It's Monday

We were up and at 'em early today. After watering the tomatoes and the herbs, I was off to the gym for my date with the treadmill. Walk, walk, walk. Good for the bad back.

Dick was off to his drawing class. Retirement for him has been fun. Last fall he took a continuing education drawing class at a local college. The class was called "You Too Can Draw" and he found out that yes, He Too Could Draw! He did a portrait of the grandson and it really does look like the little guy. This summer he decided to take a real beginning drawing class from the museum art school. So far so good. And, it keeps him inside in the AC.

One of the other things on Dick's retirement list is getting back to golf. It's been a very long time since he has played and his clubs could be considered antiques! He's taken a few classes through Leisure Learning and Golf Galaxy, been out to the driving range, and has played a couple of rounds of best ball. When we go to a bookstore, instead of the history or mystery section, he's of to the sports section to see what's new in golf.

Stay cool and have a good day!

Sanctuary Garden

Once we decided that the garden will be a memorial to Musashi what was next? It was list time. What did we really want in the backyard that would make us happy? What were we looking for? SANCTUARY in very big letters.

• We wanted a garden we could enjoy all year.
  
• We wanted a garden that was critter friendly.
  
• I wanted a place for herbs and maybe a few vegetables.

The list went on and on. About the same time I was reading a book titled THE SANCTUARY GARDEN by Christopher Forrest McDowell and Tricia Clark-McDowell. This little book helped me gather my thoughts and feelings.

I admit the whole garden process has been an experiment. Some plants haven't worked at all and were replaced. One plant I had to have was roses. One of Musashi's favorite places was the balcony where he would sit under the roses and watch the birds, squirrels and people. The first two plants were a red rose and an apricot rose on either side of Musashi.

The garden has grown. We planted in containers and moved them around until we found a spot they liked. We have two lime trees that are in the ground and a tangerine and satsuma orange that are in containers. Green beans, herbs (peppermint, cat nip, lavender, rosemary, sage). Red and gold Ixora. Plumbago. Purple trumpet vines. Penta of all colors. Amaryllis. Camellia. Gardenia.

Musashi's Garden is a garden of comfort. We share this small space with critters we like to watch. We have successfully provided a habitat and features to attract different birds, toads, frogs, butterflies. It is a special place that we enjoy year round.

Gardens talk to you. All you have to do is sit and listen. The special sound the leaves in the trees make when the wind blows. Birds singing and calling to each other or letting us know it is time to hurry up and put food in the feeder! (We don't feed them on the ground anymore.) Squirrels chattering. Wind chimes. Water in the fountains. The buzz of a bee or mosquito. At night the sounds of the toads and frogs.

Gardens have the power to heal, soothe and stimulate. Did you know the word "paradise" comes from a Persian term for garden? We have our own little paradise right here on earth.

Musashi's Garden

When we moved into our home nine years ago our postage stamp backyard was all grass. My husband and I learned quickly that weed wacking the grass was not the way to go! We both agreed that buying a lawn mover for what little grass we had was silly and grass wasn't what we wanted in the first place! We hired various companies for suggestions about what to do with the space. The bids we received were for amazing amounts of money or simply designs we didn't like. We decided to take the plunge and do what we felt like doing.

We hired someone to come and remove the sod and rototill where we wanted planting space (part of which is in the five foot utility easement). My husband (Dick) spent time with pencil and graph paper designing the brick walk and patio he was going to build. The work went slowly - mainly ideas only - until our beloved kitty Musashi passed over the Rainbow Bridge. Our garden became a loving memory to Musashi - Musashi's Garden.

Stress Test

At the first baseball dinner of the year Coach Graham said it was going to be a very interesting year. He wasn't kidding. This year has been a cardiac stress test for Rice baseball fans. We've had no idea what we were going to see when we got to the ballpark. If anyone had told us when the team was 8-7 we would be going to Omaha for the College World Series for the third time in three years, we wouldn't have believed them.

If you've guessed by now the Owls won their super regional against Texas A&M you'd be correct -- by the skin of their teeth.

Because Rice is a small university, baseball season ticket holders are like an extended family. You know the names of the fans sitting around you in your section and usually something about them and their family. You exchange email addresses and telephone numbers to keep in touch during the off season because you really do miss them when baseball season is over. You meet the players. You realize that Rice has successfully combined the student with the athlete. Listening to the team last night at the after game celebration was a joy. These are articulate young men who are a pleasure to be around no matter how much stress they've put us through.

Fans always have their favorite players. One player everyone has been rooting for is Jimmy Comerota. He started the year as our utility infielder. If someone needed a day off, Jimmy got to play. Our second baseman suffered a season ending injury and suddenly Jimmy became the starting second baseman. The fans watched Jimmy mature as a defensive and offensive player and (even Coach Graham agrees) one of the best second basemen in college baseball. To put the icing on the cake, Jimmy is also an excellent student. Go Jimmy Baseball!

No matter what may happen in Omaha in 2008, we are proud of our Owls. GO OWLS!

Nightshade

I just finished reading Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert. Nightshade is the sixteenth book in a cozy mystery series featuring China Bayles. You read that right. Sixteen books in a series and I've read all of them.

China Bayles left practice as a criminal attorney in Houston and bought a century old building in the fictional city of Pecan Springs in the Texas Hill Country. In Pecan Springs China turned to her love of herbs and started her shop Thyme & Seasons. Her best friend, the vibrant and flamboyant Ruby Wilcox, runs the only New Age shop (Crystal Cave) in Pecan Springs and co-owns with China a tea shop called Thyme For Tea.

China's husband, McQuaid is an ex-cop who has tired of the politics involved in his position as an associate professor in the criminal justice department at the local college. He recently hung out his shingle as a private investigator.

Nightshade centers on the story of China's half brother Miles and their father Bob Bayles. Bob died sixteen years ago in an automobile accident. Miles believes that there was something funny about their father's death and hires McQuaid to help him investigate the case. China has mixed feelings. She had a difficult relationship with her father and it was just a few months before that she learned that Miles Danforth was her half brother, a product of a long term relationship between her father and his secretary Laura Danforth.

Albert takes some chances with Nightshade. The usual cast of Pecan Springs characters - Ruby, Brian (McQuaid's teenage son), Smart Cookie (beautiful and tough Pecan Springs Police Chief), Blackie (county sheriff) - are hardly seen. The story centers on China, McQuaid and Miles. Albert's previous books in the series are written in China's voice. In Nightshade, Albert adds the third person perspective of McQuaid. While interesting to read what McQuaid is thinking and feeling, I thought it broke the flow of the book.

As usual, Albert includes snippets of herb and plant lore along with the ever popular recipes. I missed my yearly visit with the characters living in Pecan Springs, but Nightshade did answer many questions about China and her father. I recommend this series to cozy mystery lovers as well as those who are interested in herbs.

Albert has a web site that includes information about her books (3 different series), herbs, recipes and the blogs that Albert writes. Enjoy!