slowly but surely and, sigh, politics

More survivors, the yesterday/today/tomorrow has put up new growth, the little fig tree that got run over last year has some small green buds, and the spider lilies are showing growth. The amaryllis are all growing and one has even put up a bloom stalk. All but one of the small azaleas that were all completely brown and are now mostly just sticks are showing tiny nubs of green. Still nothing from the hibiscus, rangoon creeper, morning glory bush, porterweed, gardenia, mexican bird of paradise, bougainvillea, or the pink crinum lilies or the nile lilies. 

I got the night blooming cereus repotted and the white orchid tree but I've run out of bigger pots for the yellow trumpet flower and the bird of paradise and so far have not found the size pots I need. Still have two clumps of aspidistra to trim back but I also got some weeding and watering done. And I need to get the plumerias moved around to their spots in the yard, either pots sunk or plants planted so the wind won't be blowing them over all the time.

I mentioned that all the evergreen trees were completely brown and didn't think much past that but last week I noticed that the live oak trees, of which there are many in this small town, started dropping all their leaves and while they usually do drop their old leaves this time of year, not like this and I've never seen them so bare. They're blooming now I noticed while taking the dog out for her walk and will soon be putting on new leaves.  I didn't even notice the damage to the two huge yew trees on each front corner of the house so focused on the ground as I have been and the last two days they have been dropping so many leaves there's a nice thick carpet of them on the ground. And in the last two days many of the deciduous trees have popped out their spring green and the ornamental pear trees are blooming along with the pink magnolias 

and red buds 

and my native peach on the back corner.

It hasn't all been working out in the yard. I bought a couple of eggplants earlier this week to make eggplant parmesan which I did Friday, starting about 3:30 and finally putting the assembled dish in the oven at 7:30. This is the craziest recipe. It calls for two eggplants, about 2 1/2 lbs worth (mine totaled a little over 2 lbs). Slice in 1/4 thick sections, should yield 16 to 18 slices (I got that from each eggplant), place on wire rack and salt both sides and let sit an hour, then rinse and pat dry, coat with flour, dip in egg, dredge in a mix of bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese, fry in olive oil til both sides are golden brown, and then assemble in an 8” x 8” baking dish. 3 layers...sauce, eggplant slices, cheese. No way all 34 slices of eggplant are fitting in that pan and the 3 cups of sauce it calls for isn't nearly enough. It's a good thing I had a large jar of tomato basil spaghetti sauce in the pantry. Anyway, it took my 10” x 10” dish and a smaller one. We ate all the smaller one and this one will get divided up for future meals. I guess it's a good thing it makes so much since it is so labor intensive and time consuming but it was really good.

it looked better straight out of the oven instead of straight out of the refrigerator overnight

As of last Thursday, Marc and I are fully immunized, or as fully as it gets, as it's now been two weeks since our second jab. I'm still wearing a mask when I go out, giving Biden his 100 days, and I'm glad to see that most people around here at least are still wearing masks even though our stupid governor lifted the mask mandate last Wednesday even with Texas being #2 in total infections and #3 in deaths through his lackluster and anemic response to the pandemic and he is now saying that any rise in infections and deaths will be due to migrants coming across the border because of Biden's more humane immigration policy even though Biden approved federal money to test migrants before allowing them in which our governor has refused to implement. Whew! How's that for a run-on sentence.

Democrats passed and Biden signed the American Rescue Act, an immensely popular bill, without a single Republican vote and of course Republicans are out there trashing it calling the relief checks and expanded unemployment 'free money' and calling for people and states to return the funds because...national debt, the very national debt they had no trouble creating by giving permanent tax cuts to corporations and the very wealthy and only care about when the Democrats are in charge. And so while they are calling for the working class to return their stimulus checks they are also calling for another tax cut, an end to the estate tax which only kicks in if the estate is worth $12M or more so once again this tax cut would only benefit the very wealthy. But these stimulus funds aren't free money. American workers pay taxes, often at a higher rate than the most wealthy Americans pay and so the average working American is just getting some of that tax money back to see them through the pandemic.

So once again, in order not to end on sour grapes from the Republicans, I looked up the other morning to see this walking across the yard headed to its burrow under the house,

a picture of Minnie,

are we doing something?

and last night's sunset.