Happy New Year to each and every one who visits here. Thank you all for visiting my blog.
If I don’t include Germaine here, my San Francisco loved ones will never forgive me. Germain, they beloved dog, is very much a part of the family.
I’d informed son Rafi my knees didn’t enjoy hills any more. He and grandson Remy put their heads together and chose parks without hills for my daily walks. The first had these wonderful trees I couldn’t resist. We went again and again so I could pose with Rafi, then Remy, and when Susan joined us, back we went to pose yet again!
Yes, we took walks elsewhere as well. Every morning Rafi walked the family dog, Germaine, we dropped Remy off at soccer camp, and Rafi walked me. (He wasn’t going to let me slack off. He knows how important it is for me to keep moving.)
The few times we couldn’t find the time to visit another park, I took my walk at the dog park under the supervision of Germaine, who made sure I got in enough steps. He took every step with me! Ha, ha.
Chandra, always creative, made a beautiful photo album for Rafi as a birthday gift. I had never seen some of those old photos and got a kick out of seeing, for the first time, some taken years ago. (She also made an album for him of what friends and family members thought of him. It was lovely to read.)
We celebrated everyone’s birthday. I’d just celebrated a venerable one, Rafi had a recent birthday and so had Susan. We laughed a lot and I discovered my grandson, Remy, had a crazy sense of humour. (Wonder where he got that from??? Ha, ha.) Also an avid reader, Remy shared books with me when I ran out of reading material. It was just a great visit. I could not have asked for more.
Rafi and I shopped for plants at the nursery — the kids have a beautiful garden. I looked for a little man to live in my home-made terrarium, but they didn’t have one. Rafi ordered one for me, tried NOT to tell me right away, but was so excited about it, he couldn’t wait to surprise me, but when he said: ‘I bought you something’. I immediately guessed what it was. Yeah! See him above. The little guy loves his new home.
I’m holding on to the memory of the wonderful time I had and how spoiled I was by everyone. The morning breakfasts I had with Rafi, the time we all spent together was worth all the nonsense and stupidity of the rules and regulations I had to deal with to travel across the border during COVID.
After all my outdoor plants died in my kitchen during our upgrade, I was required to start anew. I diligently worked the soil, carefully planted beans and seeds, added plant food and hoped all would thrive. Spring can let me down and it has — again and again.
Lettuce leaves popped up, snow peas said hello, but not for the first time, green onions were a no-show. Observing the progress of my balcony garden is most exciting at harvest time.
Here’s what I got:
4 wispy shoots of dill
7-8 snow peas
20 little lettuce leaves (approx)
7 chives
1 tiny baby kale ***
***I grabbed the tiny kale leaf shown in the photo below before three little birds could get at it. They always arrive together, are smaller than robins and absolutely fascinating. They consider my kale ‘best in the neighbourhood’ and as soon as any dares pop up through the soil, whammo. All gone!
I’m happy as a lark watching this unusual trio and pondering their unusual sex-life. They devastate my pot of kale and make a mess on my new balcony floor, but they are certainly fun to watch.
Frankly, it looks like a menage a trois to me. That handsome male is full of himself, cock of the walk — strutting about with his magnificent scarlet head and posing this way and that as he watches over his two brown females like a stallion watches over his mares. Weird? True!
Wanna see the action? Seats on my balcony are available for lucky you at a reduced rate of $3 an hour to observe this unusual threesome. Everyone else pays $5.
View from Over the Hill 