Today, we stayed busy from the moment the coffee kicked in. We decided to tackle the front yard first. Somewhere along the way, I apparently confused Mary when I said we should do the gardening before getting ready for a dance later that day.
A little while later, I looked up and found Mary enthusiastically trimming away in her dance clothes. At that point, I had to call a timeout and send her back inside for a wardrobe change. The flowers may have been impressed, but I wasn’t taking any chances with dirt stains on the dance outfit!
Oh dear!!!
Now that she has changed into her official yard-work uniform, the real work can begin!
We filled an entire trash can with trimmings, which means the plants either got a haircut or we committed a leafy crime scene. We also had to replace the flowers in the pots because last week’s heat fried them like botanical French fries.
Mary marched into the outside flower garden like a woman on a mission, pulled a mountain of weeds, and cut off the flowers that had already had their big moment in the spotlight.
The front yard looks super now — neat, fresh, and no longer like it gave up on life!
Looking good!
Mary noticed our Mother-In-Law’s tongue was in bloom. We are keeping our eye on the plant.
A few fun facts about Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata, now classified as Dracaena trifasciata) :
It has many names: Besides “Mother-in-Law’s Tongue,” it’s commonly called the Snake Plant, thanks to its tall, patterned leaves.
It’s a champion survivor: This plant tolerates drought, low light, neglect, and irregular watering better than most houseplants. It’s practically the camel of the plant world.
NASA made it famous: The Snake Plant was included in NASA’s Clean Air Study, which found it can help remove certain indoor air pollutants under controlled conditions.
It produces oxygen at night: Unlike many plants, it uses a process called CAM photosynthesis, allowing it to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during nighttime. This makes it a popular bedroom plant.
It’s native to West Africa: Its natural range includes regions from Nigeria eastward through tropical Africa.
Its fibers were once used like hemp: the leaves contain strong fibers used to make rope, bowstrings, and baskets. One nickname is Bowstring Hemp.
It can live for decades: With minimal care, a Snake Plant can become a long-term household companion, often passed from one generation to the next.
In the backyard, the melons are doing well. We picked one of the melons that was inside a pair of pantyhose, and we will give it to Susie at the gym on Monday!
Just another few weeks!
We went to the Elks for the weekly Girls Night Out celebration. All had fun! Iris and Will will be with u
Bill, George, and Bob!
After lunch, we headed to Ralph’s Market to stock up for Becky’s visit tomorrow. Mary is determined to recreate Becky’s childhood favorite meals, which turned our shopping trip into a gluten-free treasure hunt. We spent the afternoon reading ingredient labels like detectives working a major case. By the time we finished, we felt qualified to earn honorary degrees in Gluten Studies. Hopefully, Becky will enjoy the meals—and appreciate the effort it took to find ingredients that don’t secretly contain wheat, barley, or a chemistry experiment.
Robin popped over around 4:30 pm, and we sat and talked until 6:00 pm, after which we went to Rodrigo’s for dinner.
I would not let Robin share my 48-oz margarita, and she was sad! I was trying to protect her!
Too bad, the drink is mine!!!
All of a sudden, she ran for the phone booth and re-emerged as…
Obviously, I have given her some of my margarita.
Once she got her drink, she ran back to the phone booth and returned to the table as her normal self!!
Back to normal
So what was all the fuss about? The 46-ounce rum margarita. This is a special drink! Take a close look at the glass, towards the bottom.
The three of us returned home and watched “Evan Almighty”. We wanted to watch a cowboy movie, so we got dressed up and everything, but we settled for “Evan Almighty”
Care for a sip of Sass-pa-rilly???
We were all crashed by 11:00 pm!
