Our gardens

The gardens - both backyard and community garden - took a long time to get going.  It took two weeks to get them in but I didn't start until very late May, or maybe even early June.  I have included here photos of the process and the progress as well as updates at the beginning of July and the first batch of flowers in mid July.


Some notes to help "follow" the progress. First, we plant very little in the way of veggies at home due to shade. We have a small plot of beans and peas. Second, we do have lots of cutting flowers, though most of these are at the garden, not at home. Still, there are a few here. And I was able to locate and transplant several flowers that seeded themselves from last year and came up again, so they are in the four corners of my garden.



Also, I basically planted six rows, each covered w/black plastic. I use cardboard and straw to make my paths and all this extra prep work helps make it possible for me to maintain it (as in keep the weeds down) for the whole summer. I am thus able to put my efforts into tending the actual plants and watering as needed (lots so far this summer - for most of June it was daily, and again the 2nd half of July it's needed plenty of water.)





Our plants of choice include a variety of tomatoes (these were among the first things I actually got in the ground), leeks, beets, carrots, and green beans for our vegetables. The lettuce grew fine but was bitter and eventually went to seed when we didn't eat enough of it. That was a bit disappointing but relates as well to us being out of town and overlap with our CSA. We have a couple green peppers as well which appear to be flourishing unlike some years. The leftover cucumber seeds from last year sprouted fine, but attracted cucumber beetles promptly, despite radishes planted all around so we got rid of them and replanted with more beans, beets and carrots (later harvest than the first planting! yay!).











Flowers that appear to be doing well (mostly from last years' seeds) include dwarf sunflowers, snapdragons, marigolds, nasturtiums, CA poppies, bachelor's buttons and cosmos. The sweet peas didn't sprout, nor did the Chinese forget-me-nots. I think some of the asters are doing ok but they're a little slower than the other flowers so it's been harder to tell how they're doing. Most of the zinnia seeds did not come up, but I'm enjoying the few that did tremendously. Next year we'll buy fresh seeds and I'm sure it will be better. I'm discovering which ones I like better for cutting and so the experimentation is critical.

Projects and Performances

The end of the school year is chock full of activities and goings-on.  I've been trying to compile several blog entries since early June (it's now late July) to share these things with you.  This entry is one to share with you some of the fun times we had, especially projects and performances.

To start, my kids gave me a number of choice, personal gifts and cards on mothers day.  Probably the most creative was hand puppets - note his and hers (covering father's day as well but she couldn't wait) - made out of the pajama feet we'd cut off.  What a great idea!





And then, there was plenty of singing and dancing at school.  First, Constance's grade (the whole 2nd grade) did a music show, including dance routines.

















Some weeks later, the whole school (all four grades, all 12 classes) did a show where each class performed a choreographed song from each of the decades the school has been around.  (They were celebrating 60 years this year).  It was a great success.  Vivace's class did "Wake up Little Susie" and Constance's class did "Thriller."  They both did a great job and it was very fun.
























Patience then juggled her multiple involvements at the annual middle school spring concert.  Here she is performing with the handbells.  She also sang in the chorus, played viola in the orchestra, and played piano with the jazz band.





 
Andante finished his final reading project with one he designed himself.  It was a "lego" book project and he loved it.  His teacher complemented him on his creativity, taking a book he enjoyed, and coming up with a project that took advantage of his peronal interest in building and pretending with legos.

 





Three of the kids performed at their studio's annual piano recital and it was a wonderful evening filled with music.  Constance was terrified but she did it.  As always, playing on a grand piano is a unique experience, and made their music sound amazing.  Bravo to all three for their hard work and this wonderful performance for us all to enjoy!



 







Finally, Patience and the middle school jazz band went down to the Burlington Jazz Fest on Church Street to listen to others play, and to actually perform in their own right.  It was a fun time, even if it did rain, and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Quarterly Clinics

 I have a love hate relationship with paperwork.  At one level, I enjoy the detail, the patterns, and the way it all shares information.  But I am a procrastinator.  In the midst of everything else I have to do, I put it off, whether it be budgets, correspondence, or diabetes charting.  The correspondence used to catch up with me at Christmas time yearly (not sure I ever catch up any more - sorry folks).  I catch up with the budgets at least once a year for taxes.  And charting is a quarterly nightmare task to accomplish when I get behind. If only I'd work on these things more often, we'd be talking minutes per day.  Minutes to write down what we've spent.  Minutes to write down numbers for the daily glucose readings, basals, carbs eaten, dosages...  but when I don't, we're talking hours. 

