Karen’s Neighborhood

I'm afraid things are not great across the way. A shady tree that filtered  the sunlight for the courtyard's southern exposure was removed after it died but  nothing replaced it. Now the tulips are faring poorly. The too-cold weather is  not helping either and the hostas are taking a beating. Compare them to our four varieties of hostas in the semi-shade.

Did you know that there are hundreds of varieties of hostas and the are named sort of like  show dogs only with flower-science sounding names? Too much info?

Our hostas do not like the cold any more than than the poor tulips but they  are faring better with the shade of the crab apple tree.

Picture time!

Hostas variety in back of house~ 05.16.08, all the way in back, not looking so good are Obdulatta Hostas, In the very front middle, Patriot, extreme rgt. middle is a Halcion, near rgt and mid-left are Loyalist Hostas.

Poor, Poor, struggling neighbour's/courtyard tulips and over-sunned hostas, with Pechysandra groundcover in back I feel badly every time I look across from my deck to the other side of the courtyard between our and the next building. :(

 

Today is supposed to be 90+ degrees today. Three days ago it barely broke 60. Wacky spring!
Here are some black and white photos to help cool me down, it is already quite warm!

more from the abandoned property Sherry and I went exploring in. Well not IN, there is NO WAY i would have stepped inside these structures.

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Can't stop eating this Omg. At least it's healthy. Cucumber tomato red onion salad (cider vinegar, dill, olive oil, splenda, fresh ground black pepper)

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Read the sentence below carefully...

'I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality counterbalancing indecipherability, transcendentalizes intercommunications incomprehensibleness'.

This is a sentence where the 'Nth' word is 'N' letters long.

e.g. 3rd word is 3 letters long, 8th word is 8 letters long and so on....

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More random things about me - for SandyU  who tagged me........

1.  I love Plain Non-Fat yogurt.  I have it for lunch every day.  My lunch has never been stolen out of the work fridge.

2. I do not watch any "reality" TV shows  - I seem to be the only person I know who doesn't.  However, I did watch the first season of Survivor all those years ago.

3.  I have peroneal tendonitis in my left foot.  I have had it for 2 years now.  I don't think it is ever going to get better - it is an "overuse" injury and I just can't see how you can not use your foot.

4.  I admit to having owned some Abba cassettes - but surely I did not purchase them myself! :-)

5.  For seven years I lived in a 12-storey apartment block with hundreds of others and only learnt the name of one neighbour.  Ophelia!  A fabulous name  - I wish I was called Ophelia. My father wanted to call me Fleur - I'm glad my mother resisted - though Fleur would be a good Vox name. 

6.  I think of worst case scenarios for every situation.  I am a "what if worrier".  What if robbers suddenly appeared to rob that armoured truck as I'm walking past,  what if my waiter just sneezed all over my plate and has some incurable disease spread by "droplets"; what if the plane really does have to make a water landing; what if the life jacket is not under the seat;  what if ..... you get the idea!

7.  I have morning "tea" at 10am every morning - weekday & weekends. Though this actually consists of coffee rather than tea; if I miss out for any reason I turn into a very nasty person.

8. I have probably eaten tons of chocolate in my lifetime.  I have still not perfected the art of making a box last longer than a day.  I intend to continue practising on this!

Paul brought an azure grackle with him when he came last night. It had been hit by a car. It has a droopy wing, but doesn't seem in any pain - it just can't fly. I am judging the pain on the fact that it doesn't try to peck me or even struggle when I move the wing to examine it. We have the number of a bird person here who can take it on Monday.

We were supposed to go to Vermont last night to pick up Pauls car. I got tomorrow off of work so that I could do it, and I love having two days in a row off. We didn't go, though. Paul did his usual angst-ridden dithering about when we should go, and then there is the whole issue with the grackle. I was having the period from hell last night, and so I said I would stay home and take care of the bird.

This morning the sun is out and it's shaping up to be a beautiful day. I wonder if I should change my mind and pass the bird off to Paul's housemates as originally planned, and just go have this overnighter. Last night I was feeling a bit depressed about it, I know the guys often do things efficiently, and I was worried we would go up this morning, stay a couple of hours and come home in the dark. It doesn't look as if it will be that way, though. I think they will stay overnight. I look out at the glorious morning here, and think that sheesh, if tomorrow morning is at all like that, I will regret not being out on a kayak in the middle of a lake for the dawn tomorrow.

Alright. Decided. We've got to swing by and pick Paul up anyhow - I'll call him first so he can arrange for his housemates to take care of the bird. I have half an hour to get ready. Eeeeeek!