Peony Moss: March 2004 Archives

Bad news about Terri. Please see Father Johansen's for the ugly details: another legal setback, poor care (now she's got a bedsore, which really makes me see red), the whiff of corruption and cronyism....

Then there's that other wacky thing with the "puncture wounds." What's up with that? It could be something as simple as someone drawing a blood sample on the wrong patient and leaving the room a mess. At least Governor Bush wants to know what's up with that too.

Mark Windsor is wondering if the new IG for Florida's Agencey for Health Care Administration is aware of the level of care presented to Terri Schiavo. (You know, if she were a dog PETA would be chaining themselves to the doors.)

Mark also suggests finding someone to run against Judge Greer this November. How about one of our own Floridian St Bloggers?

St Michael the Archangel, protect Terri Schiavo!

...in other words, that stupid email. I finally wrote and sent it this morning. I will be dreading checking my email for the rest of the day.

I wonder sometimes if I have an unrealistic expectation of friendship. When I was in college I thought that I would stay in close touch with many of my friends there. In a matter of months I found out that wasn't going to be the case -- that for whatever reason, most of the people I thought were my good friends were not going to be making the effort to maintain our friendship by keeping in touch, whether by letters or phone calls (this was before email was common -- you may commence the dinosaur sound effects.) Was it because they didn't know how to keep a friendship going? Was it because they knew how, but just didn't feel like keeing it going with me? Either way, the net result is the same -- no more friendship.

Now this I did not know! A couple of years ago, the Diocese of Richmond began the cause of Frank Parater, a seminarian from the Diocese who died in Rome at the North American College at the age of 23.

George Weigel's column on the Servant of God Frank Parater.

Later today I have to compose an email that will require all kinds of things I don't do well, skills like tact and delicacy and gentleness and interpersonal sensitivity and telling-the-truth-in-love -- you know, all that E.Q. stuff.

Consuming Our Children

Thanks to Alicia for this link.

From the Terri's Fight mailing list:

Terri's Story on FOX News Tonight

If you are able to tune in, Bobby Schindler, brother to Terri Schiavo, will appear on FOX News Live Weekend Edition tonight at 6.00pm ET. Mr. Schindler will be discussing new developments in Terri's case as well as ongoing court actions. He will be joined by a spokesperson who will speak to some of the major controversies in Terri's court case.

Please accept my apologies for the late notice. This has only been confirmed as of this morning.

We will attempt to post a transcript as soon as possible to www.terrisfight.org.

You can find your local FOX affiliate on http://tv.yahoo.com.

I found the source of the ghost: a Little Golden Book in which the Sesame Street characters put on a play about feelings. To demonstrate "scared", Telly Monster cowers under the bed while other Muppets wear costumes showing scary things like tigers and thunderstorms. Ernie is wearing a ghost costume (the bedsheet with cut out eyes) but his face is covered, so I could see why Hambet didn't realize it was Ernie.

So we had a little chat about how they're just putting on a play, that it was Ernie in the costume and that Telly was just pretending to be frightened, and we have had two nights free of ghosts and monsters.

I am just kicking myself because I know I have to be attentive to what Hambet is seeing, I know little kids don't see things the same way we do, and I still missed this. Oh well, it's not the end of the world, and Hambet doesn't seem to be scarred for life. I have shelved a lot of our potentially scarier home media (most purchased for me before Hambet was born; I love animated movies) and I'll be looking for gentler stories for evenings when we want to cuddle up and see a video together. (I'm thinking Veggies and Winnie-the-Pooh; more suggestions welcome....)

It is interesting that we've been reading this book for months and this only came up now. A friend of mine observed that stories that don't bother her three-year-old son will really affect her five-year-old son, and she thinks it's because her older boy just understands more. And I think the same is true for Hambet. Just in the last three months he's been doing so much more imaginative and pretend play, and it would stand to reason that if he's making up his own stories, he's also taking in more and understanding more of the stories he reads.

Bob, of the Republic of Virtue, is finally attempting to read that book:

...until I actually read this trash for myself none of my criticisms will hold any water with the kids. Amazing how they will believe the undocumented, utterly baseless slop that Dan Brown puts out in blatant defiance of the historical record, but when I'm citing the likes of Sandra Meisel and asserting completely undisputed facts, I'm the one who has to meet the burden of proof.

