Valerean

We planted a Duncan grapefruit tree yesterday on our back property as my last Mother's Day gift for my mom. It's also what I prefer to do to honor the memory of those I've loved and lost. We bought an Valencia orange tree for my dad as well, so it can keep Mom's tree company. Some good news: my kid got a job with the U.S. Geological Survey testing water sources in the Pacific northwest for invasive species. She leaves in a couple weeks, and we probably won't see her again until Christmas. It's a wonderful opportunity for her to be a field scientist and pursue her dreams of helping to solve some of the problems with the environment. I've been feeling frozen for the last couple of months. Depression, my health issues, the feeling every time I go to bed that I might not wake up in the morning -- it's hard to live that way and feel hopeful and happy. I'm a problem solver with problems I can't solve. My paralysis has been equal parts fru...

My mother died last night. She was 84, and suffered from dementia, diabetes and heart problems. I don't know all the details, but we were told that she passed away peacefully. My brother called with the news, but I can't hear anyone on the phone, so he relayed it through my guy. She had a difficult life from almost the beginning, being born a few years after the Great Depression and living in poverty in the country. An only child, she often took care of her father while her mother worked. She was very close to her dad, a police constable who became an invalid during her childhood. I remember my grandfather, who was always bed-ridden, being funny and kind even when he was in pain. Mom was the same way. Mom was devoted to her faith. She didn't just go to church; she did a lot of good work through it, including feeding the homeless, teaching Bible school, and looking in on the elderly and ill. She worked as a secretary for three ministers, too. She joined the Civ...

Bring It On, Ghost is a romantic supernatural mystery k-drama about a haunted college student (Ok Taec-yeon) who can see ghosts and fight evil spirits, an amnesiac high school girl ghost (Kim So-hyun) who becomes his partner, a monk exorcist whose career is going downhill, and two idiotic sidekicks intent on profiting off the exorcisms. This series is a melting pot of everything from slapstick comedy to intense drama, and includes a moderate amount of violence and horror. I liked the romance best, as it developed slowly and had an interesting arc. Kim So-hyun is very talented, and while this was the first time I've seen Ok Taec-yeon in a series I thought he did a great job with his character. The monk and the greedy sidekicks all came off as intensely annoying with their exaggerated antics, but in the end the three grew on me. Kwon Yul's portrayal of the antagonist is impressive and seriously scary, and he doesn't use any special effects or gory makeup to conv...

My latest quilting project is another crazy tote. I'm making this one out of silks and velvets in shades of violet and gold. I've already basted down the fabrics, and I've started adding the trims. Stay tuned to see how it goes. :)

Valen is one of the stories I wrote while I was on hiatus. To read it, click here.

We finally got the two overly-huge camphor trees in our front yard removed; they had been planted too close to the house back when it was built. Over the past 24 years they grew to be over fifty feet tall, and their root systems became a threat to the foundation of our house. Their leaves and berries have been killing our grass, and I've always been worried they would fall over during a hurricane and destroy our roof. I hate cutting down trees but it's a relief that they're gone. Since then Kat and her dad have been working on adding new plants and some landscaping to the front of the house. My kid has a real talent for creating little gardens, and she made this one for us: Recently my kid applied for a temporary job working in the northwest part of the country to do field and lab work for the federal government. She'd be testing the streams and rivers up there for different problems they're having with their water sources; the job would last anywhe...

The garden is still going strong. Over the last couple of weeks we've been enjoying the radishes Kat grew from seed. Some have been a bit wonky. But most look like this one. We've been sharing the surplus with our neighbors. My guy built a second raised bed for the radishes and cucumbers. The latter are flowering now and we expect a lot in a few weeks, just in time for the warmer weather. The strawberries are still going strong, and I've been drying the herbs to use for cooking. :) As for the local critters, catepillar season has started, and we're all trying not to get stung by the buck moth variety. I stepped on one, though, when without thinking I walked barefoot across the front lawn. Not fun. We found a friendly corn snake in the garage that Kat completely charmed; we relocated him to a safer spot on our property.