elainegrey

The drama about the plumbing took a different turn on Tuesday. The plumber had left the bathroom tidy and we set off into the hills to visit various vistas, Los Trancos and Russian Ridge in particular. Periodically my phone would beep with some received message but it wasn't until we pulled into the parking lot at San Gregorino State Beach that we were in signal when someone tried to call.

Dad asked, what is this about Laura finding vandalism at the house?! Our adrenaline surged and i promptly got off to call my sister -- but as i did, i realized i had texted her about the bathroom drama. It turns out she asked Mom, who didn't know about the black water and plumbing snake during the closing. Laura was exasperated: she had repeatedly explained to Mom that nothing was wrong at the new hose. I called my Dad back and let him know it was the known issue with the apartment.

What a game of telephone!

My mother's confusion -- and her certainty of incorrect information -- is part of why i am glad we are moving closer to them, and is going to be one of the challenges. I've found her to be an unreliable narrator for many years, previously predicated on the extrapolations and interpolations she would make and then treat as fact. I certainly extrapolate and interpolate, myself, but i try very hard to keep my speculations clear from the facts. Mom would impute some psychological drama to a family member and reason from there, coming to various conclusions and then treating those as fact.

Now it seems that the leaps are getting a little more wild and correction even harder. I think Mom knows this to some extent. The amount of deference to my father is novel, she is more cautious in the face of new things.

Shifting from exasperation -- from years when it seemed she almost willfully misheard or misrepresented or selectively forgot details -- to a recognition that Mom's capability is diminished is important now. My first challenge, i think, once settled, will be to get her a baseline cognitive screening.

--== ∞ ==-- Meanwhile --== ∞ ==--

I placed most of my plants out for people to take last night. My heart was heavy as i did so. All the plants look so scraggly when pulled out of context, and so many of them are volunteers or survivors -- not carefully groomed specimens.

And i need to leave my Meyer lemon tree. I read the USDA recommendations and NC plant importation rules. While i wouldn't be moving citrus from a quarantine zone, the last thing i want to do is bring something harmful to our new paradise (because it appears i will have plenty of weeds and established invasives to deal with). In particular "phytophagous snails" seem to be a concern for NC, with California a source, and i know i've got slugs in the garden and there are plenty of snails around here.

Phytophagous was a new word for me: Greek for herbivore, i guess? Hmm, "Plant" is from Latin, but "eater" seems like its good Old English.

Anyhow, my heart aches and, as i smell a lemon picked from the "tree" (very very dwarf shrub), i tear up. Christine has cried on my behalf: i feel my stoic wall go up against the feelings, i know i have little signs in my mind: "Do not enter, distressing feelings here."

I've been avoiding the deck garden for months, knowing this time would come.

Our deck is crowded with plants. I've tried in years past to keep a log of the state of the various plants so i can know how old various plants are, how long i've had them. Last year, though, i did not care for the garden the way i have in the past. Some of the distraction and disinterest is becoming so interested in wild flowers and wanting to photograph them. Collecting from the vacant lot had more attraction than tending the garden. Thoughts of moving and of the drought also became a block in my thoughts about the plants. I've been distancing myself.

I do have a collection of nasturtium pods that have been sitting in brine for six months. I should pickle them and perhaps start another collection of pods. The lemon tree has done beautifully -- i ensured it was well watered with whatever shower water or vegetable rinse water or what have you.

I suppose sometime when it's a touch warmer outside i should do a purge of plants, or perhaps i mean consolidation. I suppose i want to practice shaping the geraniums, testing what pruning and wiring can do as i dream of making espalliered and hedged plants.

Happy Easter to those who observe ... we took down the Yule wreath, but i've not really refreshed the seasonal decorations in the little display area for a multitude of seasons. I'm trusting that i am recovering and that vitality and motivation are just around the corner. Today, at least, i am vital enough to be making an orange pie in the style of Shaker lemon pies with my coconut crust. I am very much looking forward to this pie. And i'm going to stir up a batch of North Carolina vinegar sauce. I've been wondering what it would be like to cook beans with it, garbanzo or white beans? Christine's been applying it to the vegetarian chicken stuff, but there must be some other way to get the flavor into my life. Some sort of pilaf?

Sadly, the pie seems to not be cooking enough, not setting. I forgot to add starch, and i think i cooked in too cool an oven. I'm trying to zap it to doneness now.

--==∞==--

A review of the new Nature journal on plants showed a botanical drawing of a root vegetable that i couldn't quite name. Not a brassica, i knew: but the spinach family. And so i deduced it was a white beet (probably a sugar beet). That led me to poking about in the related plants, which include the goosefoot i was observing in the baylands on my walk yesterday. I've no idea if i was looking at a escape from domestication or a wild type, but this article on the domestication of a variety of eastern North American plants pleased me.

