Ric, I think 'fleur d'iris' is cute and not at all obvious! :-) 'Johnny's Garden'-- the song is nice but I'm not familiar with it, so I would probably assume the garden was owned by or dedicated to someone named 'Johnny'.
Your Neck Of the Woods part11 Independance Day
Ric, I had never heard of that song before, but I checked out the youtube link. The lyrics of the song and the garden images that accompanied the video are wonderful. Now that I know the reference, I think it is absolutely perfect for your place.
Thanks all! Sally, you can see why Elton's song was also memorable knowing the history behind Johnny's Garden, and I am one of those that believe it was a subtle reference to times passed and a loss to the garden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AABK5eY1DGc&feature=kp
He never refers to Johnny's Garden till the very end.
This message was edited Jul 5, 2014 1:16 PM
Ric--- I have an idea....................
Why don't you and Holly hold a contest for what to name your place?
I bet some really nice names will pop up. No limit on entries...
The winner, of YOUR choice, gets a free, decorated stepping stone at the swap.
What do you all think? Gita
Cool reminiscences!!!
We have made it to our son's place in Oregon for a couple of weeks. Nice to be in one place for a bit. So far 8400 miles. My bum is numb!!! It's great to see family.!!!!!
I don't know Gita, I keep hearing that song in the back of my head.
Jan, Your bum may be numb, but your senses should be reeling. What a trip, and so much to process. I still drift off to all the places we've been. I need a new data processor implanted for future trips.LOL I just love traveling, especially when you have time to absorb some of the local culture and history. There is just too much to see and do. I think if I wasn't ground by Holly and family, I could just float around the world and experience whatever came my way. There must be a vagabond locked up somewhere inside me. Since you have family all over you have an excellent excuse. I wonder if any of our children would like a job in Fiji?
LOL--that is a great idea to send relatives all over the world as an excuse to travel! :-) We have relatives all up and down the West Coast, but rarely get an opportunity to visit them. Maybe someday...
RIc it is a lovely song and must really speak to you. We'll just have to call you Johnny.
Roaming sounds great but kids sure do ground you. Jan has the right idea! Fling them out into the world, see where they land, go visit!
Sally, I had a friend, back in the 70s. Sometime in 1973 he decided to try and fix his broken guitar, and old Fender F hole acoustic. Mostly he played keyboard. Jim Croce died that day. Michael was probably one of the best musicians, I ever heard. He could transpose music like no one else. He'd have Cat Stevens new songs down the day after they came out and explain why they were so alluring. He said the chord/key changes were so subtle they had a natural flow, Apparently some higher math was involved, 3rds, 5ths, 7ths, and minor inversions were involved, so he lost me there.
He liked my house in Trenton and spent some time there, the first time I heard that song was in my little back yard, that was only 20x40' and full of flowers. He lost his student deferment about that time, joined the NG, missed some drills, and got sent active duty. I haven't seen him since. Later I was told his Alma mater was the Juilliard.
So, Yes that song speaks to me, in more ways that one, sometimes when I hear a certain song , he's there playing it.
what lovely thoughts, Ric. Maybe he's telling somebody about his friend who could grow anything, and build anything, and fix anything.
If you don't name the whole place Johnny's Garden, there might at least be a dedicated area for Johnny's Garden.
This message was edited Jul 7, 2014 8:44 PM
I like that idea! About the garden. Certain songs or places bring different people to mind.
Hmmm... Fiji. Maybe we could have a plant swap there, what do you think?
Family definitely grounds you. We would probably be in Oregon if the one son wasn't around the corner. We DO appreciate being able to travel to visit them. Hence the RV. It is our cottage on the lake. This way it can be on ANY lake and we get to see the kiddos more often.
Our granddaughter that will be traveling back east with us is very excited as are we. She is STILL fun to be around!! Thankfully!! Hehehehe. (She is 12).
My goal while here in the Portland area is to visit the Japanese garden. Haven't been there yet after all these years.
That is a beautiful memory, Ric! The more I hear about the meaning of the song for you, the more I think it seems the perfect name. :-)
Jan, have fun in the Portland area! The Japanese garden sounds like a fun trip!
Ric, I thought of a few possible names for your place: Fleurs de Vie, Champ de Fleurs, Giverny (where Monet's Garden is located) or The Grands' Estate.
I like the last one....
of those, I like that best also. It could be really hard to pic one though.
I'm thinking if it's anything it will be Johnny's Garden, that lyric just keeps cycling through my head. Unfortunately, so does one of his I don't agree with, "Love the one your with".
