Long Day Ahead

I used the day well.

Scouted out the walking trail for bookclub on Saturday. Duke and I had a brisk morning walk -- about 6 miles of exploring. It's a boardwalk and path along the river and I needed to get my bearings for parking. I've been a few times, but I always park and walk. I didn't have enough information to set a meeting location, etc. Parking is tough -- small lots, some street parking on the brim of the road. A couple of the ladies said they were still interested in going so I made the effort. We'll see ... I know how it goes. 

I ran errands and did a few chores too. 

My friend and her granddaughter came to paint rocks. It actually happened! 

Colorful :)

I signed up for coaching tomorrow. I'm a little late to the request, so not sure if I'll get coached, but you're off the hook for my rant reflection now hah! 

I need to get going. Today is long. Court hearing (it's a tough one), volunteering at the farm (very hot afternoon in the sun), meeting from 7-10pm (dear lord). 

Hope you have a good day. Later gators.

Summer Planting

You got lucky. 

You're welcome.

I'm not in the mood to reflect (or rant) this morning. 

Woke up groggy. 

Here are pictures of the garden as it stands now.

Garlic, tomato, pepper,
basil, radish seeds.

Pepper plant in a pot.
Flowers along the deck base.

Greens, peas, herbs.

Peas, tomato, sorrel, pepper,
cucumber seeds

Peas, tomato, radish,
cucumber seeds.

Flowers of some sort.
I totally forget the names

Fig tree in background

I forgot I bought 2 baby
sun hydrangeas from the market.

I bought more herbs and a strawberry plant from the farm yesterday. He also gave us cucumber plants that are wonky -- may or may not take, but they were free. It was a nice field-trip with my garden friend. I'm plant sitting her strawberry plant while she's on vacation. Fingers crossed I keep it alive.

I think I have crows in my backyard -- the big trees in the gully behind the house. I'm going to try to get a crow friend. Looking for unsalted peanuts to bribe them. Of course, Trader Joe's was out of them. I'll keep a look out.

A nurse friend who I worked with years and years ago reached out to say she retired and wanted to see what I was up to. That's so nice. I was thinking about her not long ago -- we had some crazy experiences at that job, and something reminded me of one of those nights. Guess that energy went out into the universe. 

The agenda today is a jumble and up-in-the-air. My cancel friend is giving rock painting with her granddaughter one more try today, but that's not until 4 o'clock. I have the day for a lot of things, but I'm groggy and not sure what I want to do. The only rule -- don't waste the day. I have options and chores and such. I'll look for a combination that feels good. Sometimes good is simply getting pesky things off a to-do list. 

It is Tuesday and I'm not hiking with the group again. Lots of reasons. I need another beat before I get back to this group. That's part of what I was going to chat about, but I don't feel like going down that rabbit hole this morning. 

On that note, I'm going to get something started to wake myself up. I'm sure I have plants that need tending somewhere hah. Have a good day. Later gators.

Monday List

I started to write yesterday and the morning got away from me. 

Let's do a catch up list.

1. Birthday gift wrap. Found these seed flowers at the Pisgah Inn.

2. Garden Faire. Very nice time with a new garden friend. Will we become true friends? Not sure and that's okay. It's think she'll be more of a "friend-of-a-friend" friend. That said, we're going out together today too, so go figure.

I didn't get any outdoor plants, but got a number of indoor goodies.

Succulent that blooms once a year.

Air succulents and cute pots.
Singing frog and hummingbird.

Thrifted jars for $0.50
Good for herb give-aways

3. Birthday party was such a good time. She put in a lot of work. The flower Japanese arranging was very interesting. The dumplings were delicious. Her friends are lovely. The house and garden amazing. Honored to be included.

Got to take home extra cuttings.
The bendy willow should root.

Ta-Da. Follow very specific rules.
That's a tulip peeled open.

4. Summer garden is mostly planted. 

Lots of work. 

Forgot to take pictures. 

Grow well, little ones.

5. Hubby left for Asheville for the week. Just me and Duke.

6. I'm heading to a my old area to go to the organic farm stand for a few herb plants ... with my new garden friend. I was going, she was interested. So that's how today came to be. 

7. Picking up my grandson from school this afternoon. I get a little more time with him this week -- awesome!

Of course, in all of this, I have some prickly relationship things I'm trying to work out. And wondering how I show up, etc. That's a story for another morning though (maybe tomorrow, so be forewarned lol). Although it's not bad, more reflective than a rant (I hope).

Hope your week is off to a good start. Later gators. 

Community and Friendship and Family

Delivered my rocks to the other snake rock. I hope others start adding soon. People are leaving this one alone ... thankfully, finally, hopefully.

These are big rocks -- look tiny from the picture.

Our Friday friend was very surprised and we had a nice meeting and birthday celebration. The mayor joined us again and we got lots of scoop on our town.

People took the flowers home and the hit was the little basil jars. The coffee shop owner gave me some cut herbs from his basket. Everything felt like friendship and community. 

Found this little lovely in the garden. Thank you, friend-of-the-garden. Eat those pesky pests.

Our grandson's school had a spring hat parade. Usually the events are run like a well oil machine. Not yesterday. Oh boy. Lots of chaos and too much time standing in the sun. But he was adorable and to see his little face when he saw us -- just the best feeling. He came back to our house to play while his parents finished working.

We went to dinner and I ate way too much rich food. My stomach is a mess this morning. Fitful dreams about having a stomach ache. I hope things calm down. 

