End of Year Catch Up

The last four months of 2014 have been filled with travel, dinner with cousins I’d never met, a surprise hospital stay, a surprise announcement that I’ll be a great grandmother again next year and a lot of surprises for Christmas.

So lets begin (this is going to be a lengthy post because of the pictures). Stay with it and I think you’ll love the pix. If you decide to skip it all…Have a very Happy, Healthy 2015.

In mid September my friend, Elizabeth, and I took a trip up the coast of Maine to visit friends in Lubec that we hadn’t seen for almost 20 years. Lubec is on the Bay of Fundy just south of Eastport. It was a great opportunity to stop in Salem, NH on the way up to visit American Stonehenge.

This is the view as you walk up to the site.

One of many such spaces. What they were used for is not known.

Some history of the land.

Another cavity. But look at the size of the stones!

Here again...the size of the stones.

Sacrificial table with the carved channel for blood flow.

Sacrificial table...a different view.

I did not notice at the time of taking this picture, but this is a fertility image. The head is at the left; you can see breasts; the arms come around and the hands meet at the root chakra; the legs are wide open with knees bent...feet meeting. The fire pit is in the area of the sacral chakra (maybe solar plexus).

THE Heel Stone that marks the summer solstice.

One of many heel type stones on the site. 

We had lunch in Salem and headed for our motel in Brunswick, ME. That night Elizabeth and I drove to Bath for dinner with a family of Robidoux cousins I had never met. They are a delightful family and we had a great time getting acquainted.

Elizabeth (left) and me having breakfast in Bath

From Brunswick, the next morning, we headed for Lubec, after breakfast at May’s in Bath. We arrived at the Inn on the Wharf in late afternoon and had dinner at Susan and Stephen’s. I was grateful that the Inn also had their own restaurant. It meant that when I got up in the morning I could get my coffee and Elizabeth’s tea without leaving the inn, which is an old Sardine cannery. The weather was cooperative making a walk out on the wharf, especially in the morning, a delight for the senses. The second morning we were there, I opened the blinds and the view was draped in a light fog of pink and purple. Breathtaking.

Campobello disappears in the fog.

View out our room window.

This is the common room at the Inn

We had time to visit with Susan and Stephen and visit their various projects and get a detailed guided tour of the town.

West Quoddy Light

These rocks are the eastern most point of the U.S. at West Quoddy (tide coming in)..

Low tide on Bay of Fundy...Lubec, ME

Low tide on Bay of Fundy (Campobello Island, Canada)

Lubec, ME from Campobello

Rock bound coast of Maine

Roosevelt museum, Campobello Island

Bridge from Lubec to Campobello

Cutler, ME harbor

Cutler, ME harbor

A rock formation behind a property belonging to Susan and Stephen. Its name is Mumintroll

Hospital Surprise

By the time we headed for home I was starting with a sore throat. Elizabeth had a bad cold most of the time we were traveling. Four days after arriving home I went to Immediate Care. The PA told me to call her on Saturday if I didn’t feel better. Well…I kept getting sicker and sicker from what I think was a sinus infection. I called on Saturday…twice. Next thing I know I get a call from the drug store that I have a prescription. Picked it up and started taking it. Kept getting sicker and sicker. Stopped the antibiotic and went to my own doctor whose PA gave me a different antibiotic. WOW. I felt great until the final day of taking the meds. Man was I sick. By 6 in the evening of Oct. 6^th I did what I never thought I would do…I called the ambulance.

Long story short…I spent 6 days in the hospital isolation with c. diff, a highly infectious, potentially deadly intestinal bacteria. Luckily the Infectious Diseases group was doing a study for an antibiotic specific to c. diff and I got in on the study. Between the new med and all the prayers being said in my behalf, my recovery was unusually rapid considering for a 78 year old.

It took some time for me to get back to normal, and, if there is a normal, I’m back there now.

New Member in the Family

We will be welcoming Kensley Grace to our family in May. That means I will be a great grandmother for the second time. Kensley and her parents, grandson Joe, and Krista, live in North Caroline so it won’t be easy to see them. I guess I’ll have to get Skype and get someone to teach me how to use it. By the way, Kensley is due to arrive on May 23^rd. I told Krista she had to cross her legs and hold that baby in until the 25^th…my birthday.

Christmas Electronics

We used to pull names for Christmas, but for the last two years we haven’t done it. It seems that it has outlived its purpose. I still give gifts to the under 18 kids (Jonathon, Jacob, Andrew and of course Maya).

Imagine my surprise when (son) Paul gave me a new, flat screen TV for the living room to accommodate the new digital broadcasting change-over by Cox. My old TV was old…bought on New Year’s Eve, 1989, but it was still working! The new Samsung flat screen is absolutely beautiful!

