Sunday this & that

As I get older, I find myself becoming less and less tolerant of heat. Today was 90 degrees (32C) and miserably humid. And it's only mid-May. I have a feeling this summer is going to be awful, and I was hoping for a little more time before the worst of it started. Sigh. This morning I went out around 9am to water the garden and half an hour later I could have wrung sweat out of my clothes. I came in and showered and stayed inside after that. I just can't stand it!

Which is unfortunate, because today was Carsen's 8th birthday party, and it was taking place at a local park. I bought her some books and a craft kit as a gift from me and Gregg and dropped it off at Marla's house prior to the party. Marla was disappointed that today had turned out to be so hot and humid. This time of year is always iffy as far as outdoor comfort level goes, but kids don't mind and I'm sure they had fun.

I ran down to Barnes and Noble to get Carsen's birthday gifts. Yes, I'm a last-minute auntie this year! The pet treat cutters/molds/recipes kit is a nod to the fact that Carsen has two new puppies this year, Boston Terriers the family dog gave birth to back at Christmastime. She loves her three dogs and will enjoy making homemade biscuits for them. I hope she likes the books, too. 

After dropping off the birthday gift, I came home and took a nap in the a/c. I felt guilty about this, because Gregg's been working on painting the outside trim on the house all day long. I would love to help him, but again, can't take the heat. I'm cooking him a nice supper to make up for it!

Speaking of a nice supper, the oven part of our gas range isn't heating. I'm sure it's a faulty igniter or something, but neither of us is handy with that kind of thing so I guess I'm going to have to find a repair person next week. I really can't be without an oven for too long! Because I knew it would be an issue this week, yesterday we fired up the grill and cooked a bunch of marinated chicken breasts and sirloin tips, which I'll make into dinners and lunches for the next several days. I also cooked corn on the cob and sweet onions wrapped in foil on the grill. I picked up the corn along with fresh tomatoes and a small watermelon from the farm stand, and tonight I'm making a pasta salad to go with grilled chicken. Tomorrow night will be teriyaki beef and stir-fried veggies with rice. Leftovers from both nights will make good work lunches, too, along with fresh salads. I can't wait until we're harvesting tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers and squash from our own garden, but the farm stand will do in the meantime.

A good Sunday night to everyone! Thanks for stopping by.

Matilda, Mattress, and a Monarch

This past Friday night I went downtown to our community theater to see my friend Marla's little girl perform in the kids' version of the musical Matilda. I still wasn't feeling my best, but I hated to miss it when I'd accepted the invitation weeks ago. Carsen (who looked like the smallest child on stage) was part of the "little kids" ensemble. Even though she didn't have a lead part, she was really nervous, and during the first half every time she was on stage she sort of stood behind a bigger kid. :)  I thought it was brave of her to participate, and her mom says she had fun with rehearsals and being part of the cast. I was proud of her and told her so afterwards. 

As a general rule, I dislike going to this theatre. The seats are tiny and uncomfortable, and worse, they're so close together that your arms and shoulders are inevitably pressed against the people seated to your left and right. Getting to your seat (if you're in the middle) involves squeezing past tight spaces, too. This is why, when a bad coughing fit threatened to overcome me just as the first child was singing a solo, I nearly lost my breath altogether trying to suppress it. I decided I'd rather quietly choke to death than risk causing a disturbance and squeezing past people to exit! After a couple of minutes of struggling, a big round of applause broke out and I was finally able to cough and catch my breath. I had to use my inhaler, too, but after that I was okay. Well, okay enough despite feeling like a sardine in a can in those awful seats! I won't be going back anytime soon, but I'm glad I was there to support my little friend.

Saturday Gregg and I went out furniture shopping. We'd decided that for our twentieth wedding anniversary next month we wanted a new bed and bedroom furniture. We've needed a new mattress for years anyway, and we decided to really treat ourselves with a larger (king as opposed to queen), more luxurious bed. We checked over half a dozen places, came home, looked over the website of one of the stores, and finally found something we liked. On Sunday we went back to the first store we'd shopped in to have them order the bed and furniture we'd found and to pick out a mattress. After an hour of lying on one after another, we agreed that we liked what turned out to be (surprise!) one of the most expensive ones they carry. We were a bit shocked at the price!

By the time they totaled up the bed, foundation, mattress, nightstands, etc., we found ourselves spending way over what we'd planned. But what the hell, right? You only get one 20th wedding anniversary, and a bed seems like both a practical and romantic idea. As we paid for everything, I said to Gregg (only half-jokingly), "Well, we can forget the trip we were talking about taking this fall! We'll have to stay home and pretend we're in a nice hotel!" * Even if that turns out to be true, we're making our home so much nicer with the new furniture and repairs/upgrades that we've been focused on that I don't really mind. We're pretty close to having our house exactly like we want it, and there will be time to travel afterwards, I hope. We're trying to spend money wisely while we can afford to do so.

