Confessions of a Grandma

The YMCA is less than a mile from my house.  It's a busy, busy place and parking is sometimes a problem.  It only makes sense to ride my bike there.   I was looking for a basket to attach to my bike.  I can strap my yoga mat to my back, but sometimes I want to take extra things like a towel and my wallet and my house keys.  I also thought carting books to and from the library would be easier in a basket than packed up on my back. Then I remembered that I had some upholstery fabric samples.  I got out my sewing machine and made my own bike basket. It works for me. ************** Of course I did purchase some material at the quilt show last weekend.  I am making a wall hanging, not a bed sized quilt.  My Florida bedroom furniture is oriental style.  I think this will look nice hanging on the bedroom wall. The red material is for the backing.  I have not decided yet whether I will fold that around to the front...

My credit card came overnight, no hassle involved at all.  What a pleasant surprise for me! I had the grapefruit tree in the yard taken out yesterday.  I kind of hate to get rid of another tree, but it is way too much work to take care of the tree and the fruit when I am not here all the time and I don't eat grapefruit very much and rarely drink the juice.  Fruit that falls on the ground and does not get picked up right away can attract rats.  I don't want to deal with that. Now there is a large spot of mildew on the back wall that is visible since the tree is gone.  I will have to spray that.  It's also time to weed and mulch the flower beds and shrubs around the property.  I have a stone walkway from the carport to the shed that does not seem to have anything under the stones but some dirt.  That means weeds pop up and ants burrow in.  I look at it and wonder how I should tackle that...or IF I should tackle that. The literacy program,...

Mike has not said much about his feet bothering him lately, but I suspect that they have been painful for him. It's something about they way he clumps down the stairs, trying to put most of his weight on the bannister.  He forgets that I can hear him.  I am not unsympathetic though.  I said that I would mow the lawn today.  It had to be done. Then I realized something.  We did get a new lawn tractor last summer and I had never used it.  Even though it is a John Deere like the last one, it is very different.  The old one had a shift lever and the brake was on the right side.  The new one has an accelerator on the right side and then another pedal that is somehow supposed to be used for reverse.  Mike gave me a quick lesson. I really did not try to master reverse--just kept going forward.  I had a hard time adjusting to the accelerator.  My right foot definitely remembers that it did the braking.  It was kind o...

I have hired a new person to do the weeding while we are gone for the summer months.  I have a planter in the front that I have been nursing along this winter and there are a few shrubs that I will mulch around.  Still weeds will pop up especially in the rainy season.  I have put in a small herb patch in the back.  The park association hires lawn mowing, but weeding is up to individual property owners. We hired a woman last summer, but she did not feel she could continue.  I think at 82, God love her, she can retire.  She did a great job, though.  She kept us off the bulletin board of shame. Honestly, there was someone who went around last summer and took pictures of people's weeds and posted them at the club house.  I thought that was pretty rude.   Although...now that I think of it...might be fun to post a display of tacky lawn ornaments.  Where did Mike hide that camera?

Even though it has not felt much like fall, there is no denying that it is on the way.  It still feels warm in the sunshine, but I can feel how much weaker the sun really is now.  The warmth does not penetrate the shade.  The sun is setting earlier and further south each evening.  And the @#%& flies are finding their way back into the house. It was time to start a bit of fall clean up.  Can you see all the milkweed in the field?  If I had a picture of the opposite end of the field, you might think we lived on a cotton plantation…except the seeds blow around much more easily. Also part of the fall clean up routine is putting away the garden tchotchkes and neatening up the shed.  Mike’s job in this is to clean and sharpen all the garden tools so I will be good to go in the spring. I sweep the shed out about once a year.  The spiders have full reign the rest of the time.

The yard: I try to keep a daily bit of time for pulling weeds from the flower gardens.  When Mike mows  the lawn, I try to keep up with the sweeping.  Monday is my designated day of putting on the the grubby garden clothes and doing a thorough weeding.  Sometimes. I let that go.  Here is the result: Do you think it is time to do some edging??   The dry weather and the opportunistic nature of crab grass are pretty evident here. Even with the edging, things don’t look that great here.  It has been a dry and hot summer, 2012. (Linda Reeder, I am so embarrassed.) The harvest has started, though.  This year I planted tomatoes and peppers only.  Late season blight has been noted in the area, but I have not been affected yet. Yet! I had a satisfying supper of roasted tomato and peppers on polenta tonight. ******* Green clean: I have a lot of mint in my herb garden this year.  I will try a combination of mint and rosemary a...

This bougainvillea has been in constant bloom since we got here in December.  I have pruned most of the rest of the bushes around the place, but I am not prepared to tackle this one.  I'll need long-handled lopers and lots of protective leather clothing before I attempt a haircut on this baby. Now that Mike is on so much medication, including blood thinners, I hate to even allow him to help with these pruning tasks.  One little cut and he looks like that old Saturday Night Live skit about Julia Childs.  (She cuts her finger and blood is spurting everywhere, if you haven't seen it.)  I did just read in the local paper, though, about a product--I think it was called Wound Seal, but don't quote me on that--that is a powder that you pour onto a cut and it forms an instant scab to stop the bleeding.  I'm thinking I will get myself to Walgreen's down the road and stock up on some...just in case. ****** I was severely irritated to read this in an article in W...