Daily Notes- March 29th

                                                 

Asparagus.  Destined to be "sliced on the bias, sautéed in butter and soy sauce and served on a bed of steamed white rice".  A favorite recipe of James Beard from Food 52.

This morning I wrote an email to my friend- she mentioned she had recently picked up her three pack of inhalers (same dose as mine) and I asked if I could have one and if and when my own prescription was filled- I would give her mine.  She was just here dropping it off.  I do not have to worry about the Pharmacy right now.  I am good for 30 days plus the five doses left on my inhaler.  Patty is and has always been the kindest soul.  She was my partner for Master Gardener classes in 2001.

It's not April yet but it is raining.  I am pretty amazed that G and I got so many things done yesterday prior to the two promised days of rain (ending in sleet for us here in Maine).  The Preen weed/grass preventer that I had carefully sifted onto the paths in the raised bed garden needs to be watered in thoroughly. Neither G or I was very happy about dragging out the hoses from under the house.  So, the forecast for rain sounded good.  And it's cold outside. Very.

We pruned the peach trees and pounded in the (fruit tree) fertilizer sticks.  The Queen of Plums got pruned and she also got fertilizer sticks.  The old shrubs (whose name cannot be spell checked correctly) got heavily pruned with G's lithium battery chain saw. Cuts like a hot knife thru butter.  Not that happy about the lithium part.  But we got the pruning done. G always thinks I take off "too much" but once the leaves bud out it always seems like I took nothing away.  I am an excellent pruner- I have made mistakes but I learn from them.  We can even see the stone path leading to the shrub whose name cannot be spelled correctly.

I watched a Hallmark movie last night.  I think I might be "over it" with them.  The scenery for the movie was "enhanced" by way way too many fake flowers.  Half or more that do not bloom at the same time.  Ever.  Hallmark does not bother to employ people to do "realistic" decoration. The whole movie reminded me of the fake flower section at JoAnn's.  And the guy was chopping carrots and celery etc to make soup and then announced the soup was "ready" not ten seconds later.

I did get to watch Vivian the Southern Chef trace the evolution of hand pies across the South.  It got recorded in the middle of the night-long after the Teddy Roosevelt program.  The pepperoni pies were very interesting.  And the coal miner's lunch pails with the top pan filled with a small baked pie.  The owner of that lunch pail said his mother would stay up late to bake the pies for her husband and two sons to have for their lunch down in the mines.  Now that is love.