Month: August 2023

I should point out that I try not to go grocery shopping on a Monday morning, unless there is something essential, we need.  Like dinner for tonight, or cleaning supplies of which we’re out.  There are three, yes, three supermarkets near us.  One has better prices and weekly sales that the other two don’t.  Technically, the sales go into effect on Sunday, but the store is clogged with younger shoppers and families whisking about the aisles, and there are a multitude of small children.  So, the senior population, at least everyone not hitting the dollar store, waits until Monday morning. 

Continue reading “Monday Morning Shopping”

That the weather seems to thwart my gardening?  Last summer, we were under drought alert with water restrictions, so only the hardiest, most drought-resistant survived.  This year, the opposite.  We’ve had regular, almost daily rainfall. Here it is late August and I haven’t had to turn on the hose once.  Instead of watering the containers, I’m having to empty them out regularly.  It’s nice that much of the vegetation is lush and green, but it’s also been slug-heaven, with mildew and mushrooms popping up everywhere.  So, Mother Nature, dear, I really need to know where you’re going with this.  Is this going to be a cycle, for which I can plan, or are you striking out whimsically to keep me off guard?  The wild bunnies that regularly snack in my gardens seem to have an “oh, you’ve changed the menu” look in their eyes as they stare at me while feasting. Even Monty Don, the Lord of Gardener’s World, is stating on a regular basis, “Because it’s been such a  . . . . year (and you can fill in the blanks:  cold, warm, wet, dry, unseasonably) I’m taking out water lilies in the wet garden and putting in cactus.”  Yes, it’s confounding all of us.  The growing seasons are shifting and confusing – much like the age-old question, “When will pumpkin spice appear in the coffee shops?”  (Answer: it already has.)

Continue reading “Why Is It . . . . . Again?”