July is winding down

I'll be so glad when this summer is over. It's been dreadfully hot, even by South Carolina standards. I seem to get less and less tolerant of the heat the older I get, and I just can't seem to enjoy anything this time of year. Even my friend's pool offers no relief; the water is as warm as a sauna. Forget doing much of anything outside, with heat values over 100 degrees day after day. I realized today that one of the reasons I don't mind working all summer is that I'd just be sitting inside my house hiding out in the a/c. I might as well be at work in the a/c earning money. I get paid for 30 more days of work each year than the teachers do, and I wouldn't be going on vacation during that time anyway. 

I've had a little bit of fun this summer, though. I've read two books recently: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (for my book club) and then the new book by Daniel Mason, Country People. The Midnight Library was a quick read and mildly entertaining, although nothing really special. It did lead to some interesting conversation at book club, though. Country People is wonderful. Daniel Mason wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, North Woods, so I ordered a copy as soon as it was released. I really enjoyed it. Reading is great fun when you're stuck in the house!

Then Marla came over last Saturday afternoon and spent several hours with me. I made strawberry daiquiris from some of the fresh local strawberries I'd put in the freezer back in April, along with some snacks: a hot Rotel dip in the crockpot, cold sour cream/ranch dip, potato and tortilla chips for dipping, King's Hawaiian Ham and Swiss sliders, and caramel turtle brownies. I also made a pitcher of iced tea for when the daiquiris got cloying (which never happened, haha). 

The dogs were absolutely thrilled to see her, as usual. She was actually with me the day I first met George at the Darlington County Humane Society back in 2013. She loves both the dogs like she loves her own pets, and they know it. As soon as I saw her car pull into the driveway I announced, "MARLA IS HERE!" and Poppy and George nearly tripped over themselves running for the door to greet her. 

Speaking of the dogs, we used to sometimes call Ginger "Gingerbread". This afternoon, Marco called Poppy "Gingerbread" and when I said, "That's not Gingerbread, silly. That's Poppy." he sat there for a second and then called her "Baby Bread" instead! How stinkin' cute is that? It makes me so happy that he hasn't forgotten Ginger even though she's been gone almost 6 years now. We still miss her so much.

Today was the first day back at work for the teachers and most of the staff. It was so good to see everyone again and to meet the new teachers coming on board! We started the day with a catered breakfast and some time to catch up, which was nice. After that my office was a popular place, because as the bookkeeper I had the teachers' supply checks to give out! (Every teacher gets a $400 check at the beginning of the year to spend on whatever they want for their classrooms.) 

Tomorrow most of the staff will be at professional development, including me. I'll be up at one of the administrative buildings all day for the annual bookkeepers' meeting/training. It was great the first year or two when I was still a newbie, but these days it's just a lot of the same old, same old and boring PowerPoint presentations. It will be good to see the other district bookkeepers and the accountants, but other than that I wish I didn't have to go. Still, I marvel every day at how lucky I am to have a job I love. I got my updated salary letter the other day and this year I have an annual increase of 8%...a really solid, nice raise! So I won't complain about boring meetings and training sessions. 

The students will return next Wednesday, so summer break is winding down for them, too. 

My three kids

When I returned to work on Monday, Gregg texted me around lunchtime to tell me that the dogs were miserable, especially Poppy. They kept going to the back door and windows to look longingly at the driveway, checking to see if I was back yet. Lots of big sighs and sad eyes. Poppy finally draped herself over the back of a small sofa that has a driveway view, and laid there all afternoon, waiting. I asked if Marco had missed me, too. Gregg said, "I'm not sure, but he's been a little asshole all day, so I imagine he's sick of me if nothing else." Ha. When I finally got home, there was absolute doggy joy. (Jennifer joy, too!)