One of the reasons I would personally not mind taking a shot at Dan Brown in a dunk tank is that for some reason his fictional albino assassin monk has become a character in my husband's strange inner world: "Hi, hubby, how was your day?" "Not too bad. Saw Silas on the Metro, he says hi. He also says you should make me steak for dinner every night, and lobster on Friday." "Silas told me to buy these books or else." "I met so-and-so for lunch, and Silas showed up too."

I'm not sure what it says about me that I'm married to a man whose imaginary friend is a menacing albino assassin monk.

The Curt Jester has the details.

...to Mark at Vociferous Yawpings.

I think we could use a happier word than "blogiversary." I nominate Father Johansen to coin one, since he did so well with "blug."

We don't play rough here. We don't like profanity, blasphemy, flaming, personal attacks on anyone, or general incivility. We may edit or delete offending comments -- or ban offending commenters -- at our discretion.

[C]ivility is considered a higher good than First Amendment rights here. Incivility will be uncivilly suppressed. -- Church of the Masses comment policy.

Today is also Hambet's third birthday in the Church: the anniversary of his baptism.

Eric Johnson of Catholic Light has the picture I wanted, but couldn't find.

Karen Marie chose a very different picture for her Annunciation post at the Anchor Hold. Usually I don't care for that style of art, but this one really stopped me in my tracks -- I was literally staring at it, for a long, long time.

Destruction of the One Ring Day, at least on the Shire Calendar, which of course is a system of reckoning we heartily endorse.

Enbrethiliel has the details. This time-zone thing is cool.

This time they showed up at around 1:40 AM, when the parents were too groggy to implement any of the stretegies that sounded so effective in the wakeful daytime.

I think I'll continue with ratcheting the media wayyyyyyyyyyyyy back, and try increasing the cuddle and story time during the day.

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae;
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Ecce ancilla Domini.
R. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,.......

V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
R. Et habitavit in nobis.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,.......

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus:
Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.
R. Amen.

OMG!!!!!!!!! I'm ROTFLOL!!

I was originally going to title this post, "All Dressed Up and No Place to Go." When we had our first snap of warm weather a few weeks ago, I ran right out and made three raised beds (I'd made the fourth last fall.) I filled them with some soil and compost and... now I have to wait.

We were enjoying weather in the fifties and even in the low sixtes, but it's gotten much colder again, especially at night. My sources tell me that it's not too early to start planting things like peas and lettuce -- "plant as soon as the soil can be worked" -- but I'm still nervous about doing too much planting. I am terrified that I jumped the gun on the rhubarb -- I found some on March 12 and planted it that very afternoon, just in time for the cold weather to come back. I am anxious for the survival of these roots. When I planted them, they had a few little stems coming, maybe an eighth of an inch thick; the weak little leaves withered but the stems themselves seem to be hanging in there. I mulched them with leaves for the coldest nights; I just checked them and all of them still have good turgor in those little stems -- and one of them has a few leaves getting ready to come out. The rhubarb plant from last year is doing great and has plenty of fat stalks with big green leaves coming up.

I have also planted peas and mesclun but I haven't seen any germination. The garlic I planted last fall is doing fine, and I picked up some more from the garden center for a spring planting.

I am delighted with the success of the seeds I started inside under a grow-light. Almost all my eggplants have germinated, and some are starting to get their first true leaves. The parsley and geraniums are coming up too. I tried starting lettuce and broccoli indoors and I'm not sure how good an idea that was; they are leggy, and flopping all over the place. This week I must start the tomatoes and basil.

The flower bulbs are coming up now too -- not quite as precisely choreographed as I had hoped, but then I do have spring fever. The crocuses are all up, untouched by deer or squirrel, and the first daffodils have bloomed. The outdoor hyacinths, in white and deep blue, are coming too -- the first buds are starting to open.

In the next few days I want to check the schedule and start hardening off some lettuce seedlings to transplant outside and start doing some direct sowing: lettuce, mesclun, corn salad, parsnips, and carrots. I'd like to find some little gadget to help me plant the carrots and lettuce -- the seeds are so darn tiny!

This is a picture of my vegetable garden. Yes, I know the bed frames aren't quite level, and if I could go back in time I go to last spring and say, "Don't waste your time double digging! Make raised beds, and space them at least 24 inches apart! Don't bother with the brick paths, they are a pain to level and you'll have drainage problems!"

The back bed by the fence is the rhubarb bed, and if you look closely at the corner you might see the rhubarb from last year coming up. The green stems in the front fence-side bed are garlic. The pink strings are marking off one-foot squares to help with plant spacing. That bed will be the future home of the parsnips and carrots, I think. The back left bed is where I planted the peas and will be the home of summer lettuce, and the front left bed -- the sunniest -- will be for spring lettuce and then for tomatoes, eggplant, and garlic. But I keep changing my mind about where I want to put the tomatoes.

