Good news

The news is excellent. Our sister-in-law became responsive today. She has been removed from ICU. She recognizes family members and asked for a coke and a Big Mac, according to her husband.

Thank you for the prayers and wishes for her recovery. I told her husband about those who joined in praying for her. He said to thank everyone, and that we just did not know how hard he had been praying, himself. You never know how much, he said, until it is your loved one in that condition.

So, thank you. And most of all, thanks to The Lord.

A request

Please, pray for J's and my sister-in-law, in Tennessee, who broke her hip. She is not doing well and is in intensive care at present.

God Bless us, every one.

Kilmer was right ....

We really miss the Mango tree. Who would have thought that a tree which merely developed a Pisa-like lean toward the south during hurricane Andrew would fall toward the north, during Katrina? The night it fell, we heard the roots cracking and groaning like wind-stressed branches. In fact, we did not realize we had lost the whole tree until after the storm was over.

Even before the Key Lime and the Grapefruit were cut down by the state, beneath the Mango was our best shady retreat. Now, the Coconut tree is the shelter of choice from the sun. You have to negotiate your shady spot if more than a few people want to be cool.

So, we are thinking about replacing the Mango. Each time I look into another species' shortcomings and advantages, it always brings me back to missing the Mango.

I think the fruit of a Mango tree should be free, for picking and sharing, from your own back yard. And, don't get me started on the Key Lime ....

You never know ...

Yesterday afternoon, a careless driver rear-ended E who was was sitting, stopped in traffic, on the entrance ramp to I-95. The person said he looked down at his cell phone when it rang. Wonderful excuse, no?

Our left side of the back bumper has the other person's paint scraped on it and the tailpipe is loose. We can't report it to the insurance company until Tuesday. The car is driveable.

E is taking Advil to keep the stiffness gremlins at bay. He says he is okay, however getting himself moving this morning has been somewhat snail-like. But it could have been a lot worse.

Thank you, Lord.

We do read, too ...

The season finale of Robin Hood, on BBC America, airs this week. When we started watching, I vaguely thought it was a mini-series with a finite number of episodes. Guess not. There is usually no season finale without there being a new season next year.

Last night, our ABC Channel 10 reran the pilot episode of Ugly Betty. I hadn't seen it because I assumed it was a one-trick-pony and that it would not be well done. Teach me! It was charming. Now I need to find the rest of the season's episodes. ABC's Web site has a button that says Watch Ugly Betty ...

Midsommer Murders has moved to Saturday. That causes us to DVR it, and we gather around the TV as though it were a campfire, feet up and ready to try to guess the outcome. We seldom do.

They fit, too ...

This is the fashion statement that I use when doing anything around the shower or when using hair spray. Rain? Well, yes, that is water but there's always an umbrella. According to the weather people, we have officially entered the rainy season.

Who knew?

Seek and ye shall find ...

While I am having the Kenalog and Avastin eye treatments, I can't get water in my eyes. This stipulation will be in effect until two weeks after the current series of treatments ends.

I am getting spoiled by having someone else massage my head while I relax in the recliner, then wrap my hair in a towel, and escort me along to the other, upright chair for finishing. Every week. Oh, yes. The only way it might be better is if they would do this at a Starbucks.

Someone suggested that swim goggles, to protect just the eyes, might work. I am being careful to avoid visiting any vendor who carries swimming equipment.

I might find a pair.

Surprise: rain = growth

The grass is getting sooo tall. We haven't had to mow it in so long that we've got out of the habit.

Do you think we could persuade the Toro to act like a Roomba?

Guess not.

A pound of air ...

A mile or two from our house, there is a Mobil service station that will check your tire pressure and also sells the least expensive gas around. A young man wanders by, as you give your car a transfusion, and asks if he can test your tire pressure. If it is down, he shoots in the necessary amount of air. There is no charge except for whatever your heart tells you his services are worth.

Because I always accept the pressure check offer, the tires are wearing evenly. Instead of an address, this place should provide a map where X marks the spot.

Treasure is in the eye of the beholder.

Stone Work ...

Blogger announced that it is saving posts as drafts, as they are typed. I never save as a draft because preview is available and I have a battery backup, anyway. Does saving as a draft mean posts are carved in stone?

This is way better than a chisel on a granite slab. Come to think, granite does not come with a spell checker , either.

We had a wee spatter of rain again today. Not enough to rinse the cars off, though. ;-)

What would you do ...

This box was obviously cobbled together from at least three smaller ones. However, it has an enormous charm not visible to the human eye and was immediately claimed by Mew as a new toy.

Perhaps we can cover it with contact paper ....

Look, up in the sky ...

Can anyone identify the stuff falling from the sky in this picture? Free water, perhaps, with blurred droplets running down the glass.

Someone, somewhere, must be doing a rain dance.

Cat Burglar ...

J was on his own for cooking dinner, tonight, because I had both eyes dilated today. The world is made of strange visual effects but is clearing slowly. He found most of a rotisserie chicken in the fridge. Good. No complicated cooking to do.

We saw o1 doc's local area on the national news and J gave them a call on the cell phone. While he was talking, he set his nearly empty plate on a hassock by his feet. Mew saw him do this.

She streaked past me with something in her mouth, headed for her food dish and made a deposit. She had put her bite-sized, contraband chicken into the bowl which automatically made it hers, she thought.

Reminded me of a Siamese cat we had years ago who left fang marks on either side of the breastbone of an unattended, 20 pound roast turkey.

Now, that's ambition.

One more gift ...

