Sunday, August 31, 2014

Winning and Losing

Now, where did August go? I seem to have lost most of a month. I know it was around here somewhere.

Too true, right? While August is my personal least favorite month of the year...mainly because it is typically too hot to enjoy much outside...I hate to see any month fly by. And this one has certainly flown by at supersonic speed.

Probably the reason it seems to have done a runner (as they say in the UK) is that I have been out of pocket for a couple of weeks, visiting Missy M in GA. As you probably recall, her pups, Ella Rae and Dixie, have been with us since Easter...keeping them safe from the hectic process of packing and moving to her new home in Lawrenceville. Since the fence was in place and the doggie door installed on Abby Grace Drive, the time for them to meet their new home had arrived. 





To sweeten the deal, Missy M scored some ATL Falcons tix for a preseason game 8/23. And since we had long ago (pre-move) planned a trip to Atlanta for a Labor Day Braves game, she said "Mom, why don't you just stay the whole time?" Don't have to twist my arm to travel, now do you? Load up two cars...and five dogs! Road trip!

Knowing I was going to be back in the Duluth area made me bite the bullet, so to speak, and schedule an appointment with my dentist. Yes, Dr. S is STILL my dentist, even though we moved away from GA to FL 12 years ago this month. What can I say? When you find a dentist you love, you want to stay with her, right? Up until a couple of years ago, I just made my semi-annual appointments to coincide with business trips to ATL, and it all seemed to work well. 



Then came Bell's Palsy...and then came the resulting synkenesis that causes muscle spasms in my left jaw, especially when I open my mouth wide or for a long period. Like when you are at the dentist. Bite the bullet, indeed. Groan. 

But I am happy to report that I made it through the appointment without a single spasm. And the X-rays showed NO CAVITIES. Clean teeth, healthy gums, and NO CAVITIES. Did I say happy? I meant ecstatic! Win!!

Of course, I had to put my bike riding on hold somewhere near Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, losing valuable days. But, I rediscovered walking in the early morning hours, mapping out a couple of routes that got me 1.5 miles daily. While I'll never make it to Disneyland at this rate, I can easily do 30-40 minutes before I start experiencing any of the ill-effects (numbness of my left foot, etc.), that walking causes me, and by throwing in a few stretches for flexibility I can keep in garden-ready shape for my return to HPNC. Big win!

Also, I got to renew acquaintances from our time in Georgia (the five years between NC and FL, in the roadmap that has been our life): lunching with friends and former co-workers (like with KH at Sweet Melissa's in Decatur, pictured; and with JL at the Village Tavern); checking out personal faves like The Yarn Garden in Lawrenceville and Nordstrom at Mall of Georgia (pictured); and making some new friends along the way (more on that in my next post). Win-win-win!




Although Mr. T had to work the first week, he was able to schedule vacation days for the second week...and joined me and the five dogs in holding down the fort while M went to work. I did some unpacking in the kitchen (it will be years before M finds some of her stuff!), and he concentrated on bringing a desk/bookcase combo "vision" that M had to life. Here are some pictures of the final assembly and reveal:








So, while the Falcons lost their game and I lost most of a month, M gained a beautiful...and useful...statement piece in her great room. And I kept moving forward and reestablished my connection to the Atlanta area. Methinks that may come in handy...sooner rather than later...

More wins than losses, for sure! Now, keep your fingers crossed that the Braves are in the W column after their game tomorrow. Toes, too!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Little Rain...A Little Work

I'm sitting here, kicked back and watching the Braves playing the Nationals on TV. Nearly midnight and only top of the 4th. Game didn't even start until almost 11:00. For the second night in a row, they've had a rain delay in Atlanta, this one nearly three hours. And typically when it rains in ATL, it'll rain here in the next 4-6 hours. Just add it to the gauge. 

We actually started out the week, hot and dry. On Monday Mr. T headed his car to the DC area for the week, and I got caught up on some work-work. On Tuesday, I coached a group of volunteers at the Blandwood Mansion (historic home and property in downtown Greensboro), helping them learn how to care for their heritage rose garden. We were all exhausted by noon, but thrilled with the results. Here's a pic the Director snapped and posted on Facebook:



Wednesday was a Master Gardening day at the Extension Center, with a Board Meeting followed by a general membership meeting and speaker from the Piedmont Nature Conservancy, who talked about invasive plants. Interesting...thought-provoking...but I think I'll keep my mimosas and butterfly bushes.

I spent Thursday of this week in the garage, having moved my painting project inside for fear of storms (it didn't). The rains didn't arrive until later on Thursday...and they are still with us...and in our forecast for the next few days.

So, what was I painting? I had agreed to get trellises for three climbing roses in the Master Gardener Demo Garden. The original plan had been to build them, but I would be the wrong Adsit for that task. As I said in a Facebook post, I could probably knit a trellis quicker and better than I could build one. When, at a recent meeting of the DG committee, the chair gave the go-ahead to purchase them, I couldn't get to Home Depot fast enough. They had some redwood ones on sale, and I had a coupon! And that new lime green trim paint on the information kiosk was just perfect to add color to the spot, even in the dead of winter. Here are a few photos of the project for you:








As you can tell, I volunteered Mr. T to be an honorary Master Gardener for the day. Planting these trellises would have been near-impossible for me without his help, as he just knows how to do stuff like this. Plus he wagged the 50# bag of Quikrete across the garden and used the post hole digger to dig six perfect holes in some pretty awful soil. We worked in a bit of drizzle and finished just as the bottom dropped out of the sky. Actually, I had wanted to do a little touch up to the paint, but decided that task could be tabled until our Demo Garden Work Day scheduled on Wednesday.

All these activities have kept me out of my own garden, so I wound up having to harvest in a steady shower on Friday. I snapped beans for five innings of the Braves game on Friday, and then I put several bags of beans, tomatoes, and peppers in the freezer before I just had to stop. Here're a couple of shots of the haul:







And now? It's starting to rain again. And I think I hear the produce growing. Ah well, that's life in mid-Summer...a little rain, a little work. And a great feeling of accomplishment, when all is said and done.

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For more on how our garden is growing, be sure to check out the latest post on our garden blog (http://gardenwithgiants.blogspot.com). Click here to go there.

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