Then, if that wasn’t enough, (daughter) Anne bought me a sound bar for my TV down in the family room. I had mentioned that the sound goes out the side and not the front. Now I have beautiful sound coming from the front of the TV. Nice. If that wasn’t enough, she also bought me a new case for my iPad and a stylus. My old case cracked and completely broke over last weekend. How convenient!

Christmas Family Time

On the Saturday after Christmas, Paul hosted the family get together again this year. It isn’t often all my kids are in the same place! Add some of the grandkids and my one great grandkid (so far) and I’m happy. Not everyone was able to make it, but it’s always nice to have most of them together.

Joe and Krista made it in from their visit to Krista’s family in Ohio. So, of course, we had to go over to my son Andy’s house to see them on Sunday. Joe’s/Lori’s dog, Bella knew I was there before she even saw me. (Lori is my daughter-in-law, Joe’s mom, Andy’s wife) What a nose on that dog. Now, before you think I hadn’t showered for several weeks, you have to know Bella served with the Marines in Afghanistan with Joe and was trained as a bomb sniffer. However, she knows I have treats in my left pants pocket, and she must smell them a mile away. When she goes into a new area, she immediately checks the perimiter, sniffing, to be sure there are no explosives. She is one in a million and well-loved.

And so I look forward to a new year filled with an abundance of ALL good things. I hope your Christmas was Blessed and you look forward to the New Year with optimism.

Addiction, Depression and Suicide

Since Robin Williams’ death, we have been bombarded wall to wall with the pros and cons of addiction/depression/suicide.

Let me tell you about a guy I knew. I knew him and his problems, so this is first-hand information. His drinking was kept in check when his mother was alive. Even after he married, she kept him, and his father, on a short leash. After she died, he had no rudder to guide his life and alcohol took over. He went into rehab several times, but it was never very long before he was at it again. He died after drinking a quart of vodka a day for 5 days. Was that a version of suicide? Was that a subconscious decision to commit suicide? Maybe it was conscious. We’ll never know.

If you think an addicts suicide is an easy way out, a cowardly act, you apparently do not understand the addictive personality. I hope you never do understand it, because that would mean you, yourself, are an addict.

Was that person depressed? You cannot just stop depression. I have experienced depression, but it was fleeting, scary and to this day I don’t understand the “why” of it. I am able to understand others who are depressed and just can’t “shake it.” These people are not necessarily addicts. I know people struggling with depression right now who are not addicts.

I have an addictive personality. For 50 years I was addicted to nicotine. In addition to smoking it was an addiction to time, place, and situation. I became addicted at age 13. Most kids my age at that time didn’t smoke so I thought I was really cool. Tough. It was a ruse so my classmates wouldn’t know how shy and unsophisticated I was; what low self esteem I had. When I was 63 the addiction damned near killed me.

I thank God every day that my last resort attempt to quit worked. Acupuncture. Every year, on the anniversary of my first appointment with the acupuncturist, I send him an email thanking him for however many years it has been that I’ve been clean. This year, around Thanksgiving, I will send him an email acknowledging 15 years of freedom from the addiction. Freedom? Not exactly. Even though I have no desire to smoke, I know that my addictive personality lurks. I traded in smoking for a healthier lifestyle including exercising, walking and bike riding. So far so good.

So the next time you hear someone has committed suicide, whether or not they were addicted or depressed, please do not judge. Send them, and those they leave behind, love instead.

Back Garden News

If you look back to my post of June 23rd (Gramma the Ditch Digger - Part III) of this year, you will see that I talked about sticking a rose cane into a potato, planting both of them, and I would (should) have a new rose plant. Well……….

Take a look at this photo. The little plant on the right and the bigger one to the left. Do they look like roses to you or potatoes? I’m going spuds!

 

Doesn't look like roses, so it must be potatoes

Now, I need your help identifying this plant.

 

What is the tall plant in the center?

I think it’s a weed, but I left it to grow just to see what it would do. The condo landscaper guys cut down my ornamental peppers, but they were careful not to touch this. Go figure! What is it?

My two hanging basket plants, two varieties of petunia, have died. Don’t know why. They got plenty of water and fertilizer, but they didn’t last. Next year I’m not going to bother with hanging baskets. Everything I do will be in the ground.

Up on the deck (just check out photos I’ve posted before) the begonias, upright fuchsia and vinca are all spectacular.

I’m picking tomatoes now. So far this month I’ve picked about a dozen. One batch weighed in at 28 oz, which I processed and froze. That will either be cream of tomato soup or spaghetti sauce. I have another 2 lbs ready to be processed. All the while I have plenty to slice up with cukes and a dressing made up of sour cream and mayonnaise. Oh, I’m getting hungry!

