Flowers Changing

Hello, The catalpa tree is blooming. We look right into those blossoms from the kitchen window. It is beautiful to see each morning.

Along the side walk the last iris is still glowing even though some ash tree seeds are on it.

The first lily is now open.

It is great to walk home and see the coreopsis blooming in the front. We have so much beauty around us. I try to appreciate it all of the time. My step count goes up in the nice weather. Hanging out clothes adds to it as well as walking to church to water plants. Choir practice tonight will add another 5,000. Today is a great day to be out. Brian gave us a weather radio for Christmas. It has been good, even though startling, to have it when storms passed through. We were alerted and had a reliable source of information. Today it went off in the middle of the morning. I was astonished because it looked so nice out. Turns out it was just a test of the system. Paula

Car Maintained

Hello, I am becoming much more comfortable taking the car in for care. As with many things in life doing something more than once makes it familiar and therefore more doable. One of my tires appears a little low to me, but I think I will still pass that job on to Leroy. I wouldn’t want him to feel unnecessary. The Car repair shop that we use is about a half block from the bike trail. I took a nice walk while they changed the oil. I did have a book with me so I could also read. There was another guy waiting when I was done with the walk and he was lost in the face of his phone. I would rather read a book. Fortunately, I have a close connection with libraries so that is always possible. In fact, I stopped and picked up two books that had been on hold for me. I did walk to church to water plants so my steps are done, but I will walk to a neighborhood meeting this evening. It is about half a mile away, so not far. We were out of granola. I made that this afternoon. For some reason, I cannot get sesame seeds. They are on back order. This batch has another cup of oatmeal to take up the space. Paula

One Play

Hello, We did enjoy the local play. We arrived a bit early in typical Bradway style. The usher asked if we had read the blurb about the play. To our yes, she said, “Good then you won’t be offended by it and yell at us.” “Do people yell at you?” I wondered. “Yes, sometimes they have no idea about what they are to see. When it is not fitting their ideas, they get mad.” She said. “Is this play gross?” I wondered. “No but that all depends on your sensibilities.” She replied. It did have some off-color jokes, but was quite discreet over all and is a satire. We laughed which is what we came for. The next play will be quite different with it based on history and it is a musical. Hopefully we will enjoy. Brian and Jen saw it a few years ago and liked it. Paula

Lows and Highs

Hello, In the last two days feelings have been up and down. I saw a specialist yesterday because of my low white blood cell count that has been around for about a year. Or perhaps it has come and gone in the course of that time with it being not okay when blood was drawn. The doctor spent quite a bit of time with me, asking questions and explaining. She had more blood drawn for some additional tests, and expects to see me in about a month when more blood will be examined. For some reason I had expected her to say it was not a big deal and let it go since the number was not much lower than the norm. I allowed that to get me down in the dumps. Thanks to all the modern technology, I was able to see some test results. Those pesky highs and lows seemed to still be there. Not all the categories mean anything to me, but it still made me upset. By the time Leroy came home I needed a listening ear and he provided just that without giving me a lot of advice. That is hard for him and I thanked him. Amazing how having someone listen raises the spirits. Today there were more results sent and if I understood it all it was much more to the good. Then this afternoon we bought tickets to a play in town tonight and a play in Iowa city for next week for our anniversary. Looking forward to these two entertainment events. Did Leroy think I was on the road out, so he had to give in to my requests? Paula

Am I in charge

Hello, My car displayed the “maint record” light. Leroy called our mechanic who said they could take care of that in a matter of minutes. I drove there this morning to have a guy come out and turn that light off. He did that, but he also noted that it has been some time since the oil has been changed. I made an appointment for that, but it is not in Leroy’s free time. Guess I will have to take care of it. Maybe that is saying I need to be responsible for the care of the vehicle I drive the most. Usually, I like to gave all the car chores to Leroy. I told Leroy I would like to be in charge of planting our front garden, but my success rate is very low. Perhaps he is right, we have had the seeds too long. They have not gotten wet so I thought they would still be good. Another problem has been insects that want to snack on the plants that did come up. Generally, I am the laundry person. Although, if Leroy is home, he will help hang out clothes. Leroy helps with meal prep, but generally I decide what we are cooking. So I consider myself in charge. Perhaps when he is retired the home job responsibilities will shift a little from me to him. He is also taking strongly about volunteering as he does not think he can handle being home so much of the time. Paula

Baby birds

Hello, The first baby bird seemed to struggling to hop along. Feathers were there, but rather short. The next two were flying a little and then hopping. The last one just mostly looked at us. It must be “leave the nest” season. Being a baby bird appears to be hard and dangerous work once out of the nest. A few of the babies had been pushed out of the nest too soon and were expiring on the sidewalk. We may live in a city, but we get to witness nature frequently. The other day while hanging out clothes, there was just a lot of bird chatter but no birds visible. The leaves keep getting bigger on the trees, creating hiding places. Paula

