Garden workout and poppies

I spent a couple of hours in the garden today - weeding, watering, and mowing the lawn with the push mower. We've let the grass get really long, and our tiny lawn is on an incline....so I got quite a workout....sweating and really pushing hard to get the job done.

I also filled the bird feeders, cleaned up the bird bath, and cut some drooping tulips for a vase.

There are seeds coming up all over the place. I had spread some poppie seeds (lovely purple ones), and I see little poppy plants showing up all over the place. Wonderful....they are beautiful flowers. Stately, purple....

Here is a shot of them from last year's garden. Our lawn looks even better now, and I'm thinking it is because I fertilized it twice and put down some compost on it too. It is like a spongy green shag carpet. No dandelions either. I'm realizing that if you weed early and often it isn't as much work.

Health update

I had another appointment with the Surgeon this week, and I'm delighted to report that my ROM is at 100 degrees. He is very happy and doesn't want to see me unless I've got problems that arise. Him yanking on the toe didn't even make me wince like the other times...let alone beg or cry.

I will credit:

-ruthless treadmill workouts that feature major incline
-Fede's wonderful ROM massages/torture sessions
-weekly yoga and dance classes that have me bending and moving
-accupuncture

YEA!!

I treated myself to buying a couple pairs of shoes (he sells shoes that his staff fit you for and he can personally approve won't mess up the bunion). They are really nice looking (not old-lady shoes), and I think I deserve some variety in the shoe department (I've got 2 pairs sanctioned by the Surgeon, walking and dress....).

The visitor

I'm on a movie roll. Tonight it was a drama and not a documentary. "The vistor" is a lovely movie....very un-Hollywood, and I mean that in the best way. Check out the trailer, which doesn't really do it justice.

http://www.thevisitorfilm.com/

Powerful documentary

As a practicing Catholic and lover of documentaries, this pretty much hits it on all counts. A former priest takes you on a tour of the dark side of Christianity (frankly, he only covers a part of it, he doesn't even touch on the stuff that happened during the colonial period).

Why would you watch this?

To have your eyes opened, to be saddened, to face new information, to get pissed off....

Springtime

Here are some pixs from the garden, featuring spinach, daffs, some of the tulips (which are crazy happy...I need to divide them this year), grape hyacinths (ditto), and the main bed of garlic.

I promise to continue to post updated shots, so you can see the ever evolving garden. The daffodil bed was planted up with lots of flower seeds on Sunday, so it should be pretty awesome in a month or two. I still need to plant the zinnia seeds to finish it off. I've tried to plant the tallest flowers against the tree (sunflowers) and descend to the shortest at the edge. Let's see how it all turns out. I see gardening like a painting. You try to blend form and color into a work of art. A seasonal work that slugs can eat, if you aren't careful.

Amanda

Tonight is a really dreary evening. Dark and pouring down rain. Fitting really. Today was Amanda's funeral, so the day started with sadness. I'm sorry, but resurrection is a great concept, but in the hard reality of loss, it doesn't really do it for me right now.

The funeral brought back memories of my abueltita's funeral...my first one, and I remember weeping inconsolably. Today I was asked to wash the body, which in modern day means washing the casket with Holy water sprinkled by our priest. I feel honored to do this....

Amanda was one of the leaders of our community. She was always there, organizing, calling, whenever there was a need she was around. I miss those monthly calls for the Comite meetings that she made without fail.

I feel so sad for us, and yet happy that Amanda isn't suffering anymore.

Gardening this weekend

The garden is looking pretty good. I've weeded a lot this past week, so that chore is not really needed right now.

I did plant a bunch of seeds today - cosmos, "Van Gogh" sunflowers, butterfly flowers, Mexican sunflowers. I then watered up all the beds, since we are having a dry spring spell.

The bed on the south side of the house - hard to water and hot as heck in the summer -was seeded with a Xeriscape flower mix. They are starting to come up, and I'm so excited! My hope is that the bed is full of luscious flowers that require zero water and zero weeding (once established, they should crowd out the weeds).