Posts Categorized: Patience

Interesting Shopping at the Interesting Grocery Store

| Goodness, Joy, Patience

A while back, I mentioned the good African Black soap that I bought at a nice grocery store in Fort Worth. I’m frustrated sometimes when stores carry a product for a while, and then, I guess when it’s not popular with lots of shoppers, they stop selling it. So I was disappointed and frustrated a few months ago, when I went to buy another bottle of that soap and couldn’t find it on the shelf where I had seen it last. I searched and searched.

There wasn’t any store employee there, but I finally saw it, way up on the top shelf, right there where that empty space is. I looked around. No help. So I climbed up on that little step stool and reached up and pulled it down. The last bottle of the stuff! I was both excited and a little bit apprehensive. What if it was the last bottle they were ever going to have? What would I do when I used up all of this bottle?

When I took Peter back to Fort Worth, a couple of weeks ago, we did some shopping together. I looked again at this store, hoping that there would be another big bottle of this soap that smells so good, and, sure enough, in exactly the same place, there was one lone bottle. This time, there was an attendant, who asked if he could help.

“Yes,” I said, relieved. “I’d like the bottle of that African Black Soap up there.” He looked up to where I pointed. Then he leaned over and reached down the the lowermost shelf, where there were several bottles.

(If you look at the photo, you can see that, when I was there a few months ago, there were also a number of the bottles, on the bottom shelf, easily accessible to me and other shoppers. I just didn’t see them; I didn’t look in the right place.)

He picked up one of them and held it out to me. “I’m looking for the Citrus one,” I said.

He sighed a little sigh, leaned over again, and picked up a different bottle.

“This one says, ‘Peppermint,'” I said. “I like the one that’s ‘Citrus.'” (Actually it’s “Tangerine Citrus.” It smells fabulous!)

He leaned over again; I leaned over, and together we searched and found “Tangerine Citrus.”

“Thank you for helping me,” I said. “Now I know where to look for it next time.”

And it seems like a pretty good idea for me to always have the next bottle of it, waiting for me so that I’ve got some on hand, when the last drop of the previous bottle is used up.

Meanwhile, the last time I was in this section (healthy and healthful products) of the interesting grocery store, I saw this item, which was new to me.

I’m mystified why anyone would create a food product with the name “Soylent.” I can’t find the word in the online dictionary, but it is the name of a, um, “food” from the Science Fiction movie “Soylent Green” (1973). The only other reference I see online is this meal replacement beverage. I’m not going to give anything away, but, if you’re planning on trying out this Soylent meal drink, I very strongly suggest that you never watch the movie.

 

 

I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes. These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds.

Genesis 1:29-30 (Contemporary English Version )

 

I certainly do not object to the use of soy for food. I just think that the producers of food products for human beings might should find a better name, in addition to creating healthy food for people.

 

Busy Weekend

| Joy, Patience

Peter’s most recent weekend visit to Waco was a bit out-of-ordinary. David was out of town, and Thursday evening is usually Granddad-and-Peter time at the Mayborn Museum, which is open until 9:00 on Thursdays. I, apparently, am not as much fun at the Mayborn as David is, so Peter said he’d just wait until Saturday, when Granddad would be back.

We arrived in Waco last Thursday, late afternoon, and went straight to the library, instead. Peter’s developed an interest in the animated series Paw Patrol, and I had a couple of books and a video on hold. We got those, and well, as long as we’re here, can we get a Bob (the Builder) and, LOOK! A Chuck! Well-armed with entertainment, we stopped at H.E.B for rice and Texas Toast, and headed home.

Fridays are usually zoo days (I’m at least rather fun at the zoo). For breakfast, Peter thought he’d like pancakes. “Do you have a Millennium Falcon cookie cutter, Mimi? You could use it to make Star Wars pancakes.” “No, I don’t have that. But I do have  … ”

HOW NOT TO VISIT THE ZOO

When Peter and I arrived at the zoo, there were about six big yellow school buses, sitting along the curb. Lots of people were sitting at picnic tables outside the zoo. When we went in, there were many teen-agers getting prepared sack lunches.

We had our lunch and then went out to visit one of Peter’s favorite places, The Brazos River Country Fresh Water Aquarium, or, as Peter calls it: “Fish School.”

