More difficult, slower going, but a good challenge. This one will take longer than my previous forays into the 1000-piece puzzle world. I will say this, I’m really learning about Van Gogh’s brush work!
I spent what seems like way too much of the day yesterday trying to figure out what the low would be here. One forecast said 31. One said 33. Another said 32. And yet another said 34. As you all know, the difference between these numbers is huge when you’re talking about plants. Should I try and cover some of my perennials? Or should I just let go and hope for the best? I went with the latter and, as far as I can tell this morning, all is well. I did cover the potted hollyhock and geraniums again, but that’s all I did. It looks like it might go down to 32 on Tuesday and Wednesday – hopefully, that will change – but after Wednesday the weather should be back to normal.
After I finish this post, I’ll begin lugging all of the plants back outside. And I’ll be able to get to the vacuum again, as it’s currently blocked by big pots of pansies.
I just found out that one of my colleagues from Boston University died. Bill Young was a marvelous actor, a wonderful teacher, as well as being funny, eccentric, and a joy to work with. Rest in Peace, dear Bill. Thank you for everything. There are legions of students (and colleagues) who adored and respected you.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms. And to my sister, who is a devoted mom to all her boys, human and animal. It’s always a bit of a difficult day for those of us who have lost our mothers, of course. I sure miss mine and would give anything to be able to see her again.
And Happy Birthday to Fred Astaire, who is and will always be my favorite. I’ve been a devoted fan since I was 12 years old. I just had a conversation with reader Kay about our shared love for Mr. Astaire.
Stay safe.
Happy Sunday.
Love the puzzle…miss Mother-died age 60…she had me when she was a teenager…wonderful mother…I can relate. I am blessed with my miracles…they truly are-both of them-took much to get them here…enjoy your day and let’s hope the weather becomes truly spring like soon. I am sorry about your friend. Those of us who have experienced this disease personally seem to be still wary of what is, will, can happen…keep writing…
I will, Brenda. Stay safe!
I lost count of the days … Today is a good day.
All the best to you. Regula
Me too. The only way I know is because I record the day number as the title of the blog! Stay safe, Regula!
sorry about the loss of your friend bill.
and especially for the loss of your mother. makes today extra-tough, doesn’t it? i know not everyone is a person of faith, but i am and believe there are wonderful reunions to look forward to. and i want them for everyone.
those big planters look very heavy. good luck with hauling out the plants!
that new puzzle is taking shape! beautiful colors, too.
slow start here today. it was cloudy and is still quite cold so i gave myself permission to laze around. plus i stayed up very late watching “portrait artist of the year” (british show on youtube) last night. :)
hope you do something nice for yourself today. stay safe and well!
kathy in iowa
You deserve a nice, slow start, Kathy. Enjoy your day and stay safe!
I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your friend, Bill. There’s just been too much loss.
I totally understand your dilemma yesterday. All of my hostas made it through the freeze. But, interestingly, my neighbor who didn’t cover her hostas, did just as well. Go figure. Guess all that was for naught. But, I did sleep better. And now…it’s snowing. That was not in our forecast!
My mother and I used to garden together on Mother’s Day…fond memories. We’d go to the nurseries or any store that had flowers on sale, and plant them weather permitting. I think that’s where I got my green thumb. But, hers was much greener than mine!
Stay safe…and have a good day! ;)
We had a snow squall yesterday in the late afternoon. All this snow…and then gone, as if it never happened. That’s a lovely memory of your mom, Donna. Stay safe!
