It was my mother’s birthday today. If she had continued to live, she would have been 91 years old. This would not have been beyond the realm of possibility. My sister said that she talked to our Uncle Bob, her brother, today, and he is 102 years old. This blows me out of the water. He was born in 1918. In his lifetime, he has seen many changes. Both El and I hope that we have similar genetic material.

It was a beautiful late spring day today. I am sure my mother celebrated her birthday on like days. Way better, I suppose, than being born April 10 or November 13, or January 7, all bleak and gloomy days.

Christmas Cactus

I was walking up the hill to the main cabin and I glanced over to my right. Right now the lilac bushes are in front of the hoop house. Inside, far back, the peach trees are in bloom. The most remarkable thing was this – the beehives are now resting on green ground, and partially surrounded by dandelions. In my head I made a comparison to just two months ago, when Pete dug out a pit six feet deep and put the hives in the pit and the bees in the hive. I climbed up on a berm to get photos. Right then, I could not envision the hives being on level, green ground. But there they are.

There was, when Pete brought the bees home, the magic moment when he emptied the two containers of bees into their respective hives.

This was right about the time we were digging a huge trench in the horse enclosure because the water was ankle deep in the shelter. It was slow, tedious, and difficult work.

There was, when the trench was finished, a magic moment when I shoveled the last bit of snow and ice out of trench and the water went gushing down the spillway.

We live for such things around here. Such things that supposedly are small and insignificant but as far as we are concerned have great import.

Other magic moments – the cactus in the living room is blooming, the compost is heating up and shrinking down, the ferns are opening up, and the cottonwood trees are releasing their very fragrant smell.

My mother would be impressed by all this. And being a gardener, she would gladly have given us a much-needed assist.

I could actually use an assist. I’m supposed to dig out the center area of the upper garden and plant wild geraniums. It is not that I have put this off – I really have been short of time. I will get this done, most likely tomorrow, because a storm front is supposed to be moving in.

If the weather gets blustery, I will finish my cabin project. My deadline is June 1. Got other things to do; time to move on. This was supposed to have been a winter project. but I was working on my EMT certification.

Oh well. Catsup is a good thing.

Next: 149. 5/29/20: The Gift of a Good Ride