In other news, the garden is really coming along. My cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers have flowers. The lettuce has been a disappointment (bitter tasting for some reason), but the carrots should be ready any day now and the beans are merrily climbing the trellis. We've also planted yellow squash that seem to be taking off. Everything looks good.

I'll leave you with a picture of Marco I enhanced with Chat GPT the other day. I hope it makes you smile. It really captures his personality! 

*The expected delivery for our new bed is in 6 to 8 weeks. SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS! Our anniversary will be over by then if that's true. Sigh.

A poem for Mother's Day

Maybe your mother was the perfect mother

Maybe she carried you

bled for you

sang to you

smiled at you

nurtured you and marveled in you

Maybe she understood your essence

and was patient and let you unfold 

in your own time and in your own way 

honoring the heart of you all the while

Maybe your mother cared for you 

Maybe she was there for you

long past childhood days 

Maybe your mother worked for you

cooked for you, sewed for you

Maybe your mother listened to you 

Maybe she held space for you

Maybe your mother laughed with you

played with you

stayed with you through all your years

Maybe your mother protected you

But

Maybe she neglected you

rejected you

Maybe she abandoned you

hard-handed you

betrayed you

flayed you

Maybe your mother couldn’t mother

Maybe your mother forgot you

lost interest 

grew cold 

Maybe she never really loved you

Maybe you were just her duty 

for a little while 

Maybe your mother did the best she could 

with what she had

Maybe she was sick or sad

Maybe her mother was bitter or bad

and hurt her in her deepest parts

Now

Maybe you are a mother 

Maybe you are a perfect mother 

Maybe you pour abundant love into 

your daughters, your sons

Maybe you delight in them

Maybe you struggle 

Maybe you feel exhausted 

resentful

lost and unseen

Maybe you feel nothing

Maybe you are just surviving

Maybe you are not a mother

but long to be a mother

Maybe you mother others 

Maybe you don’t want to be a mother; 

will never be a mother

Yet

We all need a mother 

Yes, we do

And maybe there is a perfect mother 

just for you

She is the mother of your mother 

and your mother’s mother

and back as far as the eye can see 

or mind can know 

or soul can feel

to the first mother 

Lie on the grass and feel Her heart

You were formed of Her earth 

You come from Her waters 

Her winds kiss your cheek eternally

Her rains cry with you when you cry 

and wash your wounds 

She will heal you

nourish you

wait for you

She will give you beauty

give you joy 

give you new life 

again and again 

She will always be there 

to enfold you in Her embrace 

when at last you return —

Maybe you have the perfect mother . . . 

~ Rebekah Myers, A Perfect Mother 

copyright © 5/9/2021 Rebekah Myers

post shared from Sacred Sisters Full Moon Circle

Disappointed

My dad's sister, my aunt Linda, was supposed to come to Florence tomorrow to spend the day with me. We've been planning it for a month, and I was pretty excited. We were going to have lunch and then go out exploring the city (she used to live here, but it's been about 20 years since she moved away and there's been a ton of growth). 

I was really touched that she wanted to drive two hours just to see and spend time with me. After my dad died my relationship with my mom broke down to the point that we're now estranged, and it's been hard effectively losing both my parents. Lately I feel sad about it a lot. It's nice having one blood relative left who seems to care about me. I was looking forward to showing Aunt Linda my house and garden and letting her meet Marco, George, and Poppy, and then spending the afternoon doing fun stuff together. I requested a personal day off weeks ago for it.

Then I woke up with a scratchy throat and a tickle in my chest on Sunday morning.

So, you guessed it...I'm sick. I felt so awful yesterday afternoon that I stopped on the way home from work and got a Covid and Flu at-home test. Both were negative. I'm guessing it's just a bad cold, but it's really knocked me for a loop. I really hated and hesitated to admit I didn't feel up to the visit, but last night I finally let her know. My aunt was super kind about it. She assured me we'd reschedule soon and told me to focus on feeling better. She also said that she's flying to Virginia this weekend to visit her son and his family and it might be wise to postpone and not risk getting sick herself right before her trip. Tonight she texted me just to check on how I was feeling, which was really nice. We agreed we'll try again in a few weeks. 

