Tuesday, January 01, 2019

2018

Happy New Year, 2019!  I was on Twitter and saw a tweet saying to post your top three personal accomplishments of 2018.  I couldn't think of any.  Maybe I need to be more creative, and reflective.

I saw a bear.  I saw an owl.  I lived past the age my father was when he had his heart attack.  This year I want to record things, like in a journal.  Does anyone have success with that?

My pipes froze mid-January, again.  We had incredibly bitter cold weather last December and January.  Not much snow though.  Starting basically in August there were two very ill family members in and out of the hospital, one time together.  One got diagnosed and is waiting for surgery.  The other doesn't really have a firm diagnosis, or treatment plan.  I  was reminded of my control issues during this period while trying to advocate for these capable adults.  Did they do what I said, call the referrals I gave them?  What did the doctor say to them?  Did they interpret it correctly?  I was reminded of a wonderful song by Robin Mark called "All Is Well."  One verse goes:

All is well, with my soul,
You are God, in control.
I know not what You've planned,
but I know I'm in Your hands.

Right now I'm way behind on renovating my dining room (I started it in April!).  Scraping paint took longer than planned, then I wasn't able to paint over the popcorn ceiling.  So I removed it.  Now I'm stuck trying to remove the texture at the edges, abutting the crown molding.  There's also caulk there.   Ugh.

Spring, as is its pattern lately, was late and cold and brief.  Summer wasn't too hot.  I'm trying to remember what I did.  Oh, yeah, my major makeover continued of the first (back) garden.  In addition to what I mentioned in my last post, I planted a viburnum in place of a pink knockout rose I transplanted to the side garden.  My newer rose did much better this year.  I have to remember not to prune it so it can make rose hips.  The transplanted irises from my mother's garden didn't bloom so I'm looking forward to seeing what colors they are.  The transplanted daylilies from her garden bloomed.  They should bulk up next year hopefully.  I transplanted some more this year.  Seems like I moved some of mine around as well.  Wow, I really need to document things better.  Although it's fun to see what comes up in the spring.

The bleeding heart I thought died came back to life and kept putting out new foliage through August.  The white clematis didn't come back so I planted a yellow baptisia there.  Baptisias are my new favorites.

A couple hostas got a deadly disease, Hosta X Virus.  Hopefully it hasn't spread to the others.  My hope is that this continues to be a relatively warm, snow-free winter, and spring is just around the corner.

And lastly, my cats have finally figured out I'm not a pyscho serial killer and will actually lay next to me on the couch.  Progress.  They're both snuggle bunnies.



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