putting winter to rest and new life

I’m behind on answering comments, sorry. It’s been a cold overcast, rainy, damp busy week. I limit my time (mostly) to check email, read, comment, research, write, answer comments, to the mornings between the time I get up, which varies, and fix breakfast about 10. Monday was the TEE, Tuesday was brain fog from anesthesia, I think I did something but I can’t remember what. Wednesday researching and writing, Thursday SHARE, Friday and Saturday cutting back freeze damaged vegetation and hauling it to the already big burn pile.

Other stuff happened. My second great grandchild was born on Tuesday. Harrison Ford Russell. 8 lbs 1 oz. My grandson’s second child who was definitely not pleased about being brought so rudely into the light. 

They came home Thursday. Paisleigh is less than impressed. She thought she was getting a brother but he can’t talk to her or play with her. Audra’s mother and step-father were here and now her aunt is here for the next week. I plan to visit today.

Friday cleared up, warmed up and I got out there and cleared all the dead stuff from one of the flower beds, the one with my own monster rose bush which I pruned back to about 16” (after picture of course since it never occurs to me to take a before). 

I might have waited another week or two but it was impeding my progress especially since I didn’t prune it back last year and it exploded with growth after the hurricane. This area has the indigofera, white Philippine violet, invasive wild mexican petunia, and orange cosmos besides the heritage rose bush. It’s an impossible area to tame, believe me, I’ve tried. Everything in there reseeds and spreads readily so the plan now is to remove the remaining iris, amaryllis, and day lilies and just let it do what it wants to do and cut it all to the ground every winter.

I found more of the maroon Japanese iris that had been hidden by all the dense growth. I moved most of them last fall to a better spot. 

Saturday was a gorgeous warm blue sky day, low humidity. I worked on the long flower bed on the east side with the tall orange cosmos, rock rose (not a rose but part of the mallow family), and Mexican bird of paradise, among other things. Didn’t finish as you can see on the left. Two of the plumerias will go in there later.

Also on Saturday my great niece and her husband and their year and a half old baby, my great great nephew, came and got the last of Pam’s things that Vickie wanted. Since they live outside San Antonio this was probably the last time I will ever see them. We’ll stay in contact I hope but part of losing my sister is also losing a more immediate connection to her descendants, my nieces and their kids since they all live far and wide.

Speaking of my sister, I had another dream about her a while back. I don’t remember the specifics now though I did for a day or two after. What I remember now is a feeling of irritation from her. You may remember in my previous dreams she was basically ignoring me, had moved on to a happier life. This last one, she made me angry, angry that she had so totally dismissed me. Fine, I told her, I release you, I release you. That’s what I woke up thinking, I release you. Haven’t dreamed about her since.

I’ve made no progress on the rest of the painting or made any progress in the book I’m reading except for Monday when I took it with me and read during the recovery time and waiting to be discharged. 

So much destructive stuff is happening still re the new regime and it hasn’t even been two weeks yet but I need a small respite that is not about that so today is going to be about positive happy things…seeing the new baby, working in the yard, listening to the woodpecker rapping away for a mate, watching the birds…the male goldfinches are starting to get yellow…, loving on the outdoor cats. 

Plenty of time for doom later.