We now have power back after a 16 hour outage. It was a pleasure having a warm shower after a hard day in the yard. Since we had no power Holly wanted to go to dinner. I said no because I was grimy too the extreme, and didn't want to offend other diners. LOL Maybe tonight!
Hahahaha, grimy to the EXTREME!!! That s Jeff today. We(mostly he) washed the RV.. Getting the bugs and stuff off of it was hard. I held my breath when he was up on top walking around. I was the squirter. Sometimes I accidentally missed and got him. It was appreciated, cuz it's HOT here, but dry.
Jan, Sounds like you are both having a great trip.
Well, Ric, the nice thing is that you can always change your mind even if you get it engraved in stone.
washing the RV--that sounds like a job deserving of a long hot bath afterwards! :-)
Sounds like a plan to me!!! A long soak.....mmmmm
It is kinda crazy here!!! In a good way, but, I'm exhausted just watching what goes on with all the different individuals and family.
Got home from work yesterday and saw a brown butterfly floating in the back yard. Rushed to take a look at him and fell down the back steps. Very painful. Could barely crawl back up the steps to alert DD I needed help. Ended up in urgent care for 2 hours. They couldn't find a break, fortunately, but I can barely walk. They put a splint on it and we stopped at CVS for a cane (I can't do crutches).
Guess the garden is on its own for a while! :-(
So, first the power outage and money spent on a hotel room and loss of sleep and plants, and now this! So, whoever is sticking voodoo pins in their Robin/Catmint doll, please stop, okay?? You have no idea the rough road I've traveled in my life, and being a single mom with no family around and working full-time is *tough*, okay??!! Enough, please!
:-(
Oh my, Robin. Sure hope you are back up on your feet again soon. I can definitely feel your pain. Kick back and take some time to heal (even if it kills you, to do so).
Catmint, that's similar to how I injured my ankle the first time! It took a really long time to heal, and then I injured it again. Ugh! Elevate, ice, Advil, and lots of rest for the next couple of days. I was told to keep icing until the swelling went down, which was about a week.
I'd say to be very very careful for *months* and push your PCP to sign you up for PT. I never got PT, which I definitely needed after the second injury. I still feel awkward in my ankles, like I never got my strength/flexibility back fully.
Jan, I think I missed a couple of the posts while I was checking on my phone. Did you go up to Alaska and back down to Oregon already? That went fast!
Robin, soooo sorry to hear about your fall. Do rest and ice, all guys know that's what frozen peas are for.
And I promise I'll stop.
thanks, Holly, Ric, and SSG! I'm doing my best to stay off it but soooo hard with household duties and a 12 year old who can only do so much. So far this morning I have hobbled painfully and with difficulty about the house helping her get her lunch ready for her volleyball tournament, helping her put our grocery delivery away, emptying and refilling the dishwasher, and hobbling out to the car and back to drive her to her tournament. She was able to take out the kitchen trash and put a new liner bag into the wastebasket all by herself, and she was also able to put new rolls of TP into the bathroom all by herself. Another parent also agreed to drive her home from the tournament, so that is helpful.
It reminds me how thankful I am to be generally able-bodied and usually able to take care of so much on my own. I think I'm going to have to telework on Monday--it is a long way to my office on the 10th floor of a large building. Fortunately, I have a very understanding supervisor...
Not being able to enjoy or care for my garden will be hard!!
Ric, that picture is too funny--LOL! Of course, I was suspecting it was you all along! :-D
This message was edited Jul 12, 2014 7:57 AM
Catmint, do you have a wheeled office chair at home? That's how I got by!
I also used a milk crate to sit on when taking a shower. Just put a washcloth over the top and it's a shower bench! :D
It's a good thing your daughter is old enough to help out.
thanks, SSG, that's a great idea about a wheeled chair. I do have one but unfortunately down in the basement and very heavy... hmmm, but now you have me thinking.... And that's a great idea about the milk crate, too!
I'll call my orthopedic dr on Monday--they can give me a boot in addition to the splint, and they also offer PT there.
yes, I'm so glad she's old enough to be helpful. Last time I did something like this was walking her home from her very first day of Kindergarten. Fortunately, we had a foreign exchange student living with us at the time, or I would never have been able to manage. Of course, last night DD was all upset and worried, afraid I was going to be totally decrepit and an invalid and she would be singlehandedly responsible for caring for me at the age of 12--glad she was able to express that so I could reassure her that was *not* the case. :-)
Oh my Robin, what a pain. I sure hope it heals fast and has you back up and about in no time. Argghh...
thanks so much for your good wishes, Aspenhill--it means a lot! :-)
They have these neat rollers. Kind of like a skate board but high enough so that when you bend your knee the lower leg rests on them. They are pretty cool.
