Dear Sunday Letter friends,
This time of year I spend time looking for the first blooms in our flower beds. Our daffodils are taking their sweet time which is probably a good thing since an arctic blast brought bone-chilling cold on Thursday with icy snow flurries that lasted all day. Those of a certain age will probably remember the Chiffon margarine commercial that ended with the reminder—it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.
Remember?
Well, you can’t rush her either.
Like a Boss
You have to admit, Mother Nature does have a wicked sense of humor, the sort that isn’t very funny sometimes. From 70º to 12º lickety split? That’s just rude. Especially when the hellebores are blooming and tulips are just emerging in the front bed.
Yes, winter returned like a boss and sent me back indoors to work on my manuscript edits. I needed to work on my edits because I’d spent a week in master gardener training plus a few more days poking around outside rather than editing. I wonder if Mother Nature and the writing gods are in cahoots?
Maybe so.
Red Twig Dogwood
Since I was really, really, really in the mood to garden, I didn’t let the cold weather completely deter me. I was determined to propagate a Red Twig Dogwood cutting from the Headquarters House garden. (Volunteering has many benefits!)
Even though the weather was frigid, I headed to the Farmer’s Co-op and bought rooting powder. Then, I set to work in the garage (because 12º and snow). I don’t claim to be a pro at propagating anything, but I’m hopeful my work will pay off.
Here’s what I did:
- Cut 6-inch twigs at an angle just beneath a bud;
- Removed small branches so that energy will be spent on rooting;
- Dipped cuts into rooting powder;
- Placed twigs into dampened soil.
Fingers crossed.
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Last week, Julie Adams, the raven-haired bathing beauty who starred in Creature from the Black Lagoon, passed away at the age of 92. I love old campy, black-and-white movies, particularly Creature. Something you may not know about this particular movie—it was ahead of its time. The movie was filmed in 3-D. The audience wore viewers similar to those worn today.
Public Domain Photo
Something else you may not know—Julie Adams grew up in Blytheville, Arkansas, a hop, skip, and a jump from my home. (Back then her name was Betty May…) At the age of 15, she moved to Malvern after her father died. She was crowned Miss Little Rock before heading to the bright lights of Hollywood where she enjoyed a long film career.
Although I never met Julie Adams, I believe we are connected simply because we shared a common place. I imagine we ate lunch at the Dixie Pig (maybe even sat at the same table), shopped along Main Street, peered at the Ritz Theater marquee excited to know the week’s happenings. Our paths crossed but during different decades.
RIP Julie Adams.
Yay!!!!!!!!!!
Attention. Attention. Now Hear This…
This past week (thanks in part to Mother Nature), I completed another round of edits on my manuscript. I have no idea how many edits I’ve done on my next book, but this one is significant because it incorporated recommendations from my professional editor.
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a massive accomplishment as evidenced above by my overuse of the exclamation point.
Things Momma Says:
While watching the superbowl halftime show…
Momma: “Is that Trump’s buddy, Kanye? I have a hard time pronouncing his name. Kanye. Kan-ye.”
Me: “How often do you find yourself talking about Kanye?”
Momma: “Never.”
***
Thanks for reading, Sunday Letter peeps. Before you go, tell me one thing you are proud or relieved or happy to have accomplished last week.
Later,
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
I don’t know how many of you watch MeTv , but I watch the Saturday night horror show quite frequently. Svengooli is the host. For us it was Sivad on Saturday evenings Creature Features. Well, The Creature from the Black Lagoon is this next weeks movie I spent many Saturday afternoons at the Ritz Theater watching some of those awful movies like the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Speaking of the Ritz, the little older lady who worked in the ticket booth used to walk by our house to and from work. I remember that her first name was Sarah. Being a brat, I once got in trouble for mocking her very arthritic walk. My mom was super sensitive about that because she had polio when she was a year old. In her mind, she has always thought that everybody noticed that she had a very slight limp and that one leg was smaller than the other. What was really great though my nearby neighbor Melba also had polio as a very small child and also had the opposite leg and foot smaller than the other. What was great was that they could each buy a pair of shoes and exchange one shoe. This way, each one had the perfect pair of mismatched sized shoes.
What a great story! Yes, I remember Sivad. He was so scary!
I am proud of myself for getting my Tupperware organized. Sharon, the lady at the Ritz was pretty sharp. She didn’t always believe me when I told her I was young enough to get in at the kid’s price of admission.(of course I wasn’t). I would love to have a white pig for lunch today, Tayla!
White Pig, yum!
I was proud of hitting my walking goals in the frigid weather. Doesn’t take much to impress me! Hope the red twig dogwood propagation goes well.
I’m impressed by your walking dedication!
As my “inspiration” for achieving a goal of cleaning out 2,019 items in my house by the end of 2019, you’ll get this, Talya: I hit a little over 1,000 items last week! By this year’s end, with lots of drawers, closets, and cabinets (and the attic and garage) yet to clean, I just may get to that magic number! It feels great, and Peace at Home has some treasures to sell…and the trash has a few things, as well. Yay! And: Onward!
Great job! Decluttering and cleaning feels so good!
I rooted a sweet potatoe vine this week. Does that count? I’m also spring housecleaning and cleaning out. The Goodwill is going to love me. I’m trying to go minimalistic. I know when I die the kids will put everything in the front yard and tell everyone to come and get it!!!!! They don’t want it!! China, crystal, silver, Hummels, etc. oh, well, I don’t think Replacements.com wants it either.
Of course it counts:) Yes to minimalism. Your kids will thank you.
You had a far more productive week than I did, but you always do! My biggest achievement was to stay warm and dry. I read two books and played numerous games of gin rummy with my husband.
I know you are ready for spring!
Congratulations on finishing those edits! The tulips you asked about on my deck on now in bloom and making me smile even though it’s too cold to go out and talk to them. I hope your little trees flourish.
This week Terry and I made the hard decision to repaint three rooms and a hall when their color clashed with the new granite we put in the kitchen at a house we’re trying to sell. That’s a second go in only three weeks. But it looks so nice.