Grin and Greens

Hello. It's been another busy week. I am so thankful for a smooth week, except for a toothache that is now better. I am waiting for a second specialist to call me back. But at least I am no longer in great pain.

Here's my gratitude list.

• I am thankful I finally filed my taxes, on time! I can still smile after :)
• My seedlings have arrived from the mail. 5 out of 36 were so limped. They are getting replaced free of charge. Look at these baby seedlings. Most are them are for a salad--kale, tomato, cucumber, and lettuce.

• I visited my grandson. Look at him trying to massage himself like grandma.
• He still likes "reading" books as much as he likes his electronic high-tech toys.

• My outdoor patio garden is doing well.
• Look at my eggplant and tomatoes!
• My scare owl is doing its job. :)

Till next week!

A Bright Week

Hello, hello. It's been a busy, pleasant week. I have many things to be grateful for.

• My indoor planter has arrived. I am so ready with my grow lights and makeshift trellis. Next week, I hope I receive my seedlings. This is my first indoor vegetable gardening with a promise of 36 plants! I will grow lettuce, tomatoes, kales, cucumbers, and other veggies with this. Wish me luck.

• Paul and I have not dined out in a restaurant for months. We love hotpot so we're doing it on our own. We also have not done any camping. Here is our version of "eating out" with makeshift "campfire and have the benefit of real bathrooms, electric power, and fresh seafood (from the grocery store). Some of the vegetables are from my gardening. And we could drink as much wine as we want last night as we were not driving. We enjoyed this eating out 2020 style. We will do it again.

• I helped put together a simple send off to my co-nurse at work. She worked in our hospital for 38 years. She was an excellent nurse. We will miss her. We're not allowed to throw a big party but we had a good time at lunchtime just the same. The bundt care (raspberry and pecan) tasted great and we ordered Korean food from a food truck who donated food to us during the peak of COVID in our unit. 
• I thank Paul for putting together the bouquet. I was busy at work and I asked him to get a flower arrangement with sunflowers as our cake has a sunflower. He could not find that specific arrangement so he made one himself. We think it looks great.

Happy Independence Day, USA

Happy Independence Day, USA. We have no official fireworks celebration this year due to physical distancing. I am thankful, just the same, living in this country, with its wealth and freedom. Of course, no country is perfect. The USA still has a lot of promise, and I want to contribute to its fulfillment and the peaceful fix, however small.

Here's my gratitude list.

• Toddler, Josiah, and Alayna are sporting their red and blue outfit on the 4th of July. For them, it's another day of play, enjoying the outdoors.

• I continue to enjoy my patio garden, small and manageable for me. I haven't bought a bouquet of flowers for weeks.

• I am thankful for the bees and butterflies in my new home. I didn't know that these insects play an active role in pollinating. Maybe I will have pumpkins this year and not just pumpkin flowers.
• My vegetable scraps are growing tall, at least, a centimeter a day. The picture is a 5-day old picture with goldfish in the bottom-feeding the plants continuously with organic fertilizer. :) They're fun to watch while I'm doing the dishes.
• I continue to have new tomato and eggplant flowers.
• My herbs are happily producing many leaves. I just picked some cucumber, parsley, sage, mint, basil, and cilantro.
• I have some netting around my vegetables. So far, I don't have uninvited creatures feasting on my patio garden leaves. I see squirrels and birds, but they don't go near my plants.
• Spin wheels and scare-owls seem to do the trick on keeping some creatures away.
• Paul's and my energy to work morning and afternoon yesterday, pruning and weeding. We filled ten lawn bags.
• Garbage day today!

• My new workspace with less clutter where I blog, do homework, and bills :(
• Paul and I frequently eat out in the backyard. It's several "steps" away from eating from restaurants. We redefined the meaning of eating out.
• The mature trees around the backyard replace camping for now.
• Debriefing at work post-busy-COVID times. It feels good talking about our past struggles as front liners, our feelings, what we liked about the workflow, what worked, and how we can improve.
• COVID census in the hospital continues to shrink.