Karmic-Dragonfly

Today was the day to move my grandmother's lemon tree back outside. As usual, I have starved it for water a few weeks before the move in order to make it easier to lift -- as evidenced by the drooping leaves!


I'm glad the weather is finally warming up! Lots of daffodils in the yard, which I have been bringing indoors.


The time change did not agree with me last weekend -- I don't remember being quite so groggy. Not helped by this being my week to host book club, so I just ordered pizza, put out a salad from a bag, and made a key lime pie. I didn't have time to do anything more elaborate.

The book was my choice since I was hosting. I picked an old one -- The Waves by Virginia Woolfe - not a great choice - at least I didn't particularly like it, although I understood it was experimental.

Also this past week, I was disappointed not to be able to see the blood moon lunar eclipse this last Thursday morning. I did get up at 2 in the morning, then again closer to 3, but the sky was too overcast to see it.

"The queen is back in the house!"

I moved the lemon tree (the aforementioned queen) back into the house for winter. When I'm working, I've taken to sometimes practicing Old English in my head, and the "queen back in the house" phrase came to me as something I knew how to say!

She looks bad because she's a hefty gal, so I have to starve her for water to lighten the weight before I can move her.

Always stressful to me (not to mention my wallet) to get work done on the house. Today is new roof day 😐

Looking out front towards he pile of old shingles being thrown off the roof!

I was out of town on holiday for 2 weeks -- more on that soon -- and while I was away someone burned my pride flag!

I was in a hotel room and happened to notice the security camera notification on my phone, where I saw that the flag looked like it had gotten torn. My first thought was that it had snagged on something and torn. But as I looked further back in the camera events, I found where a man had come into my front yard at night and lit my flag on fire! Thank goodness flags are fire resistant!

Here's a cropped still from the video showing the flame after it got started.


Here's what I saw the next day on camera --


And my neighbors noticed. And I knew I had good neighbors, but maybe I didn't realize how good they were. Both neighbors on either side put up a pride flag after mine was burned. That really did make me feel better while I was away!


I also had a friend who kept more watch over the house after this happened. And I got a lot of emotional support from other friends after I texted them and told them what happened.

The vandalism itself was not great, but what was worse was that this person burned something next to my house, which could have burned the house...or even burned me if I had been home during a fire.

I called the local police department while I was overseas and filed a report.

***
I had not flown a pride flag in 20+ years. I used to fly one all year long in my last apartment. In the house, I just hadn't felt the need. But the rise of the white supremicist movement made me realize it was time to fly one. So last year, I put one up and plan to keep doing it going forward.

This was one of the first things I did after I got back last night -

I had thought that Creeping Phlox was probably an Asian origin plant. And I was really, really pleased to see the native Strawberry Clearwing Moth feeding on them, and indeed they are native to the US! I like to plant native plants to support native pollinators. I have seen this moth a couple times lately --






None of the rest of these are native plants though -- a few Dutch Iris outside that I brought in --




And I have some Clematis vines that have done very well this year!






I planted this years ago, and since then I had THOUGHT this might be a native azalea because it is deciduous. But I'm learning towards this being a Rhododendron 'luteum'-- a European native. If true, the pollen in this could be used by bees to make 'Mad Honey' -- honey that is not good for people! I am not sure -- I bought this at a big box store many, many years ago and have long ago lost the tag that came with it.

I think Lilacs are biennial, meaning a particular plant blooms every other year. So some years I have more blooms than other years, depending on the plants...and also on the weather.

This bush was grown from a 'slip' (a small plant)...a 'volunteer' (a plant that comes up by itself)...from my Mom's Lilac bush.

Today was the semi-annual move of my grandmother's lemon tree. As usual, I let it dry out to make it light enough to lift. It's now outside until the late Fall.



I don't have any data points before 2006, and also probably at that time, the tree was not so heavy so the moves were not as notable. I do like seeing the average days/months outside.

I'm now 2 weeks out from starting my Sabbatical and still in the process of decompressing! For the most part, I've been trying to catch up on things around the house that I have been putting off for a long time -- just ordered a replacement for a broken toilet, weeding in the garden, cleaning the house (omg, so much dust!), etc.

I've also been going to local parks as part of a need to increase my physical activity -- I mean really, just how long can I blame the pandemic for my increasing girth?!

I've also been spending more time w/ the camera, something thet makes me happy.




Speaking of the pandemic, one thing I have noticed is an ongoing 'tension' and lack of courtesy around town. These last few years have been hard on everyone. School / grocery store / worship space shootings, wars, viruses, disinformation, inflation, disrespect for established political process, valuing ignorance over education -- the last few years have been rough!

Moved my Grandmother's lemon tree back inside for the winter.

It looks parched because well, it is! That's because I deprive it of water in the weeks before I move it back inside in order to lighten the load. It was outside for 237 days this time, which is just a bit above average.

I have been toying with exiting my current job, which is a real crapfest, lol. I mean, my life is just too short for this.

Tonight I was contemplating what I love about my current state of life:
1) I love the Mulberry out back. It's old...and it has been dying for many, many years.
2) I love the impression that I 'feel' of all the people who have lived here before me. I think that when you live in a place, you leave some of your energy in the place. If you're an asshole, you leave asshole energy. If you are a beautiful person, you leave beautiful energy. I have a list of everyone who has lived here, based on city directories, and the very first person here grew up near where I did. If I 'feel' his imprint correctly, I don't think I would have liked him.
3) I love that I can hang out with friends. I spent time with a friend (and could HUG him - thanks vaccine!) this past week. I'll see him again this weekend. I'm also having a couple friends over for dinner later this week. And I do intend to hug them also!