I am the Audience

Feeling a little Todd Rundgren today.

August 1, 2026

a day in this life, home

I’ve potted up all the plants I intend to move and we’ve mostly sorted out the closets and cabinets. (That was mostly Chuck.) We’re trying to clear out the kitchen by eating what we have, with as little shopping as we can manage, and still have food that isn’t ridiculously weird.

I think the only thing that needs my attention, until we are actually packing, is the shed. I’m taking usable pots to the extension office to be used for next year’s plant sale and the big tools we’re donating to a camp that my BIL is connected to. There are a lot of bits and pieces that can/should just go to the dump. Leaving a half a jug of random copper fungicide that may be expired isn’t a kindness to the new owners.

But, that work doesn’t have to happen today because it’s not time to deliver any of it for a couple of weeks. I should ask Chuck when he wants to do the dump run.

I could put some effort into deciding what to do with the photo albums I’ve been carting around for decades.
Moving plants

July 28, 2026

a day in this life, home, plants

The list of plants I intend to move gets smaller and smaller.

A lot of what I love is replaceable if I actually get busy in my sister’s yard. So, I don’t have to do that all at once, potting up pieces to move. I do have a canna I want to put beside her house. It was a gift from our mutual BIL and will be pretty as it spreads there. A piece if it is in a pot now.

I do intend to get a decent herb garden going and maintained over there next Spring. I’ve gotten spoiled by drying my own herbs over the years and won’t give that up if I can help it.

I intend to take a piece of the flame calla and the stunning blue Siberian iris that was a gift from a friend to put in the tiny area that I get to manage to the left of the front walk. I’ll put the ‘Frost Queen’ calla to the right of the front door under the upstairs naighbors’ steps.

Two bonsais are going with me, the Japanese maples and the swamp cypress. The cypress hasn’t actually been bonsaied yet. But, I’m not giving up that project. We have a tall, marbletopped, iron based, outside-only, very heavy table that I intend to put to the left of the front door. I’ll put the maples on that and set the cypress down into a non-draining pot beneath it. (I’m trying to force it to make knees before I actually bonsai it.) The quince continues to do poorly and the handthrown pot it’s in is crumbling. So, it’s not making the trip.

The long, glass IKEA table we’ve been using in the kitchen will go on the deck to hold the carnivores. I repotted the S. psittacina into a lower, plastic pot to decrease its weight. It was heavy and it doesn’t need to be that tall if it isn’t sitting in the water garden.

The Schlumbergeri all went to crap this year and I’ve been trying to reroot the peach and yellow ones. As much as I wanted the yellow one, it’s the one doing the worst. So, I may take the peach and give up on the other 2 pots. I recognize that that collection was a bit excessive.

I have a handthrown pot that was made for me by a friend of my Spawn. I commisioned it during the shutdown and I paid more for it than I ordinarily would because of that. I had it made for the batfaced flower that hated living here and never thrived. I’m going to transplant half of Chuck’s peace lily into it and find a home for the other half.

The rest of the houseplants will simply go as they are.
Moving

July 20, 2026

a day in this life, family, home

(I’m likely to bore you to tears about this.)

After having it as background noise in our minds and conversations for about 6 years, we have finally pulled the trigger and are moving from this huge yard. We would have kept the house, if we could, but the yard is just too much.

There are other considerations, too. But, that’s the main one right now.

We are moving to Asheville where we will be near the largest collection of my family (my mother, her brother and his wife, my youngest sister and her husband, her oldest son and his SO, a cousin, her husband, her youngest daughter, her husband and baby). My spawn is going to be about 30 minutes farther away than they are now. So, that isn’t a big change. Just the direction of the drive.

We found a condo we really like, made an offer, negotiated briefly and have it under contract in less than 3 weeks since deciding to move. Our house will be listed on the market today.

We’ll have a tiny little patch of ground that I think I can plant a little something in by the front door and a covered deck in the back.

There is an arboretum and a botanical garden where I can volunteer, if I choose to. And my sister has offered her yard to me. So, I don’t have to be without dirt under my nails. I’m considering doing the Master Gardener training, again, to learn how to grow things better in the mountains. I’ll talk to the Buncombe County agent about it when we are actually there and situated.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time pondering what plants I want to move. The furniture is much easier to decide.
Pink syngonium

June 21, 2026

a day in this life

I got this at Painters Greenhouse in Old Fort a few years ago. I love the pink side of the leaves.

To my frustration, keeping it inside wasn’t keeping it pink, though. It gradually lost the significant color difference. I assumed that it was similar to my black elephant ear and simply needed natural light to brighten up.

I had pinched a piece to root for a friend and as it grew roots the leaves that actually had been slightly pink died. So, by the time there was enough root to stick in dirt and I was going to see her soon, it just looked like a regular syngonium with the barest blush on one side of those leaves.

I took the big pot outside when I potted the cutting and left them both outside for a while, hoping they would have the same dramatic response the Colocasia had. They didn’t seem to do anything, though.

When I picked up the pot to take to my friend, it had a new leaf and it was vibrant. The other 3 were still just green. I told her how it had behaved so that she could know what to expect. And she suggested that the planted needed the light to produce pink leaves rather than to change the green to pink. And, looking at the new growth on my large plant, that seems to be the case.

So, all color change in non-green leaves is not the same.

I have learned a thing.
Flame calla

June 19, 2026

a day in this life, Beautiful, dirt under my nails, plants

This is my flame calla lily. I moved it from the back yard to next to the front stoop 2 years ago. I think it isn’t getting as much light and that’s affecting its color change. When it was in the back, the colors were a little more vibrant and the change was, in my opinion, more dramatic. It’s still gorgeous and probably my favorite of all the flowers in my yard.

Anyway, I decided to show you its progression this year.

Monday 5/25

Tuesday 5/26

Wednesday 5/27

Thursday 5/28

Friday 5/29

Saturday 5/30

Sunday 5/31

Oops. Monday 6/1. 9:10pm

Tuesday 6/2

Wednesday 6/3

Thursday 6/4

Friday 6/5

Saturday, 6/6

Sunday 6/7

Monday 6/8

Tuesday 6/9

Wednesday night, 6/10

Thursday 6/11

Saturday 6/13

Sunday 6/14

Monday 6/15

Tuesday 6/16

Wednesday 6/17

Thursday 6/18

Friday 6/19

June 2022

You see how much more dramatic is was 4 years ago. I still think it’s delightful.