To Be Continued
It's been awhile since I last updated, mainly because I was debating what course to take after the recent LJ Terms of Service update. I did make a journal copy over at Dreamwidth, but I didn't want to switch over there abruptly without warning. I decided that I would keep updating here just until I finished some dangling threads. Mainly, I'm thinking of my Germany trip report, which still has one more installment left. I plan to finish that after I get my bedroom set back together once my remodeling project is completed. I'll switch over to using my Dreamwidth account (same username) as soon as I post the last trip report.
Last Saturday, April 8th, I went to San Francisco with megory. We shopped a bit at the farmer's market, picking up some cheese and flavored olive oils and pastries, then we hopped on a bus and headed over to Japantown to meet up with mangaroo for the cherry blossom festival. Thanks to the warmer weather this spring, the sakura trees were already mostly done blooming, but we still enjoyed wandering around the various vendor stalls. I hadn't intended to spend any money, but in the end I bought a number of items for decorating my bedroom.
On Sunday, Jenn came over, and we all attended the Flower and Garden Show at the event center. It was about half the size of the events in previous years, which was somewhat disappointing. One of the vendors explained that, thanks to the heavy rains this winter, most of the landscaping companies who usually participate in the event had to pull out because they were too busy with a backlog of customers. She said they should have just reduced the ticket price to compensate; instead, the event organizers were dealing with angry calls all weekend from people who felt cheated. We still found plenty of things to buy, but most were items such as flavored balsamic vinegar and other non-garden-related products.
This past Saturday, my dad took me out to pick up a new batch of bees. This time I got a nucleus (essentially a miniature, functioning hive) instead of a package. I'm hoping they will get off to a stronger start than the ones last year. After that, I planted all my corn and beans. This year I'll have 24 different types of beans in my variety trial.
The back yard is looking quite nice. The apple and cherry trees are blooming, as is the wisteria and the peony. The grape vines are starting to sprawl everywhere, and the surviving peas are about to put out flowers. The blackberries and raspberries are showing signs of having a heavy crop this year, and there are tons of baby plums on my Santa Rosa tree. Nothing on the apricot this year, but the quince looks like it might produce at least a few fruit. I've already gotten a few handfuls of blueberries.
The bathroom project has been making more progress, though there was about a week delay as my parents hired the workers to replace all the pipe for my whole house, both water and gas lines. It seems the wrong type of metal had been used in places, and there was corrosion everywhere. The bathroom is back on track now, and the workers are finishing up the drywall. They should start installing tile tomorrow. It's actually looking more or less like a bathroom now.
Last Saturday, April 8th, I went to San Francisco with megory. We shopped a bit at the farmer's market, picking up some cheese and flavored olive oils and pastries, then we hopped on a bus and headed over to Japantown to meet up with mangaroo for the cherry blossom festival. Thanks to the warmer weather this spring, the sakura trees were already mostly done blooming, but we still enjoyed wandering around the various vendor stalls. I hadn't intended to spend any money, but in the end I bought a number of items for decorating my bedroom.
On Sunday, Jenn came over, and we all attended the Flower and Garden Show at the event center. It was about half the size of the events in previous years, which was somewhat disappointing. One of the vendors explained that, thanks to the heavy rains this winter, most of the landscaping companies who usually participate in the event had to pull out because they were too busy with a backlog of customers. She said they should have just reduced the ticket price to compensate; instead, the event organizers were dealing with angry calls all weekend from people who felt cheated. We still found plenty of things to buy, but most were items such as flavored balsamic vinegar and other non-garden-related products.
This past Saturday, my dad took me out to pick up a new batch of bees. This time I got a nucleus (essentially a miniature, functioning hive) instead of a package. I'm hoping they will get off to a stronger start than the ones last year. After that, I planted all my corn and beans. This year I'll have 24 different types of beans in my variety trial.
The back yard is looking quite nice. The apple and cherry trees are blooming, as is the wisteria and the peony. The grape vines are starting to sprawl everywhere, and the surviving peas are about to put out flowers. The blackberries and raspberries are showing signs of having a heavy crop this year, and there are tons of baby plums on my Santa Rosa tree. Nothing on the apricot this year, but the quince looks like it might produce at least a few fruit. I've already gotten a few handfuls of blueberries.
The bathroom project has been making more progress, though there was about a week delay as my parents hired the workers to replace all the pipe for my whole house, both water and gas lines. It seems the wrong type of metal had been used in places, and there was corrosion everywhere. The bathroom is back on track now, and the workers are finishing up the drywall. They should start installing tile tomorrow. It's actually looking more or less like a bathroom now.