No Squatting in the heat

Hello, Yesterday afternoon when the temperature was in the 80’s we worked in the garden. I weeded while other people did a number of other tasks, including planting. One person brought a portable shade. I was in the shade most of the time. My favorite posture when working on low things is to squat. I kept drinking water, but often felt dizzy and had to stand or sit for a while till it was gone. People were getting a bit concerned. This has happened much of my life if it is hot, but it is worse now. Learning to kneel or sit while doing such tasks will have to be in the future. Not my favorite thought! It is hot again today. So far, I have been inside more than outside so I do not notice it very much. Leroy and I have cleaned the last screens, washed windows and cleaned the sills. It is nice to have that job done. We are starting to think of some jobs that Leroy can do around here when he is retired. He just has three work weeks left. I walked up to get a prescription filled, as I left the store, I met a neighbor. He talked some about the store closing. He told me he plans to walk about 20 blocks to the next closest grocery store when this one closes next month. I wondered if he could take the bus, but he figured he could walk faster since it does not take a direct route there. I was struck by how many options I have, owning a car. We may offer him a lift to a store. How many people need something like that? Paula

10,000 steps before noon

Hello, Hanging out two loads of clothes, walking to church, watering plants there, walking to deliver neighborhood newsletter all added up to more than 10,000 steps. My legs are a bit tired. Resting or sitting around much of the afternoon helps. This evening, we will walk to church again for choir practice. That will add almost another 5,000 steps. Leroy rode his bike today and when he does, he comes home with 10,000 steps already. It is nice to deliver the newsletter in the spring and see all the newly opened flowers. There is much beauty in the area. Each time I walk by the side of our house, I am struck by the beauty of the iris. There are four different colors blooming. Leroy has started to bring things home from work. He had clothes there in case: it was too cold, too hot, he rode the bike and needed to dress up, he got wet on the ride to work, he might get dirty, and he also had some brown shoe polish there just in case. His office was larger than I realized. Paula

Birds Like Me?

Hello, I watered plants today at church. While I was out there a bird flew into my back and head. There was a certain amount of bird chatter. I stood still thinking it might stay there and I could talk about the bird mistaking I for a part of nature. But it did not stay around. Not sure what type of bird, but it interests me. Miriam told about the robin that had a nest by their garage. They watched the four babies grow. Just recently one of them left the nest only to be run over by a car. Then a raven came to feast on the body to the dismay of the parents. The three other birds left the nest and another flew into the street. One was in their lawn and one in their flower bed. They did recuse the one out of the street so there was not another death on their watch. Maybe it was a baby bird that flew into me because it did not have much flying experience. Life is a challenge for the young. Once when I was young, I was outside sitting under a tree reading. A bird did sit on my head. That was thrilling even if it was pecking a little at my hair. Maybe it was building a nest. Paula

Plants at Church

Hello, I thought we had had quite a bit of rain in the last few days. This morning, we walked to church to help some plants that no longer seemed to be buried. The soil was not wet but dry at a very shallow depth. We watered even though we had walked there in a light rain. I will go back again tomorrow and water unless there is a lot of rain over night. Something is eating some of the leaves on certain plants. That has not happened in the past. I hope new pests have not moved in. This morning, we hung out clothes only to take them back in about half an hour. Not much drying occurred. After the weather check which stated it was to rain much of the day, I gave up on the idea of outdoor drying. It is hard to believe, but Leroy and I are reading three of the same series. They are all mysteries so that explains it a bit. Otherwise, we do not read the same things. I would like some funny or humorous books, but they seem to be rather scarce. The jokes we have been reading as part of our morning devotion have also not helped us to laugh, smile maybe, but not laugh. Paula

More Iris blooming

Hello, Another Iris color opened. I had forgotten they were so close together as to be intermingled. I like the contrast in colors.

I remember when some people made fun of Lady Bird Johnson because she replanted, along the roads, the wildflowers in Texas. It seemed a rather silly thing to do. Now I think it is great. All people need to be able to see beauty and enjoy flowers, native or otherwise. One children’s book that was written a long time ago tells of a reporter in New York City whose daughters picked wildflowers to give to some of the children in a very poor area of town. One girl cried when she saw them because she had never seen flowers or the beauty. I am saddened to learn that the grocery store four blocks from our house is closing. I use the pharmacy all the time. It is great to be able to walk up the street to fill a prescription. No driving required. No fuel wasted and exercise gained. My ability to go to the grocery is not stopped because I do have transportation. There are some in the neighborhood who are not so blessed. And of course this will affect the people who work there. Some of them live in my neighborhood. Where will they work now? Paula

First Iris May 7, 2024 Hello, The first iris by our house bloomed today. It is beautiful. My brother-in-law gave the tubers to us. My sister had planted many of them in many different colors. I was pleased to get this. When it blooms, I think about my sister. It has been a long time now, but I still miss her. Just last week I though about calling her. Perhaps I should do that anyway even though she cannot answer.