Last night my husband and I were slipping off into dreamland when we heard a weird noise. I looked at my husband with that "did you hear that?" look. He'd heard it too, and was sitting up in bed. We listened intently for a moment, and the noise came again. It was kind of a shuffling noise, with a piteous little cry that was starting off soft but was getting louder and louder. And it was coming from Hambet's bed. My dh got up and asked him what was wrong; Hambet tearfully informed us, "There's a ghost under my bed!"

Well, we had the little chat about no-such-thing-as-ghosts; Hambet drifted off to sleep during the chat and was slid, unprotesting, back into his own bed later in the evening. Hambet has told us about monsters before -- in a general way -- but this is the first time we've had any news of ghosts and any supernatural problems at bedtime. So I'll be paying extra attention to where he might be getting this from.

I hope we can get this ghost out of the house soon; I am not interested in getting into chasing ghosts, monsters, and assorted paranormal brethren every night. Maybe I can just squish it like a bug, since it must be very tiny to be able to fit under a junior bed.

Tastemakers To the Masses:
Martha May Be Our Era's William Morris (WaPo; registration)

Yahoo! News - Report Says Medicare to Go Broke by 2019

You are the Mexican Cross: This ceramic cross is
hand crafted and painted in Mexico. Its bright
colors make it appropriate for the kitchen or a
child's bedroom, reminding us of the joy of the
resurrection.


What Kind of Cross are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

"Baroque Art emerged in Europe around 1600 as an reaction against the intricate and formulaic Mannerist style which dominated the Late Renaissance." (artcyclopedia.com.) Baroque Art is fairly realistic but is often willing to smudge the realism in favor of theatricality and the emotional pull that is its trademark. You're most likely a creative, talented emotional person who likes attention. Although it could all just be a show. Famous Baroquers (there are lots): Rembrandt, Rubens, Caravaggio, and You.

which art movement are you?
this quiz was made by Caitlin

I was hoping for Pre-Raphaelite but I am too scrupulous to throw the answers. Thanks to those crazy Summas for this link.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted's on the "I'm Catholic, but...." crowd:

“ I am a Catholic politician but I don’t let my Catholicism impact on how I vote or what legislation I promote;” but Jesus says (Mt 7:26-27), “Everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

“ I am a Catholic physician but I don’t let my faith mold my decisions regarding abortion, contraception, or other medical practices;” but Jesus says Mt 5:37), “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”

“ I am a Catholic talk show host but I don’t let the Church inhibit my right to say whatever I want on the air;” but in the Letter of James, God says (2:17) “Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

“ I am a Catholic priest but I don’t let Magisterial teaching keep me from dissenting from moral or doctrinal points nor let it limit my own ‘pastoral solutions’;” but at ordination each priest professes a solemn oath, “I believe everything contained in God’s Word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the Church… I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by the Church definitively regarding teaching on faith and morals.”

Lent is the time to kick the “Catholic but...” out of our own daily lives. It is the time to expunge rationalization from our minds and to root out compromise from our hearts. Lent is the time to say a determined “No” to the temptation to water down our faith for personal gain. It is the time to say a much larger “Yes” to Jesus and His Gospel of Life. Lent is the time for Totus Tuus, the time to renew our commitment to love God with all our mind and heart and strength.....

Thanks to Not-a-Liturgist at Liturgiam Authenticam for this link.

I have the can't remember where I read that blues.

A while ago I came across a passage in a book of spiritual reading, a warning that anyone who was going to make a serious attempt to grow in the Christian life was going to start running into... opposition, perhaps from annoyed friends or even family members complaining about one's becoming "too religious," but perhaps other obstacles too.

I thought I came across this in An Introduction to the Devout Life, by dear St Francis de Sales, but when I pulled out the book today I couldn't find it.

Can anyone help me out? Thanks in advance.

This is another good reason to keep a commonplace book!

Magister Mundi sum!
"I am the Master of the Universe!"
You are full of yourself, but you're so cool you
probably deserve to be. Rock on.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Actually I should probably be a Magistra. Thanks to Magister Mundi Mark for this quiz.

VATICAN CITY (via Yahoo.com) - Pope John Paul II said Saturday the removal of feeding tubes from people in vegetative states was immoral, and that no judgment on their quality of life could justify such "euthanasia by omission."

