When Chuck first started sharing his work, he made zines. He gave them / sent them, free of charge, to anyone he knew that was interested in having them. After he had done several, a friend suggested that he get a space at a zinefest at The Fruit in Durham. So, he did.
We tend to share access to stuff. Like, he uses my phone number to get the discounts at groceries. And we both use the same login to Duke Power and our credit union.
When it was time to pay for his table, they were taking PayPal for the fee and I am the one with a PayPal account. I hate PayPal. When I had occasion to change my name, they thought they should be given copies of paperwork that I thought (and still think) isn’t their business. If I want to call myself Murgatroyd von Pussylips, it is not their business to get documentation as long as the info connected to the bank is valid. And I wanted to change my usename. Nothing else. I did not think it was their business to see my marriage license to justify changing that.
So, I try not to use them. I don’t want to give them money.
BUT, I still have that account and Chuck needed to send money. So, it was used.
When it was time to load in, it took a few minutes to locate. Because, in spite of the form he filled out to register the space, this was what we finally found.
I guess I’m working my way from easiest to hardest/worst mess.
The beds in front of the house are managed. Off the patio is in good shape. It could use more mulch. But, it’s not bad and can wait a while.
A spice bush is planted in the empty (no longer weedy) spot in front of the shed. That also needs mulch. I can do that with a bucket or 2.
The zinnia patch around the well is done. It has been mulched.
Taken from the southern corner of our lot
I think of the roadside bed in 3 sections. The shady part is (now) between the silver bark maple and a persimmon (male, no fruit.). It has a dogwood that I transplanted from a friend’s yard, a ‘Rising Sun’ redbud, the rice paper bush, a camellia, some Eastern columbine, some straggly mums, calla lilies, irises and the hellebore patch. The middle is partial shade and goes north from the persimmon and includes the peonies, 2 black leaved crepe myrtles, 3 fancy spiderworts, 3 azaleas, more irises, trout lilies and spotted bellflowers. The sunny part has ruella (devoured by deer this year), crocosmia, solar flares, monarda, a Japanese quince, more irises and the big leaf magnolia.
Taken from the stoop. Left to right on this side of the road.: Silver bark maple, mulch pile, ‘Rising Sun’ redbud. ricepaper bush, persimmon, maybe you can tell the crepe myrtles?, Big Leaf magnolia. ‘Jane’ saucer magnolia in the foreground on the far right.
Today, I worked on the shady section. I have cleared out Virginia creeper, boxwood, pin oak, maples, cedars, and dogwoods. Most of them weren’t knee high, some were just a couple of inches tall. A boxwood growing up through the dogwood was more significant. Some, I pulled up. (Cedars are surprisingly easy.) Some, I cut as close to the ground as I could get and poisoned with Triclopyr.
While I was doing that, Chuck cleared up the southern fence. There are 4 crepe myrtles there that I planted 21 years ago. Also, some blueberry bushes. The crepe myrtles have been putting out shoots and crowding the blueberries. Not any more, baby! It’s shockingly tidy over there, now.
Left foreground is some deadwood waiting to be cut up for our fire pit. Behind that is a small green shed with a forsythia bush on the left and a ballshaped compost bin to the right. There’s a Chinese silk tree immediately behind the shed. Along the fence are 4 crepe myrtles with small blueberry bushes in between them. Between the last crepe myrtle to the right and a Bradford pear on the other side of the fence is a small patch of lily greenery. There’s a small butterfly bush in the corner. The green in the foreground on the right is a fig.
Behind my fence are 2 sheds in my neighbor’s yard, a cart with junk on it, the deck behind her house, the white van that has been parked there for as long as I’ve lived here with part of a wooden pallet leaning against it.
If you can zoom in that far, you can see the propane tank belonging to the neighbors on the other side of her.
These are all free to play online. Some have apps and I play that way when I travel. Some days I’ll skip a couple or I’m busy or just feeling lazy.
Wordle I have solved 63 days in a row, so far. I always start with ADIEU and SNORT.
Connections Sometimes this makes no sense whatsoever and I give up. The first, very obvious set is usually a ploy and each of those words is part of a separate group.
Strands I’ve solved 65 in a row with this one. It’s funny to me that I can find all sorts of words in this thing and other pick-out-words-from- groups-of-letters games make me feel stupid.
Pips This is new to the NYT and I feel like it uses the pattern-seeing part of my brain a different way than the word games since it makes me add.
My butt is sore from squatting to pull grass and the other ground level stuff I’ve done this week. I was thinking I’d take the day off. But, I think I might move a little mulch again. That doesn’t actually require squatting and there’s a patch by the butterfly bush that could use it. then the patio be will be done and just require maintenance.
The cannas that I moved to the front of the house are coming up again. So, that move wasn’t deterimental. And the rest of those beds look good.
So, 2 areas shaped up.
The zinnia patch around the well is going to take a day of butt exercise. I’m going to make sure the grass is edged up, drop the seed pods into the soil and mulch it. I’m intend to leave it alone next year and hope that works to reseed there. If it doesn’t, I’ll know I always have to plant on purpose. If it does work, I’ll have a new trick.
There are some huacatay plants that keep coming back by the well, too.
A former coworker was born in Peru. I asked him what Peruvian restaurant in our area was the one that tasted most authentic to him and he sent me to Mi Peru in Durham. The huacatay sauce there is absolutely delicious. I got some seeds to see if the herb was something I need to add to my collection. It is not. Nonetheless, the plants keep coming back. I think it’s related to marigolds but the flowers are not as flamboyant.
This is the parking lot of our wine bar. Almost every time we have gone there for the past several years, the second spot to the right of the Reserved Parking spots has been waiting for us. Particularly on Saturday around 4:30.
When I drove up in my white Fit, someone was in the spot.
I am the Audience 