Nice surprises

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this gardening thing. Some things you buy and plant and they fail, because you made a mistake, say in assuming that the front bed of the house gets more than 2 hours of sunlight daily, given that the sun shines through the main window all day... Some things you buy and plant and they die because you have annoying but adorable rodents that you can't bear to kill. Some things you buy and plant and they die because, well, just because. Like my Solomon's Seal. It's a NC native, shade-lover, and it's in a bed that gets just 2 hours of sunlight a day (I know this b/c I spent all day recording how much sunlight each part of my yard gets). The soil of the bed was enriched with fresh compost and enriched soil a few months earlier. Yet it has died a slow, painful death, leaf by leaf.
But this is not a blog about failure. No! As I was weeding in the backyard - no, I must rephrase that. As I was selectively weeding around my few plants in the backyard, I discovered that my Elephant's Ear from last year was growing back. Not only that, but there are now THREE of them! I LOVE plants which survive and reseed! Like my mint, which is taking over the side of my garage, and the marigolds that re-appeared in the front bed (the one that actually gets full sun).
So yeah, the gardening thing: you win some, you lose some, and then sometimes God just gives you a bonus.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Yes, yes, there is light. I will soon be done, done with EVERYTHING school related! I will be able to read whatever I want, at whatever pace I choose. I will be able to sit down and deal with people face to face, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and the really ugly. Feels so good!
The best part is, I ruined my 4.0 GPA in the Spring semester, so I REALLY don't care about my grades now. (I think I've got an A and another A- heading my way). And really, anything above a 3.5 rounds up to 4.0. :)

Sunday Naps

Naptime in the Bayless Barn on Sunday. Oddly enough, I decided to bake bread instead of nap...

Summer Vacation

Is on the way! just a couple more assignments, and then on Saturday Dale and I will be driving to East Tennessee for a week long vacation at my parent's resort home. And by resort I mean: free food, pool, hot tub, rainy day plans to visit art museum and aquarium, and oh, nothing to do but lay around and read! I definitely need to get to a library before the trip!

Gardening Success!

I take hope from the fact that while I may not have the greenest thumb around, I have managed to nurture our rose bush for 3 years now. And I've discovered a secret - roses love banana peels. Whenever my rose bush is looking a little sad, I bury a banana peel at the base and within days there are tons of new leaves and branches. Right now it's got a bunch of blooms on it, probably the most ever!

nurture, of course

Yeah, I can't possibly poison or kill squirrels or moles or whatever is stealing my plants. I'm too softhearted. About the only thing I can kill without remorse are the slugs eating my basil. The beer dish is working ok - I put it out at night with fresh beer and in the morning there are usually at least 5 slugs in there. I'm also trying crushed eggshells around the basil plant. However, I have a lot of grass and rosemary around it, so there are several aerial paths to the basil. (btw, it took me about 5 tries to spell aerial right!)
Now, if only I could figure out why some of my plants are randomly dying. I try not to get discouraged. Gardening, like writing, is probably a skill which requires time and practice.

Danged old Squirrels!

To those of you who doubted that my squirrels are uprooting my plants, I offer this photo.

On Tuesday morning, I had two lovely clumps of mondo grass, happily growing in my shade grotto of a backyard. Today I witnessed what can be seen in the photo. I defy you to say that was a natural death of a clump on mondo grass!
The only question that remains is my response. I am sorely tempted to take up arms against the heinous squirrels, to declare war and commit valiant efforts to scare, sicken, and drive off these rats with furry tails. Yet I am a pacifist, committed to the restoration of the world in accordance with God's will. Perhaps I ought to go WITH the squirrels. After all, water destroys rock, and trees which bend survive hurricanes. What do you think? Destroy, or nurture?

Changing my Views

Normally, I am opposed to paying movie theater prices for animated movies. This is simply based on irrational prejudice. I figure, why pay more for a movie where they went cheap and didn't hire actors? I like watching these movies, but I'd rather rent or see them at the dollar theater.
However, last night I was tasked with taking the high school group to a movie, and they all wanted to go see UP! Now, I do suspect that there were other movies on their list (like the Hangover), but they all know that all I will take them to see is PG or PG-13 rated movies. Plus, they all agreed on Up. So we went. I broke my rule, but it was all in service to the high schoolers.
And you know what? I'm giving up the rule. Sure the movie was extra expensive ($11) because it was in 3D. But darn it, it was a really good movie! I laughed. My heart was touched. It had a really good positive message done in a subtle way. Sure, it was predictable, and sure, it was cartoonish, but I really truly enjoyed it.
So new rule: if the movie looks good and Dale and I want to see it, we'll go, animated or not!

(And it should be noted that this is in the context of watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I think my standards are higher than usual right now).

7 Quick Weekend Takes

1. I spent 6 hours on Saturday in class, took a nap, went out to dinner, and then watched Lord of the Rings. I also found time to wash and change the bed sheets. Yes, I rock.
2. Sunday I had a great time singing, had lunch with a friend, and then got to go to the Farmer's Market with Dale. Yummm! They have peaches and blueberries and strawberries and zucchini and squash as well as baked goods and candy and flowers. I just love going there.
3. We also went to the hardware store where I searched for a biologically friendly bug solution to the slugs eating my basil. We found nothing.
4. Instead, we filled a plastic can lid (the kind you use to cover cat food cans) with old beer and drowned the slugs. Seems to work ok.
5. I didn't get my Sunday afternoon nap, but I managed to survive.
6. Dale and I watched Two Towers Sunday evening.
7. Tonight I will be watching a movie with the high schoolers, so we'll have to wait at least 1 more day before finishing the trilogy.

Caught up!

I'm actually caught up on my schoolwork, before the weekend no less! Of course, I will spend this evening and 6 hours tomorrow in a required online classroom, but hey! At least I've got a bit of free time today. After buying Tori Amos tickets, I will work out, and then I will do some creative writing and maybe some laundry. I know, my life is totally exciting...

Plot holes and Chocolate Bread

Our friends Ginger and Victor visited this weekend with their 8 week old Caleb! It was great to meet him. He's quite a cute, well-behaved baby with a full head of dark brown hair. G&V enjoyed our hot tub with us, which was cool because Victor is officially the first man besides Dale to sit in the hot tub! And of course, it was a great chance to make and eat chocolate bread.

In other news, we watched Ocean's 11 and Terminator Salvation. I spotted a couple of plot holes and found confirmation on the Internet that they are, in fact, plot holes. That's always fun. Especially considering that the first time I watched Ocean's 11, I had no idea how they pulled it off. Still, the real problem is this: George Clooney, Matt Damon, and the Asian guy were all in the vault waiting for the phony Swat team while the video feed showed a fake robbery. But at some point, someone loaded the vault elevator up with black bags filled with prostitute flyers. The casino staff themselves carried the flyers out to the remote control van. Where did those bags come from? The Asian guy didn't have room to smuggle them. Matt and George didn't carry them down with them. They weren't already in the vault. The SWAT team couldn't have brought them in, because they came after the bags had left. I checked online and, in fact, there is no explanation! As for Terminator, there were just buckets of plot holes. They clearly needed the Lost team to give them some time travel advice about paradoxes, etc. Naturally, the time travel in Star Trek was perfectly done, because it had Losties working on it. :)