The kiss of the sun for pardon

Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 at 3:48 AM - Link

and so on goes the poem by Dorothy Gurney, who died the year I was born. This describes how I feel.

I have become a gardener-not a "Master Gardener", but at least an enthusiastic amateur. I have been buying plants the way some women shop for clothes, the better the bargain, the more thrilled me. It's become an obsession admittedly, weekends are spent visiting garden centers, surfing for garden forums, buying garden books and magazines. Sunday is the day when I devote myself to working outside, which is ever so much more fun than doing housework inside.

I do not have a drop dead gorgeous yard, overcoming nine years of neglect and acclimating to the hot Georgia summers is not accomplished immediately. I figure it will take three years to whip things into shape.The nice thing is that I have what is known as a blank slate for the most part, the previous owners of my house did little in the way of landscaping. There were some azaleas and a few other shrubs, but nothing spectacular.Since I plan to stay in this house until I am carried out, I thought that I needed to reclaim and improve upon things and that has been slow going.

 I thought since my husband was English and everyone knows that the English are mad for gardening, that I would have an enthusiastic partner in my endeavor. The gardening gene seems to have escaped my husband so this has been a singular work by me, an army of one.

Fortunately, not being picky about what work a woman can or should do, I am out there, sawing down trees, hauling branches and bags of soil and stone. The trunk of my car has enough dirt in it to be a flowerbed and I REALLY need a pickup or something along those lines.

 Weird plants are my forte-it's what I hunt for and what I do try to incorporate into the scheme. Yes, I do have the afore mentioned azaleas (a Georgia garden prerequisite), and gardenias, also very popular in the south, but I am trying to push the envelope with some tropical plants that are not necessarily cold hardy in my "zone". The other extreme is my hunt for a lilac that will flourish here, one of my favorite and best memories of growing up in New England. Lilacs and the southern climate do not play well together. Fall or autumn rekindles longing for the colors that I took for granted in my youth and am trying to recreate now, since once again the climate is not conducive to northern trees. Japanese maples are as close as I can come to that and those little beauties are not cheap.

 It has been a process of much work, a little blood, alot of sweat and a few tears, but it is soul satisfying, and stressfree and those are things you learn to value or should. 

Newcastle Brown can sure slap you down....

Posted on Monday, January 2, 2006 at 4:22 AM - Link

no,  it's not from imbibing on New Year's, , it's a line from Humble Pie's "30 Days in the Hole.". I have come late and now with full enthusiasm to the portable music download game. Thanks to my son, I got an Ipod Shuffle for Christmas, AND a $25 gift certificate for Itunes. Oh mama-I have been dancing around here all morning after spending 4 hours choosing songs last night.So far have downloaded many of my favorite dance tunes from the last 35 years-Latin, Hip Hop, Alternative and of course some Classic Rock. Got a few Folk tunes in there-Joan Baez-The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Arlo Guthrie's City of New Orleans (a favorite years before I ever knew my trainspotter husband) with more to come. I have to go through my cds  and download some tracks (once I figure out how to do that ) because I want to add my favorite Classical pieces and some arias. There are of course other sites to check out for downloads and I think I know where my pocket change is going to be going.

  There is something to be said for moderation I know, and attention to detail. I was outside this morning,  to wash the sliding glass windows that look out onto the marsh and the woods. I had run out of cleaner, so went inside and reached into the cabinet, grabbed another spray bottle of  blue liquid and boogied back outside, not missing a beat of Lady Marmalade. I was spraying the stuff from the new bottle on the glass in time to the music. The new stuff sure seemed soapy and wasn't wiping off very well, smearing all over the glass, making a bigger mess. Turns out it was the blue laundry stain remover I had grabbed, so absorbed in the music was I. Note to you consumers, this is NOT a product that can be substituted for another....... Oh well, at least I'm moving, and moving fast. Tom, btw this would certainly aid in the notion that we should walk 10,000 steps a day- personally I'd rather dance 'em. Also PP, one does NOT dry up and blow away after you reach 40, I am here to tell you. I plan on shaking it as long as I can stand up.

  To quote one of my downloads-The Pointer Sisters-"I'm So Excited" and Tom Petty-"It Hurts So Good."

Just when you think it's safe to come out of the water........

Posted on Sunday, December 4, 2005 at 7:00 AM - Link

 This isn't what I planned on writing today. I have been remiss in my blogging and had intended to sit down and speak of something else, but my intention was overcome by events. Yesterday I had done something that I haven't done for ages-I spent the day doing what I wanted to do instead of doing things I had to do. Weekdays  are so screwey schedule wise that I usually have to do the majority of my haus frauing on the weekends. However I had an appointment with my hairdresser yesterday morning and I decided to take care of some odds and ends of things that I had made a mental list of.

