What's Growing Here

The lilacs are gone until next year.  That makes me sad.  But here are some things that are blooming on and around the deck now:

verbena

hibiscus

 

 

 

spiderwort

 

 

and a bunch of other stuff like mint, thyme, lettuce, cilantro, basil, onions, and petunias:

 

 

Here's what's blooming up in the mosaic studio, a lotus flower soon to be a bird bath:

 

 

 

Just needs some grout, a base, some water, and of course some birds!

 



Will Work for Porcelain

I am blessed.  I am not homeless, hungry, insane (hey now watch it!) OR  standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign that says what I would be willing to work for.   But if I were, today it would say "Will Work for Fabulous Porcelain Tiles from Italy"

I was recently at Tiny Pieces, the store inside The Chicago Mosaic School where the wonderful Andrea vends tesserae and tools for the mosaic makers of the greater Chicago area.  While I was there I bought some fab tiles from  Italy.  The colors are stupendous and they break cleanly. They are a joy to work with.

I know, I am dropping participles right, left, up, down, and all around!

I came home with 10 of these tiles:  2 yellow, 2 dark green, 2 burgundy, 2 light blue and 2 light green.  I already had some white porcelain at home.  I went to Goodwill last week and found a wonderful small wooden table that is also a wine rack, and I decided to use my precious tiles on it.

I worked on a design for a few days and settled on something I had sketched a while back.  I tiled and tiled and tiled.  Sometimes late at night when all the other humans in my household had gone to sleep.  Today I was near to finishing.  And I ran out of light blue and light green.  Which are essential.

So I ordered more online!!

Here's what I have to date:

 

 

Here is proof it's a wine rack:

 

 

 

Can you feel my pain?  Here's a close up:

 

 

Just a few missing pieces...argh!

 

D. M., MD

I met my new primary care physician yesterday.  For privacy reasons he shall be known only by his initials, DM, MD.  He is a ...oh jeez, one of those things that reads the same forward and backward,...I am having a senior moment, and it's lasting a long long time.

Well, anyway, I haven't had a primary care doctor I liked for a few years.  Since my last favorite one got "promoted" to administration full time,  I switched to another doctor that I didn't care for as much.  Inertia kept me from seeking out a new one.  Then she left town.

Goodbye!!  Farewell!! Adieu!  Adios! 

It took a while to get in to see DMMD but I had a couple recommendations that I trusted, that he might be "the one."  He is! 

Here are things I like about my new doctor:

He knows his stuff.  And he figured out quickly that I know my stuff, too.

He is direct and does not mince words.  (He asked me what my natural hair color is, for example, when trying to figure out what my risk for skin cancer is.  When I said "gray" he didn't laugh.  He just said, "and before that?")

He has 2 degrees in Forestry and likes hiking.

He asked me nice questions about non-medical things like what I like to do in my spare time.

He told me a little about his family.

He has a blog!

He isn't going to make me come back for 6 months.  That I really like. 

He's a Palindrome!

If it weren't for bad luck...

Ok, maybe it hasn't been that bad.  I will just tell my tale and you can decide for yourself. I'll start with today and work backward.

On Mother's Day...my cell phone has no service.  So I can't call and talk to my mom.  I am royally bummed.  I am sorry Mom.  I just emailed you instead.  But it wasn't the same.

I had some work done on my car a few weeks ago and I have had it back in the shop TWICE since then to replace "defective parts."  At least no charge for the 2nd and 3rd tries to get it right.

A nice old guy backed into my car in the parking lot at Menards last Monday.  His ginormous Sierra truck was unscratched.  I have a big-ass dent in the side of my trunk.  Because it was in a parking lot "There is No Ticket." said the nice policeman who came to make sure we were exchanging information in a pleasant and friendly way.  (We were.)  I want to remember that in case I ever feel the need to visit revenge upon someone, make sure it's in a parking lot.   The policeman tried to make me feel better since "You were both pulling out of parking spots" but I did a little eye roll and said "Yeah.  But I pulled out first.  And then honked like crazy when he was pulling out toward my car."

Still.  No.  Ticket.

On the other hand:

It's Mother's day and my little people helped me plant flowers and veggies and herbs in the garden. (No Herb is not the guy who hit my car at Menards.)

The sky is blue.  The Cubs just beat the Nationals for the second day in a row.  The grass is cut, the carpets are vacuumed, and The Player is out buying a steak to cook on the grill.

I guess there are all kinds of luck around here after all.