John Paul made the comments to participants of a Vatican conference on the ethical dilemmas of dealing with incapacitated patients, entering into a debate that has sparked court battles in the United States and elsewhere.

The pope said even the medical terminology used to describe people in so-called "persistent vegetative states" was degrading to them. He said no matter how sick a person was, "he is and will always be a man, never becoming a 'vegetable' or 'animal.'"

In a vegetative state, patients are awake but not aware of themselves or their environment. The condition is different from a coma, in which the patient is neither awake nor aware. Both, however, are states in which the patient is devoid of consciousness.

If the vegetative state continues for a month, the patient is said to be in a persistent vegetative state; after a year without improvement, the patient is said to be in a permanent vegetative state.

Providing food and water to such patients should be considered natural, ordinary and proportional care — not artificial medical intervention, the pope told members of the conference, which was organized by the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican advisory body.

"As such, it is morally obligatory," to continue such care, he said.

Since no one knows when a patient in a vegetative state might awaken, "the evaluation of the probability, founded on scarce hope of recovery after the vegetative state has lasted for more than a year, cannot ethically justify the abandonment or the interruption of minimal care for the patient, including food and water," he said.

Similarly, he said that someone else's evaluation of the patient's quality of life in such a state couldn't justify letting them die of hunger or thirst.

"If this is knowingly and deliberately carried out, this would result in a true euthanasia by omission," he said.

John Paul has consistently voiced opposition to euthanasia, which the Vatican defines as "an action or omission that by its nature and intention" causes death to end pain. It says euthanasia always is a violation of God's law.

The issue over removing feeding tubes has prompted several court cases and legislation in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

In a highly publicized case in Tampa, Fla., the husband of a severely brain-damaged woman, Terri Schiavo, has battled her parents for years to have his wife's feeding tube removed so she can die. He says she wouldn't have wanted to be kept alive with it.

The issue has involved the state legislature as well as the governor, who was given the authority to have the feeding tube reinserted after the woman's husband had it removed.

In his comments, John Paul said families of such ill people needed more emotional and economic support, so that they can better care for their loved ones. In addition, he said, society should commit more money to find cures for them.

I'll post to the link when I find it. Thanks to Mark for this story.

Father Johansen gave us an amazing blug, describing us as "two reasonably-well-adjusted Catholic women who take their faith seriously."

That compliment's going to have us on Cloud Nine for weeks. Thanks so much, Father.

I took Jeff's advice and gave Sauce Reader a try. I am delighted! It is easy to use, and even has an auto-detect, so that when I go to a blog that has a feed, all I have to do is click the button and the feed will be added to my list. And it really does read both RSS and Atom feeds well. It has an integrated IE browser window, so you can see the beauty of your favorite blogs.

Okay, all you Blogger users. Do your pal Peony and your other readers a favor, and activate your Atom syndication. Jeff has full instructions here. He also has instructions on how to post it on your site as a link.

Forget about your BlogMatrix RSS feeds -- they never worked reliably, and Karen Marie says they've "died."

Michelle's Famous Poet Quiz result was Walt Whitman, so I'd like to offer this especially for her:

When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d

No big plans for festivities here. I detest do not care for corned beef and cabbage, but if I can find some good lamb I will make lamb stew for supper. I did lay out the shamrock tie for my husband, but I haven't been back upstairs yet to see if he actually put it on.

Now, if I could just find an appropriate tie for St Joseph's day, we would be all set.

It seems to me that much of our apologetics stays in our heads and never percolates down to the heart where it can foster true and lasting love. The only true defense against such idiocy is Jesus Himself. If we truly love Him, then nothing said against Him can convince us of anything other than the truth. The purpose of apologetics is to convince, but after conviction, something must help the truth bloom into love.

You are Homer!

An epic poet circa 800 B.C., Homer is the expression of the ancient Greek ideal. His characters embark upon long and wordy quests and engage in battles of heroic length. Monsters are slain and cities are razed. Fun and glory all around!


Which famous poet are you? (pictures and many outcomes)
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to quiz-mistress Michelle for this one.

K-Lo reviews Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness - and Liberalism - to the Women of America

Vociferous Yawpings has moved to the Fine Domain!

Another blog I plan to watch: Granola Conservatism. With a name like that, how could I not?

The Passion of the Christ -- Three Reviews and a Letter by Orson Scott Card

EXCELLENT article by Orson Scott Card. I've only read a couple of his Alvin Maker books (should pick up on that sometime.) Thanks to Steven and the Summas for this link.

