Note: Upon the advice of my daughter, Dyeabolical Rachel, I have decided to limit my garden posts to a week per post – after this one– I can’t go cold turkey. I am beginning where I left off and ending at the natural stopping point – May 12, 1974 - where Mary Bollman wrote: “this book is now caught up….” I admit I don’t understand the rest of that sentence, but it does confirm that there were more notebooks than the one I have.
To borrow a phrase from Mrs. Bollman, today is a “lovely cool day”. Temp presently 23° at 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon, snow off and on all day and nowhere I absolutely must go. so by me this is automatically a lovely cool day. Way cool.
We re-join Mary and Otto Bollman on May 2, 1974. Still not a huge amount of gardening going on, but things are starting to stir. I am more than a little envious that they have already eaten their first strawberries and I am remembering the homegrown s’berries I got from a local farmer’s market last Spring. Best berries by far that I have ever tasted. However, they were fully ripe and I had to eat them all before they got squishy, darn it. And go back for more.
On the May 4 entry, do I detect a “Finally things are back to normal” note in Mrs. Bollman’s voice as she writes “so thankfully they [the 3rd floor dormer windows] are fixed”. At a total cost of $36.41, window replacement falls into the same category as homegrown strawberries – I am now beyond envious.
You may have already noticed that most of the Bollmans’ friends and associates have the same first names – “Mr.” or “Mrs.” You can be sure that when someone is referred to in the notebook by first name, that person is (a) a family member or (b) a very very close friend, most likely someone from church.
So that brings me to one of my personal pet peeves. Those of you who know me personally are aware than I seldom keep those to myself. Therefore, feel free to skip ahead to the garden notes because I am about to express my opinion of the modern method of addressing every stranger – and the stranger the better - by first name - or worse.
For instance, let us consider the hospital recovery room. It seems to me that recovery room personnel have been trained to awaken a patient by screaming in his/her face, like so: “MARILIN, ARE YOU AWAKE?” If this happens to you, bear in mind that the only way you could articulate an answer is if the drugs they administered during surgery did not work. But silently, inside your head you will be saying "I came in here for a tonsillectomy and now I'm having a heart attack". One notable exception was a recovery room of a hospital that, subsequent to my surgery, shut down, relocated and re-named itself . Not My Fault, by the way. I awoke from surgery to a scene so peaceful, so quiet, the lighting so subdued, that I knew I was not in a hospital, knew I was not at home (too clean) and when I was finally approached by an angelic person speaking my name in hushed tones I figured oh well, I must have had a peaceful passing. It did throw me a little that the angel was offering me morphine and I was – audibly - telling her don’t forget the anti-nausea stuff on the side, as the doc promised. I’m not a recovery room frequent flier, but I believe this scenario is rare.
For now I will spare you [the entirety of] my thoughts on the sales and checkout clerks – I mean associates – at my local branch of a large pet food chain.The Dumb Pets Store let’s call it. "How are you today, HON? Did you find everything you were looking for SWEETIE? “How many cats do you have? What are their names? How old are they?” Who are these people, undercover Animal Control agents or something?
Well, I digress. Let The Good Compost Roll ……which reminds me…did you know that those empty plastic kitty litter containers will carry just enough compost from the free compost heap at the park? Just enough that your back doesn’t actually break, as you think it will when you lift it, I mean. And yet, not enough that you won’t return with more buckets. Well, it is free! Probably just a freak occurrence that after many such return trips last Spring I needed surgery to repair torn cartilage in my knee.
Thursday, May 2nd - Temp 55 - 61
Cloudy and rainy all day. Started out at 9:00 AM to get estimate on car but it rained before we got to Grand Ave. so we came home. Cleaned windows in bedroom and put up clean curtains. Packed away some winter things & wool comfort. Otto cleaned some onions and set out some Mums. Phil called about 7:30 p.m. They arrived from Texas on Tues., April 30, 1974.
Friday, May 3rd - Temp 45 – 69
Lovely cool day. Mr. Len Stocker came to measure window panes for 3rd floor. Went shopping and Phil & Bill came while gone. Bro’t us real grapefruit & Mexican cookies. Mr. Scholz came after dinner for mums. We washed front room windows and put up summer curtains.
Saturday, May 4th – Temp 42 – 68
Mowed the lawn. Mr. Stocker came and put in window panes in dormer 3rd floor & inspected them, so thankfully they are fixed. Cost: $36.41. Went shopping, cut up pork butt and peeled apples A lovely day.
Sunday, May 5th – Temp 51 - 73
Ideal day. Shirley, Anna & Adele took Otto and me to Edwardsville, Illinois to attend Ella’s funeral. We were invited to come back to church to eat because the ladies had all the food fixed. We were thankful we could be there with our friends. Got back around 4:30. Shirley’s a very good driver.
Monday, May 6th – Temp 44 – 61
Went to Sunset Hills to get our damage estimated. Settled right away. On way home we stopped at Liberty and at Tom Pigg for potatoes, 10 for $1.70. Came home tired.
Tuesday, May 7th – Temp 39 – 68
Lovely day. Worked outside all day. Planted cabbage, dahlia roots and tube roses. We had our first strawberries & picked a few more. Otto cleaned the Salvia bed under Mimosa tree and it rained softly after dark.
Wednesday, May 8th – Temp 57 – 71
A lovely cool day and windy. Otto set out 5 Salvia plants on compost pile and plowed the onions. I dug up a lot of day lilies and planted Begonias. Otto dug and pulled weeks out of Black Raspberries and we picked flowers for Association luncheon. They thanked us for them.
Thursday, May 9th – Temp 46 – 59
Otto took me to Association luncheon with the flowers. Otto finished Salvia bed and daisy bed., lots of things around beds. A lovely cool day to work and cloudy.
Friday, May 10th – Temp 43 – 69
A little shower this a.m. Went shopping at Schnucks & Fairlane. Betty & Jennifer came over for awhile. Later, cleaned house.
Saturday, May 11th – Temp 61 – 70
Rained most of the day. Otto set out a few yellow mums. Got lettuce [seed? Illegible]. Baked bread, Cake and fixed a pie to bake early Sunday morning before breakfast.
Sunday, May 12th Mother’s Day – Temp 49 – 72
A breezy day. Phil & Bill & Ruth were here for dinner. Hadn’t seen each other for a long time as they first came back from Texas. Enjoyed the day. We attended church and took some pictures, or Bill did on their camera. This book is now caught up with all the weather that was started in new book.
Good post, HON!
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