Just an aside…not for Mother’s Day…but something I have thought about–despite the illnesses, the deaths, the disappointments, etc. etc…I have been sad by the fact that my favorite city is in such despair, and I wonder when/if it will ever return to some type of normalcy. Yes…New York City. I remember the first time my son surprised me with Broadway tickets…”Chicago”…we were there for one of his marathons…I fell in love with the city-although I had been there briefly in early 1990’s…many times we went to NYC, along with his sister…for those marathons…shows…eating out…the museum…Central Park…For my 70th birthday, two of the grandgirls, my daughter, and I spent almost a week there in February…We chose a time when it was less expensive…I was 70 the September before…oh my goodness, I love that city. I pray it comes back…that you and Don get back to work doing what you love…that we can, once again, walk down the streets…ride the subway and the bus…taxis…boat…you name it…we will do it again. Just wanted to express these feelings…
I hope so, too. So many theater people and performers of all kinds are out of work. That means ushers, front of house staff, technicians, electricians, stage managers, artistic directors, dancers, musicians, prop artisans, set designers, composers…the list is endless, Brenda. I think it will take a long time to get Broadway back to anything approaching normal.xo
So sorry about your colleague and friend. These losses are made so much worse right now because of the inability to gather and share memories and celebrate their life.
And thank you for joining me in my celebration of all things Astaire. Happy Birthday, Dear Fred today. This afternoon I watched “Gay Divorcee” in his honor because: “Night and Day.” Whenever they finish that dance, I’m as breathless as she is even though I never leave my chair.
I was going to recommend you just hope for the best, just as you did. That’s about all we can do when early spring freaky weather hits – hope the greenery emerging from the soil is hardy enough to suck it up.
Stay warm.
Kay
Love that number! I think my favorite, however, is Pick Yourself Up. It’s so joyful!
Stay safe, Kay!
Happy Mother’s Day to all.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn. Stay safe!
Happy Mother’s Day to all!! Did a FT call w the kids today and the wee little granddaughter. She was in great spirits today and laughed for us. 7 wks old yesterday!! She was born just at the beginning of all of this. If the weather is nice, they will come over next Saturday for some stroller time, and I hope to get some planting done with all of them. This crazy weather has to change soon. Right??
So sorry to hear about your friend, Claudia. It is all so sad. And to think, if we only had some leadership back in Jan, Feb, March, this entire scenario could have taken a much different path. Just disgusting.
Hi Claudia,
These are trying times, for sure. So much loss, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and people we have been entertained by and those we don’t know personally but we know they have loved ones that are missing them terribly.
Anyway, thanks for inspiring me to drag out some jigsaw puzzles. They are a diversion and I have ordered a couple that are on “back order” so perhaps lots of people are turning to them during this “time out”.
Take Care and Stay Safe,
Oh yes, they are wildly popular now. There have been several articles written about that. We’re all doing puzzles, apparently. Stay safe, Kelly.
I’m so sorry for your recent losses, Claudia. Doesn’t make any of this bad time any easier; double whammy of emotions.
Yes, the day for moms. Apparently florists opened on a limited basis Friday(?) in SoCalif; sounds like pick up only. Of course one can buy flowers at the grocery store; I think you still can (I don’t know; I personally haven’t been in a grocery store since February!). I just didn’t want to risk getting out, although I usually always go to the cemetery for Mom on Mother’s Day in these past half-dozen years since her passing.
Unfortunately the heat of our recent weather fried any usable flowers from the yard, so we didn’t go to the cemetery at all; and, as I think I touched on when this was bothering me a few days back, I somehow feel Mom understands; she’d have rather I kept safe (and it always makes me feel pretty empty to be at her grave on Mother’s day anyway; so, instead, I took the weekend to think of all our happy Mother’s Day celebrations over the years; one time we took her to a swanky Sunday buffet [years, unlike in The Time of Covid, when buffets could actually happen!] at a very-known hotel [one of the Biltmore establishments] in another city … I recall this was probably the very-early 1980s or maybe late 1970s and, even then, it was a $175 tab, which was a HUGE amount of money for us as a small, thrifty first family [but my brother and I were young, single and we both had good jobs; we wanted to have fun, too {in the beautiful setting with such a lovely presentation of brunch foods}]; anyway, it was an EVENT, like one of those things you do once in a lifetime [at least in OUR smaller world!]; and I recall it was such a beautiful Sunday morning for the journey in the car; we had a good time, a really nice memory-making day … and, wow, did Mom feel ‘special’!).
