I was having one of my off days, which is somehow different from day off.  All I got done was watering, then I had to lie down on the sofa.  I didn’t even attempt to clean up.  I was feeling useless, so I went home and slept for hours.  Try again tomorrow!

I think this is a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly on the Asclepius (butterfly milkweed)!  I’ve never see this type before.  And I saw my first hummer of the season, flitting between the purple poppies and the tall milkweeds.  This is what creating habitat for native wildlife is all about.

Someone (E) has been very busy in his SG (secret garden).  He says he’s building a greenhouse.  Lots of plants are growing back there in raised beds.  I enjoy watching his project unfold.

I direct-sowed some heirloom pole shelling beans into the 3-sisters,  I just keep chucking relevant seeds into that bed and hoping something will come of it!  So far various beans and squash are coming up.

I’m even trying to germinate some Passiflora (passion flower) seeds in the basement.  I’m determined to grow some!

Avdi and I moved up our next date to yesterday evening.  We checked out Zia’s, on The Hill (Italian).  It was very family-friendly, and the food was great.  We got to catch up a little.

I carved out the small remaining space in the veg garden for some assorted melon and watermelon seeds next to their plant counterparts.  A robin right next to me waiting for dinner didn’t even flex a feather.  Now the garden is officially filled.  And we wait.

I’m excited to see lots of mushrooms growing in the “woods”.  It means I’m doing it right, and the network is up and connecting.  As for flowers, it looks deceptively like a lull until you look closer.  There’s always something blooming now.  Also the rabbits are back.  An evil omen?

My Gson E and I were talking the other day, and he suggested I take time out from my family commitments (what?!) to meet like-minded people of my own (mental) age in appropriate social spaces (like gay/ Black/ etc.), NOT (as I conveyed) stupid boring old-people hobby groups which hold no interest for me.

He said something I think about sometimes, that there’s got to be a person like me out there, but I don’t know where to begin.  My social skills aren’t that skillful.  I am NOT talking about dating apps!  Just a thought I’m contemplating.

Today was Memorial Day.  I was feeling so run down and lethargic that I almost didn’t go to the A’s, but the gardening talked me into it.  These symptoms will not leave me alone.  Maybe all the OTC drugs I ordered will keep me functioning.

Once again I got lots done in the garden.  In the new front bed I added more luffa seeds to the pots, and mixed perennial flower and zinnia seeds on top of all the mixed wildflower seeds in the bed.  Something colorful should come of it.

In the back, I planted almost the entire remaining veg bed with an assortment of leftover veg seeds.  A few more things and it will be filled!

I also seeded more cilantro, this time in the apothecary bed, which will be shadier in the hot weather, and more mixed sunflowers and lupines in their respective strips around the outside.

Finally I watered everything.  Then Loucious and I collapsed on the sofa in a pile.

This time I got more sleep, and got up fairly early to drink coffee outside with Loucious.  This morning two big purple poppies were blooming, with more on the way.  I planted the red nonstop begonia in a patio bed.

It’s very quiet here.  I think the kids are sleeping off the long school year.

E and I had a very unsettling experience while picking up a bike from a guy.  The whole conversation (more of a monologue) was getting into suspicious territory, when he came out with something I’ve only heard of and read about, never actually met a spewer of this delusional conspiracy crap.

He claimed he knew that teachers and parents were forcing kids to become trans and have surgery, and trans kids were assaulting cis kids in bathrooms, because of all the “new” trends.  E and I froze.  It was time to wrap things up and go, before one of us said or did something to legitimize his prejudices.  The irony!  He never guessed whom he was talking to!

We were so rattled and angry on the way home, it led to us being able to talk about it, which was the one good thing (plus a good old Schwinn) to come out of the transaction.

It’s like an obscenity when you encounter a seemingly intelligent person who actually believes this twisted version of “reality”.  It was disturbing.  My mind feels violated.  I know E wanted to punch his face in!  Instead, I threw the head of romaine lettuce from his garden next to our driveway!  Tainted!

I know, welcome to nothing new in this country.  They find marginalized victims to blame because the depravity and perversion is in them.  Our country is built and maintained on it.  But it’s one thing to know of it playing out in places like Jeff City and affecting our lives, and another to have it shoved in our face in that conspiratorial knowing tone full of lies about “those people”.  The people we are and love.  It’s an assault.

Time for some more flower power.

I took my time at home today getting stuff done, then took myself to DollarTree and Ace Hardware to get some gardening supplies, including the strawberry plants I needed.  Now I was able to finish some projects.

