You know, I happened to think later that I was glad I was not wearing my reading glasses, they were on top of my head in their usual position...when you fall wearing glasses and hit like that, there's a good chance of ending up with glass or plastic in your eyes.....lucky that did not happen to you.

When I take things to the thrift shop now, I go in the back door. I always think if I go in the front they'll be thinking, ....'Oh! here she comes again..." Nothing like falling flat on your face in a room full of people...lol..

I keep thinking about your mother, liz....that's just such a terrible experience for her at what should be a fun time in a new place.

Sherry, that's an impressive and, I'm sure, painful eye! So glad you didn't break anything... Like you, I've had nightmares (all my life), where I can't yell for help; however, in the past few years, I've woken my husband up yelling.

Sue, I'm not surprised that the trauma is catching up with you! Two injuries in just a few years is two too many!

Unfortunately, my Mom was going to her first fun activity, the symphony, and stumbled on the last step of the bus (from the retirement home). Thankfully, there was an EMT at the performing arts center, who forced her to go to the emergency room. Of course, the first thing she said was that she shouldn't have moved here... This is her second broken hip in 5 years, but she just keeps bouncing back. She'll leave the hospital in the next day or two for a rehab facility. Yes, it's been a stressful few weeks: moving ourselves, then my Mom, at least 2 trips a week back to the bay area (in between work) to clean out the house, and DH's son going through a simultaneous breakup of his marriage & mental breakdown. I just knew the house purchase went too smoothly. ;-) Hopefully, the sale of our house (which goes on the market this weekend) will be fast & make up for some of the stress of the past few weeks.

That's a lot going on Liz Hope your mom recovers well soon.

Oh man Liz, that is one pile of stress on you! Make some quiet time for yourself, have some hot tea, take a warm bath, do deep breathing, let you mind go to happy places, thoughts, maybe thinking of the future of what you envision your garden being like, think of safe comfort places, anything to keep you stable through this all!

Okay, well, the fact that she has bounced back from a previous broken hip is a good sign, I think, since I hear that so many times, being down with such as this can lead to pneumonia which is the real problem. I was afraid that she might see this as a "I shouldn't have moved" thing...silly, the fact that this has happened to her before says that it can happen wherever she is and whatever she is doing....she will see that when she's gotten over the shock of having had it happen again. She must be a "goer" and a "fighter", don't you think?

You still have the selling of your house to go through?...and a step-son with a nervous breakdown? Liz...do you have any tranquilizers?...lol..I'm so glad for you that you were able to buy your new home and get moved so as not to have to be in your old one while selling it....we were not able to do that and the buyer wanted our house so badly that she made an offer over asking price, in cash, and agreed that we would have 90 days to get moved...but she was so thrilled with her purchase that every Sunday she would show up with an entourage of friends to see the property..our relationship with her quickly headed down hill....stressful.

Take a week or two to escape and go to Cambria or Mendocino to escape...by yourself...preferably at any time when the step-son may be wanting to visit and unload...lol..think of touring some wineries...lol..

Just some more blooms:
Odtna. Papageno 'Lavender Lady' managed to bloom on its extremely short stalk, with one still struggling to open up properly:


Stenocactus coptonoganus:


Haworthia mucronata var. mucronata


Gasteria marble


Lantana


Pelargonium crispum 'Prince Rupert'

Thanks for the sympathy & encouragement. Actually, the fact that I'm posting again means that my energy is returning & stress level is more manageable. I'm getting back to a routine, which feels good... This, too, shall pass. I'm going to Costco, this afternoon, for the first time since we moved and am hoping there will be some tempting blooms for me to buy.

Amaryllis almost in full bloom

Lovely blooms there, tarev.

Good to hear, liz.....there are times when I think I need to take up drinking....but then I remember that experience I had with Bailey's and the first time I drank it ...and, well, the whole bottle and we don't want to do that again....................

I did that with bourbon when I was 12. To this day, I can't even smell bourbon without feeling sick.

Oh, Zu.....you know I would drink it again...just not the whole bottle....lol..

My Dad loved his beer....never could understand why his daughter would not have a beer with him....I have never liked beer...not very fond of wine either, though we had some at Dr Don's that he brought back from Washington that was EXCELLENT and I never did find out what it was....told my dad that I was afraid his daughter was a Whiskey Girl...lol..I've net a new friend recently and they're very into their wines...she asked if I like wine, asked her if she had whiskey....lol..

I've never liked beer except when it's mixed half and half with citrus. I'm happy to drink a Lemon Shandy or a lager-and-lime.

Red wine gives me spots on my face and white wine usually tastes awful, so I stick to champagne, preferably almond-flavored champagne.

My favorite drinks are hopelessly outdated. Is it likely I could go into a local bar today and order a Ramos Fizz or a Stinger?

huh...I've thought it odd to see commercials lately with a slice of orange with the beer....

Would that be Wilson's Almond Champagne?

mmm...Ramos Fizz with Tanqueray...or Whiskey Sours...

and oddly enough, I don't drink at all...lol..if I could afford booze, I'd have to quit buying plants.....

Yes, Wilson Creek is the best. It tastes like marzipan.

I may have to try it again sometime.....everyone I used to work with was crazy about it so I tried it and wasn't that jazzed. I do love champagne and I do love marzipan anything....maybe it would make getting old more interesting. When I was in high school, my good friend lived across the street and her step-father would drive us to school every morning. The man n e v e r s m i l e d .....NEVER, NEVER said a word...NEVER...4 years..mother was about the same....

So, in my 40's, it turns out that Leah's brother is now also living in Fallbrook and her folks are visiting there and she's there and do I want to come and see them? well, okay......

I spend the evening with them and the step-father was entirely charming, very loquacious, smiling, having a good time and I'm just amazed and asked my friend if it's because we are now adults that he actually converses with me and is such a great guy?

"No", she says..."but now that he's retired, they drink a jug of wine every night........"

Liz, I usually go to the Costco in Rohnert Park, less crowded but I occasionally shop the Santa Rosa one when I go to the Trader Joe in the same shopping center. I work (at a tub, sink & tile refinishing place) about 10 minutes away from that Santa Rosa Costco.
Took me a while but I am getting familiar with getting around pretty well now and soon you will too!

I don't care much for alcohol. I don't like wine. The only beer I'll drink is something fancy from Samuel Adams. I like Kahlua or Bailey's on coffee in cold weather but that's about it. I feel like I'm missing out on something because I don't like wine but it's probably just as well. I don't need the extra calories.


St. Joseph's lily

There's the whole mystique about wine.....Jer occasionally brings up the wine tasting bit, but what really draws him to the idea is the 'mystique', the image of being a wine snob...when he drinks it, he doesn't really like it....lol..he'd rather have a milkshake. I do admit to being overly fond of Bailey's on ice and I like B&J Fuzzy Navels...that's how sophisticated I am.

B&J Fuzzy Navel is aother of those beer-plus-citrus drinks I like, but I haven't been able to find it for the last few years. All of the stores here stopped carrying Bartles & Jaymes. I thought the company had gone out of business, but it still exists on the Web, so....