So you’ve got a few days yet til you warm up; gosh it sounds TOO cold! We’ve cooled down here on the West Coast; Sunday evening after dark we actually dropped to a dewy 63 degrees; it’s welcome relief from our recent hot spell. Apparently we’re to have a few pleasantly-cool days but then our heat will ramp up again; gosh, though, we ARE heading toward summer (and it’s weird how on the one hand the days just blend together during ‘quarantine’ yet, on the other, as per usual in these senior years, they fly, such that it’ll be June before we can blink an eye!).
A Covid Story. Talking with a friend on the phone Sunday. She’s been taking her dog to the groomer even since ‘lockdown’ (once every three weeks). The groomer had to shutter her business and let her employees go but continued to groom at home (just herself as business owner) to a select number of longtime doggie-clients. My friend doesn’t have a washtub at the laundry area of her own home, and it’s difficult to get down on creaky knees at the bathtub in one of her bathrooms. The groomer and she had chatted quite a bit about the situation and both felt that grooming should be an essential business because you can’t have dogs or cats, for instance, getting matted without the care they’re used to getting (it can cause pain and infection). And a dog’s nails can get too long and catch on things, etc.; I have had a dog who pulled a nail and it was a bloody mess, poor thing. Anyway, all part of a grooming process.
So, I guess this was a third go with my friend taking the dog to this groomer’s home (I’d always worried about this since she told me about it; I didn’t feel she should be doing it!) but the groomer canceled the appointment and said she’s going to temporarily have to quit business altogether. And this is the reason why: A fellow groomer elsewhere in town caught the eye of someone who wasn’t happy about dog grooming going on at a private home (sort of like some hair stylists are I guess doing the same thing … ? … [a neighbor of ours told my husband he could come over to his garage and let the guy’s brother cut my husband’s hair, as the brother is a barber whose shop is of course closed … uh, I don’t think so … !!! … because, not only is it not allowed, but we just saw a noted physician answer that question on the CNN Town Hall this past week and she said absolutely not because no way can you physically distance from the person cutting your hair]). Anyway, with this other groomer in another neighborhood doing the same thing as my friend’s groomer, this person who was perhaps another neighbor (we don’t know all the details) VIDEOTAPED the customers going back and forth to the groomer’s home with their pets, turned it into the public health department, and this other groomer got fined $1,000 per day for each day she was grooming. How to scare the daylights out of someone, right? Not to mention they’re already out of business, and now they have to pay big fines. All I can say is, in SoCalif they clamp down on you where they can; but there’s a reason for the slow re-openings and the still-in-force ‘stay home’ orders; people have to abide. The rules are meant for everyone, not just for some. We’re in the middle of an epidemic!
This bothered me, though. I look out my window and I see violators; my own neighbors. I have cousins who’ve mingled as a family; like, in one case, the adult daughter goes back & forth out of the home from her own house. This isn’t distancing; it’s not separating to limit exposure. Yes, I get annoyed and frustrated because how do you know they’re all not spreading the very virus that surely will try to kill me if I get it; I guess initially (fear as a motivator!), some number of weeks back, I was tempted to want to wag my finger and maybe even fleetingly feel like I wanted to turn in a violator (say, one of my neighbors); still, unless it was something massively blatant like some large gathering/party with 100 people or something (we have large backyards that can hold a good-sized group of people), but probably not even then, I’d likely never go to that much effort (videotaping?!) to get somebody else in trouble. Neighbors turning in neighbors? It feels too Gestapo-ish to me. My friend’s groomer had been SO careful, gloved and masked (just like my friend); accepting a check by mail later. Yes, it’s hand-off, leash to leash, but how is that any different than when needing to take a dog right now to a veterinarian, even when they come out to get your dog from you, and the vet calls you in your car rather than having you walk into the clinic?
Sigh. Just one big damn sigh. ‘Scuse my French. What the heck to do with this kind of thing, true?
