Catching Up Part 1

Not much blogging going on around here, but lots of other stuff happening:

FAMILY

Mom has come to stay with us again, so life is a lot more structured – 3 proper meals a day, no peanut butter sandwiches with hot chocolate for dinner. But we are settling in just fine (and definitely eating better).

It has taken about a month but we are now into a workable schedule as to baths and laundry. We replaced the bathtub in the family bathroom with a new shower. Big improvement in looks and comfort. The shower in the master bath is quite small so The Husband prefers to use the front bathroom. I didn’t get a before photo but here is the new shower.

GD2 made her First Communion in early May. She was able to wear her sister’s dress with just a few alterations to the underslip. We thought the crowded church would be too much for Mom, so she and I stayed at the house. That worked out well as I was able to help with the meal preparation.

I did not make the cake but forgot to get any photos of the other food. The purple roses were very much in demand among the children present.

GARDENING

The summer vegetable garden is partially planted. Our son came down the day before Mother’s Day with a box full of plants.

There were 3 different kinds of tomatoes, a summer squash, 3 six-packs of lettuce and a variety of peppers, including one habanero.

We had already planted 4 tomatoes, 6 eggplants, 12 cucumbers and 6 Anaheim peppers. There are some volunteer beans in with the Costco tomatoes, Santa Maria pinquito I think. Still need to plant more beans, onions and some more squash. Also mesclun and arugula for summer salads.

Mom wanted to give me a pomegranate tree/bush for my birthday, so we caravanned out to the nursery on Southside Road. They had two very small plants, each in a 5 gallon can. We bought the taller one and it is now planted out by my greenhouse. Probably no fruit this year, but we are hoping for some next year. When I was a child, I remember visiting my step-grandfather’s sister Marie Trescony. She lived in the old adobe house on their ranch near San Lucas and the walled garden was very old California. The big attraction for me was the pomegranate. As a city girl, I was really impressed about being able to pick something off a tree and eat it. In those days it seems I was always hungry, no matter how often I was fed. Actually, I guess I haven’t changed that much…

For Mother’s Day 2008 we gave Mom a self-watering planter box with a rolling stand to raise it so that she wouldn’t have to bend. She grew tomatoes, peppers, onion and basil that year with pretty good results. This year we did the planting for her: a cherry tomato and a mild green pepper. We’ll probably add some basil seeds and maybe a few green onions.

The sunflower seeds we planted in April are growing up nicely. They need to be thinned but I just can’t make myself pull up a healthy plant. I know it needs to be done for the health of the remaining plants, but it’s so hard.

We also planted over a dozen dahlia tubers on the other side of the front walk. They are almost all up and growing fast. We should have a good supply of cut blossoms for the house this summer.

GENEALOGY

Nothing has been done in this department but I really need to get my Spencer Stout info together because I hope to visit Montague Co, TX and Cedar Co, MO on our vacation this year.

I cancelled my Ancestry World Deluxe membership and went back to the US Deluxe. There is just so much information still to find in this country, that I don’t see myself using it enough to warrant the price difference. I need to check with the Gilroy library to see if they have World in case I need it on down the line.

Knitting, Quilting and Sewing catch-up will follow soon.