 I got to my hairdresser's five minutes early and saw that the house was still all shuttered up. Ted has his shop in the front room of his house which is in a somewhat dodgy neighboorhood. Here and there are houses on the street that have been renovated and some that haven't and I'm not sure they can been, probably only fit for demolition. Anyway I sat down on his front porch after ringing the bell sure that he was just getting himself some coffee. 15 minutes, nothing, so I use my cell phone to call his shop. It's a bit silly since I am less than 10 feet away from his business phone, except I'm outside and it's inside and I can hear myself talking on his answering machine. 15 more minutes-nothing. I sit down again, glad that I had worn a jacket and socks since it was still in the 40s I get up and knock on the shutters covering the front door-nothing-15 more minutes and I ring his shop phone again. I sit and wait. I get up and try knocking on the brass mail slot which makes more noise than the shutters. Nothing. I sit down and wonder if I had misunderstood the date or the time for my appointment or perhaps he had gotten called away for an emergency-although he is always good about changing his message to reflect that. I ring the phone again-nothing. I sit down and decide to "clean out" my cell phone of calls in and out and program in some more numbers. By now I have been there 75 minutes and nobody else has showed up for an appointment. So I decide to leave and drive off. I thought I would leave a message but this time leave my cell number just in case. Sure enough the phone rings-it's Ted-he had a bad cold and cough and after being up half of the night had taken some cold medicine that knocked him out and did I want to come back. I did, since he is a good 45 minute drive from my house and I was looking like a sheep dog. Haircut done and I went off on my other junkets-price a window replacement ( I want a garden window to replace my one window in the kitchen) the hardware store  (we needed a wheel barrow and shovel and fork) and nursery ( I'm seeking plants suitable for a woodland garden). I had just gotten home and fixed myself a belated lunch when my phone rang and it was my Mom.

  We often talk on Saturdays, and I HAD rung her while waiting at Ted's but no answer. I didn't leave a message because she can't get seem to get the hang of how to listen to her messages. I had started to tell her I would call her back in five minutes after I finished my lunch when she interrupted me to say she was going to the hospital. My first thought was that Wayne, her gentleman friend, who several months ago, had had an extensive cancerous growth (neck to ear) removed, had a problem. She had been complaining that he wasn't eating much and seemed to have no zip. I know her complaints masked worry over him, so I prepared myself to hear her tell me that somehow he had had something serious occur. Well, it wasn't him, it was her-seems that she had had some tightness in her chest and shortness of breath while driving to do her Salvation Army Christmas bellringing stint. She ignored it, but apparently it persisted, even though  she did her bit and came home. In spite of doing the nitro tablet under the tongue, she still felt puny, so she called Wayne and then the doctor. THEN the truth comes out-she had had an episode while driving the 300 miles up here for Thanksgiving-took a nitro tablet and it subsided. 3 days later, WHILE SHE IS HERE, she has another episode and that subsided. Somehow she neglected to say anything about these to anybody until she saw the jig was up. The doctor said she had better go to the hospital. Wayne wanted to drive her but the doctor didn't think that was a good idea and that the ambulance would be a smarter way to make the 45 minute drive. So she is calling me to tell me she's off to the hospital and not to worry. I really hate it when people say that, especially someone you love. She said she'd be in touch.

  Last night was pretty strange-knowing something is wrong but not to what extent, so I was somewhat distracted. Wayne called this morning to say that they were going to do a cathaterization to see what was going on. She had a heart attack three years ago and spent two weeks in the hospital then. What I didn't know, and what I found out this morning was that at that time they had found four blockages-two of them rather more serious-40 and 60 percent shutdown. They had cathaterized her then and it seemed to take care of it.

 Now, we wait and see. She should be back in her room and I am going to give her a call. I want to fuss at her for not telling me she had had problems, I want to tell her that you don't get a medal for being a stubborn New England Yankee. I want to tell her I love her.

It's all about the F

Posted on Sunday, October 9, 2005 at 5:35 AM - Link

as in food. I've decided to change my lifestyle somewhat which is never an easy thing. I know it gets harder the older you get because of the length of time involved in bad habits. So I have a plan to follow and I'm not sure how it's going to play out.

First is the water thing. We are supposed to be drinking more water-a welcome relief to folks who go to a gym or jog regularly-you get thirsty and you have to replace fluids and water is probably the best thing. But other than that, 64 ounces is a fair amount of water especially when you have to compel yourself to drink it. I mean by itself it's not very exciting or flavorful. If you drink two cups of coffee then there is that much less you have to consume in its natural state. So I have bottled water-spring water, or at least it's supposed to be. That's what I grew up on and that's what I like. The water in our subdivision is from wells and sometimes because of the proximity to the marsh, you can smell that when you run the taps. So I don't drink that, except for coffee. The other thing is that it's not easy to lug a bottle of water around with you all the time. When I'm at work, it sits on my desk which is fine. However my pocketbook doesn't have a water bottle compartment. If I go into a store and leave it in the car then given our temperatures here, it can go pretty tepid pretty quickly-if not to a point where it's suitable for instant coffee.