Yesterday when I got home from work, the dogs got so excited and wound up that they started pulling toys out of the toy basket and play-fighting with each other in front of me. Marco watched from his perch, obviously wanting to join in the fun. Lately he's been getting braver about approaching them, and George and Poppy have been showing remarkable tolerance with it. It's a good thing, too, because when there was a pause in the doggy roughhousing, Marco decided it was time to move right up into both their faces. He's awfully bold, and the dogs are awfully good!

 All the kids in one shot!

My gentle Georgie. When he was a wild and crazy 

youngster, I wouldn't have believed this was possible.

Little sister Poppy.

Checking in, and catching up

Hey friends, it's been a while, and I've missed you all! How are you?

I'm going to spend some time this afternoon catching up with everyone's blogs. I've been super busy but thankfully all the stuff consuming my time and attention is done and dusted. This week is Thanksgiving break, and last year the district started giving us the entire week off. How nice is that? 

The diaper cake was apparently a big hit at the baby shower. My friends said that several people asked if I make them to sell, and said that if I don't, I should. (Maybe I should consider a small side hustle in designing diaper cakes? Some extra cash would be nice). The most important thing, though, is that the parents really liked it and appreciated the effort. 

Last Wednesday night I hosted my book club. That was another thing I had on my plate, cleaning the house and planning food and drinks for that. Since I usually only have to host once a year, I like to make it extra nice, and it stresses me out more than it should. This year wasn't too bad, though. Since Gregg retired he does 75% of the housework anyway, and he went to a lot of extra trouble doing things like dusting blinds and ceiling fans, mopping hardwood floors, and generally making everything as easy for me as possible. I love that man!

For food, I made toasted King's Hawaiian ham and Swiss cheese sliders, hot spinach artichoke dip with assorted chips and crackers, deviled eggs, crockpot grape jelly meatballs (don't laugh, they're good!), and cranberry pineapple relish. To finish I bought three ready-made desserts from Sam's: apple pie, pumpkin cream cheese roll, and a big box of assorted baklava. There were three kinds of red wine and two white, as well as iced tea, bottled water, and sodas to drink. My guests inhaled the food and complimented everything, and I think they had a good time. We're not used to having much company, and a dozen women milling around and talking and laughing for two hours makes me feel like a hurricane has blown through when it's over. Even the dogs were exhausted. *

The next night, Thursday, I made up another huge batch of deviled eggs for a work potluck on Friday. For those and for book club I used already pre-boiled eggs from the grocery store deli. For family meals, I'd boil and peel my own, but for a crowd the pre-done ones work like a charm. There was a ton of food at the potluck and coming on the heels of book club I don't feel like I want much more rich, heavy food. I'm considering some simple alternatives to the big turkey dinner on Thursday.

This morning, I had a 9:00 appointment with the dentist, the final appointment for this new crown I've got. It's a relief to have that done, even if I am $900 poorer for it! I will say that my new young dentist did a really good job, and this has been the most discomfort-free crown I've ever had. I told him so, too. 

So now I have the week off, and no more pressing obligations. It's going to be a quiet week at home, with Gregg and the pups and Marco. I went to the bookstore and bought a new novel I'd been waiting for, and there are several tv shows and movies I'd like to watch. I'm looking forward to a really relaxed, hassle-free Thanksgiving.

Some random pictures from the last week or so:

I finally got around to making Gregg his belated birthday pineapple upside down cake last weekend!

I bought this pretty Christmas cactus at the grocery store and added fairy lights brighten up the dining room. 

This cat has been hanging around a lot lately, hoping for a handout. I might have been guilty of leaving some cooked salmon out there for him/her one night when the weather turned very cold. Oops.

We've ended up with three big bags of apples (don't ask) and I'm trying to get creative to use them up. Last night I made battered, fried apple rings dusted with cinnamon sugar. They were delicious warm, but soggy and oily and awful after getting cold. 

The boys!

The girl!

The other boy, my favorite. He has no idea I took this picture. Don't tell him! :)

*The book we discussed this month is a classic and one of my all-time favorites: My Antonia by Willa Cather.

Eighteen!

