Project Pause

I stopped where I needed to but am happy with the progress. Most of the pots match-ish, and I have new herbs growing at the top. As things grow in I can move them to different levels. Not sure what I'm going to do with the bottom three spots.

A lovely thing happened on the way home from the movie theater the other day. There were goats grazing on the field in the abandoned middle school. I pulled over and took photos. It smelled so goat-y, and they were chewing so loudly that I could hear them over the distant freeway, passing cars and light rail. I liked it so much that I took mrguy the next day to experience it.

Such goat variety!

Vacation Wednesday -- The Project Continues

I bought this wacky plant stand several months ago. It's been harder to get pots that fit than I thought. Yesterday I went to the Home Depot near work, since I had to go that way to get blood tests. I had partial success. For some reason three of the pots that are the same size won't fit in some of the holders. And then some of the holders are sizes that aren't common. So it's a bit of a mosh.

Also I need to Rustoleum the metal, and I really don't feel like doing it. And I am now seeing that this project is going to require patience, and trial and error.

But my goal became clear this week. What I really want is to get the front porch a bit tidier and to create an herb garden in the plant stand. There is enough room for the other things that I love, like succulents, but one thing that I have felt is lacking at the Big Brown Box is herbs. Accessible herbs. During the pandemic I had them in the aku room, but they eventually got buggy, so I gave up. Right now the aku room is kinda perfect. I have some great geraniums that are flowering like mad, and some weird succulents that I decided to like because they apparently like the room. It looks so darned great.

So here's what the week looks like.

Monday. A hodgepodge of pots and plants.

This morning I had some plants temporarily in random pots.

This afternoon I found *some*pots that fit and some saucers that I could use. In the meantime I repotted some orchids that came from my mom's house that have never bloomed. Hoping to find a home for them somewhere in the garden, but the maple trees seem to have made all of the front yard un-diggable. We'll see if I can get help. Or grow stronger ;)

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, mrguy is on Day 3 of his radiation. He slept a lot this afternoon and has now gone back to bed at 6:55. I watched the episode of Dr. Pimple Popper that was recorded after her stroke. She and her husband talked about how their children are in college and these are supposed to be their golden years, wondering what comes next. I cried while cooking greens.

How To Decide, And Other Thoughts

Some writing from The Hatch.

I can't remember the prompt, but here is the output:

How to decide.

Paddle around. At an uncomfortable junction, either dig in or move on, once you see it happen. Give it a random time frame. It’s the frame that matters. And conserving the time.

Choose what suits you. Accept what suits you. But don’t only accept. That’s the rule.

How to decide. Step out. Don’t look for constraints. Choose your own. Release. Imagine what you will and will not do. Keep what you need. Keep the memories. Jettison the things. There will always be new things.

How to decide.

+++

The prompt was to reimagine the lyrics to a song, substituting word meaning or...can't recall. We had 5 minutes. The only lyrics that came to mind were for The Ladies Who Lunch, from the musical Company. I kinda went with opposites.

For you men

I cry

Running in the shoes that bring hunger

Here you go

It's for someone else

+++

This was a warm-up, suggested by Jon Batiste, who was our guest for The Hatch. Just stream of consciousness. He used the phrase "complete inevitable statement", which I loved. So that's how I began.

“Complete Inevitable Statement” that starts as a feeling and coalesces out of the filmy mists, as they say. 

Rinse, lather and repeat.

Breck, as I recall, was golden brown and pungent. Every shampoo had to have that fragrance until Herbal Essence came and made everything green, and shampoo world was broken open entirely, with man’s finest artificial scents, rooted in fruit and candy flavors. 

But the 1976 Olympics of it brought us the unintentionally cookie flavor of telling two friends "and so-on”. 

My husband wants a cookie oven for his man room. Thanks a lot, Jon Batiste.

Vacation is Delicious

Monday was great. I did laundry and putzed around on the computer and started a project -- the green pots out front. They came from my grandfather's car dealership and originally held potted palms. Then to my mom's house to hold jade plants and, on the porch to the left, big old monstera plants.

 

I was super stoked when I got to be the next keeper of the pots. Mom helped me do the original plantings. One of the things I really enjoyed doing with my mom was gardening and having her boss me around while gardening. Btw, I wish I still had lots of aeonium (the large succulent flowers).

My glow up was more modest this time around but I think I did pretty well with what we had on hand. Before:

After:

Some smaller succulents, some freeway daisies, some dianthus. I think it'll turn out ok once everything gets established. The original plants that I had in there (can't recall the name) have been gradually made into cuttings, and are rooting in water in the aku room. I have at least ten plants going. I think I've mentioned before that if I knew they could have been rooted I would have done it years ago. I couldn't let go of the original plant, so even though it's woody, I have it in some water on the porch and I kiiinda want to see if I can get it going again, just for fun.

Meanwhile, on the genealogy front, I received my research plan from the Ancestry genealogist team working on my case. They have managed my expectations, somewhat. Unless there is some documentary evidence that my grandfather was adopted, we may never know his parentage for certain.