How Does Your Garden Grow?

The squash survived its near drowning and has a couple of flowers

Cucumber and tomatoes doing well.

Morning glories starting to climb

The honeysuckle

bloomed and dropped all its flowers. Himself read on a gardening site it meant the plant wasn't pollinated. 

The milkweed is almost as tall as I am and

several have flowers

I haven't seen the squirrel in over a week so he hasn't been by to play leap frog on the stone towers

While I was lamenting there are no bees, I came across this very, tiny, lady on a dandelion. Can you see her? She was about half the size of my pinkie nail. I hope she'll direct her sisters to the yard. 

Some thunderstorms gave way to a beautiful sunset though the iPhone camera didn't capture the beautiful pink light.

How does your garden grow

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

How Green Was My Valley (1941) Walter Pidgeon, Donald Crisp, Maureen O'Hara, (Baby) Roddy McDowell

If you haven't seen this movie, you can watch it for free

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Met a friend for coffee. I had some art magazines I thought he would like. He treated me to breakfast, a chai tea and a croissant. He also gave me a pretty, purple glass pen

2.  Red and I are getting back to walking

3. Picked up my new glasses. I can see again!

4. A young teen held the door for me. Manners are not dead.

5. We rented Tim Burton’s Dumbo. I don’t usually like remakes, but I did like his adaptation of the story with a nod to the original

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

Photo by Louis from Pexels

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

After that I had a number of flights to New York for meetings. At one of the times I went there were not taxis around, and I did not know my way around. This was at the airport. So I saw a sky cap. I asked him if there was another way I could get to where I wanted to go. "Yes, "he said. "Follow me. I'll put you on a bus that stops right at an intersection across from a clothing store and gave it a name. Which as usual I forgot. I did not keep a diary for things like this.

He took me to the bus which was about to leave. Told the driver to make sure he dropped me off at the store and directed me to the office building I wanted to go in. He did this. I went up the stairs, got out of the elevator and went into the office.

The company attorney who was the individual who interacted with the food supplier came in about ten minutes later. He greeted me. And asked if I got there by taxi. I said no I took the bus and I got off at the clothing store. He said there was no clothing store on that street. And one of the employees said yes there is. I shop there.

The attorney when I was leaving after completing my meeting said, "How do you like it, a stranger comes to my town and tells me what's there." He also said the next time you come, come by a little later than you did today. It kind of showed me up that an attorney who has got to wake up early and get the first plane out of his airport and flies a good distance and gets here before me doesn't look good for me. 

I attended a few more meetings and I got a call from the clerk of court one day that I had 40 trials and he was calling all the attorneys that were involved to see what could be done. He thought that to try the cases  separately would take months. He set a date and I called New York. Spoke to the Chief Attorney on what was going to happen. And I suggested that  he should come and I said I don't have the authority to make the decision. It will have to come form the President of the Corporation. This judge is of a mind to consolidate these cases and get them off the dockets. and he also suggested that he would like to have some one who had the corporate authority to be able to approve whatever the result.

So he came and it was quite a session. Our chief more than held his own with our [ed: Massachusetts] lawyers who had ganged up on the corporation.They had a letter from the manufacturer that the freezers were made to sell for $400 or $450 and not the high price that this company charged. But there were other charges. Salesmen cost percent as they earned 6% on every contract. The result was that all the attorneys present accepted the settlement price.

While we settled this and also extended the same settlement to anyone who had a complaint.

Wordy Wednesday

T Stands for Hic Sunt Dracones and Ted Geisel - Part 2

I mentioned in passing I had traveled to the Wilds of Western Massachusetts. To a Bostonian, this is the edge of the world. On a map, it would say Hic Sunt Dracones. Here There Be Dragons. This attitude comes from the simple fact that Boston is not nicknamed the Hub because the city is laid out in a spoke and wheel pattern. It's because Boston is the Hub of the Universe. Bostonians only need a brief walk or  a short subway ride (if the trolleys are on time and don't derail!) to art, history, sports, music, theater, universities. We don't really need to leave the city to find entertainment or education.

Bostonians also measure distance in terms of time. How long will it take me to get from here to there? !0 minute, 20 minutes, but if it's an hour or more, that moves into the realm of an expedition requiring snacks and a change of clothes.

As I am now used to (well, sort of) living in the Land of Hic Sunt Dracones, I bravely drove an hour West of where I live.

My friend, Al (now living beyond the end of the Earth in Portland, Oregon) was visiting her family homestead in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was house and fur baby sitting for her brother. She invited me for a play date at The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum and Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden.

