The Last Day of November

Blueberry Leaves

I texted my friend's daughter in the early afternoon, today, to ask how her mother was doing and letting her know that I was cooking a meal to bring to them, a little later in the afternoon.  I prepared a chicken curry and dhal (lentils) and was waiting for the pot of rice to finish cooking, when she texted back, saying that her mother, my friend A, had passed away a few minutes ago.  It had been a peaceful ending, she texted.  She wasn't sure how much longer they would be at the hospital and asked me if I could stop by their place tomorrow and I said yes.  I cooked some broccoli, too, and packed the food into containers to take to them.

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Self-Seeded Broccoli Seedling

Earlier in the morning, while I was waiting for M, I walked around the back yard and noticed that, among the weeds that were springing up in the planting bed where I had grown peas and broccoli, there were a handful of broccoli seedlings, too, growing from seeds that had fallen!  I pointed them out to M and he weeded that planting bed, around the seedlings.  I have some broccoli seeds that I had collected, earlier this summer, but I have not sown them yet - I guess I should start them in some seed pots and see what happens.  The peas we planted are starting to germinate, too!  

Today, we also did a project in the front garden - the front garden slopes ever so slightly towards the sidewalk and, without any grass roots to hold the soil in place, I've been noticing that the soil washes down to the sidewalk whenever it rains enough, especially in one area.  I asked M if we could put some of the scalloped flowerbed edging to form a barrier.  But, when he dug down to put the edging in place, he discovered that there was some areas with the concrete from the sidewalk extending into the garden so that the edging stones could not be placed flush against the sidewalk.  That left a little gap between the sidewalk and the edging stones.  So, I collected some small stones from the back yard and filled in the gap with them.  

The New Edging in Place

We didn't edge the whole length of the front yard, today, just part of the way.  It might be something to consider doing in the future, to give it a more finished look.  

Looking Down, Along the Edge of the Sidewalk

The back yard is full of small stones - every time we dig another flower bed, we find stones and I've been piling them in places; they are coming in handy!  

When I cooked, today, I cooked a little extra chicken curry and dhal for myself.  Brunch was rice, chicken curry, and dhal.  Dinner was rice, chicken curry, dhal, and broccoli.  There are another couple of servings of chicken curry and dhal left for tomorrow and maybe Friday.  

After dinner, I ran the dishwasher.  Later, I chatted with friend R and video chatted with my daughter.

Today, I am grateful for:

- A's friendship over the years
- She passed away peacefully at the end

- I was able to visit her, several times, last week
- M's help with the garden
- The self-seeded broccoli seedlings!

Today's joyful activity was gardening with M.

Plans for tomorrow include visiting A's family and taking them a meal.  

How was your last day of November?  What are your plans for Thursday, and the start of December?