Times Against Humanity has moved to a new home and has a great new look.

The New Gasparian has also moved -- to the Fine Domain! -- and also has a great new look.

Steven Riddle's little boy Samuel has been fighting a tummy bug all week, and was sick enough to require IV rehydration yesterday. Poor guy! (Poor mommy and daddy!) Please pray for his quick recovery.

MADRID, Spain — More than 170 were killed and 600 wounded Thursday after powerful explosions rocked three Madrid train stations just three days before Spain's general elections.

No word yet at Sanctificarnos from Jesus -- I hope he's okay.

Right now the attack is being blamed on Basqe separatists, but Al Quaida involvement has not been ruled out.

We need more saints who did things like drive backhoes and use tools and work in zoos and fire off cannons. It's always good to have saints, but saints from these occupations would really help me. Hambet is completely uninterested in the sappy preschool religous books that show children frolicking around a meadow having picnics. He likes dinosaurs, hand tools, construction equipment, trains, boats. He wants pictures with action. I would like to bring exclusively religious books to keep him occupied at Mass, but the book that really keeps his attention -- for 20 minutes at a shot! -- is a Richard Scarry book, What do People Do All Day, which has lots of cool diagrams showing how paper is made and how roads get laid and how firefighters fight fires. If I could just find a book that somehow combined heavy machinery with sacred topics, we would be in business.

Hambet does like this book of lift-the-flap Bible stories. The first picture shows the Garden of Eden, with details illustrating the days of creation. One of the flaps shows an erupting volcano. Hambet loves the erupting volcano, and we usually end up discussing that volcano for quite a while when we read this book. Noah's Ark is cool, too, and he's starting to like pictures of the Parting of the Red Sea, and the men who cut the hole in the roof (with a saw!) to bring their friend to Jesus. The men who built their houses on the sand and on the rock are good, too, because there's building involved. I think St Peter might also become a favorite, because he has a boat.

I tried mentioning to Hambet that God made volcanoes, and that piqued his interest, especially when I told him that God made dinosaurs too. He took his stuffed T.Rex and started enumerating all the parts God had made: "God made Rex, and teef, and feet, and claws, and dinosaur's eyes, and his tail...."

Later we were driving in the evening and the sun was setting. Hambet commented that the sun was going to bed ("in his very own bed") so I tried it again: "God made the sun." Hambet seemed interested again, and immediately asked, "Did God make cement mixers?"

I told him that God made Hambet. He seemed doubtful. God's making Mommy didn't seem to impress him either. But when I let him in on the fact that God made Daddy -- now that was something.

In Stephen King novels, people get weird, prickly, unsettling feelings when they walk past the old house (hospital, church, pet cemetery, 7-11, whatever) on the corner in the little town in Maine. For weeks I've had this weird nagging feeling every time I passed the dry cleaner's. To my knowledge, it wasn't haunted or anything, so I couldn't think of why it was bothering me so -- until last night, when I was hanging up clothes. I came to the spot where my husband's suit hangs and... no suit. Suddenly I remembered that I had dropped it off at the dry cleaners -- and I couldn't remember when I'd done it. It wasn't this month... did I do it in February? What about in January? I got a sinking feeling as I mentally started to count days. How long does this dry cleaner let you leave your things there before they start calling up the Goodwill (or firing up their eBay account?)

Of course this inspiration came to me after the shop had closed, so I got to spend all night trying to stop myself from staring at the ceiling and fretting about the suit and how I was going to explain this to my husband. When St Peter exhorted us to "cast our cares upon the Lord" I don't know if he had dry cleaning in mind, but I was doing my best to follow his advice.

Morning came (with a shower of snow) and Hambet and I hurried over to the cleaners. The lady nodded -- oh, yes, yes, they have the suit. The clothes swayed as track started to whir. Yes, they keep things for 90 days. Yes, they would have called me before they got rid of it.

She plucked the suit off the track and hung it on the pole. Today is March 10. The date on the tag -- December 11. Approximately 89 days.

As Robert says, mad props to my Guardian Angel.

Sorry for the slow blogging. I have been focusing pretty much on getting the garden going and keeping the household going (like KTC, and probably many other housewives, I have to mind my Internet use.) So I have to watch my surfing, which means less commenting and linking. I also have just been in the doldrums about writing. If the Lord desires me to continue blogging, He'll tell me what to blog about.