We like to pretend (or, he likes to pretend) that we are teaching each other about the important body parts and habits of the animals we see there. Most visits, we spend about half our time there. In the summer, it’s particularly nice, because it’s cool and damp and dark in there. In addition to fish, there are also exhibits with reptiles and amphibians.

While we were there, large groups of the out-of-town teens, along with their sponsors, came through. I finally got my phone out and pulled up the “timer” app. When the next group opened the door, I started the timer. Two-and-a-half minutes passed from the time the first kid came through the door until the last kid went out. Two-and-a-half minutes. And that’s not the total time that each individual kid was in that exhibit. That’s how long it took an entire group of thirty or so to completely enter and then exit the space. The first kid was walking out at about the same time the last kid was walking in. Not the way to visit a zoo. Or a museum. Or an exhibit, anywhere.

 

 If you plan and work hard,
    you will have plenty;
    if you get in a hurry,
    you will end up poor.

Proverbs 21:5 (Contemporary English Version)

Taking time to learn usually results in information retained. Hurrying through it often means you haven’t learned a thing, whatever content has been presented to you.

“Never judge a book by its movie.” –J.W. Eagan*

| Patience, Peace

Many, m-a-n-y, many years ago, I was visiting my sister while they were living in San Angelo, when their kids were all preschoolers. We’d left the kids, including my school-ager Jeremy, at home with my brother-in-law, and were out running errands. At one point, she was going to hurry into someplace, and asked if I wanted to come, too, or just stay in the car. I glanced around the car and saw a mom’s magazine that I could read while she popped in and out. “I’ll stay here,” I said, picking up the periodical.

When she came back, she said, “I always keep a couple of things in the car to read. In case I have to wait somewhere.”

“Me, too,” I agreed.

“So,” I went on, “apparently our greatest fear, based on our behavior, is being stuck somewhere, with nothing to read.”

“Oh, yes,” she said.

I appreciate the physicians’ offices with magazines. Well, interesting magazines, except I rarely make visits there without a book. At the retina place, for example: first, there’s the stay in the waiting room, until I go to get my eyes dilated and my vision and my eye pressure checked. Then, back to the waiting room. Then, into the little room for retina scans. Then, maybe back to the waiting room, or straight to an examining room. Then, waiting there for the retina specialist, who then, after looking at the scans, numbs my eye(s). More waiting, in the examining room. Then, eye procedure. Then, I’m done. I need something to read during all that.

I see lots of physicians. There’s quite a bit of waiting. And you just can’t guarantee what sorts of reading material are going to be there. And, really, if I start reading a magazine article, I could take it to the examining room, but I’m pretty sure they’d be unhappy with me if I took it home to finish what I was reading. Otherwise, I’d have to go to some store and try to purchase my own copy, but what if it was from three months ago? I could try the library. But really, it’s just easier if I take my own reading materials.

I do have a couple of books on my phone, but I don’t like that so much. The amount of words that appear on a phone screen is pretty limited, and it’s just swipe, swipe, swipe. Of course, there are Kindles and e-readers now, and tablets, which make things easier.

Still, I guess I’m just an old-fashioned reader. There’s something about the feel and smell of a book. The paper? The ink? The weight? Or the cute/attractive/interesting bookmark?

 

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.
There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping,
for killing and healing, destroying and building,
for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing,
 for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting.
There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving,
for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.
There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace.

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-18 (Contemporary English Version)

  

And, I suppose, a time for listening, for reading, for learning, for teaching, and all those things we do to become the people God has planned for us to be.
Meanwhile, in the planting and reaping area, look what I saw Wednesday, in the side yard.

*As far as I can tell, J. W. Eagan is famous for the quote, and nothing else.

Maybe Next Year I’ll Remember

| Patience

I keep making the same mistake, every year, when the weather gets really cold. I sort of remembered a funny quote about that (the mistakes, not the cold), but when I tried to look up “funny quotes about mistakes,” I had a harder time than I thought I would, finding what I wanted. Most sites had two or three amusing quotes, followed by serious quotes about how “making a wrong decision the first time is a mistake, the second time, it’s a choice,” and that sort of thing. I found a few that resonate with me.

Never say, “oops.” Always say, “Ah, interesting.” –Anon

Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.–Franklin P. Jones

To err is human, but when the eraser wears out ahead of the pencil, you’re overdoing it.–Josh Jenkins

These two are my favorites, and, sadly, are unattributed. Maybe they’re also by our friend “Anon.”