So, that’s it from the back garden for now.

Update — My Gardens

I have four gardens. Not bad for a condo. There is my front garden, 

deck garden and back gardens (yes, there are two of them in the back).

As you can see, the bee balm, morning glory and moonflower vines, and phlox are over achieving. I don’t remember the white phlox doing so well last year. This year it has practically smothered the pink. That will be remedied next year.

The bleeding heart is twice as big this year as last. And there are two mums that came back from last year. I probably should have trimmed them back, but it’s probably too late now, so I’ll just let them go.

Take a look at my ornamental peppers! You can’t see it in the photo, but some of them are already turning orange. And last but not least the azalea is so much happier in its new spot.

Phlox in back. Morning glory vine w/moon flowers, bee balm front  right, bleeding heart front left

You can see the pink phlox, mums behind bleeding heart, little azalea center left and the ornamental peppers

See the first, tiny morning glory deep in the vines?

This piece of mangled wire fencing was under and behind my morning glory vines. Not mine!

 Out on the deck the tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen. Of course I expect them to ripen all at once! That’s ok. Once I get several tomatoes very ripe I will blanch, skin, cook down and freeze. Then, when I need to make my next batch of spaghetti sauce or cream of tomato soup…I’ll have them.

 The railing boxes are fantastic! Begonia, vinca, and upright fuchsia.

 Now we come to the lower gardens in the back. On the right I have hosta in the back, sedum to one side, more mums that survived last year. All of these seem to be doing very good even the tall weed. I think it’s a weed…I’m just letting it grow to see what it does. The coleus is not doing well at all. I think it’s the soil, which tends to be very heavy. That little evergreen tree is going to be moved next year to give my neighbor and me an extra 12 inches each for plants.

On the other side there’s not much going on. The roses are not doing well this year and the sunflowers I planted didn’t do well. I think it’s the wrong kind of soil for sunflowers. The flowers were beautiful and all of a sudden they were dead. The rest of the plant is fine. Just the flowers died.

Next year everything is going to change in all my gardens…but, I’m keeping that to myself for now. My gardens are speaking to me and I’m listening. 

It’s All About My Gardens

For days now I have been digging up weeds, planting patio stones and rumble rocks. Not to mention the fence sections.

If you keep scrolling down you will read all about my ditch digging adventures.

Well, now I think everything is done…for the time being.

In the front, I’m already thinking ahead to next year when I will take the bleeding hearts and put them in the back garden. Also, the wrought iron “pyramid” in the front will probably go in the back also. The phlox and bee balm are overtaking the front and I will let them fill in the middle next year.

Because of plant over-achieving, you can’t see the morning glory and moon vine trying to see the light of day around the pyramid. And those poor mums! They survived the winter, but the bleeding hearts are blocking them.

The ornamental peppers are going to be spectacular!

The entire front garden

Mums behind the bleeding hearts

There are vines growing back there, but hardly visible 

Ornamental peppers

In the back, the garden to the right of the patio is looking pretty good. The coleus will be very nice once it gets a little bigger. There were originally three plants, but one didn’t make it. I think it got stepped on by a four legged one recent night.

On the left of the patio, is probably my best effort. It’s very sparse right now, but I’m thinking more about next year at this point. I have some butterfly weed seeds I want to plant this fall for next year, but I’m not sure just where. I have to do some research on full sun/partial sun/shade requirements for certain plants to be named later. I’d like to grow some spiky things along the fence. Perennial of course.

Just roses and sunflowers for now

Everything needs to grow...except the hosta. Coleus, mums and sedum will get there

AND lest we forget the deck planters, they are doing nicely, also. The railing planters have begonia, vinca, and upright fuchsia (gartenmeister). Last but not least, the tomato plants are nothing short of spectacular.

Deck planters

That’s it from my gardens…for the time being.

Gramma the Ditch Digger – Part III

Yup. I dug the same damned ditch…again…so I could plant patio stones. Now, some people have a rock garden. Not me. I plant stones.

I decided to put the patio stones on end in an attempt to block the roots from the adjoining garden from invading my garden. One look at the garden next door and you can understand why. In Gramma the Ditch Digger – Part I (which did not have Part I in the title) I thought I would use 10” flashing. Then, at a depth of 6-8” or so I ran into lots of buried stone rubble. I filled in the ditch and I thought that was the end. NOT SO!

I’m full of brilliant ideas. This one was to re-dig the ditch (it would be easier the second time around) and stand patio stones on end. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to my sons, Paul and Andy, for coming over with wheelbarrows to transport the stones from my car, in front of my condo, to the back garden. I had 9 patio stones and 19 rumble stones (for edging). I could have carried them myself, but it would have taken a long time, about a dozen trips and I’m not up to that.