See, I miss a day at Theosis and GoodForm and Summa Minutae, and look what happens -- I miss this gem. Thanks, TSO, for catching it for me:

Not long before his death, Pope Pius XI granted an indulgence to those married couples of the Westminster diocese who daily kissed the wedding ring of their spouses and repeated the following prayer: 'Grant, Lord, to us, that loving You, may love each other and live according to Your holy laws.' In 1960 Pope John XXIII renewed the same indulgence for all the married. --Rev. Lawrence Lovasik, [The Hidden Power of] Kindness

This is the umpteenth time in the last six weeks that I've come across a reference to that book. I own a copy, but I haven't read it yet. Perhaps it's time to remedy that.

Is the Clifford movie playing in your area? I thought it was coming out on February 20, but I haven't seen any ads for it around here, and I haven't been able to find it using those Web showtime finders.

I was thinking Hambet might enjoy it, but it doesn't seem to be playing around here. Maybe that's not such a bad thing; I found a couple of reviews and they weren't very complimentary.

(actually it was yesterday) Welcome to the big 2!

Last week I was working like a busy beaver on the raised beds -- dragging the boards home, painting them with linseed oil, flipping them, painting the other side, and finally painting them green. Over the weekend my husband helped me assemble them, and yesterday I wedged them into their spots. Now I'll just need to fill them and I'll be ready to roll.

I planted some lettuce (mesclun) in my existing bed but I'll wait till

The weather was a tease all last week: warm, but intermittently rainy, so I never knew how much time I had to prep the boards. Sunday was perfect -- sunny, mild -- so we had a good time working in the yard.

All of us, that is, except for Hambet. Poor kid, all his efforts at yardwork were thwarted by his unfeeling parents. Don't pour all the grass seed out at once! No digging holes in the lawn! No rocks in the garden! No waving rakes in the air! Bricks are not for throwing!

Finally we gave him the hose, and that put a smile back on his face (and the cold, cold water dripping down Daddy's back.) Note to self, Hambet needs boots ASAP.

Maybe next year he'll be able to follow directions well enough to have his own little planter to tend.

Revolution of Love has moved to stblogs.org!

The Tower has set up shop too.

Moloch has a blog and extensive links to his friends. Why not go say hi, and help PP remember who's boss -- help Moloch show up on their referral stats!

It's commonly called "envy", but what I have in mind is benign, it's not true envy. It's that feeling you get when someone you know has achieved something you'd really, really like for yourself, or has gotten to do something you'd really, really like to do yourself. It's only like envy in that it desires the good that another enjoys; unlike envy, though, it still rejoices that at least the other person gets to enjoy that good.

Well, whatever this emotion is, Apologia groupies -- and Friends of Fructus Ventris -- are experiencing it this morning.

I think I'm going to be scarce again this week -- we're supposed to have weather in the fifties, sixties, and even into the seventies! So I will be working on getting my garden ready.

Last year I was dig, dig, digging away and all for nothing -- the rain carried away soil, soil amendments, and seeds alike. This year I'm doing what I should have done last year: making raised beds.

I just got back from the Big Orange Store with 12 4-foot boards, screws, angle brackets, and a clamp. The plan is to coat the lumber with boiled linseed oil, assemble them into boxes, maybe add a bit of paint to address my husband's aesthetic concerns, line them with plastic, and them fill 'em up with soil enriched with peat moss and compost.

In our area (zone 6B- 7) I can start some planting some things as early as March 15, so I want to get a place ready for those early plantings: peas, garlic, rhubarb, and some early lettuce.

My attempts to force hyacinths and tulips this winter failed utterly -- next winter I'll just buy them at the store -- but I do see little bulbs peeking up already, including the ones in my bulb planters. I also see new growth in all of the lamb's ears (including the ones I thought were done for.) Looks like the sage and rosemary made it, too. And this morning, I went out to the the rhubarb bed to peek under the leaf mulch. There it was -- the first little green leaves, all curled up like a baby's fist, on tiny little red stalks.

This week I'm also going to be starting some seeds. I'm going to try eggplant again ("Rosa Bianca" and those white eggplants) and lettuce, along with tomatoes and marigolds. I want to plan out my flower bed and see what else I want to grow.

Last fall I mentioned trying some rooting hormone. I took cuttings of rosemary and basil. The basil didn't make it, but the rosemary did great -- every cutting "took." It's continued to thrive indoors through the winter. It's been so gratifying to be able to just walk over to the windows and snip off a few leaves for cooking. I used to kill every houseplant in my custody, so just having the things survive has been a thrill.