Things I did yesterday: finished cinder blocking a section of garden; swept out the trashcan area; tried to remove compost from the bottom of the bin (tough because it was all compost bags and roots) to make room at the top for leaves;  Hosed down the compost area, uncovering these old bricks; raked leaves and dumped them onto the open compost pile; continued hoeing the area around the veg garden; watered everything; and more.

I also did a few chores inside, met S at the bus as usual, and threw dinner together.  Of course I always fuss over my green babies downstairs–note the German chamomile daisy flower. I try to earn my keep!

I’ve been working my way through the streaming series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”.  It’s pretty rough to watch, especially considering how eerily similar our current fascist dictatorship is becoming.  Hence being up writing in the middle of the night!  I usually avoid holocaust reminders, because it’s so unthinkably sadistic, and this series doesn’t spare you much.  I guess sometimes it’s better to face your fears and be prepared, while still hoping saner minds will prevail.

I worked hard yesterday.  I pretty much ignored indoor chores, since kids are home and theoretically doing them.  I did later help A with dinner, a delicious Cajun fish, andouille, rice, and veg dish.

This first job may make some anti-lawn purists fire me, but I prepped and seeded the many bare spots with a fescue mix (no chems), since A’s yard gets a lot of traffic and trampling, not to mention flooding.  To give me some credit, I’ve expanded the growing areas wherever possible to eliminate some lawn.

I continued clearing the areas around the veg garden, raising the level and incorporating hardscape where the flooding tends to permeate.  Obviously a work in progress.

Then I used A’s older compost to mulch the strawberry patch, and I weeded and cultivated the asparagus and horseradish bed.  They are much happier now.

This is one of my favorite periods of spring, with the violets and bluebells taking over, and other ephemerals unexpectedly revealing themselves in areas I had cleared a little.  Also, the peas are up, and most of the greens are appearing.

To toast violet season, I made these beautiful gin tonic drinks with parfait amour, violette, and violet flowers for Avdi and me, which we drank at the patio table, almost like old times.  I gave him a mini-tour of future “mini-MOBOT”.

I continued to bulldoze my way around the garden, clearing and liberating.  Bulldoze is a slight exaggeration, although for some jobs a bulldozer or front loader would really come in handy.  But it’s just me, so I have to take it easy.

I’m discovering all kinds of spring ephemerals under there.  It’s like my mini-MOBOT.  Some hardscaping is happening, too.  Nothing is safe from The Gardenista.

If you were to lie down in front of me to stop me, I’d just design a new brick-lined path around you and keep going.  Maybe plant some flowers on you.  Perhaps the bulldozer metaphor is relevant, after all.

That’s MO for you.  It can go from one extreme to another (at least locally) overnight.  Of course the newly cleaned and filled pool is now in a pool!  But, all the seeds and seedlings are happy, so I’m happy.  The va bluebells and jewelweed are taking over the world this year, tant mieux pour moi!  (Look it up.)

Yesterday I cultivated and raked out some of the area around the veg garden, to be continued.  This year I want to plant mostly annual and perennial beneficial companionate flowers around it, more like a true English garden.  In fact, there will be more flowers everywhere.  The herb garden will be more dedicated and filled with annual and perennial apothecary/culinary herbs.

Down in the Lab, my tomatoes are already coming up!  Most of the other seedlings are up and looking pretty healthy, especially the cukes!  The German chamomile is actually flowering!  (Note to future self: peat pots seem to always get moldy and mildewy, even with removing the flat covers early in the process and using fans.  Maybe use new plastic pots for germination next time?)

So now S is home and Y is with Mom, so a whole other dynamic, featuring disgusting bodily noises and dorkiness as usual, but also E happily having his room to himself for once.  He removed half the kitchen moldering away in Y’s loft-bed!  So that’s where all the dishes went!  All but S are now off for their spring break, meaning it will be quiet during the days, anyway.

I know all this sounds pretty boring and mundane, but it’s one way to weather the fascist regime, just living as “normal” a life as possible.  If my hunch (based on actual facts) is right, this fiasco may not make it the full four years.  Yes, some otherwise or formerly competent leaders are being cowards and sellouts, but the outrage is fueling regular citizens of all persuasions, as well as activist leaders like AOC, to refuse to bow down and serve the self-appointed egomaniacs.  I think people are finally getting that democracy as we know it is done for.

The kids were off from school and sleeping in when I got there late morning.  I baked challah, and helped prep ingredients for Avdi’s fabulous gumbo with rice.

Then I cleared a few areas of the yard, and observed many seedlings coming up in the veg garden.  I’m hardening off some mature plants outside.  The cherry blossoms were in full bloom today, and some bluebell flower buds were just starting.

Jess came over and joined us for a good dinner.  The kids were particularly animated.  It was the most perfect windy but mild evening to walk home.  I wished I didn’t have to come inside, but there’s nowhere to enjoy the outdoors at my apt.

Tomorrow Avdi is driving to meet Stacey halfway to exchange Y for S.  It’s been a peaceful week.  I actually got to stream my shows on their large screen.

Though the human world is falling apart around us, spring just gets better each year, until we put an end to that, too.  This is my season, and I’m soaking up every new detail as it unfolds.  It reassures me [garden metaphor alert] that the more winter looks like death and doom, the more life defies it and fights back to become even stronger and more resistant.  [end of metaphor alert]

I mean, look at these Va bluebell ephemerals busting out everywhere and taking over, soon to become a mass of pink/purple/blue.  Even the lifeless rain runoff canal looks picturesque.  I heard some tree frogs the other day.  I live for this stuff.