I never make the same mistake twice. I make it five or six times, you know, just to be sure.

I have been repeating the same mistakes in life for so long now I may as well call them traditions.

My most recent cold-weather “tradition” goes like this:

The first year, I really was surprised when it happened.

I worked quite a while, and perfected this arrangement after a few summers. I got this four-spigot faucet adapter. It screws onto the back-of-the-house outdoor faucet. Each little spigot has it’s own on/off switch: little black knob vertical means it’s open, little black knob horizontal means it’s closed. That round, yellow and green thing is a timer. That switch stays open all the time. When I turn the timer to a specific amount of time, the timer lets the water flow. The hose at the other side of the timer winds from the faucet to the top of the back steps, down across the back patio, and into a cute little ladybug sprinkler in the herb garden. The sprinkler system doesn’t hit there, so I can easily get those herbs watered during the hot summer months. The next little spigot used to have one of those coiled hoses, and I kept it open all the time, because it had a spray nozzle on the end. When I wasn’t spraying water on the patio plants, that nozzle kept water from leaking out. The next little spigot (with the orange-ended hose screwed on) stayed off most of the time. It has one of those expanding hoses that grows and grows and grows when the water’s turned on. When the water’s turned off, I spray the rest of the water out and the hose shrinks and shrinks to its original size, and I curl it up in a big basket by the faucet. So, I open and close that knob when I need it. The fourth spigot is empty; I don’t need it.

A few years ago, I went out to the back yard, after a little spell of really cold weather, and discovered water gushing from the back faucet. The freezing temperatures had caused the water, however small amount there was in those little spigot ends, to freeze and expand, and, ka-bam, it blew that faucet adapter right off. It also busted open the timer. And the sprayer on the coiled hose. So, hmm. Those things had to be replaced.

And the next year, I’d completely forgotten what had happened the previous winter, and everything blew apart again. The next year, I did remember, and turned all the little knobs, so there wasn’t any water in those hoses. But I neglected to turn off the water faucet itself. So, the four-spigot adapter again broke and popped off.

So this year, when the weather forecast said “BRRRRRRR. Really Cold!” I thought, “Oh, I need to go out and turn the water off. And maybe take the adapter off, too.”

You may have heard or read about The Doorway Effect, that when we walk through a doorway, we often forget what we’d been thinking about, as we enter a different room. Sad to say, after I thought about the freezing weather and the faucet, I walked through a door. Several doors, actually. So, a couple of days later, I was taking the trash out, and I walked around through the back yard instead of through the garage in the front, as I usually do. (It was still pretty cold, and that’s a little bit shorter walk.) I heard water gushing. The main faucet was blasting away, and the organized watering apparatus was, as you can see in the photo above, lying, broken, on the grass. I turned off the water and sighed. Oh, dear, not again.

I did unscrew the coiled hose a couple of days later, and screwed it onto the main faucet. When I turned the water on, about five spouts of water came springing out of the coils, to the degree that, when I squeezed the trigger of the sprayer, not one drop came out.

So, here we are again. I bought a new coiled hose. But, I’ll have to replace the four-spigot adapter and almost surely the timer. I guess I won’t positively know until I can get everything all put together again. But previous experience tells me that it’s not going to be working.

 My enemies, don’t be glad
    because of my troubles!
I may have fallen,
    but I will get up;
I may be sitting in the dark,
    but the Lord is my light.

Micah 7:8 (Contemporary English Version (CEV)

 

The challenge is that I really can’t shut everything down at the beginning of winter and wait until spring. Several of the patio plants don’t go dormant or die back. They still need to be watered; we’ve had some drizzly days, but not much really serious rainfall. Several things need to be watered. Regularly.

We’ve fallen, but we will get up! Even if it takes a little sitting in the dark. And, EEK (in a good way)!  In the side yard, I saw daffodil leaves, and stems with buds. It’s not that I want spring to hurry up. Spring is just followed by a beastly summer, which lasts until October. But it is hard to not feel a little anticipation when daffodils are about to make their move.

New Year’s Reflections

| Faithfulness, Love, Patience

The new year (I know, I’m a little behind) is a time for looking back and seeing how things have gone (or, are going).

The fingernail report–

Back in the fall, I had a cyst removed from my nailbed. It took forever to grow all the way out. If you’re interested, you can read the story.

