How do you tell I spent almost two days at my apartment?  No blahgposts because nothing to say!  Unmemorable stuff got done.  Real writers would work on their novel or memoir or whatever, if they weren’t too busy accomplishing actual things to write about.  Not me!  I guess you could call it a mini-staycation.  Sounds better than an empty void.

So if I’m writing, I’m probably at Avdi’s.  This time it’s for a few days, while he goes on a business trip to Chicago.  K. is graduating from middle school, and has his commencement tomorrow.  I will be the family member representing, if K. doesn’t chicken out.

Avdi and I drove over to Jess’s, who is leaving on a business trip to Paris.  On the way, he showed me the route to the high school where the ceremony will be held, and where K. is going next year.  I enjoyed meeting J’s sister and brother-in-law, who were in town for J’s own daughter’s graduation from that high school.  Then I drove J’s car back to Avdi’s, while he drove her to the airport.

Later I helped A. with some last minute chores before he leaves.  His fridge was malfunctioning again, so we had to move all the fridge and freezer contents to the other one in the garage again.  At least his new washer is working!  It’s funny how older analog appliances often outlast their fancier hi-tech versions.  The newer electronic models are also harder and more expensive to fix.  The price of “convenience”.

Here are pics of all the latest happenings at Avdi’s garden.

Today at Avdi’s I was in bustling mode, which is the best state for me to be in.  I can’t even remember all the things I did.

While Avdi and Jess worked on the patio or in the office, I started preparing the Shabbat meal.  This week it is BBQ chicken, homemade potato salad, and southern-style greens (collards, turnip and mustard greens, and a few pak choi thrown in for fun).  That veg garden is going crazy producing food.  Percy got a big pile of salad!

After I got all that going, I started the challah.  In between food prep, I got other jobs done.  The new washing machine was delivered and installed in record time, while we all worked.  I didn’t even have time to take yet more photos of  the same flowers.  Now it’s raining again, so the garden is fine without me.

I saw a rabbit the size of a groundhog go sauntering by.  It’s like Watership Down out there.  Unnerving.

After almost two days at my apartment with absolutely nothing to write about, I’m back, at least with more interesting scenic views, including the guys up on top of the house they’re building next door (practically on top of Avdi’s).  They helpfully pointed out to me (from up there in the stratosphere) that his roof has shingles missing.  Like anyone sane is going up there.  Those guys are like mountain goats with magboots.

Here is a scenic and very good beer, the roofing goats, and picturesque plants.  Also, I harvested some of the first snow-and-snap peas, not pictured.

The weather here is never monotonous or predictable.  One day it’s an oppressive sauna, the next it’s cool and rainy.  Avdi’s yard was like a sponge this morning, and his “lagoon” was almost a rushing stream.  There has to be a Creature in there!  The “zen trail” [rhymes with “entrail”] was almost completely overgrown like a jungle.  My kind of weather.  And of course the whole garden was teeming with new growth.  The peas are finally pea-ing!  Some things are worth waiting for.

Avdi took me grocery shopping and was kind enough to help me out.  I’m STL-official; I have Provel.  No good deed goes unpunished, however, as now his washing machine broke and needs to be replaced.  Because he doesn’t have enough to worry about.  Always something.

Back at my apartment, I started more herbs in the hydro-cube to take the place of the herbs I potted yesterday.  Now I’ve replaced all the herbs I use which I transplanted to Avdi’s and Jess’s.  The AC is off and rain-cooled air is blowing in.  Nobody else here to complain about it!  Sometimes being by yourself can be a good thing.

At my apartment overnight and today, I found lots to do.  I got paid, paid a bill, ordered some basic health and food staples to be shipped from Target, potted a few of the larger hydroponic herbs, walked up to DollarTree to get more of the bare necessities on my list, and other puttery.  [Puttery: the art of puttering.]  Also, I finally relented and turned on the AC a little for the first time this season, just to clear the stuffy, humid air from the latest tsunami.

[Eccentric aside: I’ve started to think of my apartment as a motel.  I’m one of those weird people who likes motels, no matter how modest, or even a little seedy.  It’s like a blank slate, and appears clean and orderly, if you don’t look too closely.  It’s efficient and convenient for spending short periods of time in.  You can put your own temporary personal touches on it, but since it’s not really yours, you can’t make significant changes or claims to it.  You’re just passing through, so you don’t get too attached or bogged down.  It’s like a homey space away from home.  Neutral but cozy and private.  It even has its own dicey ice machine!  The only difference is, I do the “cleaning” myself, and the only downside is, noisy bigfoot neighbors, but you get used to it.]