I have a big day today. 

First up, a new friend. She came over to rock paint with our friend who lost her husband. We've had a couple things canceled related to the death so I've only had that one day with her. She invited me to a Garden Faire and breakfast this morning. It'll feel good to talk to her. (And, of course, fun to go to the garden event.) We have gardening in common and we both have a young grandson (from a child with the same name). She's incredibly nice, quite soft spoken, and we have a number of friends in common. We've met over the years in larger group settings, but never spent much time together.

Then a quick turnaround to head to the official birthday party from the Friday friend. Also a new friend. She's turning 70. I like that my friend group is age expanding -- both directions. Japanese flower arranging and dumpling making, her treat. She even has GF options for a few of us -- so sweet. And, of course, I love that it starts at 2 o'clock. It'll be the rest of the day, but I should be home by early evening. She's had a horrible loss a little over a year ago -- her husband was piloting her family to a baseball game and the plane crashed. This is her first big birthday since the loss and it's a hard one. She's choosing this milestone birthday as a jumping off point to get back to loving life. She's grieved very hard and still does (of course), but she said she wants more joy again.

Today has a strange little back theme of loss amiss beautiful things. Yin and yang of living. 

Best get moving. Early breakfast with parking woes means I need a bunch of extra time. 

Have a good day. Later gators.

I'm No Farmer

Backbreaker day yesterday.

The "standing" farm job that wasn't. There was other work to be done -- harder than picking ... planting. My body is broken -- hah, I'm no farmer. Recovery stats in the tank. Oura ring ... "what happened?"

Happily, today IS a physical recovery day. Yesterday was all work. Today is all play. The push to get everything finished was worth it.

I had to do a first-thing run to Trader Joe's to get flowers for a surprise birthday celebration today. (Pictures loading annoyingly backwards, as usual.)

Flowers I kept in the background.
Rocks heading out today.

Flowers and herbs for today

My kind of cart -- a little
lavender for the porch too.

I got to spend a couple of hours with my grandson and doing it again today. So sweet -- but my back!!

Then watered all the houseplants. Oddly, another strain on my back, but glad to have that finished. I almost pushed it to today (thanks, Yesterday ME for hooking Today ME up).

Today is another full day, but a gentler full. 

Less rushed, less physical. 

More fun, than productive.

I'm looking forward to it.

Short and sweet this morning. Have to paint my nails -- gardening took it out of them. I rarely wear gloves because it's too hard on dexterity. 

Have a great start to the spring weekend. Later gators.

Home Sweet Home .. and Garden

Yep, sleep was off last night. Asheville became "Asheville" because of the healing legend of the mountain air. Maybe it's true ... seems to be for me.

It's good to be home though. 

This is THE week -- summer garden gets planted. 

Grow room goes down. 

Plant life gets loads easier.

But first -- WORK.

In and out to finish hardening everything. 

Sun, shade, take a break inside ... start again. 

I finished the tomatoes, but the peppers, herbs, and flowers are still in process. 

It's mostly fun plant work though (minus watering my indoor plants ... sorry, my loves, it's never fun).

This time of year my indoor plants are the neglected step-children. 

I'm volunteering in the green house at the farm today. I have to do a minimum of 4 hours of volunteering with the program and this year I'm trying to get those hours upright and early -- standing at table with seedlings, rather than on my knees harvesting. I'll get a sneak peak at the plants for summer pickup. 

Saturday I'm going to the Master Gardener plant sale with a friend. 

Might visit the farm stand where I used to live to pickup some herbs -- some mine didn't make it.

Sunday is plant-the-garden day.

So exciting!! 🥦🌿

Fingers crossed the pests stay clear.

I painted a couple of rocks for the "other" snake rock. Just sprayed them this morning. I'm excited to add to it. I'll do a couple more for my snake rock next week.

The next 3 days are full (with rushed mornings) -- but lots and lots of good full AND lots of variety. Hitting a number of FS things each day. 

Things that I intentionally worked toward. 

Life feels better when it's intentional. 

Good for me to remember. 

Hope your week is going well. Later gators. 

Until Next Time, Asheville

Another super day in Asheville. 

We hiked a short, but steep trail to the top of Mount Pisgah. 

A few technical parts, but it was okay ... phew.

Ate a really delicious lunch at the Inn.

Picture perfect hiking weather.

Incredible day -- start to finish.

Excellent food.

Pisgah Inn with views

You can sit outside
enjoying the mountain views.

We passed a family on the way down. They were leaving Easter eggs with candy. So fun. We took one because it's nice to participate and I bet they were excited for people to find them.

Took Duke on a long walk in town. Also walked to get food for dinner and something for today since we're leaving before anything opens. (Hubby needs to be home for a dentist appointment.) 

Here were a few Asheville notes along the way.

This was a top Asheville trip. I need to remember some of the reasons why. Of course, the weather was a big factor, but it was more than that. Expanding WHAT we do is important. I have a list of hiking trails to try. Asheville is about being outside and if it's all rain, the fun gets dicy though. I'm also reluctant to solo hike a trail I don't know. Anyway, something to notice -- especially traveling with hubby. 

One last note before I start packing up ... woke up to these numbers. 57 degrees with the windows open. 21% humidity. It's the WHY of such incredible sleep. I'll miss this tonight.

See you from GA tomorrow. Back to all-things-garden. Fingers crossed the grow room survived.

Have a good one. Later gators.