 This beautiful boy turned 18 years old last month. How time does fly.

Now I understand

Just a minute ago I clicked on a headline: US Supreme Court lets Trump Remove Consumer Product Safety for Now. Before I knew what I was doing, I yelled "WHAT THE FUCK?!" at the computer screen. 

I realized as soon as it flew out of my mouth that I do that on a regular basis these days when I read upsetting news stories. It's my go-to expression of outrage. Marco, of course, was right there beside me, listening. 

You know what this means, right? 

It's Donald J. Trump's fault that Marco has learned to drop that particular F-bomb! lol

Lusty May

Happy May Day! I always think of the naughty rhyme about the First of May this time of year. Do you know it? :)

Speaking of naughty, yesterday I was chatting with John Gray and he happened to mention Marco. Since everyone loves a good Marco story, I thought I'd share a couple of snippets of our ensuing conversation. 

I'm sure I say this every year, but it seems to be taking Marco's spring hormones forever to subside. This nonsense has been going on since February!

Break, birthday, and a brat

It's Spring Break! I've been off since last Friday and don't go back to work until Monday. Easter was so late this year that it seemed like this break would never get here. For the teachers and kids, there's only about four weeks left in the school year. I work all summer (with the exception of a little over a week off around the 4th of July) but as soon as school's out I'll be on "summer hours" and I'm looking forward to that. District employees who work through the summer only have to work 9am-3pm, Monday through Thursday and Fridays off. How sweet is that?

Meanwhile, this week, it's vacation. A much-needed vacation.

Today is Administrative Professionals Day. Since we weren't going to be at school this week, the administration and staff surprised me, Robin (the receptionist) and Ms. Williamson (the data/records/attendance clerk) with all kinds of gifts on Thursday afternoon. We got flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, $50 Walmart gift cards, and a nice card signed by teachers and staff. It was all so thoughtful and lovely!

Pretty pink hydrangea plant!

The strawberries were absolutely delicious! 

Today is also St. George's day, which I picked as our George's birthday the first year we had him. He's 12 years old now! He's come a long, long way from the wild, slightly traumatized shelter pup we adopted back in 2013. He's mellowed into a gentle, sweet, loveable old fellow who's always happy. He's also really active and healthy for 12 years old which I'm so thankful for. 

Gregg has a special thing he does with George occasionally, just the two of them. He gets up very early and the two of them tiptoe out of the house, jump in the van, and go to the park down the road for an early morning ramble. This morning I woke up at daybreak when I heard George's harness click into place, and I knew they were headed to the park. It made me smile (then Poppy and I went back to sleep).

Later in the morning I went to Sam's, and I found some large, good quality dog beds on sale for a really good price. So Georgie got a new bed for his birthday! He's already taken a nap on it, so I guess he likes it.

We love him to bits. He's a very good boy!

Speaking of George and life with our pets, I'll leave you with one other thing that happened this week. 

Guess what I caught Marco doing a couple of days ago?

Creeping around on the floor eating dog food out of George's bowl!! That's what! 

Little a**hole. He drives me crazy.

Miscellany

Is it just me, or did January seem like the longest month ever? It seems like New Year's Day was months ago rather than mere weeks. 

Gregg finished his five rounds of radiation early in the month. It was much easier than he was afraid it would be and the few side effects he's had have been relatively minor. We won't know how successful it was until March, when he's scheduled for a CT scan and follow up appointments. I hope that will be the end of this situation. It's been a constant nagging worry for months now. 

Plenty of other things were hard to deal with in January, of course the biggest was the return of the Trump to the White House. It's less than two weeks into his term and it's been utter chaos and flagrant cruelty in a non-stop barrage of evil (and mostly illegal) executive orders. It's been really hard to try to put all that aside and carry on with normal life, but for the sake of my mental health I've had to try. I know most of you understand.

It's going to be a long four years, friends. 

