logisticslad

After an hour of battle, I managed to take down about 2/3rds of the climbing clematis vine that has been strangling my backyard. It filled up three garbage bags, and the bushes look much happier with all that weight off of them. I must have downed a half gallon of water afterwards to replace all the sweat I lost. Time to relax on the couch for awhile, and then I think a shower would be heavenly!

Today, i raked all the leaves that fell from the neighbor's sycamore tree and mowed the grass for (hopefully) the last time this year. I pulled up all the dead grass between the sidewalk steps in the front in preparation for snow shoveling. It's much easier to shovel when the sidewalk is smooth. I noticed that the killer vine that is rooted in the other neighbor's yard has gone to seed. I've mentioned it to them before, but it looks like we can both expect another war with that vine next year. There's more that I could do such as clear out some of the dead stems in the garden and prune back the azaleas, lilac, and butterfly bush, but I am simply too tired to do any more today. Gardening is hard work!

This is Day 3 of my 4 day vacation (yes, the weekends count). I caught up on sleep this morning and believe that I have finally shaken off the sinus malaise. I spent the day doing chores, surfing the net, playing Heroes of Might and Magic on the computer, reading comics, petting the cats, and in general relaxing. I mowed the lawn and fought the strangling vines (I think that it is called clematis) that are trying to choke the life out of my lilac and butterfly bush to a draw. It was beautiful outside! Now after taking out the trash, I'm watching a tape of the World Figure Skating Exhibition show, that I had never got around to viewing. I'm finally beginning to feel relaxed and recharged.

I actually took two days off work this week and enjoyed a quick visit from moonpuppy61 (who I blame for bringing the snow on Wednesday on his way down from Boston :-) We went to the Flower Show and enjoyed it immensely. The theme this year was Ireland and my favorite display was the enormous entrance archway and wall covered with flowers. There was a recreation of an Irish cottage. There was a wishing tree and a faerie ring. There was a display of plants arranged to look like celtic knots. There was a cool display about the Alphabet of the Trees used by Druids featuring each symbol and the plant or tree that it represented. I didn't like the "When dinosaurs ruled Ireland" exhibit nor did I like the one with the lawn gnome leprechauns, not the one where everything was pink. We saw some lovely orchids and flower arrangements. I loved the intricate jewelry made from plants. Even though we went in the afternoon during the snowstorm, it was quite crowded and overstimulating. We could not get close enough to see the live Irish dance troupe and that was ok. We took a break and went to Chinatown for dinner and then returned to shop for a hanging plant for my bathroom. I settled on a hybrid fuschia called "Swingtime" that doesn't need much sun or water (so I have a small chance of keeping it alive).

I introduced moonpuppy61 to one of my favorite computer games, Heroes of Might and Magic III, which we played well into the night. Then on Thursday, puzzld1 brought new baby Eliza over to meet moonpuppy61 and my cats. She has grown even more cute over the last week! Baby Squeee!!! So this delightful break in my routine has finally succeeded in snapping me out of my funk from last week. I was able to go back to work on Friday to be very productive and to arrange the farewell party for my departing employee. I'm now actually looking forward to the start of teaching my class next week.