  I am trying, honestly I am, I can do 48 ounces over the course of the day with just a little determination. For some reason, that last 16 ounces is hard to finish and I have to work on that-after all they say 64 ounces is a minimum amount. Pfffft.At this rate I might as well be hooked up up to a catheter now! My beauty sleep is no longer unbroken. I used to pride myself on my ability to go long distances in a car without stopping. Now, a half hour in the car and I am looking for gas stations, bushes, I don't care I am not proud and I am woods trained.

 It didn't help any yesterday when I went to the hairdresser and mentioned the water regime, actually rather apparent since I came into his salon with a water bottle.We agreed that it

was good for you-flushed you out, filled you up, yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah. I know that he is a water drinker because he always has a glass beside him. I asked him if he drank the 64 ounces daily. He said,"oh no," and I relaxed and prepared to be superior in my hard won fluid achievement. He finished the sentence, "I drink a gallon of water a day!"

 Just shoot me now.

Doppelganger Pets

Posted on Sunday, October 2, 2005 at 2:05 AM - Link

I have two pets-my cat Pistol Pete and dog Geordie. Peter is a female calico nine years old so she's starting to get on a bit. She is a typical cat, coming around only when she wants to and on her terms. When she comes around it is to attach herself to you using her claws. No joke. When she comes in to sleep with us ( she prefers staying out at night during warm weather), she either curls up next to my husband or lies along my hip and uses her claws to anchor herself. Needless to say I am grateful if she spends the night outdoors. She also prefers to show her affection by giving love bites when you pat her. Typically she ambushes either the dog or I when we walk by. This really confuses Geordie, because she will either rub up against him or smack 'im smartly unprovoked. Sometimes I think she needs to be exorcized.

The dog Geordie is a different story. He came to us as a pretrained eighteen month old from my son. My son had gotten him from the pound as a six week old but realized that a puppy cooped up in an apartment for up to twelve hours at a time would not be happy.   My husband had just moved here from the UK and was spending quite a bit of time alone here at the house. Since he doesn't drive and didn't have his work permit it was a pretty lonely time for him. I was working my fulltime job and a parttime job as well so it was kind of hit and miss when I'd be home. Geordie seemed the answer. So anyway, when my son asked if we could take Geordie, we said yes. Now we have a "child" and a mighty spoiled one at that. Since he is a dog, human contact is important to him, but something was missing. He has recently found a four legged  friend in the neighborhood. The friend is a mini me of Geordie, a little Jack Russell. Geordie is a Border Collie mix so he is the larger of the two. This is important for his psyche because all the other dogs around are bigger than he is except for the Jack Russell. Also Geordie is a bit of a wuss.  They race around outside and have a high old time. I leave the side door open here in the computer room when we're home, so that Geordie can come and go as he pleases. Well due to that the dynamic duo have taken to coming in the house and racing around which thrills Peter no end. She has no sense of humor. She liked it much better when the baby possum came in the house and took up residence in the computer room. The possum ignored her, preferring to munch down Geordie's dry dog food. I also had a squirrel that came in the house also, but by the chimney. It created havoc and knocked things over. However, it hid when I was home, so I was blaming Peter for the damage it had done. The squirrel's exit from our lives was on Christmas Eve with a dramatic chase sequence with Peter, through the house into the bedroom, under the bed and then back up the chimney. Kind of like Santa Claus.

So far no armadillos have wandered in. That's shame because I like them and you so rarely see live ones.

 Still I live in hope.

Frustration

Posted on Monday, September 12, 2005 at 3:18 PM - Link

What is your level of frustration? Are you easily stymied and throw in the towel in a hissy fit or do you slowly, methodically retrace your steps in trying to find a way around the brick wall. Today has been such a day in terms of the Ex Pats website accessability. It started last night, the mist seemed to clear and them blammo we're right where we started from-gates shut, windows shuttered and the only thing that works right now is the blog, hence my presence here. There were threads that tantalizingly popped up in my email last night and today, just waiting for me to read them but I couldn't get on the damn site. So I uttered my automatic response to when I am held back from the object of my desire-"shit the bed." I don't know why I say that I just do. When I get really flustered and ticked off then I start off in my litany of French Canuck cussing. Again, why do I use those words? I don't know. I'm NOT French Canadian. I VERY rarely run across anyone who understands it-Georgia not being so close to Quebec. So I am pretty safe fussfacing away incomprehensibly. Not unlike my blogging. 

Cry the Beloved Country

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 at 12:18 AM - Link

That was the title of a book by Alan Paton about apartheid era South Africa published in 1948.. I haven't read it but the title has always stuck in my mind and right now this is how I am feeling about the USA. I have some very mixed feelings about my country right now.