But enough about that. It's a new month in a still new year, and today the sun is shining and I'm at home. George and Poppy are always thrilled when they realize it's a weekend morning and I'm not leaving for work. They wrestled and played on the rug in front of me while I had my morning coffee earlier. Marco was on one of his big perches nearby, squawking and flapping his wings and obviously wanting to jump into the middle of the dogs' play fighting and participate. We have to keep a close eye on him to prevent that, because he doesn't have enough common sense to realize how badly that could go! The dogs wouldn't intentionally hurt him, but they play really rough with each other and get really wound up and fierce. Any normal bird wouldn't want any part of two "fighting" dogs, but Marco thinks it looks like fun! 

Speaking of life with Marco...this morning, while taking a shower, Gregg noticed a section of paint chewed off a corner at one end of the shower curtain rod. That's classic Marco business right there. Sometimes he likes to perch on the curtain rod while I shower so that I can give him a quick shower, too.  This isn't the first time he's chewed paint off that spot. We just (re)painted the bathroom last summer and tried to be diligent in keeping him away from that particular corner. I have no idea when or how he got away with it this time, and Gregg is PISSED. We have some extra leftover paint, and can touch up the area without too much trouble, but he's still pretty mad about it. Since he retired last spring, he's at home a lot more and gets pretty tired of dealing with Marco's bad behaviors day in and day out. 

In the linen closet the other day, refusing to come out. Incidentally, one of the outer corners of this closet is where he chewed off the paint. He's a real asshole sometimes.

In other exciting news, I started some tomato seeds last week and they've begun to sprout! Plans for the 2025 garden are well underway. This afternoon I want to start pepper seeds (I should have done this already) and I need to place a seed order soon. I plan to make a second, smaller raised bed this year so I can grow some extra vegetables. I'm afraid that produce prices are going to skyrocket this summer, and the more I can grow for us, the better. I'd also like to plant a lot more zinnia varieties this year, both for the pollinators and for the simple joy of bouquets in the house. I love cut flowers, and zinnias are so easy and cheerful!

Do you have any gardening plans this year?

Are you as glad as me that January is finally over? 

What are you up to this first weekend in February?

Answers on a postcard, please.

Little jerk

 

Here's a recent photo of the Marcoman doing one of his favorite things: raiding the pantry! This time, at least, I got there before he had a chance to do any damage. 

I'm sure he's already plotting his next attempt.

Start of September

The start of September is really welcome to me this year. It's been a long, hot summer that I'll be happy to see the back of. I've had some struggles both with mental health (set off by a change in medications that had to be sorted out) and ongoing family issues. Things seem to be improving now, though. I've been working hard on taking better care of myself and it's finally starting to pay off. A change of seasons will be nice for moving on.

And I can't wait for better weather! Today is still warm and humid but starting tomorrow we're supposed to have nice temperatures for more than a week--mid-80s for highs and 60s for lows. I'll be spending more time on the back porch as the weather cools down. The past couple of mornings (before it got too hot) Gregg and I spent two or three hours out there watching the birds at the feeders and the butterflies around the zinnias. Marco and the dogs are usually out there when we are, enjoying some fresh air and sunshine. Here's a short clip I took the other day of Marco climbing his porch play gym. Everybody loves to see Marco, I think.

It's Labor Day weekend so I'm off work tomorrow. I really appreciate the three-day weekend; the extra day feels like a luxury. 

Happy Labor Day to my fellow Americans, and happy Sunday to the rest of you!

Sixteen

 Happy Hatchday, Marco!

Recap of the week

 This week, in bullet points.

