Luna del'Corvo

What a year it's shaping up to be! Over the summer, hubby's grandmother has had her health decline rapidly. Actually, this has been along process for years; she had MD, and had been losing strength and mobility steadily for years. THis year it's really been accelerating. Worse yet, her husband, himself in his upper 80s has been unable to let go and put her n a proper nursing facility. One the one hand, I understand this, especially knowing him. He's the epitome of "pride goeth before a fall," except he thinks that means when your pride goes away, that's when you fall. It's meant a lot to him that he's cared for her for so long, and he doesn't want to give up and admit he can't any more. But really, he should have, for both their sakes. Now, however, she's been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer. She's in hospice, she's lost any real kind of coherence, and it's unlikely she'll ever regain it. Heartbreakingly, in her pain and delerium, she rails against Papaw for trying to get rid of her. I can see the damage that does to him every time she says it. He's said outright he doesn't want to go on without her; I suspect he won't.

Naturally, all of this is, as I said, inevitable. With a condition like hers, we all knew it would end like this. Which doesn't make it one whit less awful to see. And of course, it's bringing back the pain of my mother's death all over. So yay. I feel for hubby, too, as he recently had a good friend who had suffered a long-term illness call hi out of the blue to say goodbye. He said he'd taken a turn, and wouldn't be seeing him again. We found out a few days later he and his wife checked into the swankiest hotel in town, had champagne and then committed suicide together. I made the news. Now his grandmother is past the point of no return, and his grandfather is swearing he won't outlive her.

His father (my father in law) has also been left nearly blind by a failed eye surgery in one eye and a blown vessel in the other in about a four week period. So, universe, if you're listening, we're good now, no more surprises, yeah?

Otherwise, I suppose things are fine. I feel totally overwhelmed with work this semester, but I suppose that's not altogether new either, I really want to finish up the last of the kitchen because, as wonderful as it is, it's been the f-ing elephant on my shoulder for the better part of three months and I'm so ready to set it down. However, it's going to be 8 weeks before the tile comes in for the backsplash, (which yours truly is installing) so it's more or less never going to be finished. (First world problem, especially in light of all the rest, but it's the little ones that bug ya, ya know?)

And I so did not intend to make this a pity party sort of diatribe. Ah well, bucket dumped; look for a slightly more upbeat post next time!

I read every day, but I find it seems to take ever so much less time than it used to. Well, OK, I'll toss a post out here, maybe it will spur a blogging renaissance!

Really, I've been out in the yard most every day that I'm not teaching, and some of those days, too! The food garden is going great - it's almost all planted and starting off nicely. This years crops will, if all goes well, include several kinds of lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, radishes, kohlrabi, celery, kale, mustard greens, green beans, lima beans, cucumbers, green and red peppers, 5 varieties of tomatoes, and pumpkins. I'm still trying to find a spot to toss in some squash, too. I also have loads of herbs, many of which came back strong from last year. I have chive, sage, oregano, two mints, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, parsley, savory, lavender, chamomile, and catnip.


For the flower garden and the beds on front, I've scattered some of the perennial herbs there instead of the raised beds. There they can spread all they like, and not crowd out the edibles. I've also planted four old English roses (an Eglantyne, an Alnwyck and two Crocus Roses (That's the Eglantyne pictured here). I am so anxious to see how they develop! I have the four grouped around the birdbath, with asian lillies in front, the lilac to one side, and a reddish-pink Knockout Rose (that I'm not actually too fond of, but it was a gift) on the other, and assorted this and that in front. I even found a small patchouli! How awesome if that really takes off!

And along the ugly chain fence (on the side where the redneck neighbor parks his tow trucks - yuk!) I'm putting in a hedgerow of double pink and blush Knockout Roses. My shade garden is sort of languishing because the soil back there is awful, but it's limping along. The bleeding hearts and lillies of the valley came back when I'd have sworn they were done for. I've been composting and mulching the bejayzuz out of it, so if I can keep them going this summer, I think by next the soil will have started to get better. (Go, worms!) The foxglove and monkshood seem to be going like gangbusters, though - yay! (Yes, it's a rather toxic little garden patch....)

But perhaps the best gardening news of all: Niblet is old enough to cut the grass! W00t! We don't have much, and are working on mulching over a lot of that, but until then, it's no longer my job! Yay!

More on non-gardening topics soon, promise, and pics as soon as things start coming up!

(As always, click for bigger version...)

Patio Pots The biggest pot has four varieties of Basil, and the two smaller round ones have five varieties of mint between them. Then of course, there is my big box of impatiens, which are not faring too well.

