How Does Your Garden Grow?

Spring must be here as a mangy bunny emerged to nibble the grass

Clumps of crocus

that some bunny planted in the grass

are springing up all over

Still no buds on the daffodils

I was hoping I would see signs of the Fern Leaf Bleeding Hearts that Anne Cornucopia had sent me last Fall. The shoots in the left foreground are Narcissus according to Pl@ntNet

More crocus

Annual Weed

Common Blue Violet

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Blooming Tulip Flowers Timelapse

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Friday night fish and chips during Lent started.

2. Daffodil shoots are poking out of the ground

3.  I'm not good at cooking St. Patrick's Day corned beef. At least the Irish soda bread was good. Next year I told Himself we'll have something I can cook like lasagna or ravioli.

4. Calli without too much fuss got her nails clipped. We couldn't find Quill so had to make another appointment for him.

5. After a two week, hiatus, another play day with Teague

How was your week?

TBT: Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

 In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Waiting

Yesterday, took Ma and Dad to the doctor's office. I was hoping the doc would be on time as I needed to be out for the afternoon run to driver training and school pick up. Ma was ready, waiting, and half way out the door when I arrived.

We were 15 minutes early for their appointment, and Ma was hoping the doctor would take them early. The waiting room is set up like a bus station with two rows of seats facing each other. Nearly every seat was taken. Blew Ma's idea about the doctor seeing them early. Ma and I found two seats at one end of the room, and Dad took a seat by himself at the other.

The med tech saw me and said, "Are you here again?" (Since the Weebles have a doctor for every toe, we were there two weeks ago to see the heart toe. Yesterday's appointment was to see the primary care toe.) Two weeks ago, the med tech and I had an OPD Support Meeting. "So, how's it going?" she asked. "The same. You?" "Same." We both laughed. She was busy so I couldn't chit chat with her.

After ten minutes, she looked out from the lab area, "Wow, they're really quiet today." Ma had nodded off in her chair, and Dad was reading a magazine. "Oh," she said, "You have them separated." I winked.

Their first appoitment came and went. Their second appoinment came and went. They weren't called until a half hour after the first appointment. Why can't doctors keep their appointments? It's so rude. Makes me want to send the doctor a bill for the wait time, and then a denial to pay from the insurance company.

We were there almost an hour and a half just for them to have their blood pressure taken. Still, I got them there and back and made it home in plenty of time for the afternoon run.

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.  

The facilitator made a wavy line down the left side of her page. The divided it into pizza slices and then fill in with patterns. When I saw the wavy line, it reminded me a calla lily. We are always free to follow her suggestion or work on our own design.

T Stands for 2OLOTR: Two Old Ladies on the Road - Breakfast at the Beachmere Inn

Even though the days are sunnier, March is off season in Maine. Many of the resorts, hotels, and inns might start opening on the weekends, but a lot of the restaurants are still closed for the season. We stayed at the Beachmere Inn and their restaurant was open. Rather than drive around looking for a place, we decided to just have breakfast at the Beachmere.

A chalkboard on the outside porch wall. Beach. Best Escape Anyone Could Ever Have.

We each ordered French toast. I had mine with blueberry compote. Teague's orange juice is behind my cup of tea. There weren't many guests in the restaurant. There might have been another couple. We had a nice leisurely breakfast.

Back in our room, I was thinking of going for a walk along the Marginal Way, the coastal walking path that winds from this area in Ogunquit to east (I think) to Perkins Cove, a mile and a half away.  The wind was fierce and whipping the waves and sand. After we saw a lawn chair fly by the window, I decided I'd save the walk for another, calmer day.

Surprisingly, the wind didn't knock over the tree made from lobster traps and decorated with buoys and shamrocks.

The geese didn't seem to mind the wind

We puttered around and talked until it was time to go searching for lunch. We ended up driving to Wells, the next town North and stopped at the Bull and Claw. Towards the end of our lunch, the lights flickered off and came back on several times. One of the waitresses quipped it was like working in a disco. Another gust of wind, the lights went off and didn't come back on.

The waitress came over and said there might be a problem with not being able to print out our receipt. I was surprised the restaurant didn't have a backup generator. As it turned out, the waitress had printed out our receipt earlier and we were paying in cash. 

The lights were out on US 1 until we got to the Ogunquit line. Dinner was easy as we both had leftovers from lunch and took them in a doggy bag to heat up in the micro.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

While looking for an item in the studio, Monet and me came across a project I had done a long time ago. I had made a box of chocolates. The original box I made was crushed, but I had a small box from the treats I bought from the candy house when I went looking for the gold elastic I needed for a project.

The chocolates are made from shiny brown paper and folded into a small folder. When Ma was 16 she worked at a candy factory. She could read the swirls on the top of fancy chocolates which told whether the inside was a cream, nut, nougat, jelly, etc. 

I made swirls for the chocolates using Elmer's glue and walnut ink.

The filling inside the chocolate was/is an accordion folded, strip of Arches Text Wove. A chocolate saying was written with walnut ink. You can see the back of the folder in the photo.

Today's chocolate saying is: If it ain't chocolate, it ain't good.

Happy  Birthday, (106th ) Dad. One of the biggest chocolate lovers.