Good call on the wheeled office chair. Last time I sprained my ankle was at work in a very big warehouse. I used my desk chair to get to the front entrance and from there I could hobble out to the car. (did you notice that I sprain my ankle a lot) Told you I could definitely feel your pain. LOL
The roller thing sounds like a great idea, Holly--thanks so much! I'll have to see if I can find one of those.
Sorry to hear you are prone to ankle sprains, Holly! It's really a pain, isn't it? Both literally and figuratively--LOL! I've had a few in my adult life. Last time in 2007 it was actually a hairline fracture and took a good 8 weeks to heal. I'm hoping only 4-6 weeks this time. Once when I was in grad school it did not feel so bad--but I was young then and better able to bounce back physically.
Cat--I am sorry about your injury--hope it heals soon..Do what you have to--but gently.
Rest and take it easy...
Now--your 12 year old should be perfectly capable to do all the chores you listed above.
Here is her chance to be more "grown up" and your chance to let her prove it.
She's a Volleyball player!! A pretty brutal sport. (I KNOW)-- So doing some kitchen and
house chores should be no big deal. Just let her---
12 is old enough to help around the house. Wayyy old enough!
She will feel so grown up if you let her do some of this stuff...honest!
And she will feel more "needed" if you let her help you.
Don't pamper her so much! She needs to learn all the skills needed --so she
can, someday, live on her own... I can hear you now; "NOOOO!" Never!!!
AAGGHH!
NO! I am not sticking any pins in a voodoo doll--all my pins are safely in my pincushion.
Hugs---Gita
thanks, Gita--I was thinking the same thing about DD, that this would be an opportunity for her to feel more grown up, more useful, more independent, etc. She's always been the type to take each developmental milestone towards independence slowly, carefully--not like I was when I was a kid--I rushed headlong LOL. I think it is her temperament--she is on the cautious side.
Oh no Robin CM! You're the latest victim of the Mid At Curse! Someone is always in some stage of leg or ankle pain around this joint!
I understand it's scary for DD. I remember being in college, my dad went to the hospital for pneumonia which is quite recoverable, but seemed so threatening to me! He was at that time about the age Mark is now, so he was not elderly.
Yes DD will be very happy to help, she'll feel proud of it. Don't think of it as assigning a big workload to her, just ask her and tell her how much you appreciate it. And I say this because I was TERRIBLE about asking my kids to do household stuff, and now I feel I was silly that way.
LOL Sally well guess I'm proud to continue the MidAtlantic ankle tradition! ;-)
This message was edited Jul 13, 2014 7:00 AM
Yay, a chance for your DD to step up.
SSG, yes, we are now in OR at our son's. Our plans to put the RV on the ferry and come down the coast changed, so we started moving more quickly to get to see family. We really didn't spend as much time in Alaska as I thought we would.
Hey Sally, Jen is doing her first Triathlon next weekend. It is a short one but she is pretty excited. A 1mile swim in the river, 14 mile bike and 3 mile run. She had been training for one years ago before she did the DC Marathon but when she changed jobs it interfered with her training schedule and let it slip by. Nothing like that Iron Man of yours did. LOL
CatMint, I'm so sorry to hear about your accident! I was on crutches for 6 weeks after a bad skiing accident, so I know what a total pain it is, but perhaps you can use crutches just around the house; e.g. to support you when you have to do things in the kitchen, put laundry in, etc.
I was also living alone with a DD (spouse overseas), but she had college classes to go to, and my frustration level was pretty high at times! Laundry got thrown down the stairs - my only alternative on crutches - as did many unbreakable things I needed to get from point A to point B!
Other things that helped me: DD bought me wooden stools of 2 heights so I could sit rather than stand at sinks, and bought me a plastic patio chair so I could sit in the shower.
I asked (begged?) my doctor to write me a "prescription" for a handicap placard from DMV.
One thing I was too proud to do but should have was use one of those motorized vehicles that most grocery stores have.
Final idea: have your credit card company send a cc for her so she can dash into stores and buy stuff while you sit in the car. Great experience for her, and I bet she'll love doing it : - )
Edited to add that many stores have chairs or benches so you could wait for her in the store.
This message was edited Jul 13, 2014 9:08 AM
haha I never would have thought of throwing laundry down the steps!!!!!
Holly, Scott did a one mile swim but I forget what the other distances were (1/2 marathon/ 1/2 ironman?). Anyway, good for her!! I can't even go 25 yards swimming, nor 1/4 mile run...never mind all together and with bike in it. And there were a good number of people who looked in 'worse shape' than me doing the thing at whatever pace they could manage, which makes me feel really wimpy.