There are plants at church that need to be planted. I will try to get that done tomorrow. We share the cost with another person. They picked out the flowers and I plant because she finds it difficult to get down to do that work. I am happy she picks them out. They looked beautiful. Tonight, Leroy and I will go work in the community garden for a short time, spreading more mulch around. We also hope to see the sun set. It is not so easily seen from our apartment. Last night we went down to the lake. There were a lot of clouds so we did not see much color, but as Leroy said, “It was so nice to be out in the evening.” I stopped at the garden and picked some more red Russian Kale. It still seems quite fine even though the heat is coming. Paula

Faster than Rain? May 4, 2024 Hello, We washed and hung out two rather large loads of clothes to be ahead of the afternoon rain. Shortly, we went out to plant some more seeds in our front raised bed garden. While we were working on that, I looked up and saw black ominous clouds approaching. Leroy said, “I will get in the clothes. You finish here since you have the plan.” I do have a plan, but it is quite loose. I quickly finished putting more seeds in the ground and got the rabbit deterrent fence in place just as the first drops started to fall.

Leroy came to see if he could help more as he had the clothes in baskets on the porch. We gathered up equipment and dashed to the garage leaving things just inside the garage door. He locked the garage while I hurried to the back porch. He got a bit more rain but not too much. It is good to see the rain as it has been quite dry. When I looked at the weather, I saw they were talking about rain early, with little chance later in the day. We were working on the opposite expectation. We felt lucky in so many ways: the clothes had dried some, we saw the clouds coming, and we split tasks. Paula

Cleaning a garage shelving Unit

Hello, Leroy and I went out to tackle the unit together even though he told someone most of the stuff was mine. Well, I can say most of the stuff was not just mine, but ours. We took everything off the shelves, except his toy train set from childhood. I wiped all shelves, swept much of the floor in that area and moaned about the number of plant pots and baskets that I have. I kept all but a few of the pots. There were a few things that went into the garbage. I put two pots out front of the house as well as a starter plant kit. One of our neighbors was talking to another neighbor. He stopped to ask, “Are you getting rid of those things?” To my yes, he added, “I can use that. I rent a half-acre garden plot. I can use everything you have out there.” He used slightly different language than that, but I cleaned it up. “Would you have any use for plant hangers? I have two of them.” I asked. He was quite excited to see them and said they would use them on their porch to hang plants. They have cats and they are hard on plants. What a wonderful thing to find someone to take our discards. This morning one of our friends gave us a nice amount of spinach. Some of it had been planted last November. It was going to seed and he was getting rid of the plants. Some other leaves were from this spring. They were huge. I love getting all this organic produce straight from the source.

Paula

Rhubarb Gifted

Hello, We were gifted with a nice amount of rhubarb. What an early spring treat. All of the rhubarb is sliced small. Some went into the freezer for a later time. Some went into a crisp. I put some blueberries in the mix of rhubarb to lower the tartness. The topping is like many others might make, but it has no sugar. I still have some of the fermented honey from Biran and I added about a fourth cup in the topping. Leroy and I both thought it was quite fine. Probably a bit tart for the rest of the country.

I did not have many steps because of the rain most of the morning. This afternoon when out, it was so nice that I just kept walking and did not notice how far from home I had gone. Now I have my 10,000 steps even though I had not planned on that for today. The rhubarb in the community garden is looking quite fine. Soon it will also be ready to pick. Hopefully someone will come get some of that. The kale is so prolific. Leroy and I eat quite a bit, but if you looked at the plants, you would never know that any had been taken. Paula

Three Errands Done

Hello, The first errand included some other things. One of the plants in the church flower garden is a perennial with robust growth. The first task was to contain that in a smaller area by pulling up the strays. At church is a good place to drop off my extra tee shirts. I managed to eliminate at least four of them with more waiting for a future purge. A person at church will hand those out to the people she knows in need. At church, it became apparent that I have no gloves, and no container for the plant discards. Forgot those details. Hands can be washed and a plastic bag would do to corral the plants. They pulled easily with some very long roots trailing back to the parent plant. After considering putting them in the trash, it seemed best to take them home and add to our city compost bin. The next task was to walk to the library, return books and secure two more. The weeding and then the walking did not take so long, giving me time to walk around and look at some of my favorite close murals. At the library I was still too early, joining many of the people who look to be homeless. My Fitbit is hard to see in the outdoors. I just stood and waited patiently. A gap-toothed man came up and looked through the window at a clock across the way. “Oh, there is a clock there.” I laughed. He had a tote in hand and a three-fourths full garbage bag slung over one shoulder. He said, “Yes. I have been homeless for a month, sleeping on cement, rocks and any place I could find.” “That has to be hard,” I commented. He then proceeded to tell me, “I will have an apartment soon. This will be over. At least they asked me to sign a lease. That should mean I can get in?” “It sounds very hopeful.” I said. The third task was to bring home the plants that wintered in the museum. I brough home three and Leroy will bring home the other three tomorrow. Most of them will go outside Paula