town the Catholics built is practically the slums
compared to the "real" North Shore, i.e., Lake Forest,
Winnetka, Wilmette, Highland Park, etc., etc., etc.
Interjection: Ha ha, Mags, got your pix message! :)
Let me tell you, peeps, going shopping on Sunday
morning while the Jesusy-people are a'churchin is THE.
BOMB. No lines. No bad parking spaces. No screaming
kids. Oh, the blessed peace and quiet. Of course, you
just have to get up to enjoy it. Usually, I'm sacked
out in bed slightly comatose.
My brother took my mom to church today (What? You
thought *I* was going to do that? My "good
daughterness while the mom is recovering from knee
surgery" does not extend to getting suckered into
going to church with her. No way.) As it was, she
shouldn't have been doing Catholic Calisthenics...she
aggravated her knee doing the whole sit down, stand
up, kneel bullshit. *rolls eyes* She should have just
stayed seated, I'm sure the godman would understand.
Anyway, back to shopping. I went to Garden Fresh and
stocked up on my Fage Greek Yogurt. That's pronounced
"Fah-yeh!" I think I'm going to start calling it
"Fuh-yeh!" (for Fuck Yeah! yogurt). Then....
I went back to Home Depot. Oh evil, evil. I got more
mulch, soil and plants. Holy shit, did I get more
plants. (I had to go back again around 6pm for MORE
mulch though.) I really wanted to buy the Scotch Broom
plant (so pretty!), but I would have had to dig a four
foot hole - NOT happening with my little hand spade
and cultivator! I was outside non-stop from approx
12:30 until 5:30pm gardening. Christ. And then I
showered off the mud and did that other run to HD for
more mulch, came back, and was outside again from 7ish
until 8ish. I hardly ate a thing all day, I was so
focused on getting this shit done. I told my mom that
this was pretty much her mother's day present, a week
early. The back looks fucking awesome, if I do say so
myself. I'll have to take pictures.
On a side note, the neighbor's crabapple tree is in
full blossom. It smelled heavenly and looks like a
cloud of soft snow hovering in the air above the
branches.
So, it's a townhouse, yah? On the north side of our
back patio, there's a bigger area of shrubbery
(totally unkempt by the lackluster association)
between us and one neighbor. Both AC units are tucked
in here as well. Interesting thing: there's quite the
bit of space in the middle of the bushes (they form a
horseshoe bowing away from the ACs and the back
walls). I'm guessing mebbe 4 sq ft? Throw in a few
bags of garden soil (because the soil is SHIT and lots
of clay/rocks when you scratch in with the cultivator
like I did) and it would be the perfect spot for
tomatoes. Totally against association rules I'm
guessing, but they can really kiss my ass right about
now. Shielded from the wind, but still plenty of
sunlight. The neighbor on that side just moved in and
is hardly ever home. I don't think she's been out on
the back patio at all. The only real risk or two: 1)
getting caught by the association nazis 2) if either
of us needs to have AC repairs done this summer. An AC
dude would have to tramp right through that space. I'm
thinking that's a risk I'm willing to take. TOMATO RUN
AT HOME DEPOT TOMORROW! WoOt! I'm going to get more
heirloom varieties because I like the funky lookin'
ones.
When my mom eventually notices the little tomato
plantation to the north and asks me what the hell,
I'll be like "Tomatoes just planted themselves there?
How WEIRD!" With the exception of onions, we totally
have the makings for salsa.
On the outside arch of that same area, I planted a lot
of little things in between whatever type of lillies
that have been there forever. I had to weed the shit
out of that area though, and then make sure to mulch
around my plantings so the weeds can't come back in. I
have six everbearing strawberry plants (Mmm! I hope
they put out little runners. Strawberries typically do,
so I hope to have more plants next year.) About four
yellow neck squash, the same number of cucumbers (why
squash and cukes, two things I hardly ever eat?!), two
jalapenos (one other was planted in a pot), some thyme
(I think, something that will provide ground cover as
well), some utterly fantastic smelling pineapple sage
(I have no idea what to use it for crush it in ice tea! or use in salads and desserts, but it smells so
sweet!), more basil (from seed this time), parsley,
and four o'clocks (Marvel of Peru) from seed. I love four o'clocks. We
used to have them at the old house. Those things seed
like crazy and spread - make good cover. I planted
them right up against the back wall. It should cover
that unsightly area well if they bloom well.
Oh god, I think my face is hot. It was cloudy most of
the day, but I bet the UV rays were still bad. Shit. I
had a hat on the whole time though...I would have
thought it would have covered some of my face!
This is so long-winded now. I'm going to have to make
a list of what all is out there, take pictures, and
then re-post.
P.S. TWA, I was futzing about your journal after reading your catnip comment (thanks). I've got to make a note to check out The Literate Kitten. God, how does she read so much? I mean, I thought I read a lot, but DAMN. (Of course, most of my reading lately has been for graduate school and not a lot of pleasure reading. *le sigh*)
1 comments:
You've had quite a time the last few days. Lots of laughs on this end; thanks for a good start to the new week. I must come back and write some specific comments.
For the moment, though, since you're such a good sport and so much fun, you've been TAGGED again! 8-)
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