I'm full & I even culled this year!

OK, I'll admit it. It hurts me to toss even the tiniest of seedlings. I want to give them a chance since I lovingly planted them & (in my mind) they are trying so hard. But, I realized that this year I just had waay too many seedlings & not enough room, so I culled. I had saved tomato & pepper seeds & also had leftover seeds in the packets.

Sorry for the bad pic. Southern light streaming in!

My plan is to plant one from the seed packet & one from saved seed (SS) to compare the plants & harvests. I have German Cherry, Reinstaldt Grape, & Park's Whopper tomatoes. Along with California Wonder Pepper that I am experimenting with. Plus, I planted a couple of new (to me) peppers (an Orange & a Yellow from Baker Creek). Plus one new tomato - Homestead from local seed supply store.

Even with culling I still wound up with well over 90 plants! I'll give most to friends since I don't have enough room here in the City & not ready for the Country. I've got to keep experimenting, right?

Full growing rack!

Not so much luck with my herbs. The only thing that came up were a few Cilantro & Flat Leaf parsley plants which got transplanted. No basil or thyme even came up. I'll take another stab at those.

I let my broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage & romaine from the 'fall' garden, go to seed but wasn't having any luck actually getting seeds ... until yesterday. I finally had the romaine get a few of the dead flower heads get that puffy white stuff & sure enough there were seeds in there! Boy, I need better light & better sight to do much lettuce seed harvesting. I think I got about 1/8 of a teaspoon from 4 or 5 heads.

The broccoli was flowering but I couldn't tell if it had 'gone to seed' until yesterday when one of the separated plants had these on the top. Are these broccoli seed pods?

Sure look like it to me. Note: My Seed to Seed Saving Book is at the Country House & I keep forgetting to bring it home. And, I just haven't made the time to search the internet.

Nothing is happening with the Chinese cabbage or cauliflower & I may have to give up on those as I need to prepare the beds for the spring planting. Plus, I've read that you shouldn't let too many Brassicas(sp?) go to seed at one time.

Our cat (Rister) decided to lay in the area of one of the beds that I had covered due to the cold weather this past weekend. Carrots, onions & leeks under the cover, w/garlic in the uncovered area.

Just taking a nap

What do I hear?

Since we were going to have a hard freeze, I decided to cut back my already growing herbs - Rosemary, Oregano, Sage & Thyme (very little). I dehydrated them on Saturday, Sunday & Monday & wound up w/ 1 qt. + 1 pint Rosemary, 1 1/2 pt Oregano, 1/2 pt Sage & 1 few tablespoons of Thyme.

Also had a couple of bananas that were reaching ripeness & decided to make banana bread using the small pans I had recently bought at an Estate Sale (4$ for 20 of them!).

On another note, moving In-Law's porch & extra buildings is proving to be more difficult than expected. But it is, so we'll deal with it. Should have everything (even the Crepe Myrtles) out of their current location this coming weekend, crossing fingers & toes.

The Driveway at the Country House was cleared but it has been raining almost every day since. Too wet to work. There are 2 VERY wet spots that will need to be filled in & the one over the actual branch will also need a large culvert installed. Plus, they are estimating 30 - 50 loads of dirt will need to be brought in! It all just sounds like much more than we had estimated cost wise. But, it has to be done, so something will be pushed aside until later.

Christmas in February

Got a call from my sister last week, asking if we were going to the Country over the weekend. If so, they (her, my BIL & 16 year old niece) would like to come up and celebrate Christmas. They haven't done anything much for the past 6 weeks & thought the change of scenery would be nice. Our Dad & his wife would be at the Country as well. Their place is across the pond from ours.

Pole Tree w/moon Circa 2007 at the Country House

Greg had already committed to moving the 2nd 1/2 of his parent's porch to the Country. So, the in-laws would be in 'town' as well. He left with them to their 'other' property on Saturday morning.

I finished wrapping presents, loaded my vehicle & drove up on Friday afternoon. I had to get there ahead of time, as I haven't dusted in forever. Which actually was a blessing in disguise as there had been a terrible wind storm during the week. No matter how sealed your house is, when the wind is blowing & the farmers are harrowing & people are driving up & down the dirt road, dust & grit gets in and settles. It only took me about an hour to do a somewhat thorough job (it's a small house <1300 sq. ft.). I took a suggestion I had read about recently & used damp micro fiber towels (we have a boatload of them) on the swiffer for the floors. It did a great job. I also got the sheets washed & the beds made up & then ate a salad.

They arrived around 7:00p, after stopping at my Dad's, they got to our house around 8:30a. We just sat & talked a bit before retiring early.

I got up Saturday morning & made Pecan Pie Muffins. Everyone else got up & we just sat around and drank coffee, checked email, facebook, etc. We talked while the television made noise in the background. They are very melancholy & stoic & as we talked Brooke's stories intermingled with ours. One item we were discussing is coffee. Everyone that comes & stays at our Country House just raves about the coffee & my BIL is no exception. They all say, what kind is it? & where can I find it?! I always answer .... Maxwell House Lite / the grocery store. I don't know why it tastes so good there, but it does.

Everyone went to town except me. I stayed home & made soup & a couple of loaves of bread & puppy sat with my Sister's cutest toy poodle, Lexie. She is a very sweet dog & we had a wonderful afternoon waiting.

Once everyone got home we put on a low country boil & had a fine time over dinner. We then opened presents & sat around & talked some more.

Talking about Brooke throughout the morning, afternoon & evening came so natural to us all. I am especially proud that her Mom, Dad & Sister feel so comfortable talking about her. All the Pandora charms that I had bought Brooke are now displayed on my Sister's bracelet, as they should be. It was all so comfortable & natural. We ALL miss her but know that nothing we do can bring her back so we must just celebrate her life & memories that each of us had with her & just keep remembering our moments with her.

Since Greg & I had driven separately, I took the long way home Sunday & stopped at Brooke's resting place. Yes, I cried, just as I do every night & most times when I am driving alone (very dangerous as my eyes get very blurry), but it's what I am now conditioned to do & I feel better each time I do it.

Her gravesite had been cleaned of all the flower arrangements & only held a couple of mementos, until her headstone is ordered. I wanted it to all be a bit neater, but will wait until my sister moves forward to keep it as I know Brooke would want it.

It's quiet, out of the way & peaceful there. Like I said before, her resting place is not where she is, but where I can go to reflect on her life & my short time with her. I will never stop missing her but she would want us all to move on & just keep thinking about her.

I doubt Christmas will ever be the same again but that's okay. Presents are not what it's about, it's just nice to spend time & just be, with those I love.