Still sick. Being sick is so boring. You can't settle down and amuse yourself because you keep coughing, or having to blow your nose, or your body aches and you can't get comfortable. The light hurts your eyes so much you can't read or watch tv or use the computer without giving yourself a headache. It may be nice outside but all you want to do is hide under the covers and stop shaking. You can't get any chores done because you're weak. All you can do is lie around and feel horrid.
Nothing interesting has happened, naturally, while I've been sick so I'm going to indulge myself and talk about my garden. It's beautiful today, sunny and breezy which encouraged me to venture out in the yard for a bit of fresh air and sunshine, mainly poking around looking for new growth. I found the Abiqua Blue Edger hosta is budding, but there's no sign even half an inch below the surface of the varigated Francee hosta. The pink astilbe are sending up little feathery fronds so they survived the winter just fine, and the ruffled heuchera is twice as big as it was last fall. No sign of the red and white astilbe I planted, but I really have to take out the violets I overplanted them with now that I see signs of life from the pink ones at last.
There are a couple of tragedies in the making. Alas, my abutilon seems to have scale, or blight, or something. Little black things all over it, causing it to droop and the flowers, what few survive, to be a dark, unhealthy red instead of orange and bright yellow. Mighty soap-water mister to the rescue! And unfortunately, the columbine is already showing signs of mildew even though it is planted alone; it gets plenty of air circulating around it. It doesn't get any direct sun, perhaps that's causing the problem. My monarda had the same trouble and never did bloom last year. Any ideas about how to save them?
Naturally, I'm excited about planting a new garden, and have been poring over seed catalogs and old gardening magazines. I look forward to having a large cutting garden in the back, and growing vegetables along the picket fence where's there's plenty of sun all day. I'll be cutting out large sections of the lawn to make room for my garden as I hate lawns and need far more space for my plants than is currently alloted. I'm going to have a fountain with a waterfall back there, too, which I plan to build myself. Frogs, I want frogs. And I'll need some space for my compost heap, of course. I might even need to build a little shed or something in the garage for my garden tools. John needs a work bench in there, too, I expect; we're never going to park two cars in the garage even though it's a tandem. For one thing, we only have one car, and for another we really need the storage space. We have a lot of books and other paper-based amusements, and no place to display them in the new house. Hello, garage.
I'm afraid to do too much planning, really. I've been signing papers every day since last week, and we're only now officially entering escrow. I won't really get worked up until the loan is completed, and the house keys are handed over. This is a stressful period, believe me, and I'm amazed that anyone does this sort of thing for a living. Lord, what a plethora of paperwork it all involves.
The Index
Next Incarnation