And this, another story, which I recount with a teeny feeling of envy: I tend to know people who have a cleaning person coming somewhat regularly to clean their homes, as a rule (pre-Covid, every two weeks). It’s a luxury I can’t imagine but, to them, it’s a necessity (diff is, they can afford it!). Without the cleaning people coming in during lockdown, these people I know are trying to clean their own houses but the irritation over it is starting to build. I have one friend who’s able to keep her people on retainer, so to speak; she keeps sending them a check even though they don’t come to clean but says she can’t do it for much longer, besides which she’s a bit fed up with having to (herself as substitute for the cleaner!) keep her expansive wood floors clean, even though she says this while acknowledging she’s a spoiled, entitled brat. Two other people I know have 4,000 sqft houses and that’s a lot of house to clean, so one of them broke down and finally had ONE house cleaner (not the usual ‘team’) come in. Of course it takes the poor person a whole day to clean whereas if there’s usually, say, three of them working at one time, they get done much more quickly.
Anyway, I try to understand this; to me it seems an unnecessary risk to bring someone into your home. Yes, like one of the readers here on MHC blog had a malfunctioning frig; so, of course, hard decision but no choice. My cousin had to have workers come in to work on a faulty water heater; again, no choice. For me and my husband? A problem with our phones/internet which would require a technician to come into the home; not a hard choice, we said ‘no, we’ll just deal with it. I guess it’s all in the priorities and circumstance but, again, I can’t imagine, during a time of contagious epidemic, bringing in somebody inside the home just to routinely clean/do ‘housework’, but I sure had another friend do it because she couldn’t stand her dirty windows another minute (so, she called a window washer and he was in/out for a few hours [really …?… like it couldn’t have waited a while longer?]). How paranoid about Covid am I? What’s your thoughts on something like this, Claudia?! Is it all just ‘me’??
I think you’re justly cautious. I wouldn’t have anyone in my home right now, either, and don’t plan on encouraging any of that for a long time. Things have changed. Those who push the boundaries of the rules during this lockdown are foolish. I have no patience with them. Clean your home yourself. Dogs will survive without grooming. I will survive without a haircut though I really need one and Don needs one even more. My response to all of those people is to grow up and sacrifice.
I’m uneasy with people videotaping and turning in people however. It absolutely reminds me of WWII and the Gestapo. Unless someone is about to be harmed, I think we should stay out of it and concentrate on doing what feels right for us. xo
I just realized that Don’s birthday is next month! Time is moving very quickly. Stay safe, Vicki.
Good morning from Monday. I’m so sorry about your friend. I don’t mean to trivialize either experience, but I can’t help but be reminded of the horrible days of AIDS when there were so many continuous losses. I guess it’s more of a flashback than a comparison. On another note, our woods are filled with the sounds of very busy woodpeckers, and I love to hear their industry. Haven’t caught a glimpse of this guy/gal so don’t know what flavor, but we’ve all of them from the smallest to the largest over the years. It really gets to me this year that despite the weird times and unusual weather, the trees are budding out and the birds are making plans and the world goes on. I sure hope that once we can get a footing with this virus, we can return our attentions to the needs of the natural world for climate control and conservation. Epidemics and pandemics are only one consequence of a sick environment. Right now, I am longing to be in a garden nook somewhere with some tea/lemonade/iced coffee just feeling warm sun and a cool breeze watching the growing things. We don’t have a yard or garden, and my friends are not ready to ease social distancing, but I am hopeful that someone will want my company in their back yard from six feet away. That puzzle looks like a big challenge! I was proud of myself for undertaking a simple embroidery project–I know I complained recently about not being as facile in my skills–but I persisted and finished it. It was an exercise in patience for me, someone who has very little of it. Every time I clipped off a thread, I dreaded having to try to thread the needle again. Oh my eyes! Oh the poor lighting! Oh the shaking of my hands! It won’t win any prizes at the county fair, but I hope my friend will like it. If you have to be on puzzle island, I think Van Gogh is pretty good company. Hope your week is kind to your plants and that you and Don continue to keep your sanity.
So glad you finished that embroidery, Nora! That’s a big accomplishment. Stay safe, my friend.
Oh Claudia, I am so sorry about your friend. You’ve been hit hard in recent times.
I get the Mother’s day thing. This was the first year in over 40 that I didn’t melt down at least once.
It’s supposed to be 30 tonight here. But 70 by the weekend. Go figure. Weirdest spring I can remember in a long, long time!
You’re darned right. Such a crazy spring. Same temps here. Stay safe, Jeanie.