It seems I’m always loosing plants during cold weather because I’m not diligent about taking care of them. Here’s:

The plant report-

Another year older

The boy report–

Three years from “head all the way below the bar” to “head all the way above the bar.”

So, my health, my yard, my grandson. Things that preoccupy my thoughts and time and energy. I could place a lot of “happy face” emojis here, but … I guess I’m still more a word person.

 

 

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.

James 1:17 (The Message)

 

This is how I feel sometimes–like rivers of light are cascading down on me, in the things that give me such joy and delight.

When It Rains, It . . . Just Keeps on Raining

| Patience

The latest hand-washed dishes, sitting on a towel on the counter, because I don’t have a dish drainer. And I’m not getting one; I don’t want the house to think, “Oh, it’s okay if the dishwasher doesn’t work, she has a dish drainer she can use.” Nope. Nope, nope, nope.

Two years ago, we got a new dishwasher. The old one had developed a leak in the door, and repairing it was a little iffy (expense-wise), so we opted for a new one. And, I made the decision in a hurry, because we’d been without one for almost a month, and I was growing weary with handwashing the dishes. I didn’t do any research, other than walking around the store and talking with an employee who might, or might not, have had all the information. Anyway, the thing isn’t working properly now. No water seems to be going in, and the dishes aren’t clean and the little soap packet is just sitting there, undissolved, in the bottom. The repairman is supposed to be here, right now, Thursday afternoon, as I write this. He called to say he’s beginning to feel sick and running a temperature, and didn’t think he should come. But, he’s planning to come tomorrow.

Maybe.

We’ll see.

 

Meantime, I was putting dinner together for David. I had a frozen vegetable thing to microwave and add to some fajita chicken meat that I had also pulled from the freezer. I sat it on a plate on the turntable in the microwave and set the timer to the appropriate length of time. It was supposed to sit for a minute, and then I should take it out and carefully open the package and pour out the nicely heated up corn and vegetables.

When I pulled the microwave door open, the handle came off in my hands. The microwave oven’s last hurrah.

You might notice that black X on one end of the handle. That’s the lower end of the handle, and, years ago, that part came loose. David put that X on it to remind people to not pull at the bottom. Even so, I guess the years of being the only part of the handle to take the pulling pressure finally became too much, and POP, it broke.

I’ve always been a little unhappy with myself for not doing better research on dishwashers. And I’m not making the same mistake, now. I went online to get information about microwaves, but all I found was lists of them, and prices, and features. The only place that had information about how they were rated was the Consumer Reports website, which is restricted to subscribers. I caved. For $6.95, I purchased a month’s subscription. In minutes, I found the information I needed. I checked online to see which ones were available, and, later this afternoon/evening, I’m planning to go get one.

The next problem is that Kevin and April installed the microwave for us, more than ten years ago. I’m guessing they’re not going to drive down here and put it in for us. And I’m quite confident that David and I are not at all in shape for that sort of thing. So, I’m getting Part One taken care of, we’ll have to see about Part Two.

 

God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.

1 Peter 5:7 (Contemporary English Version)

Later on Friday: We went to see about a new microwave. They have the one we want, but not in white (which I do want, so it will match the other appliances). It’s on back-order and won’t arrive until February 3. But they will deliver it and install it. And David says it is possible to pry open the microwave.

AND-the microwave salesman says I should check the dishwasher filter. Maybe the dishwasher problem is that easy to solve.

Christmas Perfect, or Christmas Memorable

| Gentleness, Goodness, Joy, Kindness, Love, Patience, Peace

If all your Christmases run smoothly, and everything’s perfect–just like it was so carefully planned, how do you remember one Christmas from another? Do they just blur together, in one big holiday collage of red and green and a tree and lights?

Not at our house. We live in RealWorldLand, where the best laid plans stay lying around, being balky and uncooperative, which means that we are often, at holiday time, remembering previous disasters/missteps/etc. Like, “Remember the time Mom put Snickers bars in the toes of our Christmas stockings, and we had the fire going on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning, and when we dug the candy bars out, they were all melted in their wrappers?” Stuff like that. Nothing particularly serious. Just memorable.

Jeremy and Sarah arrived the Friday before Christmas, from New York. They rented a car and drove to Waco from DFW airport. (Even though Jeremy really appreciates the public transportation in New York, he seems to have missed, a little bit, being able to drive.) We had a pretty relaxing time, doing some cooking (there were still some apples left over from Halloween, and they crafted some homemade applesauce, which was yummy, and for Christmas dessert, they made Apple Crisp). Memorable.