• Work has been tough. Student behavior among middle-schoolers always seems to be at its worst in early spring, but this year has been a disaster on a whole other level. More fights, huge classroom disruptions, four incidents in the past week alone where kids were threatening teachers and staff, and on and on. While I'm luckier than most in that I have a quiet, private office to work in, even the stress of my job is getting worse. I have to hold regular truancy interventions with families, and you wouldn't believe the cans of worms THOSE often open up. I'm on the phone at least once a week with DSS making reports of child neglect (educational and otherwise), and I have to schedule and prepare paperwork for all of our expulsion hearings this year, too. (Processing discipline referrals is part of my job along with attendance and record keeping). It can all be very unpleasant, to say the least, when you work in a school with such tough demographics. Our student poverty rate is up around 70% which explains all the other problems, I suppose.
• I still haven't heard anything about the job I applied for. It's still listed on the district website as open, and I hope that since the job won't start until July they're just taking their time about filling it. But I've decided the best thing to do now is to forget about it and keep looking. I was sad to learn that four more teachers I've known for years and (and really like) have accepted offers elsewhere. This makes 15 teachers that I know of who can't or won't continue working at our school next year. I don't know how we're going to function given the teacher shortage (and our school's reputation).
• WINTER IS COMING BACK. Because of course it is. It's going to get down to freezing a couple of nights next week, and I'm trying to figure out how to save the new young leaves and flowers on the crabapple, fig, and blueberries. Late freezes are pretty common in the spring, but what's not common is how far along everything already is due to the warm winter. If you can even call it a winter this year! 
• At least the plants I started in the house are safe. I've already had to start potting up tomato plants and they're growing like mad under the aquatic grow light Gregg found for me to use. Soon I'll be out of room inside, but at least we have the porch to keep them on until they acclimate to the outdoors, and the weather is consistently warm.
• Marco is driving us crazy. He's having some problematic breeding behaviors that we can't seem to stop. Gregg would tell you the main problem is his screaming for attention. (It makes him furious, and it is awful to listen to). But if you ask me, the main problem is that he tries to "feed" a pretend girlfriend as part of his mating behaviors, and that involves puking up food...wherever he can. We've removed all toys from his cage, and so now he regurgitates onto the side of his food and water dishes. I have to wash them multiple times a day and this has been going on for weeks now. It's pretty gross, not to mention, time consuming. If only it were possible to spay or neuter birds!

Last of all, here's a picture of my two sweet pups. They go nuts with happiness and excitement every day when I get home from work. Often this is the very best part of my day.

They were both vying for the chance to lick my feet after I took my shoes off the other day. That's true love!

At least it's never boring.

The other day, my husband said to me, "There will be no more pets in this house. I am done." I think it was listening to Marco scream (for no good reason) for the 133,563rd time that sent him over the edge. Maybe.

I understood and agreed with him. Two dogs and a parrot are more than enough for anyone! That's not even counting the aquarium animals that have to be cared for (that's his department). Our pets are always needing something: feeding in the morning, walks twice a day, baths for the dogs, cage cleaning for Marco. Lots of attention for all three before we leave for work in the morning and again when we get home in the evening. Feeding everyone again at suppertime. Sometimes all I want to do after work is watch trash tv and zone out for a couple of hours, with no one needing anything from me. But no, I have responsibilities....and to be fair, it's not like they asked to live here with us. Duty calls.

And the vet bills! Two weeks ago, George had to go to the vet to get his limp checked out and also his yearly heartworm prevention shot. That visit was over $300. Then on Tuesday I had to take him back to the vet because his ears had gotten red and inflamed and were driving him crazy. It turned out he had bacterial and yeast infections in them and was prescribed an ointment that we'll be putting in his ears every other day for the next two weeks. He also needed a refill of his anti-inflammatory pills for his arthritic knee. Cost of Tuesday's visit: $190. Five hundred dollars and we're not even halfway through October yet! The vet bills are breaking us.

But hey, you can't put a price on love, right? They bring us a lot of fun and happiness. Plus, there's never a dull moment in our house, as the following little anecdote I shared on Facebook just now so vividly illustrates:

This morning when I let Marco out of his cage, he took off flying. The breeze from his wings as he passed through the kitchen caused a piece of wax paper (that had held a medicated dog treat for George) to flutter to the floor. Before I could stop her, Poppy snatched it up, raced to the bedroom, dropped down on her belly, and ARMY CRAWLED UNDER THE BED AS FAST AS SHE COULD so I couldn't take it from her. Then when I went back to find Marco, he was in the pantry attempting to bust into a bag of walnuts.

