Garden Kale for supper

Hello,

 

I went to the old community garden this afternoon and picked a nice amount of volunteer Red Russian Kale which went into a stir fry. We added winter onions picked from our front garden as well as some garlic chives. Oh, I forgot I also picked some cilantro in the old community garden. It was all quite fine. Leroy pronounced it good.

 

We need rain. I am not sure when I will be able to pick more kale if it does not rain soon. That garden space is not easy to water.

 

We have also used some oregano that has come back close to the house as well as onion chives. I love getting all these greens. I might even get back to that old community garden and harvest some dandelion greens which seem to be doing quite well.

 

I love getting the early spring greens. I even miss the lamb’s quarters as I now have no source for that.

 

For some reason our mint is quite slow. Maybe it always is and we just forget, but we cannot yet get enough to make tea. Right next to it a dianthus plant is blooming nicely and I think it is early.

 

We are enjoying a pair of birds go in and out of a hole in the tree in the neighbor’s yard. It is right at eye level for us. I was also pleased when I picked up trash around the block to see four parts of bird’s egg shells. Those babies are growing.

 

Paula

Washing Machine Eat Clothes?

Hello,

 

I washed kitchen linens today, lamenting the loss of one red kitchen towel that disappeared after the last wash. Today one of the drying clothes was gone! Where do they go? I have searched the washer several times, feeling inside the rim where I cannot see. Nothing was there. These cloths have been hung out to dry. Do you suppose that the strong winds carried them away and out of sight? The neighbor’s fences have not been repaired since the derecho, so that would give them plenty of room to sail out of sight. It seems a little unlikely, but who knows.

 

We do not have much trouble keeping track of socks so I do not think it is the machine. The towels seem far too large to disappear down the drain.

 

I like having clothes on the line, but I seldom see other clothes lines with things on them. Last evening Leroy and I walked down an alley that we had not traversed before. How exciting, someone else had clothes out to dry.

 

Hanging out helps the environment and my psyche as it gives me a good reason to spend some time outdoors. I even get a number of steps walking back and forth. It could even be seen as a money saving strategy. Seems like a win, win to me unless you do not have a clothes line or your washer is in such a place that it is difficult to get the clothes outside. The only downside might be clothes that disappear.

 

My missing towel is just discovered hanging on the towel bar. It never made it to the machine at all.

 

Paula

A bit of Rain

Hello,

 

We had planned to take a Sunday afternoon walk with some friends, but the drizzle stopped those plans. The man has a cold and did not want to get out. Leroy has taken the opportunity to take a nap. I am planning to walk later in the day as it is to clear. I just hope we get enough rain to make a difference to the thirsty plants.

 

We did not walk this morning because Leroy was willing to cut my hair one more time. He mostly does a fine job with just a few missed hairs here and there. We figure that my curls hide a lot of this. Guess curly hair is good for something. The rainy damp air helps my hair to curl a bit more.

 

This afternoon Leroy and I managed to both get our 10,000 steps. Leroy often complains that I record more steps even when we are on the same walk. However, today he consistently had more steps than I did. We both found it quite windy and a bit cold with that wind blowing on us. Leroy commented, “Our trackers should show extra steps for working against this wind.”

 

It so was so good to get home and into the warm.

 

Before that we talked to some young neighbor friends who were also out for a walk. They have already planted things in their garden. It was fun to visit about that. There is hope for the world if young people are interested in gardening?

 

Paula

What a Day!

Hello,

 

I went shopping in the morning. Before I got on the interstate a city police car’s flashing lights became visible. I easily pulled to the side because there were no other cars around me.

 

When I pulled off the interstate and waited at the stop light, I saw the car behind me pull off to the side. The flashing lights of a sheriff’s car were visible. I pulled to the side thinking there would be enough space. However the vehicle ahead of me was a pickup truck with a trailer behind. The truck could get over, but the trailer was still somewhat in the lane. The sheriff car managed to get past, but at the red light there was still a car in front. The sheriff blew some type of serious horn, the light turned green almost immediately and the car in front moved out of the way. Just as I was pulling off into the parking lot of my destination, I heard more sirens. A fire truck sped past. Before I could get in the store I heard and saw two more fire trucks and some other emergency vehicles. I was happy to be off the road and glad that the emergency was not at my house. I prayed for all of those involved.

