Long time, no blog....

Hello, my dear old blog....

It's been a loooong time since I've posted anything, and I have a lot of great excuses -- nothing to write about during the winter; busy working and traveling this spring, etc. Lame excuses, really, but life happens. I blog when the mood strikes. Don't want to make a chore out of it. I own the blog, the blog doesn't own me. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

My garden is looking nice these days -- I have a ton of Lady's Mantle blooming, which is quite striking. Irises are looking nice as well. My climbing William Baffin roses are also blooming. I added a couple of really cool birdhouses to the yard, one which is built on top of an old pitchfork so that you can plunge it into the garden soil. I have lots of buds on the hydrangeas, which is nice -- will have some big blue blooms come July.

I found a new yard service to cut my grass, (I know, what kind of gardener am I if I don't cut my own lawn???). I tell ya, that's the most hated chore I can think of, and I'm happy to pay someone to do it. I hate the smell of gasoline and exhaust that a lawnmower makes, and it just brings back sweaty memories of when I had to cut my parents yard as a teenager. So happy not to have to do it as an adult. Anyway, these guys are great -- cheaper than my old lawn guy, and they do a very good job, and reliable - they come every ten days or so without me having to call them. They did whack part of the clematis growing on my mailbox, but I swear I go through that every year with every yard guy -- they think it's a weed. Oh well - I made sure they knew about it today....

I am on a new project at work, and it is horrible -- it's on the opposite coast, so I'm either traveling there, or I'm working from home but on west coast time, which means I'm working at least twelve hours a day. The work itself is also wretched, and the project is unorganized and poorly managed. I'm about ready to quit, and this is a company I used to LOVE. I'm actually ready to do something new and completely different. I was moaning about it at dinner tonight with friends, and later when my brother came over. My brother is in a similar predicament, (we're both in I.T. and sick and tired of it), and so we got to talking and threw around the idea of going into some kind of business together, perhaps even a nursery or garden center! He already has a little side business raising trees to sell wholesale to nurseries. Man, I think that would be way cool! I've recently thought it would be nice to become a local grower of Delphiniums, my very favorite plant, as they are hard to find around here. The California or English kind don't grow all that well in our heat and humidity, but Terry Dowdeswell's New Zealand Delphiniums are reputed to do well in the American South, so that might be a niche we could fill. I love the idea of it, and it's something I'd be willing to pour blood, sweat, tears, (and money) into. We'll see....

My friend Linda has a son and a son-in-law in Iraq right now. Her husband is also in the army and is scheduled to go there in June. I don't know how she keeps her composure. (Well, yes I do. She's a strong believer and gains a lot of strength from her church, from friends, from her prayer group, etc.) Anyway, in response to my complaining about work, she suggested that I talk to her husband -- perhaps he could find me something to do over in Iraq. You know, the way I'm feeling about my job today, if a military recruiter would have walked into that restaurant, I would have signed up right then and there, and said, when can I go? And then I'd have woken up tomorrow morning and said, "WHAT HAVE I DONE??!!!???". It's important not to make hasty decisions! What's the old saying -- "H.A.L.T." -- never make a life-changing decision when you're Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. And so I will ponder all of these things in my heart, and pray about them, too....

If I can get my camera all charged up, I will take some garden pictures and perhaps post them this weekend, (maybe).

Next weekend, (YAY - a holiday!), I'm going to my brother's lakehouse -- can't wait!

Happy Memorial Day (ten days early)!