Anyways… later, Avdi picked me up to come spend the night at his place.  He made spaghetti and meatballs with fresh herbs from the garden, and I made a big fresh salad from same, with a homemade balsamic dressing.  I want to point out that as you may recall, these mountains of leafy greens of all kinds started their lives as tiny seedlings in tiny cells in flats in my tiny apartment (or motel room, as it were) propagation station!  I think that’s pretty damn cool.

The STL thundergods must have had mercy on us, because we were able to hold the first B&B of the season in between storms.  I walked over and helped Avdi set up.  A small group of familiar friends gathered on the patio with drinks and snacks, surrounded by “the ring of fire” (tiki torches) much of the afternoon.  Right before the floodgates opened back up, a few folks even played some badminton!  I can assure you it wasn’t me!  I was busy presiding over the beer, socializing, and trying not to melt.  It was a very pleasant Mother’s Day with my extended chosen family.

I got home just in time for another big t-storm, with the usual flash flood warnings.  It was a river outside my patio window.  Of course my internet had to go down as well (though not an outage this time), which always makes me crazy.  But this time with the help of a friendly Spectrum tech girl, I figured out how to reboot my modem and router, and now know how to next time.  There will be a next time, I’ve come to find out in my short time here.  But I will not be defeated by the STL thundergods.

Avdi and I drove a fair distance west to the 2400 acre Shaw Nature Reserve, an extension of MoBot.  It has many trails, large ponds full of wildlife, huge old pines, cedars, and bald cypresses with their remarkable “knees”, prairie/wetland areas, a beautiful old brick serpentine wall, and meadows full of native bee balm and columbine.  It was really hot out, though Avdi’s used to it by now, but quiet and pleasant.  We left the park just in time for a big t-storm to blow in and out.  Just a typical MO day.

I was exhausted, in a good way, nothing that a shower and a tall icy drink back at my apartment couldn’t fix.  I’m still trying to get a feel for MO and STL, so I’m grateful for Avdi showing me around and introducing me to some of the pleasanter aspects of my adoptive home.  Between the mowing and the hiking, I’m definitely getting my exercise.  Whether or not it storms on Beer and Badminton tomorrow as predicted, I won’t mind just “guarding” the beer while other crazy people do all the sweating.  I am The Mother Unit.

It is now a hot, muggy tropical rainforest here in STL.  It was already almost 80 degrees when I got up early to mow the lawn “before” it got hot!  Lawn-mowing is kind of zen for me, so I didn’t mind.  The clover was so high, bunnies were hiding in it.  Every pass I made, a rabbit would jump out and head for the next thicket.  Now the yard is ready for beer and badminton in any weather.

Here’s Jess enjoying a drink with her own special radish garnish!

It’s still a hot, wet jungle out there.  I ventured outside a few times, to harvest greens and take photos, but scampered back into the AC to cook and bake!  It’s seriously summer here.

On tonight’s menu is tequila lime chicken and cilantro lime rice with a large homegrown salad of like a dozen different greens, sampled and approved by Percy.  And of course the renowned challah, better than ever.

Avdi and Jess worked in the office most of the day, and she’s coming back for dinner.  At one point they went out to try a new local bagel place–the bagels seemed authentic and excellent, especially with scallion cream cheese and smoked salmon.  I died and went to nosh heaven.

This Sunday will be our first Beer and Badminton of the season, for those not already doing Mother’s Day.  I the Mother Unit will preside over beer.  I’m practicing by drinking a Victory right now.

This will be my first motherless M-day.  It happens to us all, but the first time is weird.  I keep forgetting I don’t need to send her a gift.  It’s a sad first.

OMG, I think I live in !@#$ Florida!!

It finally rained, and suddenly it’s a muggy humid jungle out here at Avdi’s.  I keep expecting to see alligators cruising down the drainage lagoon behind the houses.

The veggies in the garden just doubled in size overnight.  The seeds I replaced the eaten-by-varmints seedlings with have suddenly germinated!  All the peas are flowering in pretty shades of pink.  It’s like veggies on steroids!  We might have to get out there and start grazing like cattle, to keep up.  Not a bad problem to have.

I was running out of nothing to say at my apartment, so you can tell I’m not there now!  I finished all the busywork I could think of to do there, which wasn’t much.  Now I’m back in the house (and garden) of busywork!  I guess I’ll go find some more to do.