Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Tuesday's Doings

Called my daughter, first thing in the morning, to see how she was.  She said her temperature was normal, thank goodness!  But she stayed home from classes and worked from home.  I am glad she was able to rest and take it easy.

My supervisor called me in the morning to ask if I could help a colleague with his assignment and could I complete it by the end of the week.  I said yes, of course.  So I have been working on that assignment, all day.

I took a morning break to bring in the trash cans. I keep the trash cans against the wall along my driveway, in front of the garage, where four-o-clock plants have seeded themselves and grow each year:

Four-O-Clock Plants

There's barely any soil along the wall, maybe two or three inches, but they've wedged themselves in there:

Four-O-Clocks (and a dandelion!)


I also took a little walk around the back garden.  This is my rosemary plant, which I grew from a cutting a friend gave me:

Rosemary Plant

It is several years old and the entire plant is leaning out of the bed where it has been planted!  I took some cuttings, today, and put them in water to root.

Rosemary Cuttings in Water

Once they've rooted, I'll plant them in the garden.  They are drought resistant and are grown as landscape plants, here.

There are baby birds in the nest in my front porch light!  Today I saw the mama bird perched on the edge of the nest feeding them and at least two baby birds!  But I couldn't photograph them - the mama bird flew away and the baby birds crouched down:

The Nest

The mama bird is perched on a branch of the eucalyptus tree in my front garden, watching me take a picture of her nest:


I believe they are house finches.  The adults are about the size of a sparrow, mostly brown, with the male having a rosy red head and throat.

In the evening, I put water to the front garden.  The newly planted gladioli bulbs are starting to come up, but I didn't take a picture.  I also watered the indoor plants.

I had a ham sandwich for breakfast and made some fried rice for lunch.  I tried to make just enough for a single serving, but by the time I had added all the ingredients (onions, smoked sausage, egg, celery, green peas, etc.), there was enough for two servings.   I had an orange for dessert.

In the evening, my neighbor S across the street called me.  It was her daughter who drove me to the airport last Thursday night to pick up daughter and her husband who attended to my car.  Neighbor was calling to tell me that she cooked more of her chicken and rice dish (with carrots and onions and bell peppers) and she was bringing me some for my dinner.  She actually brought me two containers of it, so I froze one for later (or for daughter to take back with her the next time she visits).  I had some for my dinner and it looks like there's enough leftover for the rest of the week! 

The bulbs in my kitchen ceiling light fixture needed replacing.  For several weeks now, I've been making do with the light on my stove hood.  My friend who does my garden stopped by this evening to replace the bulbs.  But first, he had to go and buy them for me, because daughter had been too sick to do so.  I took the opportunity to clean the inside of the light fixture cover, when he removed it to replace the bulbs. 

Later, I video chatted with daughter.  She said she had a headache, earlier, but she's feeling better.  Her first class tomorrow morning has been cancelled, so she gets to sleep in a bit and rest. 

I only had some minor aches and pains, today, which was nice.  Tomorrow, I have another injection scheduled in the morning.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Daughter is feeling better.
- I had a relatively side effects free day.
- My neighbor brought me dinner (and enough for several meals!)
- I have a working kitchen light!
- A phone call from a friend.

How was your day?

8 comments:

  1. I'm glad you're both feeling fine. It was probably very wise for your daughter to take a day off, the body can only handle so much stress and fatigue before it starts getting sick!

    I have tried several times to root some of my rosemary but have been unsuccessful each time. I've tried it in water, in soil, in soil with rooting hormone... how do you root yours? I was trying to identifying newer stems but they all look woody so it's hard, hahaha.

    Not being able to call Maintenance to do things like change bulbs is definitely one of the downsides of being a homemaker! It's good that you had someone who could help with it though, and how thoughtful of your neighbor to send you some food, especially since you hadn't been able to get all your grocery shopping done this week. My neighbor stopped by to offer us 2 huge onions from this family's garden last night. He's so nice. I offered to give him some of my pineapples if/when they finally make it to maturity but he was hesitant as I don't think he's ever had pineapple before. Still, it'll be nice to be able to reciprocate because every time I've offered tomatoes or beans he's turned me down (their garden is much more bountiful than mine but it's located several miles away so at least I'm spared the sight and constant envy of their garden, hahaha).

    Yay for baby birds! We get a nest of swallows (I think that's what they are) in our non-functioning chimney every Spring and every Spring a couple of birds end up falling down. We hear them flap around for a day or two, until they make their way down to the bottom and then catch them with a towel, let the cats sniff them to give them a thrill of the outdoors, and then release them. I heard a bird chirping in there yesterday afternoon so I'm getting an old towel ready today :) I hope you enjoy your baby birds, Bless. Have a great day.

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    1. Thank you, Nathalie. When my friend gave me a cutting from her rosemary, I just put it in water and it rooted itself. That's what I am hoping these cuttings will do, too. This is actually the first time I've taken cuttings from my plant, so it's a bit of an experiment.

      Yes, having to do one's own repairs and maintenance can be a problem. I have a long list of little things that need fixing! The last time the kitchen bulbs went off, my daughter and I were able to change them ourselves - but it took both of us to hold the light fixture cover in place, as it is 4-ft. long. Gardener was able to manage by himself.

      That's nice of your neighbor to share his garden produce with you. Maybe, if he doesn't want produce from your garden in return, you can bake him a loaf of bread or something like that, instead.

      Oh, how funny to have birds falling down your chimney! I've a chimney, too, but, so far, no birds in there!

      Hope you have a great day, too.

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  2. I googled four o'clock plants - I am loving the plants in your blog. I am glad your daughter is feeling better. Take care of yourself. x

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    1. Glad you are enjoying my plants! I must admit I was rather envious of your lavender bushes - I had one lavender plant and it didn't do well at all.

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  3. Glad you're doing well! If I recall correctly last Spring you also had a family of birds on your front porch. That's so sweet! We have the same on our front porch in a metal wall container that's filled with a dried floral arrangement ... The birds decided to add their own artistic touch! And goodness ... They are loud at mealtime. Isn't nature fun to watch? Wonderful that your daughter is feeling better and relaxing. :)

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    1. Carolyn, I think it's the same pair of birds! I don't mind them nesting there, but it does mean I can't use my porch light!

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  4. Glad your daughter is feeling better. How lovely the birds returned. I would love watching them, but the cats around here would get them. I've seen 2 dead ones lately one of the cats caught.

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    1. Thank you, Jess. I've a bunch of stray cats in my yard, too, and occasionally they catch and kill a bird, but these nesting birds seem to be out of their reach.

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