There was one more gift that I received on Mother's Day: On top of one wrapped package were two Mother's Day cards, or so I thought. The smaller of the two envelopes, when I picked it up, felt like something other than a card.

It contained a beautiful announcement of S and E's wedding, printed on a surface backed with magnetic material, to serve as a reminder and souvenir. The magnetic (in both senses of the word!) announcement also says formal announcement to follow. I have never seen one like it.

I am overjoyed. We don't have a granddaughter, and now we will.

Happy ... lazy ... sweet!

Happy Mother's Day to all of us! I am sharing the floral part of mine with you. The sugar-free candy and the two kinds of Starbucks coffee are more difficult to bring to the 'net.

Plus, I'm not using the kitchen at all, today!

I hope your day has been as lazy and sweet as mine has.

The inner tiger ...

Sometimes, you just have to release the inner tiger. Mew is subduing an evil plant that threatened to reduce her to beta status. She has always been an alpha.

Click her photo to feel really threatened ...

Forgot ... what?

J and I like Survivor. It's shameful, but I admit it. We both like it equally well. I don't "just watch to humor him." Nor does he.

This evening around 8 p.m., he said, "Lets watch something," which is our short-speak for watching something from the DVR.

So I said, "Yes lets," and we watched a prerecorded program while Survivor's next to last episode was running on another channel. Unrecorded. Ancay ouyay antchay upidstay?

There's always the last episode.

Unless we forget ...

Who knows ...

Ranger was greeted by name when entering the local branch of our public library. Some folks you are pleased to have remember you and others, maybe not.

Our mechanic knows us too well, our plumber (Bless him, we spend money to save it, with his advice.) does, too. The pharmacist knows us by sight and so does most of the staff at Publix. The lady who cuts my hair and I have known one another for 20 years, or so.

Whom do I wish knew us better? Well, I don't have a jeweler, who knows me, or a personal shopper who does, either. I wish Starbucks associates saw me often enough to greet me by name, but they don't.

I think the most revealing thing is that the people at Mickie Dee and KFC say a fond hello when I drive up.

Mysterious pollinator?

Answer to the query about the mysterious metal pollinator:

This is the little metal rod in its customary place ... the handle to the steamer basket which unscrews to remove. It gets taken off when I steam broccoli in the presssure cooker. Easier to mix the B&B with the bej-ables (as Zeta used to call 'em when she was really tiny.)

S'ghetti night ...

We can't seem to locate Flora No Salt pasta sauce locally, anywhere. There doesn't seem to be a way to order it on line, either. So, in desperation, I reverted to an old practice and made sauce from scratch. Not bad, not bad ... I haven't used the food processor in a while so that was fun.

We still can get the Dreamfields pasta. So at least that much is still the same. It's just that I ate too much ...

T-Weather ...

Last night, we paid more heed to the weather forecast than we had since last year's hurricane season. After the horrendous devastation in Kansas, a prediction of possible tornadoes and the giving of an exact time by which the storm should reach our neighborhood got our attention.

We could see the edge of a weather front moving in to the west of us, as it did a few years ago when a small tornado followed the canal across the street from us and overturned a car at the main intersection neaby.

Back then, we were chatting with Zeta, who had dropped by, and we remarked on how windy it was getting. Yes, it was ... it stripped all the leaves from a tree across the street and left them in an oval green cloud on the grass.

We needed the rain we got last night. But something strange did happen. There is not a blossom left on the Hibiscus bushes.

Rockin'

The pressure cooker to the left is slowly rocking its top and almost ready to lull me to sleep. It’s working on a pork roast, which was cut from a vacuum sealed, boneless loin courtesy of BJ’s shopping trek, yesterday.

The rest of the loin is on a cookie sheet, in the freezer, cut into boneless chops and another roast. We partially freeze the goodies so that the vacuum sealer can do its job without inhaling things besides air. This is really a good way to stretch a food buck.

Unless we get a hurricane.

Can you figure out the use for the little aluminum rod on the stovetop?

Teeth, ah no ...

Tuesdays and Fridays are Mew's days to have her her upper teeth irrigated by us. This cat can spell and is beginning to understand pig-Latin. At least when we refer to her eeth-tay ...

Coconut skills ...

Plans for the coconuts. I thought I had some ... I was going to eat them. But, E has better plans for them. He will try to get some new trees to grow. Wow, like teaching me to fish rather than giving me a fish. You just have to wait for your fish to ripen.

One can always learn new skills, no? Coconut-patience is mine. I will wait at least until next year to eat a home-grown coconut. When I was young, we were surrounded by trees, so fresh was what we were used to. None of this dried, supermercado stuff.

This tree grows so slowly that I should still be able to reach any new pendants, next year.

If I can't, E can.

Fruit of the ...

We have two coconuts, on opposite sides of the same tree, attempting to grow and ripen. They hang about level with my eyes, which will tell you how tall the tree isn't.


This one with the split husk may not make it to maturity. Not sure why it split. Anyone have an idea why?


The tree was a gift years ago, from E. He brought us a coconut that had just started to sprout and we planted it.

At least these aren't dusty.

Doing its best ...

Even the Hibiscus are feeling the lack of rain. Normally they can endure almost any kinds of conditions. This Arizona-yet-more-humid state we find ourselves in is affecting more than just the dusty cars.

This bloom should be so full one could scarcely find the center of it. Only the color remains lush, poor baby.

How many people does it take ...

This is the infamous light bulb for the microwave. It arrived yesterday by mail. I half expected an armored truck to make the delivery.

It might take more than one of us to install this baby.