Saturday Sunshine

Oh, it is amazing how quickly your body can get used to not working! I was only standing on the cement floor for a little less than 3 hours and my back was close to seizing up. Good thing I had taken some Tylenol. I was expecting 2-4 students in my Houseplant class and instead had close to 18. And they applauded at the end. Too funny.

This picture is of my Clivia. The flower spike is ready to open and the flowers will be orange. I have another larger plant which produces yellow/apricot flowers but there are no flower spikes. I'm not sure what triggers the production of flowers. I know the plants are healthy as the leaves are exuberant. In the bottom left of the picture you can see a small "pup" or new growth.

The Jeep brochure didn't work out as a base for altered book work. The pages are too glossy. I tried sanding them and then doing gesso but the sanding created "dirt" which colored the gesso and made a big mess. So. It's now part of the recycling. This is a little mandala I made in my pen/pencil journal. I used my brush pens. Black and Dove Grey. I did it very quickly.

Riley and I had our walk as soon as I got back from work. I was worried about my back and walking is a very good exercise for your back. As long as you walk on even surfaces. When we got home from the walk, I dragged my folding chair outside and I sat in the sun with a cup of coffee while Riley played in the yard. He ran out of steam and is now napping. Good Dog.

I also went upstairs and watered all my houseplants. I should be a good example, right? And that's when I saw that one of the clivia was ready to bloom. My geraniums and Christmas cactus look nice and one or two of the amaryllis are making leaves. The Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) are sending up little leaf tips. I had planted the bulbs too deep last summer and lucky for me the bulbs made terrific roots even though they had few leaves. I repotted the roots into a new large clay container with the bulbs up above the surface of the soil. I am hoping for lots of leaves and in the summer gorgeous blue flowers.

The third day of the diet is good, so far. They had chocolate donuts at work (for the class) and I didn't have any. I had nonfat lime yogurt with 2 T of Grape Nuts for lunch. I like blueberry yogurt best and won't be buying lime again. The nonfat yogurt is kind of thin and runny so the Grape Nuts (I let them sit, mixed into the yogurt for an hour or more) makes it thicker and more like a meal. 80 calories for the yogurt and 73 for 2 T of cereal. It would be better with some real fruit mixed in. I will buy some frozen berries. Mixed berries, I think.

I have no idea what supper will be tonight. I was going to make chicken soup for G but it seems too warm for it (40 degrees today). Still plenty of time to get it going, if I change my mind. He always likes soup. And I have everything for Greek Salad, Taco Salad or Chinese Salad. And I can make up some lentil soup for the week ahead. Preparation is key to the diet menu.

I got every bit of the Ironing done yesterday. So now, soup prep and I can spend the rest of the afternoon reading my Wallander book. Good times.