I also bought decorative metal fence-like sections to further indicate where one garden ended and the other one began.

Planting Stones

Almost Done

Add the fence. Click on the photo...the fence is quite lovely

Once all the stones were planted I decided to try a little experiment. I had read a post on Facebook (one of those local garden places) that you could grow a whole new rose bush by taking a healthy cane, put it into a potato and plant the whole shebang and you would have a new rose bush. What did I have to lose except two potatoes. So I did it. As I was panting the first rose stuck into a potato I realized the potato had eyes. Will I grow two new rose bushes or will I be digging potatoes in the fall?

These are roses now. Will there be potatoes in the fall?

Hahahahahaha! I can’t stop laughing at myself!

Gramma the Ditch Digger – Part II

I’m MAD (that is most likely certifiable). I’m ANGRY (at the contractor who built this place). I’m DISAPPOINTED (in myself).

As you read in Part I (although “Part I” was never part of the title) I was digging a ditch in order to stick in some 10” flashing to a depth of 8” in order to stop the roots from my neighbor’s garden from invading my garden space.

At a depth of 6” there is nothing but rocks, chunks of concrete and other solid construction rubble. It became so difficult to continue digging I threw in the towel…or dirt in this case. I filled in my magnificent ditch.

I proceeded to turn over the rest of the soil and weed out all the over-grown grasses…including some remaining mint and lily of the valley.

I’m not done. I am now thinking I will take patio stones (12x12) and stand them upright along the root line…sunk to a depth of 6”. The soil has all been dug and will be easy to re-trench just enough to sink the flat stones. I’m going to stop those roots!

So now I have to buy more edging bricks to match the other side, and patio flats. The area needs to be leveled and the shepherds crooks put back along with the hanging plants. I’m thinking I will also put down some of that “weed killer” stuff that stops weeds from re-growing. I used it in the front last year and it started working this year. Better late than never.

Now, what do I want to plant? For one thing I will start with butterfly weed. Beyond that I don’t have many ideas. I already have two rose bushes and I might try to start a couple more by taking canes from these, putting them into a potato and planting the whole thing. It’s supposed to make new plants.

My career as a ditch digger is over.

So this is my work space...all my tools.

The results so far. Lots more to do.

I need to wait a few days until my credit card billing cycle recycles. I need more stuff and I need to charge it but I have reached my self-imposed limit for this month.

Gramma the Ditch Digger

When my two boys were young and talking about what they would do for work when they grew up, I told them I didn’t care if they were ditch diggers as long as they were the best ditch diggers.

Well it seems it’s me who is now a ditch digger and I’m doing the best I can…considering. (My boys by the way turned out to be excellent mechanics) It seems the back garden area, and probably the entire back lawn is filled with rubble and construction debris under the soil. After digging down about 6 inches I am encountering a lot of rocks (mostly what I call rotten sandstone) and chunks of concrete.

You can see that chunk of concrete and the small rocks next to it.

I’m digging this ditch so I can line one face of it with metal flashing to keep the roots of mint, ivy, lily of the valley and raspberry canes in the garden next door out of my garden. And so I dig. I don’t have far to go from here to there, but I need to go down at least 8”, leaving 2” at the top above ground. It may take me a while, but I’ll get there!

Almost done in length, but it's the depth that's tough.

Then there is another problem that has to be fixed. Last spring the drainage system for the back of my building had to be flushed. I was having a problem with water percolating up out of the ground around the sleeve of my downspout. In the winter I would have a geyser of ice coming out of the sleeve. This past winter I believe it was responsible for the concrete pad for my a/c compressor to crack corner-to-corner and the compressor to tilt in the direction of the downspout. When the pipes were flushed, the workers told me that from my drain to the storm drain there was one section of pipe that had a bend in it. My request to have the pipe fixed was turned down.

Now the new compressor is installed and I can see that the soil is unstable. Something has to be done, because I am not the one who is going to pay to have my compressor re-leveled every spring! Fix the pipe (which means digging up the lawn) or baffle the area around the pipe so that percolating water and ice cannot affect the soil. There is a hole in the ground around the sleeve, caused by the upsurge of water and ice, as you can see in this photo.

There's the hole around the drain sleeve.

On a happier note, the new garden on the other side of the walk is doing quite well. I’ve planted coleus where the ornamental peppers were before the landscapers chopped them off. Also I have planted some new mums. They were part of the mums I have in the front and came apart when I moved them. Let’s see if they take. The sedum is looking good and the hosta is really outdoing itself. I thinned them out this spring and it seems the more room I give them the bigger they grow.

Coming along.

There’s more to come from Gramma the Ditch Digger, so stay tuned.