This is my life.

Hatchday!

 Today, the one and only Marcoman is 15 years old! Happy Hatchday, Marco!

I decided to make today festive so I invited Marla and Martina over to help us celebrate. I sent Marla the following text last night, and her reply made me laugh.

We had a tiny little party on the porch this afternoon with lots of good treats and hard apple cider!

I even made Cajun spice boiled peanuts in the crockpot overnight. Marco loved those the most!

Many happy returns, buddy!

This and that on a Thursday afternoon

Happy Friday Eve! (As a coworker of mine used to say)

It's been another long and busy week. My new job is absolutely crushing me at the moment. There's so much to do, and not enough hours in the day to get to everything. Most afternoons I end up staying over anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour beyond when I'm supposed to get off. I don't get paid overtime, either. 

On the bright side, I'm learning a lot, and my new boss has had nothing but praise for the job I'm doing. She's been very friendly and kind, which is saying something because most of the staff is terrified of her! She's already demoted and fired some people and threatened to fire others. It's obvious she came to our school with the intention to "clean house" so to speak, so I'm grateful that I keep getting more responsibilities, not less! She's told me that I'm valuable to her and that she has faith in me to do a good job. She shows she means it by leaving me strictly alone to manage my own workday and tasks. So far, so good...although I'm still nervous about her. It's hard not to be when almost everyone else walks around on eggshells all the time! Hopefully she'll settle into her new job soon, and then everyone will be able to relax a little. 

Gregg had his colonoscopy on Monday, and it turns out his oncologist had also ordered an endoscopy to be done at the same time. The colonoscopy was all clear, but the endoscopy showed a "nodule" on his duodenum. The doctor took samples to biopsy and we probably won't hear anything until the middle of next week. That's kind of scary. The doctor was careful to not say much of anything about it one way or the other, and was out the door in less than a minute. There's nothing to do but wait and see. 

What else? I spoke to Prophet (Little P.) and his mom the other day! They're both doing well, and we've made plans to have dinner together one night next week. I sure miss seeing them both at work, though!

I don't know how to end this post so I'll just sign off with a picture I just snapped of Marco T. Barlow* amusing himself with chewing on an ink pen while I type away at the computer. He's still up to his devilish bird business, just like always! 

* Marco will be 15 years old next month! I was thinking of having a little hatchday party for him...but would that be too weird?! I could invite all his favorite people over, and we could have birthday cake and deviled eggs (hahaha!) and wine, which he also likes. What do you think?

Still around...

It hasn't been a great month for blogging. Life is super busy at the moment, plus these last two weeks of school seem to be dragging on and on and on. I'm so glad this awful year is over, and I'm really looking forward to my seven weeks off. It's sorely needed, for lots of reasons. One of the things I'm really looking forward to is spending more time reading blogs and commenting and writing more often than once a week!

In leiu of writing a lot of uninspired drivel today, I'll just leave you with some pictures I've taken over the last week or so with some brief context. I'll be back for real sometime next week. I hope everyone is well and enjoying the start of summer! (Or winter, if Sarah is reading) 

Our beautiful niece and her husband were visiting family in North Carolina last week. They made a special trip down to Florence last Friday afternoon to see us. They currently live in Portland, Oregon, where Melissa is finishing up law school. It was so good to see them! And as you can see in these photos, Marco, George, and Poppy were thrilled to see (or in Poppy's case, meet) them, too.

Speaking of Poppy...

What a sweet, smart dog she's turning out to be. George is starting to have fun playing with her, too. Who can resist this face?

On to a couple of garden pictures. My tomatoes are starting to flower, and I'm still getting bagsful of beautiful fresh lettuce.

