During Alberto

burplething

Tradescantia pallida, more commonly known as Purple Heart…  and since I always post the first Crinum lily of the season… lily with Bree in the background. In people years the old girl is 83.

firstcrinum2018

You can’t kill crinums. I pulled the entire bed up after Irma… about 60 of them… and threw the ones I wanted to keep in another bed. Not planted. They lay there dormant, looking door-nail dead, until I planted them again this Spring. Miraculous.

Alberto has been dumping massive amounts of water on us, but guess what? It’s monsoon season anyway. For two weeks before Al got here we were inundated every day. Fortunately we live on a sandbar.

0

Voices

I hear voices; the murmurs of experience in my head when push comes to shove.

When taking a pill I always hear my Mom say “It’s good for you!” which enables me to swallow. For some odd reason. (Yes, I’m 60 years old!)

When I’m sick I drink plenty of fluids because I hear my friend Bonna say “Drink fluids! Hydrate!” She never put up with my bullshit and I believe she’s such a good mother now because she had to half-raise me.

And I hear my sister-in-law when my gut is bloated and gassy at 3:00am. “Don’t you have any Gas-X?” My internal reply is invariably YES to her answer “WELL??” 

TMI? Here’s more. Bloated and gassy used to be my normal routine. That and miserable diarrhea. THEN I remembered my doctor’s mantra – “Get rid of GMO’s and Gluten”

So one month ago I cut gluten and lactose out of my life. Surgically removed them, more like. It was difficult; I dreamed about donuts for two weeks.

But the first day -well, the day after I started- I felt 1,000% better. I know, but the difference between totally miserable and totally wonderful is so far apart. I was me again! All my energy was back!! My stomach went flat and I could digest again! Over TEN pounds fell off the first week!

And I tested negative for celiac disease.

The internist talked to me for five minutes and proclaimed “You have IBS”. No, I don’t. I may have felt like it for a time, but he can take that crap down the road. There are people out there who really suffer from it and I’m sure they don’t appreciate it being some sort of catch-all just because Dr. Do-Little doesn’t give a shit.

So, hearing voices might be a crazy thing to do, but I’m not giving up on them any time soon. I may even add some. 😉

4

Selloum

I wanted some of those giant Philodendrons, the ‘Selloum’ variety, but of course Home Depot had absolutely nada and Lowe’s only had one ‘Hope’ (which I bought but am not thrilled with). Didn’t want to hike 50 miles to Miami so instead purchased seeds on the internet. As one does.

Philodendron bipinnatifidum at Floridata.

And my 19 seedlings, which really tickle me. Almost time to plant in pots.

flat2

There are way too many for my lot, which is why there will soon be little pots of babies at the curb. My crinum lilies went pretty fast so I’m sure these will as well.

0

Butterpie

butterpie

And Daisy watching me watch the butterpie…

whatkillsme

‘Butterpie’ because I’m regressing and that’s what I called it when I was a toddler.

2

Last Confederate Ivy

lastconfivy

My neighbors succeeded in killing off an entire fence length of beautiful ivy, except for this bit. I tried to save the others that had been cut back over and over… to no avail.

And.. I still stand in the middle of the back yard, looking into their house -because there’s no thick wall of ivy anymore- and wonder WHY.

2

James

This is our oldest grandson, James. He joined the Navy last week after a year of college. April 10th was coincidentally the day his grandfather reported to both his subs, one in 1964 and the other in ’65!

ty1

He’s going for SEAL training and they’re sure he’ll get it. We couldn’t be prouder. But then we’ve always been proud of him. They’re getting the best we’ve got, believe me.

He’s almost 19 but when I think of him I can’t help but picture that chubby cheeked little munchkin he was as a toddler.  It was ever thus, eh?

And yes, I resisted the urge to post baby pictures… 😉

2

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