Even as my son prepares for his first all-star game this afternoon, as we have swim lessons, doctors' appointments, gardens that need watering, laundry to fold, and birthdays to celebrate, I have to focus.  Patience's quarterly clinic is Tuesday morning.  And the last time I charted was her last visit, just before taxes were due (so I fell off the wagon immediately - I didn't even chart the day of that appointment. Ouch!).  So I have three full months of numbers to fill in from the various sources.  All of it is there, just in different places, and I need to pull it all together. I've already put in two hours today and have only written in one month's worth of basals (granted I'm distracted too... which must be why it is moving along so slowly).


Sometimes I wonder why I bother.  So what if I don't catch up?  But these patterns are helpful today as well as over the long haul.  For the non-initiated, she averages 10-13 blood glucose checks (fingerpicks) per day. She gets insulin for all the food she eats (called boluses), plus a constant "drip" all day long (called "basals") and the amounts change depending on what time of day it is, and what kinds of activity she might be doing (or not doing) at any given time - less when swimming, more when watching TV, for example.  All these numbers must be written down to paint the picture.  Plus we note activity, vacations, illness, when we start a new bottle of insulin etc, since all these things are helpful in understanding the picture.  Each year we look back to the year before for patterns, lessons, regimens to follow all of which help better deal with various activities or celebrations (trips, airline flights, special meals/dinners, swim lessons...).  Yep - we use it.  Not just for patterns now that help us to adjust immediately, but for next year when we "repeat"...  When she plays softball next year, we'll look back to this year's numbers to see what worked, what was challenging, and what we learned, so that we can better treat her (avoid lows, highs, and all else - and we did learn a lot).  Her practices affected her blood sugars more than her games, for example - that will help a lot to see how that worked. 

So I'm going to get back to work.  This is what's in front of me (hidden behind this screen on which I'm typing).  I have about another hour or two before the big game and I want to get a lot done so the break can feel good and I can truly enjoy the game. 

Just a day in the life.....

Twelve years of Andante

Twelve years ago today, we welcomed our second born. Our dear Andante has always been "the 2nd child" - forever blessed with an older, doting sister. And he is a treasure.














We did work hard to train her to take over the household duties to free me up (yes, you can laugh, but anything we did, she also liked to do, like the dishes, and mowing the lawn as you can see below.)  She really was helpful too! 


























He was born on his due date - after a "false start".... and like our first born, he liked middle of the night deliveries (1:13 AM I think - she was 1:18 AM). So we had a "practice run" on the 9th with dear Patience - dropping her for the night with friends - and then picking her up, only to do it again the next day for real. That said however, we arrived after dinner on July 10th, I was not in labor, but they decided that it was "time," so they opted for the same procedure that helped move things along w/Patience.  They broke my water and waited to see what happened.  Let's just say that he was born less than five hours later.


























Going home a couple days later was interesting.  As with all our children, the relationship with the car seat was love/hate.  Generally hate - then fall asleep and you can see the effect of the drive home.  














We love all our kids, but the first two were special.  First there was our long-awaited and much cherished first born (gotta love the forced smile) and then "our boy".  There were some concerns we could even have children, and here we were with two fairly close together!  We didn't have any ultrasounds with these two children, so we had names for both genders picked out each time.  I admit to really wanting a boy the 2nd time.  I had a girl (my joy and delight!).  I just longed for a son.  When they told me "it's a boy!" I cried for happiness.  There has always been a special bond there.  She was my Christmas present, he was my birthday present.  And to have one of each is as my host mom put it in her congratulatory letter "La Choix du Roi!" (The choice of the king)






 From day one, he has been our beloved "Gift of God" (Matthew) and our stable and steady "Rock" (Alan - after his uncle, at whose wedding Papa Bear and I met).  He is our slow and steady child, with a personality like a wide flowing river, meandering along, easy-going, focussed, eager, and happy too.  He has a big smile.  I love it.  And I have loved every one of these special years God has given me to be his mom.

Happy 12th birthday, dear "Andante"!