Easter 2021

 It's been an interesting Easter weekend again. 

I was off work from my temp job for Good Friday. K and I decided to hang out and bake Spring Quiche together. Then MonsterMustDie wanted to go to IKEA in Charlotte and K had plans to look there for things to go in their new house too so, since we're all podmates, we went together. MonsterMustDie was anxious the entire day but stuck it out for us and said he would only go shopping by himself in the future. K and I wanted to look at furniture and necessary objects while he just wanted to grab more solar lights for the backyard and leave. Once we got back from IKEA, MonsterMustDie stayed in High Point while K and I went to Greensboro to do some final grocery shopping and start the cooking at her house. She wanted to get the entire thing cooked that night and I was enjoying the kitchen hangout. Our husbands joined us in the kitchen and we ordered shwarma dinner takeout while the quiche baked. The plan was for me and to join them for lunch the next day to eat quiche and I'd bring a big chunk of it home to MonsterMustDie. He had enough socializing to last the week and wanted to relax at home. 

K texted me on Saturday morning to say she was taking her husband to the emergency room at Duke in Durham, a hospital she trusted. They were at ReStore to buy a beautiful desk they'd been looking at that was marked down when he had a spell of tinging numbness on his left side and felt suddenly off balance. As it turns out, he's been having similar, milder things like that happening for the last 6 months but when he had the worst one yet while they were out shopping, he had to admit it had been happening to her.  Saturday was off. He was kept overnight for multiple tests and observation. I truly believe the rest of the weekend would be spent quietly at home, staying in touch with K on his condition. We offered to check on their house, "fill and empty the dog" as they refer to it, and whatever else she needed. We all worried that Bob was in danger of having a stroke. She decided to come home rather than spend the night in a hospital chair and go back in the morning. 

Sunday morning, the hospital in Durham released Bob. They came home to Greensboro. He claimed to be rested and feeling well and they both wanted to have an Easter dinner with the beautiful untouched quiche in their fridge and roasted lamb and Spring vegetables. They needed that. Both of us came to their house at 5PM and had a celebratory dinner with them and their former next-door neighbors, all of us in various stages of vaccination - ok, I'm the only person with only one shot so far and they're all complete in their vaccinations - and enjoyed our first social gathering in over a year.  

Now, it's Monday morning and I am receiving my second Pfizer vaccine shot today at 10:00 AM. Then I plan to go to work. Hopefully, I will feel well enough to work tomorrow too but I'll just have to wait to see how I feel once the final vaccine shot sets in. 

taste of spring

The forecast today promises sun and slightly warmer weather. For me, that makes it a good afternoon to work on removing more of the rampant English ivy from trees around the house. Still to early to do much serious gardening but we're close... very close.

I think I need to plant more cosmos this year. Cosmos are good flowers for cutting because they have long stems and rabbits like to eat them before anything else. We enjoy seeing bunnies in the yard enough that it's worth allowing them a few things out of the garden. There are too many cats in the neighborhood for foraging rabbits to be a big problem.

Other flowers that have done well without being eaten by rabbits are blackeyed susans, zinias, and marigolds. The tea roses are always around, as are tiny fragrant gardenias. I need to find out what the long stemmed yellow flowers are that look like dandelion blooms but are not dandelions. They are very long stemmed and hardy and I picture keeping cobalt blue bottles holding a few around on the dining table or in the window(s).

Slowly, I am learning by experience what I can actually grow around here. I know I can keep some beans and flowers in the front yard and keep herbs happier in the shadier back yard. Dill died last year in front but thrived in back. Tomatoes, I still have a lot to learn about and I might not have enough sun here to grow them even in pots. Squash and pumpkins are easy to grow here but I will only be able to take advantage of the blossoms because borers get to the fruit long before it's ripe and I don't want to use insecticide dust on anything.

For me, the best part of the garden is having fresh herbs immediately outside - thyme, basil, peppers, dill, parsley, oregano, sage, and mint. I love cilantro too but that's another challenge for me. Also thinking about trying chives this year as well.

drying out

Monstermustdie's birthday party was fun, without too much cleaning time before bed. Thanks to all who came and made it through the unexpected flood of red mud in the front yard. The new neighbors next door have reshaped their yard, raising it all up to one level that now drains directly into our front yard.

Inside the house still looks cleaner than it has for months. The fridge is full of yummy leftovers.

Landlord is sending landscapers to the house Sunday morning to determine what can be done about the water running into the front yard. They're also planning to plant a border of Leyland Cypress around the back yard for additional privacy and sound barrier.

A strange lanky fellow came into our building today asking for money, who said he used to work for Art Laminating. He was tall and nervous and I was not in the mood to deal with him.

I still have the post-Dentist sinus infection / allergies / cold-like malady. Ready for it to be gone. Why does this happen every time I go to the dentist?