We knew it was going to be raining today. That's a good thing, since we are way behind on rainfall around here. It was also a good thing because it gave us a day off of heavy yard work.
We worked hard yesterday, with some housekeeping, laundry, and then hands and knees weeding and grooming in the yard. We were ready for a day off. We slept in until 8:00. In no hurry to get going, I parked myself in front of the computer to check Facebook and email.
There I found that Tom's dental claim had been denied, so I had to track that problem down. Then our credit card statement had come in and so I checked the balance, and was shocked to see that the amount due was way higher than normal, like about $4000 more. I checked the statement, thinking we had been hacked again, or whatever you call it when someone puts false charges on your card. But nope, it was a $4,180 charge from our Friday morning breakfast restaurant. Obviously that was a mistake. It took a while, calling the restaurant and the credit card company, but the mistake has been corrected, I think. I'm waiting for the pending correction to lock in on my statement.
I finally got to my shower, spilled dish detergent in the kitchen when cleaning my eye glasses, cleaned that up and then, Charlie was at the door, all wet, and begging for food and attention. While I was getting his dish, he got past me and into the house, a no-no. I chased him down, put him out, dried him off with an old towel, hugged him and fed him. Then I got to eat breakfast. It was late now as I settled in to do my 45 minutes of physical therapy exercises, when the phone rang. It was my sister and it was good to talk to her, but by now I gave up on any intended schedule, reminded my self that this was supposed to be a slower day, got my exercise routine done, and delayed my shopping trip until after lunch.
I went out to one store, looking for a semi-dressy spring/summer weight jacket to wear with slacks, struck out at the first store, remembered I hated shopping and could get by without it anyway and came home.
That has given me time to post a blog, and maybe even to sit and read a while before it's time to cook dinner.
It hasn't rained much, just sort of drippy all day. The patio isn't even wet under the cedar tree, our visual rain gauge.
From the windows the greens are glowing.
Outside the birds are chirping, enjoying the light rain.
Inside this cute little guy doesn't chirp, but he makes me smile. Issac picked it out for me for Mother's Day.
It's good to have a day to deal with the unexpected.
We had a good Mother's Day here at the Reeder Homestead. I cooked, Tom grilled, we all ate, and the kids helped clean up. Cooking and hosting were our gift to our daughter, a wonderful mother to our grands.
I didn't take any photos! I know. But well, I was busy - busy cooking and greeting and listening and talking and eating and remembering. We did lots of fun remembering.
We ate dinner here in the dining room, since our heat wave suddenly disappeared over night.
It's all cleaned up and put away now, and everyone has gone home. The "everyone" was Jill, Isaac, Irene, Jake, Jan, Tom, and me.
The sun came out, so after touring the garden, including admiring the wisteria on the deck,
we had our ice cream sundaes and brownies here on the patio.
Charlie made the rounds and got attention from everyone. There was more fun talking and remembering.
Then after everyone had gone and the little bit of cleanup left was done, Tom mowed the lawn.
Oh, and my Mother's Day flowers? This sweet little bouquet of lily-of-the-valley that Tom and Irene picked for me from our garden. Perfect!
It is warm here today. We have reached 81 with more heat predicted for Friday and Saturday before a cooling trend begins on Mother's Day. We might even get some rain by the middle of next week.
Tom has worked to get all of the watering systems operating: lawn and shrub sprinklers, vegetable garden micro sprayers, drippers for pots, and we have them all turned on, since it has been so dry and now hot.
We have finished our plant shopping and have most everything planted. On Wednesday morning we went to Vassey's Nursery and then Watson's to shop for plants we still needed and just enjoy the ambiance of beauty these nurseries provide.
Vassey's Nursery
A beautiful big Dove tree and a just opening wisteria in the nursery display garden.
Watson's Greenhouse.
After we got back home on Wednesday we spent several hours working in the yard before cleaning up to go to Irene's first middle school cross country meet.
While she was not in the lead pack of five girls, she was well ahead of the rest of the field, coming in at number six. She had a good, strong finish.