Azalea and Spirea The Azalea and Spirea are in a small bed just next to the patio. The veggie garden is to the far left from this perspective.

The food garden The whole veggie garden, with my dilapidated shed in the back. The front bed is the first one I built. It's 8 x 4, and almost 2 feet high. It has been giving bumper crops of lettuce since late April, but they are about done. I need to find some late season crops to put in their place...

The cabbage (and chard) patch. Something is making holes in my cabbages. I also think I put them too close together for them to really flourish. Live and learn, no?

The herb bed. Clockwise from the bottom: beets, basil, cilantro, rosemary, mint, dill, lavender, sage, and chives in the middle. (Yes, I know, beets are not an herb. I had two left over and nowhere else to put them.)

My first cucumber! I am unreasonably excited by this! This small bed is also looking to put out some really nice peppers. The cucumbers have kind of overshadowed the herbs I put here. I think next year, I will try to put in some big, permanent herb beds in front, and leave the annual plantings in the back.

Front half of the back bed The tomato half of the back bed. They need better staking, badly! At least the coffe grounds and netting have kept the rabbits and squirrels out, at least so far.

Pumpkin tower. I built a frame for my pumpkins to climb, and of which I am ludicrously proud! They are already a good 8 or 12 inches taller than in this photo, taken less than a week ago.

There are more, and a few of what will be my rose garden next year, as well as the front, but that's enough picspam for now....

But damn, I got a lot done this weekend!

Friday after my class, I staked out an 8' x 4' area for a raised garden bed. I cleared it, put down several layers of cardboard (with a heavy soaking between each) and then covered it with about 2 inches of leaf mulch. Then I rebuilt our small hoop-house (e.g. greenhouse). Saturday, I helped build a compost system for a local school. There were a bunch of volunteers, but it was still about a five hour job. Then today, niblet and I went and bought lumber and supplies, came back, and build the bed. (It turned out awesomely well, if I do say so myself!) Then out we went again for the soil to fill it. Hubby wanted to bring it from a few of his composting sites, but the logistics didn't work out. So, back out we went.

Three bundles of peat moss, 4 bags of soil, three bags of compost, and three bags of mulch later, it was still a few inches from the top, but I decided it would be fine. I'll add a couple buckets of worms when I can go grab some. Then we planted some 30 veggies and a few herbs. (Cabbages take up an ungodly amount of space in a garden bed, in case you didn't know!) I have another bed (smaller) to build for green peppers, and we still want to put tomatoes and peas along the fence, and possibly some berries.

I'll post pics when I get some snapped. Meanwhile, I ache all over, so I'm gonna go collapse in a heap. I'm not at all sure I'll be able to walk tomorrow....

(Albeit a bulleted one)

• We are moved! Well, mostly. There are still a few carloads of gods-know-what in the storage room at the old place. I am having to leave this up to others, as I have really messed up my wrists & elbows painting, packing, fixing, scrubbing, lifting.... DH has really been a champ; I don't know how he does it, and I'm afraid he's going to drop any second.... But - we have a new home, and we love it, so things are groovy on that front! Squee! (Yes, new house piccies when you can see something other than boxes!)


• Mom is doing better. In fact, you'd hardly know she went through any of it. She still is a little shaky on her feet, and her back is a bit touchier than before, but even that's getting better with time. She even made it out to the Irish Fest with Niblet and I this weekend.


• Niblet is loving school like wow! he's having to actually work a little, and I think that's a good thing! He's also loving the new house, and has developed a real passion for celtic music - I thought he'd murder me if we didn't get the the Irish fest Right. This. Minute. LOL! I'm glad; music is a good passion to have, and I'm so happy it's one we share.


• The semester goes.... well it goes. Italian is actually a lot of fun, and I seem to be picking it up pretty easily. And hey, no papers! Italian Ren Art is fine; the instructor is very passionate and kind of fun, so I'm enjoying it immensely. First test comes back today; let's see if it likes me, too! Theory is...interesting. Some very different persepctives, but I have a paper idea that I think will be fun to do, which the prof seems to like as well. This is a good thing since....


• Committee? What committee? I have no thesis and no committee. *sigh* Not going to go into it here/now, just busy working in plan B. Which may involve that paper I mentioned for theory class. So, there's that. What a crazy thing this MA is turing out to be....(Please, gods, can I be done nao?)

So, great stuff, good stuff, insane stuff.... sounds like life as usual for the Raven.... More details on all when I have a)time b)sleep c)answers d)all of the above.*

(*You do know it's 'd,' right?)