I added some soil and straw to the new front garden, then sowed a lot of wildflowers to fill it in.  It looks a lot better.

I set up some improv bird baths here and there.

I planted the new strawberry plants in their patch.

I weeded several beds.

The tall poppies finally started to bloom today, a magnificent dark purple.

I’m spending the night, the first time in a while.

Today was the last day of school for everyone, and a half day.  They were all soon off to various appointments and visits.  Soon S&S and dog will be here house-hunting, so it will be a full house, and L will have to learn to share space with another dog!  Should be interesting.

On the way over there this morning, I stopped at Value Plants, because they were having a BOGO sale of veggies.  I got to talk shop with a very nice employee who was also an elementary teacher.  I got some tomatoes, peppers, an eggplant (for me), zucchinis, a cucumber, a cantaloupe, and a watermelon, to supplement the very reluctant plants in the veg garden, where they now are.  This way at least we’ll have some to eat sooner.

I baked challah and made dinner for four.  Loucious would eat a whole challah if we let him.  Look at that doggy face.  How can you not love it!  (He was on top of me on the sofa, when we finally had a moment to rest.)

After my visit to Dracula’s Quest Lab for blood tests, I drove to Avdi’s and got more gardening done.  K and E came home early after their HS exams (all week), and E had a driver permit test.  I’ll be driving them back and forth all summer for summer school and theatre rehearsals, respectively.

In garden news, I cleaned up the 3 sisters and sowed more ornamental corn and sunflower seeds.  I cultivated the last of the veg garden, and planted a lettuce mix.  I weeded lots of flower areas around the veg garden and prickly pear/strawberry beds.  I set up an improvised bird bath in the planter in the shade natives.  L got lots of frisbee time.

(Yesterday I planted a row of marigolds on the outside of the veg., and a third purple heuchera (coral bells) in the hosta shade garden.  I transplanted some sun annuals to sunnier places, and liberated more spaces from weeds.  I weeded the whole veg garden.)

That’s it for now.

First, I’ll get this out of the way, so I can get back to more worthwhile topics.

Teen Gkids with xyz disorders.  RRR…not reasonable, rational, regulated, respectful…or even civil.  Their main vocabulary is fuck this, fuck that, fuck you, I’ll kill myself, over a bag of chips they didn’t get.

Or, Come get me now!  [Here.]  Oh not yet, I’m still with my friends.  [OK meet me at ___.]  A while later, Oh I’m home.

Or you accidentally glanced at them working out in the garage while getting something for someone, not knowing that wasn’t allowed, and caught hell, then got blamed for them feeling blamed??  Twisted.

Oh, and most of this is by texting, because in real life they won’t talk to you, even just to say hi back when I’m picking them up from school.  Like, I’m just the ride, so they don’t have to walk home.

That’s just a quick summary, lots more I won’t go into.  After a while, I just don’t want to be there in the firing squad.  I know, they have extenuating disorders and problems, but somehow I (or Avdi) get attacked for not knowing all the *rules*.  Like we’re at their beck and call for every impulsive “need” they have, that’s all grownups are for, right?  And all the indulging is never enough.

I know I’m from a different time and culture, but my parents probably would have thrown me into a mentally insane prison for much less, let alone cussing at them.  Respect and civility were expected.  I put up with it a lot with these kids, because different times and disorders, like I said, but it’s a lot to just absorb.

Anyway, that’s why I’m feeling very frustrated right now.  The kids, of course, will forget all about it until the next blunder we make.  I should mention that one of the kids is never like this to me (hint: K). We actually get along well.

And now back to saner topics.  I’ve gotten a lot done in the garden since the rain let up.  Weeding, planting, etc, to sum up.  Now I don’t feel like talking about it.

It’s been t-storming and flooding for days, so I didn’t have to water.  Speaking of which, I had been stressing over the leaky garden spigot plumbing, wasting water which Avdi pays for.  He replaced the attachments so it doesn’t leak at all!  This is what makes me happy.

The big news is Y’s 8th grade class promotion from Hixson MS to WGHS next year, where the big ceremony was held.  The gym was literally packed to the rafters.  Avdi and I attended, proudly.  S will go to Hixson next year.

I had more dental fun this morning, a crown and a filling.  I love the way the female dentist and assistant work together.  They told me my male dentist is gay!  That made my day.  The bills won’t be fun, though.  It will take me a year to pay them off.