I'm still taking my day off tomorrow since I've been feeling so bad, and I need to use up some personal days anyway. I'm not looking forward to it except as a chance to get some extra rest. Then this weekend is Mother's Day and the thought of that makes me feel even more low. My mom made it plain to me last year that my cousin and her kids are her family now (she calls the children her grandchildren) and that she doesn't need or want me in her life. Which was honestly just a relief at first, but as time goes along it's come to feel more like grief. 

Worth the backache

My back has been killing me this week. I stayed home from work on Monday and spent the day in a stupor from muscle relaxers. I realized when I pulled the bottle from the medicine cabinet that my doctor had prescribed them to me exactly one year ago this week. It's pretty obvious that my garden and all the work that goes into it in April is the culprit!

Backache aside, the garden is doing well. The vegetable raised beds are planted and starting to grow. And my roses? Heavenly. The Eustacia Vye I planted last year has been absolutely covered in dozens of rosebuds, and the two newbies (Benjamin Britten and Desdemona) both have several flowers and they were bare root plants less than three months ago. I'm in love!

Just look at these beauties. 

A great week to be a Bear!

What a great week it's been at work!

Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day and I (along with the receptionist and the records/attendance clerk) received a lovely gift basket full of tulips and small gifts, plus a card signed by almost the whole staff. The sweet art teacher made us all candy bouquets, too. Three years in, and I still love my job and my coworkers. It doesn't get much better than that. 

Also on Wednesday, for the third year in a row our school was the top performer for this area in the American Heart Association Kids Heart Challenge. We have more family participation and raise more money than anyone in the district and our local AHA chapter head presented us with our third plaque and trophy.

But after all this excitement, yesterday was the absolute cherry on top. Our entire school gathered in the gym at 9am to watch the SCETV live stream announcing the winners of the state's Palmetto's Finest Award for 2026. Half the district office, the school board, the assistant superintendents all joined us and every waited with bated breath. (The superintendent watched the livestream from his office, citing his superstitious fear that watching at the school with us would be unlucky, haha)...

AND WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our school is this year's Palmetto's Finest elementary school winner! We all but raised the roof with cheers and applause and a spontaneous dance party!

Congratulations flowed in from all across the district (and even the state). Kids and staff high fived each other and hugged in the halls all day. Not much work got done, I can tell you that! It's such an honor. We're all very, very proud.

It's been a great week to be a Carver Bear!

My garden in April

These are a few buds from my second year Eustacia Vye rose. The bush is absolutely loaded with them (over 4 dozen at last count) and ready to burst forth into a glorious display. 

This Desdemona rosebush was nothing but a bare-root back in February, and today the first bloom opened. It already has a sweet, lemony fragrance. I'm in love!

The beans are really taking off.

And if someone could give me good advice on how to thin carrots, I'd appreciate it. I'm certain these are too closely planted, but maybe I'll get a few small ones.

Also, I have a huge kiddie pool "bowl" of salad! Look at this beautiful lettuce! I've already had a couple of handfuls of tender baby leaves.

Last but not least: my method of quickly hardening off young tomato plants: cover them lightly with pine straw mulch for shade. So far, I've planted 14 seedlings without hardening them off, and they're doing just fine. This weekend I'll plant the last 5 still to go as well as the pepper plants, and this year's garden will be ready to rock and roll.

 

Oh, the pain

I hope that everyone who celebrates had a nice Easter. In our house, it's like most other holidays, an excuse for a good meal and dessert. I nailed the good meal part (ham, rice, fresh asparagus, buttermilk biscuits) but the dessert was an utter failure. It was my first attempt at pound cake, and very discouraging. I don't know if I got a bad recipe, or if the cheap butter I used was an issue, or if I simply did something wrong, but all that work and it went right in the trash. The cakes (I used two loaf pans and had doubled the batter) were greasy, heavy, and, oddly, had turned a dark color on the inside with an unpleasant, almost nutty flavor. Trust me, they were gross...and after all that work! 

(Any bakers out there who might know what happened?)

Another thing about making the doomed cakes (as well as all the other cooking I did) was what it's done to my back. For some reason when I spend long periods of time standing at my kitchen counters and sink, my back will sometimes hurt like hell afterwards. *  Earlier in the day I'd spent a few hours working in the garden, then I came in and stood working in the kitchen for about 5 more hours. By bedtime my back was already getting stiff and sore, and when I got up yesterday morning it was worse. Last night I merely coughed one time, and my back went into such painful spasms that it made me gasp out loud. I'm lucky to have refills on muscle relaxers, and since I'm off it doesn't matter that they make me tired. I'm hoping it resolves before the rest of my time off is gone, though!

*I got a bad pulled muscle at work years ago, and my back hasn't been the same since.