Jeremy dug through the game closet and pulled out games to play.

Jeremy and Sarah and I played a round of Ticket to Ride. Then we played again with David. I was in last place, seriously in last place, both times. Then, we played again with Kevin. I won. By a lot! Which proves that, while a little bit of skill is important, luck plays a significant part in this game. Memorable.

Also memorable this year, April wasn’t able to come. Peter had been sick, but was well enough to come (if you don’t count that fact that his ears were still stopped up and he often appeared to be ignoring us). April, however, was pretty sick, missed her own family’s celebration, and stayed in Fort Worth. We’ll remember that Christmas without April, but we hope it doesn’t happen again.

As I planned and prepared for Christmas dinner, I kept thinking, “Oh, I should have  . . . .” And I bought the ingredients. (And, I had actually baked and sliced two small turkey breasts for Christmas dinner ‘way back right after Thanksgiving, and put them in the freezer. Unusually ahead of time.) Quite memorable.

Kevin and Peter were arriving late afternoon on  Christmas, and we were cooking and getting ready for a good part of the day. The counter just kept getting more and more crowded. Just as I was putting some of the final dishes out, I suddenly felt really weak and shaky. I plopped into the rocking chair in the kitchen and said, “My blood sugar’s low.” “What do you need? What do you need!” “Juice,” I said. “There’s white grape juice in the fridge door.” They brought it over, and kept putting out food and arranging things. The turkey was heating up in the oven, and they kept asking what else was supposed to be out and where was it. Finally, it was just the turkey that needed to come out.

Some nice, sliced turkey pieces, lying artfully amid the glass pie plate shards.

 

Jeremy picked up the glass pie pan that was holding the turkey slices and carried it to the serving area. About three inches away, the pan slipped from the pot holder in his hand and crashed to the floor. Turkey and glass shards everywhere. Fortunately, some of the turkey was still in the oven. On another pie plate.

Jeremy looked down at the mess and said, “Was that plate special?” “Well,” I admitted. “It belonged to my mother … but I have the other one. There’s another one!” There was enough turkey for everyone (well, for the everyone who’s not vegetarian). Pretty memorable.

 

The kids worked on a desk/bookshelf for David’s office. Then they erected a small enclosed (plastic) greenhouse sort of thing, for me to use to keep my plants safe during the winter. Mem.Or.A.Ble!

And some things aren’t all that memorable; they’re just traditions that we like to keep up!

We went to the Christmas Eve service. Maybe we won’t remember the exact details a few months from now, but it was good to see family members who have come back for the holiday to visit. It was good to sit in the dark with my own family, and hear the songs and the story. It was good to see the candlelights all around the room. It was memorable.

 

Mary, too, pondered all of these events, treasuring each memory in her heart.

Luke 2:19 (The Voice)

Wishing you many memorable moments to treasure in your heart.

 

Growing My Own Christmas Dinner . . . Sort of

| Joy, Patience

If you’d told me, years ago, that I would find plant nurseries to be places where I have no self control, I’ve have been skeptical. But you’d have been right.

I am trying to be better about not looking at every cute plant and assuming, “I can grow that!” I’m getting more responsible about paying attention to light needs and water needs. And reality.

A while back, I found some seed packages at Calloway’s Nursery in Fort Worth. “I can do that,” I said to myself, and bought them. Microgreens. The idea is that they sprout and grow right inside your kitchen, and you just snip off the leaf tops and add them to your nice, green salad. And I thought that, yes, that would be a fun, interesting addition to Christmas dinner. One of the packages said, “14-20 days” until ready to harvest. I’d waited too late. The other one said “5-10 days.” Just right.

 

I planted them over the weekend.

I’m watering the pans with a spray bottle, to try to avoid completely drowning the little plants. The bottoms of the pans (which are cardboard) are slightly damp. I don’t want to get the soil all water-logged. But, I don’t really know how deep these roots go. So I’m keeping the surface damp, too.

The way things look now, there’s going to be a nice crop of MICRO-GREENS for our Christmas Day salad. Surely I can keep these things alive for three more days.

 

  Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds.Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered. If you have ears, pay attention!

Matthew 13:3-9 (Contemporary Version)

I have to figure out how to take care of my own seeds. I have to figure out how to take care of my own deeds.

