Wherever I go, there I am

Another fun day in geekdom -- manual debugging work by MS tech for the W10 update on this laptop. 4 hours total, but always fun to play with them.
My other laptop is not a test machine, so its updates are simple. :p
Just waiting for a phone call to recap/feedback, then can go outside IRL and enjoy what looks like it will be a beautiful evening. :cool:
How binary my life seems at this stage. Interesting!
 

Whew! August flew by and I had almost no gardening time.

We dodged a bullet re: wildfires this Summer, but travelling into the valley was cut off here and there for a while.

About 50% or so successful on the gardening curve -- everything is kinda tired looking and just needs cleaning up for now.

Funny thing is that what grew best in the front edge garden were "volunteer" plants that must have been gifted by birds. I now have an 8-foot Pampas Grass plant which grew to its full height while I was gone -- very impressive and obviously requires no care (well except for auto sprinklers) ;). Think I'll let it live here.

In a few weeks our semi-annual lawn/garden debris pickup happens and I'll have six of those huge biodegradable bags ready.

I am seriously considering "Vegas grass" for the front lawn, if it's not too expensive. Has anyone who reads this tried that? I understand that the current type is very realistic?

Most of the tourists have gone and we have our beach back to ourselves. Ahhh...
 

Foggy this weekend. The rains come in this week. Still wildfires to our South. Sigh.
Put up my Christmas tree yesterday, 'cause I needed the lights sooner.
Been a while since I've logged in -- hard to look at screens for fun when I'm looking at one all day for writing :rolleyes:
There, I feel a little better...thanks for reading :p

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the States!!!
 
Haven't been logging in here often enough over the last few months. Will try to do better.

Man oh man, what a Fall season... smallest difficulty was replacing a hot water heater. How glad I am to be writing from home ;) Was able to get it taken care of with no water damage, yay!

It's amazing -- or maybe more noticeable? -- since I have a peaceful home to live and work in, it's become more obvious when I'm out and about that too many people are stressed beyond belief. Part of that is definitely their being hyper-linked. Trying to help is exhausting and I'm not really any good at that anyhow.

Think I'll re-read "Candide", especially the last paragraph which describes that all one can do is tend one's own garden. It has been an excellent few months' learning curve about how to set -- and defend, for goodness sake -- clear boundaries. Whew!

Am going to just relax into the gentle, elegant Christmas season and avoid the "contagion" of drama.

I'm so thankful to be part of this forum -- note to self: reach out for opinions and suggestions sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading! :cool:
 
Haven't been logging in here often enough over the last few months. Will try to do better.

Man oh man, what a Fall season... smallest difficulty was replacing a hot water heater. How glad I am to be writing from home ;) Was able to get it taken care of with no water damage, yay!

It's amazing -- or maybe more noticeable? -- since I have a peaceful home to live and work in, it's become more obvious when I'm out and about that too many people are stressed beyond belief. Part of that is definitely their being hyper-linked. Trying to help is exhausting and I'm not really any good at that anyhow.

Think I'll re-read "Candide", especially the last paragraph which describes that all one can do is tend one's own garden. It has been an excellent few months' learning curve about how to set -- and defend, for goodness sake -- clear boundaries. Whew!

Am going to just relax into the gentle, elegant Christmas season and avoid the "contagion" of drama.

I'm so thankful to be part of this forum -- note to self: reach out for opinions and suggestions sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading! :cool:

Happy to see you again JFBev. I just love what you said about the holidays:


"Am going to just relax into the gentle, elegant Christmas season and avoid the "contagion" of drama"

How perfect! :love_heart:
 
About a week ago, I got a call from a "Carlos" in SF about one of my students who wanted to get back in touch and continue his ESL Business lessons online with me. I had given that student high-speed intensive sessions while he was here on a 6-month Visa about 18 months ago after he arrived from fleeing Venezuela (where he had worked as an electrical engineer). Then he left here and survived somehow -- I wasn't in the loop, and didn't ask for any information.

Well, today we had a Skype session - he's now safely in another S. Amer country with a 2-year legal residency status (he showed me his ID card as proof). Poor young man. His hair is going gray but I think my "teacher/mom" effect helped him out a bit. I've set up a series of English writing assignments for him and we'll do a Skype connection each month. Also gave him a list of my favorite podcasts in both English and American ;), because he's surrounded by Spanish again.

Not that I needed it, but it never hurts to remember how truly short my problem list is compared to so many other souls. Oh, and that I started out on the "road less traveled" a long, long time ago. Thought it would have arrived somewhere by now, but hey. . . :p
 
March already! Growing season never really stops here but is more influenced by the day length than anything else, and it's already into the Spring clean-up time.:cool:

The blueberry plants are looking good with lots of buds ready to open soon, and the hydrangeas, rhododendrons and azaleas are in good shape.
Felicity Flamingo made it through the winter rains, but faded to white. So a new coat of bright pink should perk it back up ;). A few new pollinator-friendly annuals and a couple of herbs to fill the large pots and that should do it!

Just going to keep my little back garden trimmed and maybe add a few of those whirly-gig things or gnomes -- things like that.
I accept that I'm no green-thumb, but with a little maintenance here and there, it should be a nice little place to relax during Spring, Summer, and Fall.

And I promised myself that this year I'd try to learn how to fly a two-handled, bat-shaped kite. :rolleyes: There's a beach about 30 miles South where a club meets one Saturday each month and they're always encouraging new people to come on down and join them. They love what they do and are willing to teach newbies. Well, I'm one of those, so am looking forward to the adventure! I'll post a pic or two here in the diary, probably. Well, maybe. We'll see. :p Hey, they could be a series of "how not-to's" at first, but will show the beautiful Pacific no matter what. :cool:

Still considering relocating inland, but for this Summer I'll just enjoy the kite adventure and deal with whatever else happens. No decision yet.
 
In an earlier post, you can see the back corner of my garden (behind "Felicity Flamingo"). Where nothing grows in the dirt. Not even after amending the soil. Not even after putting a short fence around it to keep cats out. Not even after rooting a hydrangea cutting and planting it according to very specific directions last fall. Aarrgghh! Okay. 'Nuff complaining.

I noticed just last week, our local grocery has begun to put out all kinds of thingamabobs to put in gardens! Lots of shiny, movable, colorful objects!

So I'm going to grab one or two each time I'm in that store and should soon have a collection -- with no regard for matching color or scheme. Let's see if this nerd brain can handle it. Also if the two neighborhood cats decide it will be below their dignity to use that area for business...
:wiggle:

Will post a pic or two when there are enough to make a nice group! ;)
 
Here are the first two additions to my "nongarden" corner:

Gnome and Fred.jpg


Don't know what that volunteer ground cover is, but I'm going to let it grow for a while to see what happens!
 


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