Three years ago, I got involved in a rather heated political discussion at work. My boss was trumpeting the cause of going into Iraq and kicking ass. I was less than enthusiastic about this proposal and said so. He then went on to basically accusing me of being anti American and certainly anti Dubbya. What he failed to understand is that I grew up during the Viet Nam war and that I saw how it went from a policy of "containment" under Truman to the ignominous slinking away of Tricky Dick's presidency. Did it prove anything? Did it improve anything? No, certainly not by our standards and that was the problem. Our standards, trying to impose them or shall I be PC and say introduce them, to a basically agrarian society who could give a rat's ass about our standards.

Well, we've gone and done it again-different reasons somewhat, but same result. I feel like I have been in the Twilight Zone. Does noone else in the current administration remember Viet Nam? There is a line from Princess Bride (one of my favorite movies)-Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Well, we can say that's true-now it's Southwest Asia, not Southeast Asia. It is a no win situation.

This has been my ongoing thought and now with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to deal with I feel even more strongly. Resources are stretched thin and we can not fight a war on multiple fronts-the devestation and consequences of a natural disaster like Katrina require billions of dollars to repair. Where will this money come from?

We got out of Viet Nam because Congress tied up the purse strings. I wonder if they would do it again?

Semi Day Off

Posted on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 at 10:53 AM - Link

I stretched my holiday weekend out by another day, luxuriating in not having to work today. However, there were two things hanging over my head from Friday, so I stopped by the office this morning to attend to them. As always happens, neither one of them got taken care of, one person wasn't home and the other person needed to think and talk over my proposal. BUT, two other people called for me while I was there-so sucker me took the calls and attended to business. I did make it out of there after 2 1/2 hours though..

Came home full of DIY plans-scooted husband off the computer and we went to Home Depot to buy paint. We had decided that the kitchen cabinets were in dire need of refurbishment. I can't afford new ones so we are going to sand and paint the old ones.The kitchen faces north and has a small window so it is on the dark side and having dark wood cabinets doesn't help. The color we picked was Peach Organza, which should go well with the dark green granite.countertops and the darkish terra cotta tiles.We left there and went to a strip mall so husband could go to Media Play and Staples. I stayed in the car and used the time to call my mother and best friend. Mother not around so left a message and Kathleen (best friend) not home either. I decided to call her cell but no deal. She did call back shortly, seems she had her pants down around her ankles when I called before. I was glad to know it was because she was as the doctor's. So we had a good chat since it had been a month since we last spoke.

  Came home and fixed the lamb shanks and those are simmering in the oven. I had found the recipe that had been partially destroyed, online (hurray) so was able to do them that way after all, instead of hunting up a different recipe.Forgot to buy shallots so improvised with onion, no small cans of crushed tomatos so used tomato paste and was 2 oz short on the beef stock so used water and Worcestershire sauce to make up the difference. I know this doesn't sound quite right, but it is good really. Well it is good when you used the right stuff....    I'll find out in about 2 hours if it was okay with the substitutes.

 Wed starts husband's work week, so up at 5, sigh, means bed at 10 tonight. I always have trouble getting back into the groove on Tuesday nights. Especially tough on holiday weekend because my body says no, it's Monday. It's a struggle.

The Experiment

Posted on Monday, September 5, 2005 at 5:48 AM - Link

It seems to be working-in my 2 hr shift I cooked breakfast and did laundry and started pitching papers.Things from last year and even beyond.    This doesn't sound like much at all for the house proud out there, for me it is a milestone on the vague wandering path of good intentions.

Meanwhile my husband computered away and now while I am online, he is hoeing out the car and washing it. I am quite tickled with this. The dog is very confused. I still have two days off-could this lead to bigger and better things?! Can the habits of years change?! Will LIW start a blog? Will we pull out of Iraq sooner than expected? Will the dollar double in strength against the pound? Will I win the lottery? I am boggled on my blog-I should stop for now. 

Labor Day

Posted on Monday, September 5, 2005 at 2:01 AM - Link

I should now do something labor wise. I have been up for 2 hours and nothing to show for it except email and coffee. Ok, I did feed the pets but that is because there is no peace without doing that..

So what should I do? I shall announce that there is a 2 hour at time limit to the computer and then perhaps something will be accomplished. Will this float? I hope so.

Closet cleaning for clothes to go to Goodwill. We do have a hurricane drop off place in town but I don't know about clothing.These I have here are perfectly fine and should help someone. Not new but not ready for rags by along shot. I was going to sell them in used clothing, but now better use.

Lamb shanks for dinner? I have some, they have been in the freezer for awhile.. The recipe that I had for them which was VERY good, got partially destroyed by a marauding band of something or other. There are a lot of bands of marauding something or others around here. They are mainly invisible but they are out there like in the X files.