My bee balm is over 4 feet high, and it's about to flower. The zinnias have a few buds getting ready to open.

And finally........Marco! I know he has more fans than all the rest of us put together out there. :) Here he is with a little "snuggle teepee" someone sewed for him...and then another photo of him on the porch the other day.

 

Catching up

 I'm home sick today. After almost two weeks of dealing with shortness of breath, a dry cough, chills, and a general feeling of being unwell, I called the doctor Tuesday afternoon and made an appointment for yesterday. 

I was pretty sure I didn't have Covid, because I'd taken two at-home tests that were negative. The doctor confirmed that it wasn't that (thank goodness) but just as I expected it was an exacerbation of seasonal allergies that led to an exacerbation of asthma. He also thought I might have the beginning of a bacterial infection in my lungs. I came home with prescriptions for prednisone, antibiotics, a new inhaler, a nasal spray, and a note excusing me from work for the rest of yesterday afternoon and today. 

One thing the doctor noticed worries me a little. My blood pressure was very high, particularly the bottom number. This was very unusual. He didn't seem too worried about it, given that I'd been feeling so bad and struggling to get good deep breaths, but it bears watching. One thing I didn't tell the doctor is that when I left work the hour before, I was very angry and upset. The office women were being horribly rude to me (they were mad they'd have to cover my desk and the front door while I was gone). Normally I can shrug off their toxic behavior, but when I'm not feeling well physically that becomes harder to do. On Tuesday when I first made the appointment and let everyone know I'd have to leave for a couple of hours, the principal overheard one of them going off on me about it and he was pissed. He called me at home that night and told me he intended to address their nasty attitudes. He said, "You work way too hard to be treated that way." Apparently he hadn't had time yet (yesterday morning) to talk to them, and when it was time for me to leave for the appointment they were incredibly rude about it. I was in tears when I left, and plenty mad, too. I'm so glad the doctor told me not to go back to work afterwards and to take today off too! Let them suffer for treating me like dirt! Hopefully by the time I go back on Friday the principal will have addressed the problem with them. In any case, I wonder if getting so emotionally upset had anything to do with my crazy high blood pressure reading? Gregg thinks it's definitely possible. When I'm not feeling so physically poor I should be able to ignore them and let it go, like usual. I don't expect things to change much, but I've gotten very good (most of the time) at shrugging it off.

I made a mistake in taking the first dose of prednisone with dinner last night. I probably didn't get over 3 or 4 hours of (broken) sleep. I'll be taking today's dose as soon as I eat breakfast! I already feel a good bit better despite the lack of sleep--prednisone is like a miracle drug for me. My eczema clears up, my allergies dry up, and I feel much better, fast, whenever I take it. I've decided to get a referral to an allergist and to talk to them about getting a full range of allergy testing and starting allergy shots. We'll see how that works out.

I meant to post last week as my spring break was winding down. They had the plant and flower festival at the farmer's market, and I went out and bought three blueberry shrubs to plant over by my raised garden bed. I got two of the variety "Premier" and one of "Pink Lemonade". The Pink Lemonade is supposed to get pink berries instead of blue, and they're supposed to be twice as sweet as the blues. We shall see! My little quarter-acre "homestead" (Haha) is coming along nicely. Even the crabapple tree I planted in front is finally, finally getting some tiny new leaves. It was a bare stick for so long I was beginning to despair that it was really alive and not merely dormant! The fig tree I planted is growing nicely. I expect by next year I should get a few figs from it. In summer garden news, I've been getting loads of lettuce and radishes, the carrots are almost ready to harvest, my tomato and pepper seedlings are ready to be planted out, the potato vines are sprawling all over the place, and my cucumbers and snow peas are finally sprouting. My gardening brings me a lot of joy.

