Family

Look!! I’m a gardener!  The first 2 cherry tomatoes from our balcony “plantation!”  Isn’t that exciting?  I know, all the real gardeners who are reading this (I know you’re there) are politely snickering at their screens at my tiny tomatoes, but I’m very excited.  (And, for clarification, when I say “mine” I mean, “the plants that Don bought, brought home and has been caring for since he collected them.”  But I found and picked the first ones, so… we each ate one.). Jerry doesn’t see what all the fuss is about; he’s not at all interested in tomatoes (or radishes, our other “food crop” which are just jungly greens) and would rather dig in the soil.  His tiny bossiness is busy trying to recover his toy from next to the cane — he’s afraid of it and won’t go near it.  When he unearths it, I’ll have to stop typing and assume my role of toy-thrower, so be warned.

I spent the day on the phone catching up with family and friends.  It was a good way to spend a mostly rainy day that became a hot and sunny afternoon.  I have to rest after my “kidnapping” yesterday, as I’m tired with a few twinges of aches.  I don’t approve of the twinges, I can deal with tired.  But since I was going to be restricted today, I called several people to catch up with them.  Some were good — talking to my cousins and getting some of the latest family gossip — and some were a little more challenging, like talking to some older relatives who are showing signs of age with erratic memories and difficulty hearing. But I was happy to talk to all of them, and I promised myself not to wait too long before calling them (or my other army of family and friends) to keep in touch.  It’s too easy to let time pass and then it can be hard to find words.  

I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty, I’ll just put that out there now.  I know that life gets. Busy and complicated and (as my cousin put it) we tend to remain in our “bubble” so we keep meaning to get in touch but time passes and then… it’s been 3 years and we haven’t connected.  I know that I can be guilty of this too, when I don’t always reach out to people.  For myself, I’m happy to hear from you by any means that works for you — phone, mail, email, text, smoke signal (not recommended in a city), or whatever.  Because my energy is neither great nor consistent, it’s not always easy to plan outings, although I do my best to manage to conserve it.  

Many thanks for all the lovely flowers that I get  from the awesome people who take time to share them with me (some of whom are real gardeners!) and for the regular cuteness doses that I get.  All appreciated!  I can hear the music from BluesFest right now and it’s a beautiful evening, so I’m going to sit on my balcony and enjoy a little.  Looking forward to catching up soon!