This 'N' That
Another post. From me, the proverbial Lurker's Corner™ denizen. I must be starting an honest-to-Whatever blog, eh?
Well, I suppose if others can do it, why can't I, eh? Then again, maybe it's a sign that I'm finally coming out from under the cloud that really descended on me after my hubby died. Either way, I'm gonna go with it.
First & most importantly: IT RAINED!!!
Okay, okay - not a gully-washer, but enough to more than just get the sidewalk wet. As I have the responsibility of watering Galadon's garden plants while he and daughter Súl are at a family "rebellion" in Livermore, I've been keeping an eye on the weather as Hurricane Kay brushes us. We're far enough north of the business end of this one that our forecasts have been "random showers and/or thunderstorms" - and while we had two very nice downpours Friday/Saturday nite & morning, I figured I'd have to water everything this morning, UNTIL we had a lovely shower a few minutes before I was going to stand up & go outside. Discretion being the better part of being chicken, I went outside anyway and watered because it is still relatively warm and definitely muggy enough to evaporate moisture fairly fast. The kids get home late tonite, and I don't want droopy plants to greet Galadon when he goes out Monday morning.
However, comma... The website measuring precipitation at our reservoir lake isn't showing ANY change, which means the thirsty ground is drinking up every last drop that falls. This isn't so great, as our lake currently stands at 24.5% capacity. We're conserving like crazy, saving water used to move hot water to a shower or boil beans or stuff and putting it on plants. And, as I said last time, I've reconciled myself to losing at least a few of the 60-80 year-old hedge plants in front. The others are going great guns - JJ needs to do hedge-cutting sometime in the near future - but the living-dead-living-dead growth pattern isn't such a great look. Magnolia tree, on the other hand, is blooming up a storm on account of the very low-key but consistent watering it has received. So there's that.
Today is 9/11 - and I'm remembering what happened 21 years ago. My hubby was getting ready to go to work at about 6am here in CA when he woke me up and told me I had to watch tv with him - and we watched the towers in NYC fall. Over the next few days and weeks, I watched our country pull together like it hasn't done since long before I was around and garner sympathy and support from a goodly share of the global citizens - and then watch my government squander the opportunities by launching wars abroad and instituting authoritarian/fascist policies at home. We've recovered from neither of these unfortunate turns of events. The wars lost us all the goodwill, and the Patriot Act (among other things) has accustomed our citizenry to a measure of fascist control that only seems to be growing.
All I can do in the face of this is to keep promoting the things that I feel are most important in life: gratitude, kindness, mindfulness and compassion. I try every morning to recite the litany of things in my life I have to be grateful for: a home and a roof over my head that provides shelter for me and mine; sufficient food to eat and relatively clean water to drink; enough financial resources to maintain the first two without too much worry; family and friends both in real life and here in this Virtual World that I care about and who seem, somehow, to find it okay to care for me; the freedom to think and speak my truth without having to too much cater to the opinions or whims of others (or those in power); to follow a faith of my choosing rather than conform to a state-sponsored religion. I'm sure there are more - each day's litany is slightly different from those that came before - but reminding myself that I do actually have things to be thankful for keeps me grounded.
Edited to add, after a deletion: I thought I was gonna be in Halcyon taping music for the folks there, but that's NEXT Sunday. Today I'll just swelter in the muggy heat in silence, grateful that it's not in the triple digits here (See? I told you there were more things to be grateful for that I didn't think of when I originally wrote this...) Time for lunch.
Hope you all have a good day. Slava Ukraini!
Well, I suppose if others can do it, why can't I, eh? Then again, maybe it's a sign that I'm finally coming out from under the cloud that really descended on me after my hubby died. Either way, I'm gonna go with it.
First & most importantly: IT RAINED!!!
Okay, okay - not a gully-washer, but enough to more than just get the sidewalk wet. As I have the responsibility of watering Galadon's garden plants while he and daughter Súl are at a family "rebellion" in Livermore, I've been keeping an eye on the weather as Hurricane Kay brushes us. We're far enough north of the business end of this one that our forecasts have been "random showers and/or thunderstorms" - and while we had two very nice downpours Friday/Saturday nite & morning, I figured I'd have to water everything this morning, UNTIL we had a lovely shower a few minutes before I was going to stand up & go outside. Discretion being the better part of being chicken, I went outside anyway and watered because it is still relatively warm and definitely muggy enough to evaporate moisture fairly fast. The kids get home late tonite, and I don't want droopy plants to greet Galadon when he goes out Monday morning.
However, comma... The website measuring precipitation at our reservoir lake isn't showing ANY change, which means the thirsty ground is drinking up every last drop that falls. This isn't so great, as our lake currently stands at 24.5% capacity. We're conserving like crazy, saving water used to move hot water to a shower or boil beans or stuff and putting it on plants. And, as I said last time, I've reconciled myself to losing at least a few of the 60-80 year-old hedge plants in front. The others are going great guns - JJ needs to do hedge-cutting sometime in the near future - but the living-dead-living-dead growth pattern isn't such a great look. Magnolia tree, on the other hand, is blooming up a storm on account of the very low-key but consistent watering it has received. So there's that.
Today is 9/11 - and I'm remembering what happened 21 years ago. My hubby was getting ready to go to work at about 6am here in CA when he woke me up and told me I had to watch tv with him - and we watched the towers in NYC fall. Over the next few days and weeks, I watched our country pull together like it hasn't done since long before I was around and garner sympathy and support from a goodly share of the global citizens - and then watch my government squander the opportunities by launching wars abroad and instituting authoritarian/fascist policies at home. We've recovered from neither of these unfortunate turns of events. The wars lost us all the goodwill, and the Patriot Act (among other things) has accustomed our citizenry to a measure of fascist control that only seems to be growing.
All I can do in the face of this is to keep promoting the things that I feel are most important in life: gratitude, kindness, mindfulness and compassion. I try every morning to recite the litany of things in my life I have to be grateful for: a home and a roof over my head that provides shelter for me and mine; sufficient food to eat and relatively clean water to drink; enough financial resources to maintain the first two without too much worry; family and friends both in real life and here in this Virtual World that I care about and who seem, somehow, to find it okay to care for me; the freedom to think and speak my truth without having to too much cater to the opinions or whims of others (or those in power); to follow a faith of my choosing rather than conform to a state-sponsored religion. I'm sure there are more - each day's litany is slightly different from those that came before - but reminding myself that I do actually have things to be thankful for keeps me grounded.
Edited to add, after a deletion: I thought I was gonna be in Halcyon taping music for the folks there, but that's NEXT Sunday. Today I'll just swelter in the muggy heat in silence, grateful that it's not in the triple digits here (See? I told you there were more things to be grateful for that I didn't think of when I originally wrote this...) Time for lunch.
Hope you all have a good day. Slava Ukraini!