Smith, B. D. “Eastern North America as an Independent Center of Plant Domestication.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, no. 33 (August 15, 2006): 12223–28. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604335103.

bobby1933 posted a poem that mentioned shepherds purse and i finally had the common name that i confuse with lambsquarters in front of me. Shepherds purse is a brassica (mustards and broccoli, and so on) and lambsquarters is in the spinach family (or what i call the spinach family: Chenopodiaceae is more accurately known as the goosefoot family).

More thoughts on the edible landscape of weeds. Meanwhile, there's something growing in my untended planters. It appears to match images of leaf celery. I ponder a salad of nasturtium and those leaves.

--==∞==--

Meanwhile, i need to acknowledge that the elephant in the room is taking a toll. I'm strong and can manage, but i begin to ask whether i need to find some help. The thought of sorting through the mental health options available through my health care is not ... inspiring. Nonetheless, i suppose i should NOW while i am feeling the buoying energy of the seasonal light and the delight that i can have lovely days at work.

I think i have an evening out with a friend planned in a week. I think i can get some support from her. My sister is supportive as well. There are a limited number of people with whom i feel like discussing elephant issues, although i've made sure that people at Meeting are aware of what i am carrying.

The sun is now high enough in the sky that the redwood to the south no longer shades our deck. We put grommets in the sun blinds, and we can now use bungees to attach the shade to the railing. The awning then makes the deck a more comfortable living room.

I do need to get some watering done.

Yesterday was a little more intense and social than i had planned, but it was good. I visited with photographer Joe Decker and brainstormed and chatted about what's next for my photography. I think i have some clarity about activities that will be distractions and activities that are valuable. Distractions aren't bad, per se, but if i'm confusing the activity with progress on The Solution, it's a problem.

Focus, a good thing.

Today, not much of it, i suppose, as i just....

(Obviously not enough as i didn't post.)

Astrophotography has been on my mind since seeing the eclipses on the calendar for this year. We're getting close to Mars, apposition in April. In October, eclipses and a comet will come very close to Mars. I've been discovering T-mount mirror reflex lenses and pondering teleconverters.

On the other hand, a big lousy image may not be any more satisfying than a small precise image.

--==∞==--

After a Saturday morning puttering online, much of the rest of the day i was restless. I had some to-dos on my plate, i had some wishes (Oh, to go to table mountain, oh, the bioblitz). The rain came down and Christine and i sat watching the dim skies on the deck.

I am learning the elements and their atomic number using the flash card program Anki. It's slow going on day 1.5. The first day i hadn't "shuffled" the cards, so the low atomic weights were the ones flashed by the software. I found how to shuffle and yoicks, 91 is Protactinium, 68 is Erbium, and i've never really heard of those elements. I might just begin to learn the highway numbers around here. Is i muttered that "82 is lead" to myself, Christine pointed out that was El Camino's traffic. 92 is uranium, and that's the first highway on my commute home. 25 manganese, 35 bromine: local speed limits. The end goal is to have a collection of numbers that can facilitate memorization of other things, just like the "82 is lead is the traffic on El Caminio" trick.

--==Now Monday Morning==--

The deck garden is vibrant with flowers. The lemon tree is still blooming, and i picked its two ripe fruit. On one side a white geranium lifts bundles of blooms out of the green riot. On the other side of the lemon, the argyranthemum has daisy-like flowers all over the shrub. Taking the yellow centers, the yellow miniature rose has bloomed. The yellow color carries to a gerbera daisy paired with bright red geranium blossoms. Then there are many hues of purple: the purple verbena still blooms a bright cascade. The rosemary seems to be done with its few blossoms, but the lavender still sends up shoots. The thyme is covered with tiny blossoms, and the sage is blooming, too. Some of the scented geraniums are blooming, but not the one that was more exposed than the others, with its very sculpted trunks. A rescued carrot will eventually unfurl its umbel, but currently the feathery bug

Both hydrangeas are green and lush with buds. A cyclamen we bought in December seems to have put forth another round of buds. The potatoes have sent up green shoots, finally. I’ve two planters that are empty and have found my stash of seeds.
I’ve put the rainbow chard where it might get more light and grow a bit more.

The hellebore, primroses, and Christmas cactus all seem to have finished blooming Basils are all dead, viola penny ™ orange died. (Due to aphids?) My native planter's Lupinus albifrons is stunted and shows no growth. Bolander's Phacelia seems the most delighted with its situation, while the pink seems content. A fourth plant in the planter and a fifth in the recycled bird feeder planter seem to be hanging on.

--==∞==--

I should have posted but the query i pulled reminded me of a work duty that needs doing. I didn't get to it over the weekend, but i did get a financial task complete.