Just need to talk to my friends (205) May 2025
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Good morning
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Good morning,
Ron, it's good to see you this morning. I slept until almost 4 am so I'm happy.
Well, we cut grass yesterday in anticipation of more rain, 60 mph winds, tornadoes and heavy lightning tonight. Why this weather always seems to come at 10pm is beyond me. It's scary enough but especially so if you can't see at darkthirty.
My patio rugs came yesterday but I guess we'll wait until after this storm to put them down. We planted sweet corn yesterday. Thank you for the peony help. I'll deadhead them today. The rest of the garden is in the ground and hopefully survives all this rain.
Still need to find some climbing roses to start on the trellis bench DH has dragged here from Huntland. The trellis is huge. I want, I think, pink double blooms. Does that sound good? The trellis will go on the chicken coop side of the house but far enough up in the yard so I can see it from the front porch. The roses will get full sun. The decorating style here is Shabby Chic meets Boho and Farmhouse. In other words, stuff I just like, lol. Any rose advice appreciated.
We're making the Scottsboro trip today so I'll TTYL. Have a good day everyone.
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Good morning
Lorita and JeriLynn hope you are feeling better this morning
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Morning, cloudy and hazy here. Still not feeling well. It will take a few days. Began Flagyl last night and liquid diet yesterday about noon. Flagyl three times daily for a week and liquid through tomorrow. The pain is almost constant but not excruciating , just noticeable. But it hurts to cough or sneeze.
Ordered some more juices and soups to have after tomorrow. Felt sorry for the young lady who delivered the things. The delivery before mine did not go well. Hard to get to the trailer in the middle of a field and the woman kept yelling at her.. She was upset but I talked to her little while and told her to just let it go. Hard to understand people sometimes.
Talked to Sandy yesterday. She is in the hospital but going home today. I asked her to post and let us know what happened and how she js. Hope she will. Did not have her I pad with her.
Ron, glad you're up and at 'em. Darwin is not doing too well. Says it's hard to keep his dreams separate from what is really happening. He decided not to go to funeral. He cut wood yesterday but plans to stay in today.
Back.later
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CARL….WE LEARN THAT WE CANNOT PAINT "WELL" IN THE SECOND GRADE. YOU NOW NEED TO UNLEARN THAT. WE PAINT BECAUSE IT IS FUN TO FOOL AROUND WITH COLOR ON A SURFACE. THE IMITATION OF REALITY IS NOT RELEVANT.
I SUGGEST GETTING THREE TUBES OF ACRYLIC PAINT (red/yellow/blue) and a tube of white…..no black! Take a page out of a magazine with you …look at it. decide what you think is important then dive in. Set a time limit!!!!!! When it is reached stop!!!!! Next time a new page. Think process not product.
When you paint, you open the door to your imagination. The question you keep returning to is
what if…What if that lamp post wasn’t there?What if her hair were blue?What if I add a butterfly or two?Once you start your imagination going, you might be surprised at what it comes up with. The more you use it, the more imaginative you become.
added; Plato ( from another thread) ? I still do not understand the cave. I just read about it again this morning in a book by Colin McGinn.
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Jerilynn…pink trumps anything!
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Lorita, Sandy, sorry you two are not feeling well! Said a prayer for you both.
Carl, I sure enjoy reading your posts about the peonies (and other things) - you are creative and have done a lot of things!
Some of my grandkids are quite good at drawing. 13 y.o. granddaughter drew this with a sharpie. It's Josephine Baker. Below, the horse by my 6 y.o. grandson.
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Judith, maybe I don't need the art class, in which an instructor will show me how to paint the stems, then the leaves, then the blossoms. Maybe I just need some paint. And a brush. And an easel. And a smock. And a beret. 😎 Actually, what I need is nobody looking over my shoulder telling me how bad it is.
Beth, thank you. I love to tell stories, and a lot of my posts have an element of storytelling. Those grandchildren are truly talented!
Some years ago, a friend suggested I write a book of stories. Maybe I should, and illustrate it.
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Good afternoon. Hugs Zetta
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Carl…at 82 I bought myself an easel. It is in my dining room…never used except to throw a garland on it at Christmas to hold sentimental ornaments and Italian lights. I makes me happy just to look at it. I use a flat surface to paint.
