No Gardening Mistakes
We have this neighbor who doesn't weed. At least he mows. Sort of. For a few years I called the management company and asked nicely if they could do something about the burdock and dames rocket and five-foot-high thistle grove. The creeping belle flower and ditch lilies and all other sorts of horribleness are on my fence line. Once a year when things tower over the fence, and that means over 6 feet, they send over a mower and kind of cut things back. I decided last year that it's their yard. They pay rent, they live there, they can do as they see fit unless their lease requires weeds to be removed. Which it doesn't. I had a huge number of hostas that were not thriving in my back yard because it was too sunny. I gave away most of them but kept a few to line the fence. [...]
Rain
When I was growing up I loved when it rained. Rain meant no banishment to the outdoors in the ridiculously hot summers to play baseball on the dirt. I wasn't very good and I'm not kidding when I said the field was dirt. Staying inside meant I could go up to my bottom bunk in the bedroom I shared with my sisters and I could read. I went the library several times a week and, after cooking for my family, I started when I was around ten, or doing homework, I pretty much finished that in school, I could read. When I lived in Africa rain was exciting. It was loud on the metal roof, but rain meant I didn't have to hand water my garden with a calabash ladle. We had running water at 4:30 a day for thirty minutes. We'd fill our barrel with shower water and all [...]
Up on the Roof
When I was a kid in Kansas summers were hot. And humid. And there never seemed to be a breeze. I shared a room with my three sisters. The ceilings were sloped and we had two army-issue metal bunk beds, thank goodness I had a bottom bunk so I didn't bank my head on the ceiling multiple times a day. When it was really hot all eight kids would go downstairs and get our pillows, which were really old towels and rags stuffed into the pillowcase, and we'd flop down on sheets on the hard wood floor that needed replacing. It was beyond refinishing. My mom found some old oscillating fans at Goodwill and we'd line them up and wait for those pitiful breezes to hit us for those few, glorious minutes. They made more noise than air, but we'd luxuriate in whatever we got and somehow fall asleep. No [...]
Eye On Oshkosh
We had so much fun yesterday evening. Cheryl Hentz is the host of Eye on Oshkosh and she invited me to be on her show to talk about the new book and about rescue dogs. [...]
National Dog Appreciation Month Podcast
I love being a guest on podcasts and last week I was on a great one. Stefan is from Germany and now lives with his family in South Carolina. April is National Dog Appreciation Month [...]
When Bad Things Happen
Why do bad things happen to good people? There have been sermons preached and books written and long discussions about this question. Instead of trying to answer it, I’m going to tell you a story. [...]