Long term (30+ years) friends Beth and Karen came to visit for the last several days! Since they are willing to quarantine for a tenday prior, and are careful with masking in public all the time anyway, we can socialise (while in my house) free of the need for filtration constraint, and can cook and eat meals together which is a very rare pleasure for me.
There was plenty of time for conversation, for neighborhood walks, and for sharing information about our various avocations, all in person. I remain unbelievably grateful for "the pixel world", and indeed they and I zoom at least once or twice every week, but there is something special about being able to see one another without the intermediary of cameras and screens. Even in the Before Times, once we began living so many miles away, our in person visits were rare, doubly so now.
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~ a spot of urban respite ~
On Friday morning we went to the Leach Botanical Garden, which turned out every bit as much of a treat as hoped... though we only visited the upper (accessible) portion of the site, it was so much closer to being out in nature than just walking around my neighborhood. The Aerial Tree Walk put us out in nature with a completely different point of view!~ a spot of urban respite ~
There were several stops on the way back to Acorn Cottage, firstly being Portland Nursery. I noticed two days ago that many of the leaves on Baby Bosc Pear were looking odd, in a way that didn't seem to match any of the diagnostics I could find online about pear issues. The woman at the info desk there said it had pear leaf curl - which I have not been able to find any further information about, and that it needed copper spray in the winter and in the early spring before it flowers. I am very sad and a bit concerned about this since I only just bought the young tree from them last autumn. Since we are well past blossom time, there is nothing much to do about it, other than continuing research.
While at the nursery I bought a garden hose nozzle attachment, as part of the make garden care easier plan. Speaking of gardening, the snap peas I planted are already peeking out of the soil, and I need to get busy creating anti-squirrel protection for them, as well as a trellis for them to climb. My Juliet tomato still needs planted, as does the rhubarb and the horseradish rhizomes. That will fill several of the big planter pots right there. I've another three self-watering planters to clear of weeds and refurbish, and of course the yard needs another go-round with the string trimmer! Hopefully my sore arm and shoulder will be up for some of that; I swore after my neglect last year that this year I would do a better job of keeping ahead of it.
Karen saw a large bundle of BIG empty cardboard boxes on the curb while we were out yesterday, and we stopped and acquired them. Must needs peel away the strapping tape, but that will become more mulch underlayment. The plan is to create a pathway all around the front yard and up to the back gate on that side of the house, which will much reduce my need to mow.
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~ Free Fractal Little Library ~
The other thing we began on our way home on Friday was stop at several of the Sidewalk Joy sites. This one in particular I had much wanted to see, it is part of PDX Dinorama, and it has a tiny free little library inside (labeled the "Giant" Micro Library) and an even tinier diorama of a free little library in the attic. I left one of my "F is for fun" books as an exchange for the one on Sidewalk Ducks... ~ Free Fractal Little Library ~
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Six years ago I found a style of shoe with a shape that fit the configuration of my peculiar feet, and bought a pair, then painted them blue, because I wanted BLUE shoes. They lasted four years before becoming too worn to wear. I bought another pair, painted them blue, and added teal canal rose motifs to the toes (so much fun!). That second pair only lasted two years, as the quality of the construction of pair two is less than the earlier pair and the shoes are becoming so worn as to be actually dangerous to wear, with the uppers detaching from the sole in various places, and the pieces of the shoe itself becoming "worn to a raveling" in places. The manufacturer has moved on to more "trendy" styles and no longer makes this, so the one remaining pair I have will be my last one. Don't yet know what I will do after that; I'm not particularly desirous of taking up shoemaking...
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April SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | blue skirt Opal | shipova planted | yard waste bin |
| 2 | 2 pr undies toiles | smoothed half of side gate base | recycle bin |
| 3 | model for F.L.A.G | got TDaP vaccine | yard waste bin |
| 4 | - | persimmon mulched | recycle bin |
| 5 | - | pruned figs | 2 arborvitae |
| 6 | x | 2024 taxes | x |
| 7 | x | x | x |
| 8 | x | x | x |
| 9 | x | x | x |
today's gratitudes -
1. borrowing Jack Ogden's "Jewelry Technology in the Ancient and Medieval World" (The book is a TOME being both quite oversized, and at least two inches thick; I plan on using it to provide many many one or two page bits of positive reinforcement so as to bribe my way through a week of admin tasks and challenging work)
2. a serendipitous short visit with Mindy (everyone was very well masked, with doors and windows open; it was less risky and shorter than the bus rides I normally take)
3. time discussing how to build a Free Little Art Gallery with Karen; and she brought me a cut-to-length piece of 4x4 pressure treated lumber
Time of Isolation - Day 1735
How lovely to have friends to stay!
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