One Part Inspiration...

My daughter's cat moved in with us. She came with my daughter when she moved back home at Christmastime, along with the 45 gallon fish tank. It wasn't our first introduction, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been a learning curve. She is a rescue animal. My daughter had to sign a paper saying she wouldn't let the cat outside. This has proved to be easy and hard all at the same time. She never asks to go outside, and has acclimated well to our home environment. Still, I think she misses the outside, because in the middle of the night, when we are fast asleep, and the evening breezes are blowing lightly through our open window, she creeps in the room, crosses to my husband's side, jumps up on the bed, steps on his face, hops up on the headboard and sits and stares out the window for an hour or more. Then she takes a turn at the other window. She is very happy to keep you company, and wanders into the bathroom at the most inopportune times, if you know what I m...

It all started because of Mother's Day. I wasn't going to. The weather is cold and more like November than May. I'd already had a full day of ferrying kids around and picking up their friends and stopping for ice cream for the whole van-load of them. I'd mixed in some poking around at garage sales and taken my adopted mom out for a Mother's Day treat. But then, my husband said he needed rabbit food anyway. So off we went to the plant store to buy some basket stuffers. After all, this is the weekend I traditionally go and get my plants! Those stores are dangerous. This particular one has aisles and aisles of annuals, perrenials, climbers, creepers, shrubs, bushes, grasses, and trees. I feel happy just wandering around, feeling the plants, smelling them, and soaking up the buzz of anticipation of all those shoppers taking home their choices to spruce up their living spaces. I can never get out of there without spending my wad. But I actually love it because the pay-of...

It was one of those mornings: Rush Rush Rush. Quick get yourself together Throw your music instruments in the van and rush to your session at the Elementary School with the Kindergarten and Grade One class. Arrive at the school. Throw open the doors of the van and begin taking out your instruments. Rush Rush Rush. Look at watch again and realize you only have a few minutes before your session. Get out instruments. Begin carrying instruments to the classroom. Rush back for another load. Come out the door, look toward the open door of the van. Notice kitten standing at the doorway of the van. Remember you forgot to check van before you left, for kittens who felt the need for education. Look at watch again. Realize there's not enough time to return home with the kitten before the session. Talk to principal who takes the kitten to the Grade Six/Seven class and asks if they are willing to kittensit until recess. Heave a sigh of relief when they say a resounding "yes". Realize ...

Do you know what this is? It is chocolate mint. Who knew that so many plants had chocolate attached to them. In the instructions, it says that it is very good in tea. I am going to try it someday. Meantime, I have planted it in a container (garden store suggestion) with some sedge and huecera. It is my contribution to the fall garden that I am enjoying. I have been busy trying to weed and get the garden into shape for the tail end of this season. We planted some climbing hydrangeas and the dahlias are just about to bloom like crazy (I'm glad I left them in there...I thought they were weeds and just about pulled them out). It is therapy for my sould to look at my garden and enjoy the shapes and the colors - and now the smells!

In the last couple of weeks, the family has been gearing up to go back to school. After a particularly grueling day of shoppping for supplies, I asked the children to unload the vehicle and I went inside to start supper. After supper, I was very tired and decided to go to bed before everyone else. I asked the kids to close up for the night before they went to bed. Around midnight, I heard Kola barking. She sounded like she was outside. This is not a good thing when the coyotes are prowling around. So I got out of bed, and went downstairs. The house was quiet. Everyone had gone to bed. However ALL the lights were on, the doors were wide open and the outside lights revealed that the van doors were wide open as well. I went to close them, and I saw Kola. She was sitting in the back of the van, waiting to go where ever it was that we were planning to go. Let it never be said that she is not a party animal!

Do you know what this is? It is the newest addition to my garden. The other day, my daughter and I went into a local nursery for some "plant therapy". We had such fun going around and looking at all the plants and discussing what would look good in the garden, and dreaming about where they would go. Of course, one can never buy all the plants that one wants when one sees them. So one has to wander extensively throughout the store to find the perfect purchase. My first impulse was to add the plants that were 50% off - like the good garage saler that I am. Then we looked at all the beautiful containers that held arrangements of plants. I look at arrangements and think to myself that mine will look the same. But they never do. Then we wandered outside to the perennial section. We looked at Lavender, and Hos ta , and Perennial Geraniums. Then we saw this one. A Chocolate Cosmos . I put it up to my nose and sniffed. Sure enough, it smells like chocolate. Who kn...