. And, today, I am having a reminder of what it is like when that rotten food makes its way through the rest of your digestive system. SIGH.
I wanted to be able to point to something productive after spending all night writhing on the bathroom floor and then the morning and early afternoon huddled in bed.
I really do wonder why I found myself back in that wretched state. I have not missed a single dose of erythromycin since I started the reminder system on the refrigerator with that flower magnet and the dry erase board. I have three theories: 1) the 5-day trial was at 250 mg dose pill whereas the solution is 200 mg, so perhaps going back in dosage is the problem; 2) all the erythromycin solution bottles expire 11/2014 and were manufactured in 12/2012, so maybe the older mediation is less efficacious; or 3) it's just the randomness of the malfunction of my nervous system. In any case, I really, really, really struggled to get through the worst part of the innards misery and am still a bit shell-shocked from the experience.
I had forgotten the magnitude of the wrath my innards can wield upon me.
I had not rehearsed facing such.
I failed in another opportunity to show faith ... to trust.
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