A day of ups and downs

 

Last year's mums
I hope this year they will be as spectacular.

Today I read a post from a friend who was busy planting bulbs for spring in the garden in a house new to her, and I felt a bit guilty that I don’t do my own gardening. On the other hand, if I got down to dig in the dirt, I might never get up again. So mine is a compromise. And it made me happy today when the yard guys came to plant a row of gorgeous mums, already partly in bloom, in front of the deck.

I may have told this story before, but in summer they plant pentas in front of the deck, and most years they are glorious, about three feet tall with profuse color. This year, with the heat, they really suffered, despite Jordans watering. Some in the middle died, others maybe grew to a foot, but there were no blooms--none. One day when John Filarowicz, who owns the lawn service, came by he said they were the most pitiful pentas he’d yet seen. Just as I was about to say, “Gee, thanks,” he added insult to injury and said, “I feel like an oncologist delivering bad news.” So today the pentas are gone. The one mum on the end closest to me—naturally the one I see first—has a big dent in the top, like maybe something hit it. At first, I was disturbed, thinking the asymmetry would bother me all winter, but then I remembered the Zen concept of wabi sabi—the beauty of imperfect things. So now that mum will be my favorite

The guys also replaced the saddest decorative grasses I’ve ever seen. They were in two beds at the foot of the deck stairs and by the gate. For a couple of years I had lovely native grasses in those beds that grew to a good height, and when the wind blew, they danced. I loved to watch them. Then, for some inexplicable reason, they died. We replaced them with other varieties twice, but nothing took hold. The latest ones remained sparse, drooping on the ground. John was as puzzled as I was. So now we have native plants, though tonight the only impressive thing is one prickly pear. The other plants are low to the ground. Christian complained it is not what he expected—he wanted the plants more crowded. I explained they will spread as they take hold and grow—he’s a big gardener and should know that. So now of course I’m worried about the new plants but having the mums is a real “up” for me.

The down is literally a down. For only the second time in five years since my drastic hip surgery, I fell. Neither time was due to the hip nor weakness nor anything associated with the surgery. The first time I fell asleep on the commode in the middle of the night and took a header onto the bathroom floor. Luckily I was able to get myself up, take a couple of aspirin, and go back to sleep.

Today I was leaving my desk, holding on to the walker, when my foot caught in the cord to the foot massage machine that lives under my desk. Somehow the cord had worked its way to the front, where it does not belong. I actually thought I handled the whole thing gracefully. I held on to the walker and simply went down on my knees—ouch! Collected myself and sat cross-legged next to the walker. I considered getting up but decided calling for help was the better part of wisdom. Jordan was home, came out, and helped me get on my knees and over to my desk chair, which is more stable than the walker. I pulled myself into a crouching position and seemed stuck, so she had the idea to put the walker under my bottom. While she was trying to do that, I pulled myself to a standing position. Proud? I guess so. And not hurt, though my knees were a bit tender. I do admit I was a bit shaken.

I’ve always told myself that if I fell and really needed help, Sophie would go to the back door of the main house and bark like mad until someone came to see what the matter was. Know what she did? She took one look at me on the floor and turned and went into the security of her cage. Kind of a “I’m not messing with that” attitude.

Other than that, it was a good day. I wrote a scene in the new Irene book, and it turned out to be one of those that just writes itself. The words kept coming, and the direction things took surprised me. But I had my daily thousand words before I knew it. And felt good about them. A technician from the security company came to program a new key fob for me, and I attached a house key to a huge leather shape of Texas key chain I have. Hard to lose that one. And Jordan and I tried a new recipe for taco salad tonight—pretty good. I decided the lime juice made the difference in the dressing.

Our new taco salad
with a sour cream/salsa/lime dressing

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So now I’ve got an evening to read. Sweet dreams, y’all.