Ted Geisel is better known to the world as Dr. Seuss, celebrated writer and illustrator. We started our visit at the museum with lunch at The Blake House Café. Rather than show you pictures of my half eaten lunch as I was too busy catching up with Al to take a picture, there is an image of a cup in the many photographs I took. That will be my drink reference.

Can you find it here or there? Can you find it any where?

Last week, we visited the area of the museum geared towards children. This week, we'll go upstairs to see Ted's studio and his amazing art work.

Memorabilia from Ted's days as a Boy Scout. Bow ties are cool.

He used Prismacolor pencils!

I wanted to rummage through his nibs to see what brands he used and maybe put one or two into a Nib Relocation Program. 😉

I thought the painting looked like cats.

A cat, of course.

These squiggles looked like flourishes or Lazy Eights from penmanship class. I loved doing those. (Still do.)

A note of encouragement: "When you fear you've been left in a Cave in Ga-zool, with your bottom bereft on an unfriendly stool.. ...Please know that I love you! I've been to Ga-Zool!"

Another cat.

"With or without eyedrops, writing and drawing is an unpleasant experience which I find myself avoiding. I am thinking of taking up paper hanging or mushroom farming as a new profession."

Commemorative stamp issued in 2004 at a first class postal rate of 37 cents. (The current rate is 55 cents.)

"Dear Fellow Toiler in the Vineyards of Ink...May your New Year be a great one." I want Toiler in the Vineyards of Ink to be my new title. I bet the Internal Revenue Service (U.S. tax agency) would love that one.

In Andy Fish's Pitch class, he had talked about using a to do list as a daily practice to be more productive.  What you don't accomplish one day you roll over to the next. I was amused by Ted's to do list and his revelation about his list.

"Your things to do pad is great! After writing down the same things to do 6 days in succession and running the sheets through my computer I discovered: 1. I hadn't cleaned the back closet. 2. I hadn't written to Katherine Findeisen. I now know that I probably never will and this knowledge gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction for which I thank you. Love, Ted"

We took the Oh, the Places You'll Go Elevator to the basement where there was an activity room for children. There were no children in sight and the staff was bored so they asked if we

wanted to make monster Father's Day cards. At 63 years old, I make a helluva  kindergartner.

Did you find the cup?

And Al had a little prezzie for me. She always brings me something. She's thoughtful like that.

A roll of ABC tape Just like the penmanship exemplar above the blackboard in school and some Stash Tea. From the package: "Portland Blend Black Tea in celebration of our rich history in all things tea, we've given a nod to Stash's own hometown, Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses. Rich black teas are blended with chocolaty cocoa nibs, the flavor of fresh raspberries, and visually accented with pretty blue cornflower and rose petals."

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. 

Aches and Pains

I don't know what I did. Playing Working at the computer too long, perhaps the chair, table height is not good. Maybe a delayed reaction to hauling the very heavy recliner from the sun room to the street. (I was hoping someone would take a free chair) and then dragging the extremely weighty recliner from the curb to the garage. (everyone probably saw The Big Bang Theory episode where Penny got a free chair that was left at the curb in front of her apartment building)

Though I'm small, maybe I'm not as mighty as I think. Or once was. Maybe I'm just at that age where you wake up and things just hurt. Who knows?

A friend gave Himself a sample of Arnica CBD salve. He swears by it. The friend, not Himself. I had taken some Ibuprofen in the hopes of better living through chemistry, but I wasn't finding much relief. I decided with some trepidation to give the salve a try. After all, what did I have to lose except the pain in my shoulder.

I opened the little container and cautiously took a sniff. If this smelled like Old Man salve I wasn't going to use it. There was a very, very faint wintergreen smell. Not bad at all.

I'm not going to claim it's a miracle salve, but my shoulder feels better. Maybe the Ibuprofen worked, or the heating pad I applied. Or maybe a good night's sleep.

What do you use for aches and pains?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Heavy rains and a clogged gutter flooded the squash.

A new garden kite to celebrate the Summer Solstice

Mr. Grosbeak

The humidity increased and the Little Dude came out of the weather house

The squash survived the flood. The gutter man cleaned out the sun room gutter. He'll return in a few weeks to install a cover so the gutter won't clog again.

Blossoms on the cherry tomato plant

Morning glories getting tall

A mountain laurel that rarely blooms decided to show off this year.

The honeysuckle vine. The hummingbird has been having a field day, but eludes me when I got to take his picture.

New gutters and downspouts

The gutter man even took care of the water filtration back wash hose

Blossoms on the milkweed

One of only three blossoms on the hydrangea. Well, that's two more than what we had last year.  I had hoped cutting it back would help produce a lot more flowers.

Some wild morning glories also called Devil's weed have invaded the snowball bushes. Seems the more you pull it out, the more it keeps coming back.

How does your garden grow?