One last thing of note from last week. On Saturday Marla and Martina came over for a couple of hours. I almost canceled because I wasn't feeling too hot, but I really wanted to see them. Marla brought little Carsen with her, too! That child is growing up fast! She'll be four next month and she's got that crazy little kid energy. Between her and the puppy chasing each other through the house, George trying to stay out of the way, and Marco getting excited and wanting to be in the middle of everything, it was like a circus over here for a little while!

She's loved the big aquarium since she was a baby. Gregg keeps telling Marla she needs a tank of her own. To which Marla responds, "And is Uncle Gregg coming to take care of it for us?" :)

This next picture was typical of the visit!

I don't know about Carsen, but Poppy was worn out when they left.

Marco loved every minute of the chaos.

George was a very good boy, as usual. He's been so patient with Poppy, and he's always glad to see Martina and Marla and even little Carsen. Here he is saying goodbye to Carsen when her daddy came to pick her up. After she left, we all had wine and adult conversation.

Little boys

Returning to work and to a more normal workload these past two weeks has been exhausting. Last night I was in bed sound asleep by 10pm and didn't get up until 8am, so I had ten solid hours. Then this afternoon, after watching the first few cheesy episodes of that old 60's gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (feeling like I ought to be smoking Virginia Slims and sipping a Tom Collins the whole while), I took a two hour nap. It felt great.

Prince George was super happy to come lie at the foot of the bed and take a nap, too. I think he probably misses our daily summer afternoon naps together as much as I do. In fact, I just miss him, period, now that I'm back at school. I mean, look at this face. How could I not?

He sure has come a long way. Next week will be a full year since we lost Ginger, and he's finally settled into being the only dog and soaking up all the extra attention. He's better behaved and more mature now. A thoroughly good boy. 

I miss this rascal while at work, too. My most troublesome son. He'll be fourteen years old next month.

The one thing Marco likes about me going back to work is helping me get ready in the morning. Sitting on my shoulder and "helping" me put on makeup is one of his favorite things. Sometimes he preens my hair while I do it, which is kind of adorable. Another good boy (most of the time).

Here's my final picture to share with you today. Meike asked if I'd seen Little P. yet this year. Yes I have! How I'd missed that little boy! Even with only a two month break, it looks like he's grown some. I was so happy to finally see him again this week and give him a big hug.

Thursday afternoon

It's a typical late-July day in South Carolina. Hot and humid, with hazy skies that are especially thick looking today because (believe it or not) smoke in the atmosphere from the wildfires 3000 miles away has reached us. Except for a quick early morning walk with George, watering the garden, and a late afternoon dash to the grocery store (in the un-air conditioned truck, ugh!) I've been hibernating in the house with the a/c most of the day.

While outside watering the garden this morning, I saw a beautiful and new-to-me butterfly. I believe it was a Red-Spotted Purple, and I wanted to get a picture of it to show you. Instead, here's an image I found online:

    

                                                Limenitis arthemis astyanax

I had plenty of opportunity to take a picture of my particular specimen, but I decided to spare you. He was perched on top of a giant pile of dog turds and was not moving.* Apparently this is a thing butterflies do sometimes. But anyway, you're welcome. 

In other garden news, today I harvested my 80th individual tomato! I've only had a gram scale to weigh them with (don't ask) so I haven't totaled up the number of ounces or pounds, but I believe I've had at least 40 pounds of tomatoes. As soon as the season ends I'll total everything up, but in the meantime it's 80 fruits, approximately 40 pounds and counting. Most of my plants are still growing and setting fruit. This is almost unheard of in this area. 

Another 1+ pound Mr. Stripey.  

Mr. Stripey, sliced. I love the colors. It's a mild, sweet tomato.

Mr. Stripey and a couple of others are taller than me, now.

And my bananas! Have I mentioned that my bananas are blowing up? They're also taller than me these days.

Last but not least, I had to share a picture of Marco for all his fans out there. Here he is posing beside one of the bananas. He had just flown a circle around the porch and landed there. If we didn't have screen to stop him, I assure you he'd be out in the wild right now. 

*Doesn't this seem like some sort of allegory for all of Life?