Meantime, while I don’t have any holly, the halls are decked, food’s been purchased, some of it prepared, and some tiny sprouts are waiting to be harvested. Have the happiest Christmas!

 

That Problem Finger Nail

| Patience, Peace

Back in September, I described the removal of wart from a fingernail. When I went back several days later, to have the stitches removed, they said that it was a cyst and the biopsy results said that everything was fine.

This week, I went for another checkup, and the dermatologist explained more about the cyst. “It’s a digital myxoid cyst,” she said.

It seems that some of the fluid that lubricates the finger joints can leak out, and when it does, it travels toward the nail and can cause a cyst. And it can keep happening. Sometimes it doesn’t, but sometimes it does.

If it happens again, then there should probably be some surgery to keep the fluid from leaking and traveling from the joint up to the nail. And that, says the dermatologist, requires a hand surgeon.

The hand surgeon goes in and finds the source of the leak and repairs it. It’s pretty significant surgery.

“We’ll find you an orthopedic surgeon,” she said. “And we’ll send your biopsy results to them, so they’ll know what the situation is. And I really like your jacket.”

I had really thought it was all over and done with. And, it may be. But it might come back.

“And if it comes back, what if I don’t have the surgery,” I asked.

“Then, you’ll have another cyst. And you can decide.”

The cyst never hurt. It didn’t impair my finger’s ability to bend and work. I guess we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile, the nail, which had been growing all lumpy and bumpy when the cyst was present, is now growing out all nice and smooth. It’s still got several more weeks of growing for all that bumpy growth to reach the end of my finger and to get trimmed off. It doesn’t hurt at all. It just looks a little bit, um, not quite right.

But really, I don’t think that all that many people are staring at my hands and saying to themselves, “Whatever happened to that fingernail.?!?!?

Meanwhile, if you’d like some more information about digital myxoid cysts, you can go here.

 

You are the one who put me together inside my mother’s body, and I praise you
    because of the wonderful way you created me.
Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.

Nothing about me is hidden from you!
I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below,
but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed.
Even before I was born, you had written in your book
    everything I would do.

Psalm 139:13-16 (Contemporary English Version)

 

This doesn’t mean that the way is always going to be smooth, never rocky, always easy. It means that we’re going to have the capacity to deal with what comes.

I’m Trying to Become a Weather Believer

| Joy, Patience

I know that weather forecasting is an imperfect science and those weather folks are doing the best they can. But, because it is an imperfect science and they are sometimes wrong … really wrong, I’m bad about discounting their advice. For example, I’ve killed trees and lawns by trusting that the expected rain will actually fall. Conversely, I’ve sent perfectly good plants to their early demises by not believing that the temperature will drop below freezing. NOT THIS YEAR!!

Many of the plants on my back patio are new this year, having been purchased to replace those that didn’t make it through the first freeze last year. I’ve tried to be a wise and good plant mother to them, and they all look pretty good. So I’ve been following the weather rather closely. And, according to the weather app on my phone, Thursday night the temperature was supposed to drop to 30. Actually, it’s not supposed to get down to 30 until 6:00 a.m. the next morning, but the high temperature for the day was at 9:00 a.m. (low 40’s), so I bundled myself up and dug out my long cuffed gloves and went out.

Everything else has to stay outside. We have a garage, which can keep the plants from freezing, but there’s not enough light, even if I keep the garage door up.

Several years ago, in our previous yard, I had some upright, white bougainvillea (yeah, I really like bougainvillea). Before a freeze, I went to the nursery to ask about how to protect them. “Put plastic over them?” I asked. “First,” the nurserymen said, “cover them with a sheet. That helps heat stay in. Then, cover that with plastic. Plastic alone can damage the plant.” I did that, but those plants aren’t really meant to be in the ground in Central Texas.

But, I remembered the “sheet, then plastic” advice, and went with that.

Sometimes, I can get away with just moving plants close to the house, because it’s a little warmer there, out of the wind, so I started with that.

Everything’s nestled all snug in their beds. The temps are supposed to be in the low to high 50’s for the next two days, but the overnight temps in the mid to low 30’s. And in a week, the high is supposed to be 70 with a low of 51. I think it’s just the beginning of my winter plant dance.

 

Flowers and grass fade away,
but what our God has said
    will never change.

Isaiah 40:8 (Contemporary English Version)

 

Things like:

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

Luke 2:10-14 (New Revised Standard Version)