Do not go to that art "class". My class at the center is led by a fellow docent. Very little instruction…lots of quiet and a decent drive.
I did paint with Bert Seaborn. Again little instruction but he was there to answer a question. The first class I arrived and unpacked my 4 tubes of paint. Others came in and unloaded untold numbers of tubes and brushes. At the and of 2 hours we left. The next week someone said they spent all week working on their creation then asked if I had found time to work on mine. I replied that no, I finished mine in class.
One week Bert passed behind me and suggested that I add some definition to a leg that was under a skirt. I did. Later he came by and suggested that I might delete the definition. I told him that he was the one who suggested putting it in. He replied that I had been right…We had a chuckle.
Dick said "if it is not worth doing poorly then it is not worth doing at all".
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I’m seeing tornadoes in Missouri.. be safe everyone ❤️
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Hit Clayton…big family get together…daughter is on a plane going there now.
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Clayton, Missouri? Hope everyone is ok. Is that near you Carl.?Next four days of. Severe weather here.
Still hurting but Acet.helps some. I am hungry. Grape juice, tea and water doesn't cut it. Felt too weak to.go.feed Billy but he was by the corral gate do I did, slowly. Will take fourth Flagyltonight and only liquids tomorrow. May try veg btoth.
See you all tomorrow. Sleep tight.
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just do it! I am shocked to discover I have just started book 14! (nothing over 40000 words, but still classed as books).
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Thanks for the warning, JeriLynn ♥️ Four have died in storms in St. Louis, but I'm having nice weather 200 miles SW of there.
Pink climbing roses on a trellis bench will be beautiful! The main thing I know about roses is the need to water them in winter, even though they look dormant. I planted a row of rosebushes in front of my house in '75, and by Spring the only one alive was the one by the downspout. A good hosing once a month will do it, but a dry winter will kill them if you don't water.
It is hard to overwater a rosebush in summer. I have the best luck with roses when I plant them around a birdbath. I hose out the birdbath every day or two, and the roses love the brown water they get just as much as the birds enjoy the fresh water.
The soil here is rock and clay under a thin layer of topsoil, so I plant roses by digging a hole, discarding the dirt removed, and planting the bushes in peat moss. Roses like banana peels, so I discard my banana peels around the bases of rosebushes.
Japanese beetles love rosebushes and will eat them to the stems. If you have the beetles where you live, get ready to deal with them. The beetles are pretty quick at midday but are easy to catch and drop into a pail of soapy water at sunrise and at sundown. They like to nestle in the blossoms at night, which is cute except they will eat the blossoms for breakfast before going back to eating leaves.
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Just saw the other posts - Clayton MO is part of the St. Louis area. I am far from there. We expect 80 and sunny tomorrow, possible thunderstorms tomorrow night.
Thank you for the encouragement, littleme. I'll give it a try, it will be fun.
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OK, just how hard is it to have roses? I have always feared planting them but the thought of some pink ones is tempting.
Daughter ha landed…Whew.
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Judith, roses can't be very hard to grow or I wouldn't be able to do it. I have never had the time to fuss over plants like Nero Wolfe and his orchids. The worst that will happen is the roses will die and you will replant (or plant something else.)
Once I learned how to water roses and kill Japanese Beetles, the only problem I have ever had was with a fungus called Black Spot, and for that there is a chemical treatment you buy at the garden store. Some mites will eat rose bushes, and once again you are off to the garden store for treatment. I haven't had either problem for several years.
You do have to prune roses, so you will want a long-handled pruner. Rose thorns will penetrate a leather glove and draw blood, so the scissor-like pruners are less satisfactory.
Back in the 80's I planted a blue rose and a pink rose in my front yard, with a bird bath between them. I could sit on the porch and watch birds while I drank coffee in the morning.
Glad your daughter is OK! St. Louis gets some really severe storms. I followed a storm up I-44 from Springfield to St. Louis once, and the roads in St. Louis were pretty much clear of traffic except emergency vehicles when I arrived. The hotel lobby TV was running footage of a storm when I checked in. So, I was really glad I delayed my departure from Springfield enough to let the storm pass.
