September 2013 review

It's been a month.  The summer is passing so quickly--but it's not quite over yet.  Today, the weather is very hot, sunny, and I'm indoors as usual.  The garden is looking very neglected, as well it should as I haven't been near it in about a month.
I have been writing, but not as much as I should.  Not if I'm really a writer, as I claim to be.  Still, I haven't quit yet. 
So what have I been doing?  Aside from watching TV and playing Scrabble on facebook? 
Hubby & I have been studying Welsh, and singing with the Cambrian Circle Singers.  We've joined the Richard III Society (more on that later, probably). And we've sponsored a 14-year-old girl in Ecuador.  Her name is Ivonne, and she likes foreign languages and playing soccer.  More about her later, too, I hope.  I've sent her an email, but it has to go through the office in Ecuador to be translated and taken to her.  I hope we can correspond better than I have done with previously sponsored children.  This one is through World Vision, my favourite charity.

Garden in August 2013

Well, I've been trying, but my brown thumb is back.  Here's my vegetable plot in the community garden as proof: Poor wee thing.  Not really neglected, but still not producing much.  What have we eaten out of this plot?  Well, we had three radishes out of three rows of radishes (delicious, but just 3); we had one small beet and a couple of little carrots.  Oh, yes, and one leaf of spinach.  I did cook the beet leaves, and they were very good.  No sign of the cucumbers I planted, nor beans on the bean bushes.  Being in the shade of the tree all day (the tree at the foot of the garden here, is at the south end of the plot), probably doesn't do a lot for it, however in the very hot dry weather we've had this year, the ground hasn't been dry. Neglecting it isn't an option, really, as this picture was taken from the computer room window in our house.  Oh well, maybe next year will be better.

to do lists

To do lists just don't work for me.  My husband makes a list for himself every few days and seems to be able to keep to it, crossing items off regularly.  Me?  I make the list, and then sit back as though that were all I had to do.  Or, I lose the list, and find it a week later with all those items still waiting to be done. 
One of the items on my most recent lists has been to write a blog entry.  I intended to write about my garden, as I had promised.  I got as far as taking a photo of the vegetable garden plot.  Maybe I can upload the picture and get it posted.  Then I can make a new list and "blog entry" won't have to appear for a while.

writing these days

It seems that I do everything but write.  However, I've been poking with the plot of my YA novel, still trying to work out what's happening with my protagonist's attempt to solve the murder.  She's been procrastinating, too, I guess.
The play, "The Wolf and the Saint", has been getting a little more attention.  I'm trying to shorten it so it can be performed in about half an hour instead of requiring a full hour.  Hard to know what to cut and where.  No one said writing was easy--at least, no one who actually writes.

garden progress

I had hoped to finish sowing all the seeds in my vegetable plot, but the weather has been uncooperative.  It's still quite chilly and drizzly, so I'll wait a week or two before I finish that task.  Meanwhile, I slip over to the plot once in a while to pull a few weeds and inspect the growth of the beets, radishes, spinach & carrots.  I haven't seen any sign of the cucumbers I planted.  Hmm.  Maybe need a few more seeds in that area.
The flower beds are okay, except the "south" one which is really overgrown with weeds.  Haven't done anything with that except plant one clematis in the corner.  Have to rescue it soon from the weeds, and the morning glory has attached itself to the rose bush.  Just a tiny garden, but I still can't keep up with it.

End of May (almost)

I must be the worst blogger!  Here it is almost the end of May, and this is my first post of the month. 
It has been a very busy month, though.  I'm registrar (co-registrar, really) for the 2013 Provincial Convocation of Third Order Franciscans.  It was more time-consuming than I had anticipated, but very interesting and I had lots of help and support from other Franciscans.  I'm looking forward to putting faces to all the names I've been typing and sorting and re-typing for the past couple of months.  One more month to go and we'll all be together in Minnesota for a week.  I can hardly wait.
Maybe I'll actually take some pictures and post them here.  Haven't posted any new pictures for a long time.

gardening in April part 2

This week my daughter came to visit for a couple of days, and continued work on the flower gardens in the front yard--started a couple of months ago.  She went to the garden shop and brought home 3 azaleas, 1 japonica, 1 lilac tree, and some marigolds and allysum (spelling??  aka "snow-on-the-mountain")--and a clematis. She also got lots of topsoil.  So the two of us spent a very pleasant afternoon digging and planting.  Actually, she did most of that (consulting with me about where I wanted things, but even then I think she made most of the final decisions), and I weeded another section of the garden that we'll plant in a month or two when she comes back to Vancouver.