Here we go again...

It started last week as a scratchy throat, as though I were getting a cold.  Over the otherwise gorgeous weekend, we got our first code orange day of the year; bleah.  Then the other day the tightness started, prompting me to pull out the nebulizer.  Needed it twice last night; never a good sign.  By the time I got home from work this afternoon, not only had I already decided to skip tonight's pick-up rehearsal, but made the Chief take me to the after-hours clinic, where they dosed me good and sent me home with prednisone.  Only a short series, fortunately, but never fun.  However, since I've gotten awfully fond of breathing freely, I put up with the side effects with a minimum of grumbling.  Just say a prayer for my poor husband, who'll have to put up with my moods until that stuff is outta my system.

Playing in the dirt

Sunday I finally got around to doing some gardening!  Spent a few hours buying plants and accoutrements, even a few "experiments" - a strawberry plant and a cherry tomato plant for the deck and some squash as a placeholder (boxwood died, peony bush to go in that spot come fall).  I also got 3 angel-wing begonias to put on the front steps but the pots I thought we had on hand are long gone so the begonias are still in their starter pots.  I got almost everything in before the rains started; a perfect, soaker rain that watered everything for me.  I love it when the timing works out like that.

This year I have red impatiens by the front downspout but portulaca in the bed under the mailbox instead of the impatiens I've planted there for years.  How well the portulaca does will determine whether I go back for more next year or go back to impatiens in that spot.  I also planted portulaca in the beds TW built last year on either side of the lower front steps.  I put a few marigolds in the south corner bed and in my herb planter, along with sweet basil and rosemary.  I put boxwood basil and dill in the ground, and my railing planters have verbena, a red geranium, lobelia, million bells, and a yellow-and-white lantana.  This year's red-for-Mom flowers are the impatiens, geranium & millionbells.

Yesterday TW went out to buy paint and other spring items, with portulaca on the list.  (I didn't buy quite enough.)  What he came home with, though, was a small hanging planter with purslane in it.  The tag was pretty clear, but he was misled by the fact that someone had written "portulaca" on the side of the planter.  Strange.  But it looks pretty happy after last night's rain, so I'll find a spot for it someplace.  It's an annual, so if we don't like it, we just won't replace it next year.

What's in your garden?

Choreo rehearsal goes 21st century

I was surprised to see at auditions that the choreographer was using her iPad to play the music for our dance audition.  She's been using it for rehearsals too - teaches a chunk, plays the music, videos it, then sends us the youtube link so we can study up between rehearsals.  I hate seeing myself klutz through things I haven't learned yet, but I do love being able to SEE what I'm trying to learn instead of trying to figure out what on earth I meant by this or that notation.  Better, she often gets good shots of someone who knows this chunk or that sequence better than I do.  I also get the music that way, and can rerun a particular sequence over & over to drill it.

I bought my iPad for portable e-mail and web access during a recent work travel marathon but it looks like I'll be using it for rehearsals too...

What happened?

While I was off doing other things and not blogging, Blogspot went and overhauled the site on me.  It's gonna take me a while to figure out where things are and whether I like the new interface.  Bleah.  Not because I'm change-averse but because I'm lazy - once I know where things are, I can go to them quickly.  Now I'll have to waste time trying to find things and figure out the new routine before I can actually, oh, blog.  Grumble, mutter, wasn't broke, grump grump grump.