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Hi, this is just a short post. Last Monday morning I woke up noticing my left eye wasn’t seeing anything to the left. My first thought was go to the ophthalmologist, maybe I had a retina issue. He informed me that I had a stroke on the right side of my brain. I’ve lost peripheral vision on the left side of both eyes. Please be aware that it’s so important to get to the emergency room as quickly as possible. Even if they send you home because it wasn’t something serious, don’t take the chance. Because I went to the ophthalmologist, I wasted valuable time. We live in a lovely picturesque area, the little hospital doesn’t have a neurology department and I was sent by ambulance a hour away to their larger hospital in Roanoke. I know it could have been much worse but for some reason it didn’t occur to me that I could have a stroke in my sleep. Take care everyone. Sandy
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Sandy, It was good to see your post and to hear your voice a while ago. Rest well tonight and be careful.
Judith, try knock out roses. Very easy to grow and care for if you don't have grasshoppers.I lost three but one is blooming. I have a beautiful.pink.rambler over a gate arch.but it only blooms in the spring but it is worth it.
Good night, everyone. Sleep tight.
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Thanks for the talk about roses. I just planted another one today in PA. Mine are all so beautiful, but something is making holes in the leaves, so I’ll do what you all suggest. Nothing better than digging in the dirt and playing with the worms.
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Wow, Beth - you have talented grandkids. I absolutely recognized the first drawing as Josephine Baker, and I love how your grandson captured the movement of that horse.
jfkoc & Carl - I'm loving the discussion of painting. I have no talent to speak of in that department - but maybe that just means that there's much room for improvement.
littleme- 14 books! Impressive. Doesn't matter that the word count isn't over 40,000. You have a beginning, a middle, and an end - that's a story.
Sandy - I'm glad you're okay!
Lorita - I hope you start to feel better.
Hi wose
Nothing exciting in my neck of the woods - maybe that's a good thing? I went to the gym today and got invited to the Duran Duran Appreciation Day event that will take place in a couple of event. Who knew that there was such a thing? I sure didn't.
While some of you are having glorious spring weather, we were overcast and then got rain. It's supposed to be like that for the next five days. We'll get reliable sun beginning around the 4th of July. 😄
Oh wait - one exciting thing - cherries!!
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Ranier cherries in Spring! While I was living in Yakima, the kids found cherries from there in the Publix Markets in Alabama. They took pictures of the package and sent to me, lol.
Rain moving in here in about an hour. It's 2:45 AM. Prayers for safety for everyone.
I'm sorry Sandy. Has the Dr. indicated if you will regain any peripheral vision? That must have been so scary.
Lorita, I hope you are better today. Be careful doing those outside chores! Ron, any news on the Acupuncture?
Y'all have convinced me to try the double bloomed Knock Out Roses in PINK! We looked at some plants yesterday, but they didn't suit me. Maybe today we can go to see the lady out in the country that has greenhouses.
DH got new portions of deck railing up yesterday. I picked out a stain color. The original decking is that dark redwood color. It looks fake to me. And it gets HOT in the full sun. So I got a stain sample that is a bluesy gray and cream. We'll see how that looks and decide. DH also built me a handrail for the steps for which I am grateful.
One set of barn swallows have hatched! So excited. Only one hummingbird so far this season. Wonder if it's the cooler weather and all the rain?
Speck is doing fine in the Coop with her friends and Peanut is almost weaned from his bottle. Maybe pictures today, weather permitting.
Today is one year since my FIL with dementia passed away after falling and breaking his hip. He's still in my coat closet awaiting his final journey to Arlington. He is the reason I found you all. I'm grateful for your friendship. 💜
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Good morning
Pink roses are beautiful JeriLynn
Nice to see you sitting in rocking chair on front porch Wose.
Aaaaahh cherries. None here but we got fresh strawberries Friday at our Amish friends.
Sandy glad you are able to be back on porch with us.
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Good morning. Damp and dreary at the moment but sun is forecasted for later. I need to be out again, so this suits me.
Judith— I'm glad your daughter is safe. Weather in that part of the country was terrifying yesterday. One of DH's friends sent pictures of a funnel not far from the deck where he was standing in Bloomington, IN. They had palm-sized hail as well.
Beth— You've shared the Josephine Baker piece before— I remain impressed. Ditto the horse given the age of the artist.