 

Leroy tells me he thinks the stop lights in the city are set up so that when an emergency vehicle comes to them the light turns quickly to give them the right of way. Good if it is true.

 

I had seen a thing on social media about how when traffic is stopped on a major road in Germany, all traffic pulls to the side so emergency vehicles can get through. My trip to the store today made that seem like the most sensible idea.

 

This afternoon we got about ten packages of seed and five tomato plants from a person in a close neighborhood who had seen my post about the community garden being tilled. What a gift! We are rich indeed.

 

Paula

Guilty or not?

Hello,

 

Leroy spotted a spot on my back that he did not like the looks of. He took a picture. I could not say that it looked too bad, but he took a picture about a week later. It had not changed much. He visited the dermatologist for his regular check up and talked to one of the nurses. They could not tell either from the pictures, but thought having it checked was advisable. I tried calling the phone number for this group that has offices in many places in the country. I was put on hold so I decided to use the local number that the doctor had given me when I told him about my inability to convince the scheduler that I needed to be seen sooner and I really did need a timely appointment. The front desk could not get me in, before the month of May, so they routed me back to his nurse. She found some time for a quick look the next day. I was impressed with this ability.

 

When the doctor started looking he could not find the spot. I had to help with some idea of where it was. This is all a little hard since I cannot see it. He did find it, but checked my entire back and declared it and the spot just fine and not a concern.

 

I could not decide if I wanted there to be a problem or if it was ok to take their valuable time for nothing. Guilt set in a little although the doctor assured me that we should check things out. He also complimented us for paying attention to each other’s skin. I will see him again in October for a full body check which I do once a year.

 

Paula

How Hard Can It Be?

Hello,

 

Church is still on line for us even though our congregation has started the process of meeting in person, but on a limited schedule of people. We decided to let others have those spots first.

 

Yesterday I confidently turned on the laptop, went away for something, came back only to see that it was still spinning away and not coming on. I tried doing a hard turn off, plugging it in even though the last time I looked the battery was adequate. It still spun and spun, but came up to the first screen; however it was very slow to allow any forward movement. As church time got closer, Leroy turned on his tablet, but it was also moving very slowly. I then turned on my phone, but could not figure out how to get to the church service on the mobile website. About five minutes after church started, we managed to arrive on Leroy’s tablet. What a struggle to go to church and we did not even leave home!

 

We knew we could watch it later, but we wanted to be there at the time and it became a serious challenge to make it happen. We are now talking about buying a new laptop. Any recommendations? However, know that we are a stubborn duo and might ignore all suggestions.

 

I am not sure just what our worship experience was; I have to confess that every once in a while I would check the laptop to learn about progress or no progress. I think I forgot the purpose of being at worship. Somehow I suspect that happens to God often.

 

Paula

Community Garden

Hello,

 

Yesterday Leroy scheduled work time in the garden. We went to the spot, but no one else had yet come. While we were waiting a neighbor came in his pickup truck to say that he was ready to till the garden spot for us. We said yes and he went to get it, saying, “I will be back in half an hour.”

 

We wandered the new old garden spot talking about how large we thought it should be. There are only about three or eight of us that do that work so we have to be cautious not to till more than we can weed and care for. As we were discussing, another neighbor came. She too was quite excited to learn that a man was going to till it for us. We could not remember his name, but told her what we thought it was. As it turned out he was Tom rather than Ron, but what a gift that tilling was. His small tractor had a great tiller attachment on it. It was definitely a high end tiller because when it ran into some of the bricks and cement that were a house foundation, it made a bit of noise, but kept on working. I was impressed. I had never seen anything like that with its clutch that stopped the tilling action when it could not handle it. What a gift to us and the people who benefit from the garden. The college lets us use that land and that is also a gift.

 

Today, Leroy and I went to sift out some of the grass clumps and the weeds that were in larger pieces. The soil was wonderful to get my hands in as it was fine and soft. That tiller took it down about eight inches. I am impressed all over again.

 

Paula