Category Archives: Life

Hello 2012

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Another year behind us and a new one starting.

As for me, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. But, I do look forward to each new year full of hope and optimism that I will live my life better than the year before. In all honesty, I must admit that I am never nearly quite as successful at this endeavor as I want to be. But, who knows? The new year is fast approaching and I have yet another opportunity to get it right.

Here are my five favorite New Year’s quotes:

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.   – Oprah Winfrey

New Year’s Day:  Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.   – Mark Twain

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.   – Edith Lovejoy Pierce

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this:  To rise above the little things.   – John Burroughs

And, my absolute favorite:

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.   – Benjamin Franklin

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles in the past several days about New Year’s Resolutions. Even the US government on its site USA.gov lists the top resolutions with links to sites to help you achieve your goals!  Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions for 2012?

 

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Happy Holidays!

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It’s Christmas Eve as I write this. Brian and I just got home from a round of golf at Holly Hill Country Club.  It was pretty and sunny and a high of 65 degrees today.  I hadn’t golfed since May when my sister Pam and her husband, Gary, visited us for their vacation, and boy, it showed!

In a nutshell, my golf game sucked. You want to know my score? 129. Yeah, I know, no one scores that! And, it’s ironic since I actually had some really great shots, today! Honestly, I can hit a straight drive 150 to 180 yards EVERY SINGLE TIME. I swear. It’s my fairway game and short game that pretty much bite! On the worst scoring hole, hole number 7, I hit a fantastic drive, followed by eight additional shots to reach the green. Then, for a surprise, I sunk a 30 foot putt, to finish the hole with a 10! Seriously.

Brian, on the other hand, even with what I suspect is a torn rotator cuff, had a good golf day. He swung his club so gently that the club did most of the work and he eliminated his slice!

If you’ve ever played at Holly Hill Country Club, you know it’s name alone is an oxymoron! Far from country club stature, it’s a short nine hole course, with a little club house, swimming pool and tennis courts attached. The fairways are wide open and there’s no water that really comes into play. Well, except for today, when I somehow found the water twice. But, it is a great place to practice your short game with only two long par-5 holes. To play 18 holes, you go around the course twice.

Since Brian and I are living on a very limited income these days, and we’re basically broke, the golf outing was our Christmas gift to each other.

Now, we’re home and in our loungers and spending a quiet Christmas Eve evening watching sports and computing (Brian at the TV and me at the keyboard here with you).

On Christmas Day, Brian and I are spending the day alone together, too. It’s just the way it worked out this year. We’re okay with that. As a matter of fact, we have a tee time at Lake Marion Golf Course, the only course open, on Christmas day. But, the weather is predicted to get colder on Christmas day and it might rain and since we blew our wad today, we are cancelling that plan.

We are planning a nice breakfast and then later, dinner for two for Christmas day. I’ll probably spend some time working on my crafts and Brian will watch bowl games and we’ll play computer games. I’m glad he’s my best friend!

So, to close, I want to wish all of you Happy Holidays! Merry Christmahanakwanzika or whatever! I don’t care who you are or what you believe, you are my friend and if your winter solstice holiday means peace, love, joy, then I wish that for you and yours!

I have three camellias bordering our house. They bloom in the winter. Pretty, aren’t they?

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The fall garden

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I live in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8 – the “Lower South.” On average, our first frost occurs between November 1 and 10 and our last frost between March 21 and 31. This growing season is long enough to have two seasonal vegetable gardens – the spring garden and the fall garden.

The spring garden usually starts in February, with prepping the soil and then planting the early, frost tolerant crops. The fall garden begins in late August with prepping the soil and starting seeds for planting in early September.

I grow a spring garden every year. Every year, I learn more about what I’m growing and the weather conditions and pests that affect production and I get better at it.

This year is only my fourth attempt at a fall garden. My previous three tries had not gone very well and rather than invest any time or money in it, I’ve skipped it rather than fail at it.

But, this year, I decided to give it another shot. I mean, the whole purpose of living in the lower south and having a 5+ acre chunk of ground and living more simply dictates that I learn to get better at it.

So, on a smaller scale than previous attempts, I planted a fall garden and finally, I am having a bit more success this year and am learning a lot, so I will do even better next year.

I’ve planted green cabbage, red cabbage, collards, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Looks good, doesn’t it?

Here is one of my green cabbages. A nice head is starting to form.

See the buttons on the stock starting to emerge? These will be brussels sprouts!

This is my second growth of broccoli on this plant. I learned on You Tube, to cut the main crown off and then let the small shoots grow for a bit! Below is a photo of the main crown that had been cut from the center of the plant.

We’ve eaten broccoli and collard greens several times now and I’m getting very excited to pick some green cabbage heads.  My red cabbages were getting eaten by bugs, but I think I’ve finally got them under control and they are perking up. The cauliflower isn’t doing much yet, but I’m still optimistic.

I’m thinking I just might get the hang of this fall gardening thing yet. Now, if I can only figure out how to get my indoor Christmas cacti to bloom.

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