Official Spring finally caught up to me!  Violets are out!

I’ve been out there cleaning up the raised beds outside the back door, in case anyone wants to plant flowers there.  The bulb and rhizome flowers are going crazy–it’s a big year for them.  I also, trumpet blast, planted three kinds of tomatoes down in the lab yesterday: a beefsteak, a slicing, and cherry romas.  Later on when I get the saved tomato seeds from a friend (for which I exchanged some leftover misc. seeds of my own), I’ll plant an assortment.  We will not go tomato-less this year, if I can help it!  Or cuc-less.

I did some jobs for Avdi, like playing pharmacist and sorting/consolidating S’s meds, which comprise a pharmacy in itself.  Later, K, with some”help” from me, took apart and cleaned out the clogged dryer vent/hose/outlet.  He is proving to be of real service figuring out how to accomplish maintenance tasks so Avdi can work.

All the kids are very anxious to reach employment age and provide more for themselves, seeing how hard it is for A to juggle all the responsibilities alone.  Meanwhile, they’re learning to be more helpful and self-reliant at home and socially.  They don’t always appreciate it now, but they’ll realize later how their Dad incentivized them to be self-sustaining and competent adults, while meeting their health and security needs.

I found a recipe for dinner that was both healthy and kid-friendly, involving filling zucchini, yellow squash, and red bell pepper “boats” with an elevated mac ‘n’ cheese filling incorporating the squash into it, and roasting it.  As it happened, just A, K, and I were around to eat at the time, but it seemed to be enjoyed.

I’ve never seen such a variety of weather red alerts as I have living here.  Yesterday it was a high wind advisory (50+), and today’s is high winds, low humidity, and danger of uncontrolled wildfires.  The sky is this surreal, thick dull gray, which means the wind kicks up dust into the atmosphere.  Like s dustbowl.  In keeping with the dire political forecast.  Who needs sci-fi apocalyptic movies when you can live in the real thing?  So naturally one just goes about one’s business, trying not to set fire to anything.

Yesterday I planted a couple more early greens outside, did housework, and prepared to plant tomatoes inside.  Avdi mostly worked from elsewhere, in a state of mental overwhelm, in which he can’t engage or deal with one more thing.  I tried to help as I could.

I was going to make dinner, but E took over the kitchen, determined to make the Irish corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes, with homemade soda bread, that Avdi hadn’t had time to start earlier.  E did a fabulous job, and the kids and I sat around the table eating and talking, while A had to go get his stitches out (turned out it’s too soon).  It was just as well he wasn’t wielding the knife!

I had a dream I won’t go into that made me feel like I was lost in my own mental dust fog of dark fantasy that’s hard to come out of, but I’ll push on over to A’s under the eldritch gray sky to try to make myself useful!

I’m slowly working my way around the garden, only prepping areas that it’s time to plant seeds or seedlings in, leaving the rest alone until it’s time.  Yesterday I took the assorted poppy flower seeds out of their short strat period and cleaned up two areas in S’s garden and Y’s rock garden to plant them.  Then I prepped the strawberry bed and added the plants I’ve been growing from E’s seeds.  I’m hoping they’ll take over and produce actual strawberries.

I guess my motivation is a vision I’ve always had of helping a yard toward its potential of becoming a “secret garden”, a surrounding of beauty, tranquility, and health.  It will always be a work in progress, but the possibilities are endless, and the growing benefits to nature and humans are my motivation to keep working each day and year.  If I drop dead doing it, I still will have left the garden hopefully even more a refuge of life and spirit than I found it.  It’s one thing I feel like I can do fairly competently for others while they’re here.

Speaking of tranquility, the dynamic at the house is so different with S away.  Y isn’t as stressed about coming home from school, K can work on his HW undisturbed at the dining table, E can sit quietly in the living room without the tv blasting youtube idiocy, and I can hang out with them without constant interruptions and meltdowns.  I know Avdi can get more work done.  Things are still glaringly wrong with the world outside right now and for years to come, but it’s one less stressor to deal with in a crowded house.

Y actually talked me into walking all the way to the grocery store and back (to spend all their cash on sweets, but who’s judging!).  We had a good time talking about all sorts of things, and they even took my hand a few times, which never happens.  We got to walk on the pedestrian bridge over the highway, my first time, on the way back.  Even though it was exhausting for me to keep up and walk that far, it was worth it knowing they trust me enough now to spend time together and confide personal feelings.

K and I have also been bonding a lot over tech stuff that he’s creating from scratch out of electronic parts he buys.  He’s making me a “doohickie” to test moisture levels of plant soil in my lab.  He’s really skillful in this field, and it gives him practical incentives and experience building something that someone can use.  Half the time I have no idea what he’s saying, but I’m interested, and he takes pride in it.

Well, back to the garden with me.

As expected, the storm flooded Avdi’s yard, but fortunately didn’t reach the veg garden.  Lots of debris everywhere, but nothing like the tornado destruction elsewhere in the area.  He set up the pump to drain the water into the runoff canal, and then set off with S to meet Stacey halfway and hand him off for a week.

I walked over to be around for the other kids, and spend the night.  Needless to say, it was much quieter there!  It was way too wet out to work in the garden, but I found plenty to do indoors.  I even managed to get some sleep.

Yesterday it was cold again, but warm enough to clean up the herb garden a little.  Lots of daffodils are blooming, even after the hail-battering they took.  The beautiful hellebores are finally opening.  The redbuds are starting to bloom.  Down in the lab, lots of cucumbers are germinating.

Sadly, our good friend Joyce and family have to move farther away, so Avdi helped them move large furniture yesterday.