Lorita— Bummer about the peony. No blooms often means the eyes are planted too deeply. I wonder, though, if the relentless drought you had last year stressed the plant. My stewartia was stressed by lack of rain and is nowhere near as lush as it should be. If it's doesn't recover by next year, it's outta here.
I hope the diet and meds get your situation resolved soon. Sick and hungry is no way to be.
Carl— I'm sorry you have a lousy art instructor. I find art teachers all over the place. The one I had in high school was all about historical techniques— painting actual frescos, mixing our own tempura, prepping canvases— and about actually seeing what's in front of you. DH took oils with a local professional who mostly helped him, and the rest of the class, experiment with technique. Oddly, mom who was a certified K-12 art teacher never "taught"— she just threw supplies at us and let us work along with her.
Wose— When I have an issue with a plant, I go to my local garden center with pictures and they fix me right up with whatever steps I need to take. If you're in PA, the Penn State Extension can offer help too.
Little me— If people are reading your work, it's all good. I didn't realize word-count was a thing beyond graduation.
Jeri-lynn— I wish you better luck with the Knock Outs than I have "enjoyed'. For me, they're almost like annuals— wonderful specimens for a year or two and then they develop strange gnarly mutant growth, stop blooming and die. They don't climb— their selling point is that they don't throw long cones that require tricky pruning or training to maintain their shrub-like shape. For climbers, "Golden Showers" is one my niece has done well with. The salesperson at the nursery tried to dissuade her from buying it given her newbie status and pushed the Knock Outs. She bought one of each. The Knock Out died the second year and the yellow not only did well, she transplanted it to her new house and it's still thriving.
Sandy— I am so sorry about your vision issue. Mom had a sudden onset blindness in one eye from an infarct in her optic nerve. We started with the ophthalmologist, too. She took one look and sent us to the ED of the eye hospital to see an neuro-ophthalmologist. In her situation, the outcome would not have been different had we known to start there.
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Niece and I had dinner after my haircut. She spilled the tea about mom's medication shenanigans last weekend. With Rite Aid closing, I switch all mom's stuff scripts over to an indie pharmacy. This gentleman does pill packet books and does delivery— be still my heart. Previous mom was successfully using pill trays but given her vision and tremor it's a hassle. She was "over served" at dinner and fell asleep not long after she got home. Nice made sure she had her nighttime meds before bed. Mom woke in the middle of the night panicking about her pills— she'd opened 2 blisters looking for the "blue pills" (aka Keflex). I've noticed that she's almost fetishized this medication— she freaked out last week when the script needed renewing and she is ridiculous fretting if she sleeps late and misses her assigned time to take it by 15 minutes. My niece was justifiably freaked out and mom begged her not to tell me. Ugh. This is something new for me to have eyes on while pretending I don't.
Baby shower today. It's an hour away and I will be there to provide moral support. Mom-mom-to-be's former sisters-in-law are officially hosting (she footing the bill at a nice restaurant) and they've never gotten along which probably contributed to the divorce. Her current sisters-in-law will also be there; they're less openly hostile but it was an adjustment when their never-married patriarch with the disposable income married for the first time at 55. And, of course, the ex-husband's wife who was "the other woman" in the scenario. DH asked me if there was anyone going who liked my besties aside from me. I figure 2 other close friends, her daughter, my mom and her ex. I imagine there will be tails to tell tonight.HB
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HB, isn't it wonderful how babies bring families together? Just have everyone check their weapons at the door! 😏
I have knockout roses that are 14 years old, which I attribute to my policy of benign neglect. When a stalk starts to go native, I cut it off and the rest of the bush carries on. They are bushes, not climbers. I have never raised climbing roses, but I wouldn't be afraid to try it if I had a nice trellis bench. One thing about knockouts is they have no noticeable scent, so you don't have that lovely rose fragrance while canoodling on the bench on moonlit nights. 😍
The neighborhood pool is opening today, and we are having a party to celebrate. There will be food trucks and live music from 11:00 to 2:00. We're looking at 75 degrees and sun, so I am going to put on my sunglasses and go. 😎
You all have a wonderful day.
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Everyones photos have been such fun I am going to try. This has taken me hours to figure out how to share on.
Cowboy grandson
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I am jumping up and down with joy. I will post a few more…I promise not a lot.
My easel Christmas tree
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