Today is Thursday, right? I do seem to have trouble keeping the days straight lately. I haven't been doing much exercise walking, getting plenty of exercise working in the yard instead. I do manage to get in my 40 minutes of physical therapy exercises most days. Today I spent much of the morning grocery shopping at Costco and Safeway. I will be hosting Mother's Day dinner for my kids.
Then I worked on cleaning up the patio, washing furniture and then beginning to empty the shed of all of the yard furniture and yard art stuffed in there for the winter. Outdoor living time has begun. We had lunch on the patio. I actually sat in my outdoor rocking chair and read for a while this afternoon when it got too hot to work.
It's transition time in the garden. The tulips, pictured here on their last hurrah, are now faded and we have begun removing them from the beds, since they are all planted in gallon nursery pots sunk into the soil. Time to make way for summer color plants.
These photos were taken on Sunday, before the heat cooked what was left of the color.
The wisteria will be coming into bloom down on the garden deck. Rhododendrons, the few we have, are blooming. Everything is green and growing. Seeds are planted in the garden boxes. May is a busy time.
The bonsai are on the bench.
The May apples have "apples", cool flower buds that hide under the leaves.
The Welsh poppies are beginning to pop.
Fairy bells are ringing.
And the first columbines are blooming.
Beautiful, busy May.
Bleeding heart.
Well, it looks like it has been a week since I last posted. After a while of thinking I have nothing to post about, suddenly there seems to be too much to know where to start.
We have been busy, and my mind has been even busier.
A week ago Saturday we lost a good friend. Mavis was a long standing member of our breakfast group, a fellow retired teacher from Tom's last school, a mother, grandmother, great grandmother and a dear friend to many. She was just a week shy of her 92 birthday when she passed as a result of a brain bleed probably caused by a fall. We are all saddened by her passing and will miss her.
Last week I made a trip into the city to have my hearing aid repaired, had an appointment with our financial adviser, attended Isaac's last high school track meet of the season, and spent lots of time and energy working in the yard. Friday evening we were called upon to assist another member of our breakfast group who had a medical emergency. Going to her aid along with another friend, we finally determined we needed to call 911 and got her to a hospital where docs began to work on trying to figure out what had caused this "episode". She is back home now, recovering, but we still await more information as to what went wrong. The whole thing was quite upsetting, and still is.
Saturday we attended a small plant sale and then shopped for plants at a big box store. It is time to get tender plants into the pots and beds. We bought impatiens for the bed under the cedar tree.
We moved the brugmansia (that tall plant in the back), succulents, agave and other weird plants out of the greenhouse and onto the patio. I had reworked many of these pots several weeks ago.
Sunday I began working on planting that bed under the cedar tree, getting in the plectranthus that Tom raised from cuttings. . Then we were called to Jill's house to deliver tomato plants that Tom raised in his greenhouse. There we were pulled into service helping Jill and the kids plant their garden.
Monday we drove south to deliver tomato plants to my sister Laurie and her husband, and to spend the day with then and my sister Ilene. We had a lovely lunch prepared by Laurie and then went to two rural greenhouses in their area.
So many lovely plants. We bought a few.
Back home Monday evening we finished planting the impatiens along the patio and refreshed a few more patio pots.
Today, Tuesday, Tom continued to work on his watering system. I did a little house cleaning and we got the laundry done. I worked on some more pots outside, and we had a security system installed in the house.
A couple of weeks ago Tom had some trouble with his cell phone, like he received 3000 plus emails over night, old ones he had previously deleted. He checked in at the Apple store and was referred to Comcast, our email/Internet provider. In the process of fixing the email problem, it was noted that we had an old plan for bundled service. We could get Netflix for free, as well as a home security system, all while saving $50 a month. After some consideration we decided to go for it, and today an Xfinity technician installed the basic home security system.
Now we have to study a bit more about how to use it without setting off alarms and calling the police, and also warn our two adult children, who have keys to the house.
Tomorrow will be just as busy, but I'll try to keep up with the blogging a little better, so I won't be dumping on my faithful readers.
