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Sunday, May 17, 2026

Quiet Weekend

80°f/26.7°C already, and it's only noon. Humid as can be after a showery day yesterday, then thunderstorms last night. 

So thankful for rain! At last, it was enough to get the gardens well-soaked. You can almost see the plants growing. A half-inch of good rain is a real blessing.

It has been such a busy week that I have had little time to even think about what to write. Friday we worked hard in the gardens and yard. We put down cardboard and spread all the grass clippings mulch we picked up Thursday evening.  I took a fall while we were getting that, didn't really hurt myself except for soreness, but I could not get up! That new knee would not bend enough for me to get the leverage I needed.  Very annoying. Our friend Glenn got a stepstool and I got up easily enough then. But good grief, I can't carry a stepstool everywhere. So I will call my doctor and see about physical therapy so I can find an alternative way to get up. That should be fun.  Not. 

Poor Glenn was so worried I was hurt or had broken a bone. I told him God built me well-padded for a reason. Larry, on the other hand, was more concerned about whether it was his fault--- which it was, because he had, for no good reason, taken the truck way up the hill, so Glenn and I had to walk up, and I stepped in a hole. That's my man, self-defensive first and always, even though no one blamed him. But my strong bones stood me in good stead, again. This was the first time i have actually knelt on that knee, and it wasn't too bad, since it was on soft grass. Didn't even get a bruise!

Yesterday I took it easy. I went to our Ravenswood booth and had a good visit with Leah, the owner, who is facing brain surgery for an aneurism next week. She is scared, of course. It has been a rough year for her: first that weird infection last summer that almost killed her and took 5 months for recovery, then a small heart attack that required surgery to repair an artery, then last week her beloved dog died, and now this. Please keep her in your thoughts, and prayers if you pray. 

I did a good booth tidying,  which was needed since a cabinet and a table had sold, along with a few other large items. I hadn't brought in anything, so could just focus on rearranging. A stop at a thrift, the grocery store, and to pick up another cabinet, a rustic thing that will need sanding and new shelves, but for $5.00? Yes please. And that was pretty much my day. 

Today? Well, very slow again! Just too hot and humid too fast, after being so cool for weeks. I made a big brunch of leftover waffles, blueberry syrup, sausage and eggs, coffee, and tomato juice. That will hold us til dinnertime!  I also finally rearranged my hot weather/cold weather clothes, and we moved the old iron bed I won at the auction into my workroom.  I thought it was a steal for $4.00. 


It needs one brass ball replaced which I can get on ebay, and just a good cleaning. I hope that this winter I will have that room cleared out enough to also add a dresser.  It will still be my ebay storage and workroom, but having the extra bed will be nice. (The tall mirror with the gold frame was an auction buy too).

Another thing from the auction was kinda funny: an Irobot roomba vacuum. I got it for $8, and felt pretty sure it wouldn't work, even though it was in the original box with all the papers, etc. But it works great (so far), and vacuumed the whole house this morning. I feel spoiled.

Tomorrow I will be up early, getting done what I can before it gets hot again. The rhythm of our lives will shift to summer mode, outside work in the mornings and evenings, inside in the afternoons. Last week we had a firepit every evening, but I think that might not happen again until things cool off mid-week. 


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Thankful

47°f/8.3°C, cloudy. 

Such green! What beauty surrounds us every day.

I am thankful today for blog friend Michelle, who reminds us every Thursday to stop a moment and appreciate something good in our lives. Often I am so busy I don't take the time to say, yes, I am fortunate, or yes, this good thing happened.

So today Larry had his twice yearly appointment with his doctor, and it was mostly good news. He's lost 10 pounds, blood pressure is amazing, blood sugar and other numbers all good. 

Then we stopped for lunch at Shari's and met up with several friends there, one who just won a seat on the Ripley City Council. A former teacher, she is a bright, intelligent lady and will be a good council member. Shari's saved boxes for us to use as mulch in the garden, and our friend Glenn has a load of grass clippings for us too, which we will pick up this evening.

Right now we are on the way to Ohio for the auction pickup. I was lucky enough to win a few quilts, an old iron bed, abd several other things, all for reasonable prices.

So all good things, and I am grateful for them all. Thank you, Michelle, for the weekly reminder!



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Catching Up

47°f/8.3°C, rainshowers, overcast 

I am so grateful for the rain we have had this morning. It is badly needed, although we are not as bad off as many areas. But my is it chilly! We tried to take our morning coffee out on the porch, but even with a sweatshirt on, it was too cold to stay out there more than a few minutes. The plants are quite happy, and I am wishing I had got more in the ground yesterday evening instead of pruning bushes. So much needs to be done at this time of year!  

A start on mulching the herb garden

I did get several tomato plants in, and a few replacement cabbage plants, as something ate some of the early ones. Monday I also planted pepper and marigold plants, and seeded sweet corn, purpke and wax bush beans, and a row of flower seeds I collected from my garden last fall. My basil and dill are up, and I think some of the onion seeds, although they are so tiny it's hard to see them. First time I have tried growing onions from seed. I planted more kale, lettuce, radishes seeds and onion sets too. The garden is just about full. I got more mulch put down but ran out of boxes, so will have to get some in town tomorrow.  I use hay or straw on top of the cardboard and it has been great for my soil.


My Mother's Day breakfast! I had to make it myself, since Larry doesn't know how to nake waffles,  but it was a real treat. 

We picked up more bagged mulch yesterday for the herb garden, more soil for my planters and plants to go in them, and 2 more cattle panels to use as trellis for the tomatoes. If you're not sure what a cattle panel is, here's a link to a gardener using them like we are going. They have become very popular for garden uses. At about $30 each, they are an investment for sure, but we should be able to use them for as long as we continue to garden. I am tired of buying stakes that rot after a couple years, and those tomato cages are pricey now, and in my opinion don't work very well.

Drift roses take so little care, one reason to love them. 

Since it's wet and more rain on the way, I will have an indoor day, hopefully finishing up the chest of drawers I have been working on intermittently, and getting things priced for the booths. Right now I don't have a single thing priced, so I need to get busy on that.

Yesterday while shopping, I heard some radio station playing a country music song. The theme of the song was the same as thousands, probably millions, of other songs: love relationships. Most of these songs focus on romantic love and all its many complications inherent in such love. I don't know about you, but I get tired of the same ol' same ol'. I really don't care if she doesn't love him, or he cheats on her, or hearing how the singer is promising forever love in his/her desperation to get the other into bed. It's not that I dislike romance, but I am so happy when I hear a song with some other storyline! 

And that got me thinking about love. Which made me think about the old veteran we met the other day, and his daughter taking such good care of him. Then yesterday a lady in line at the register in front of me had 2 full grocery carts of plants. A woman after my own heart! She told me that these were all for her parents' flowerbeds. She had already planted hers, and she always does theirs for them. "They love flowers so much," she said. "This just makes them happy." 

Behind me in line was a younger lady who was buying a straw garden hat. I offered to let her go in front of me, since i had quite a lot to check out. "That's okay," she said. "I take care of my grandfather, but today my daughter is home with him, so I get a break. I'm in no hurry!"

To me, these women all deserve love songs written about them. That's the real deep love that we all long for, isn't it, the kind that's there through thick and thin, not asking for anything in return. But I guess it's just not sexy enough for airtime. 

And ending with this ad in a local Facebook group. Iris, I can see you driving this!






Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
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