Month: May 2012

Lawn Mower

My electric lawn mower, which has taken a beating through the years, has rebelled. It doesn’t run at the same speed but seems to cut in and out.

Ron brought it to Botello for repairs, and they charged us, but didn’t fix it. I was so furious when I tried to mow today that I gave up on it altogether and hauled out the trusty hand mower.

There was something very calming and satisfying about pushing around a tool that doesn’t depend on electricity or fossil fuels.

The grass was low enough that I could get away with mulching for all but a small part of the yard.

I finished up by transplanting an astilbe and a lavender and giving a couple of lavenders a long-overdue pruning.

Marginalization and Appreciation

“As a mother, I work hard every day and I expect that work to be recognized and appreciated. Because I work for and with human beings, sometimes they’re grateful and sometimes they aren’t. That’s okay — because some days I do a great job and other days I’m not so brilliant. But I expect my kids to appreciate me, not least because if they don’t, it’s hard to imagine how they will ever appreciate anyone.

“One day a year isn’t even a decent start on eliminating the misogyny and marginalization that women in the United States endure daily. To me, all that Mothers Day says, loud and clear, is that women are so foolish and sentimental that they will be satisfied with something crass and half-baked.”

Margaret Heffernan, “Why We Don’t Celebrate Mother’s Day In Our Home”

Gardener’s Diary

Planted a second carpet rose in the corner garden today. Sprayed the roses with what I hope is a solution of Rose Pride to stop the infestation. If it looks like it’s not working in a couple of days, I’ll mix up a new batch.

Asparagus plants are up! I added about 2 more inches of soil. Will add more in about 2 weeks.

We have forget-me-nots in the front. I fear I’ve been weeding them out in prior years. Ouch.

Took photos of the swing set for a woman on Craigslist who may be interested in it.

One More Down

We made it to the Pain Management center at Brigham & Women’s today. Ron is very pleased with the consult from Dr. Christine Sang.

Turns out, all of the doctors in this particular practice are anesthesiologists. Dr. Sang is also a researcher and has an appointment at Harvard Medical School.

Afterwards, we had lunch at an Italian deli in Brookline Village and drove to Peet’s in Harvard Square for tea and a pound of coffee. We then went to Roslindale to check out the gentrification of Roslindale Square and the streets where Ron’s aunts used to live.

It was an ideal time to visit Boston with all the trees in bloom. The GPS plotted out a gorgeous route for us through Brookline around the edge of the Arboretum and Faulkner Hospital. Traffic was light and we got home well before nightfall.

All in all, a very pleasant and successful day.

Rain

Rain today, and lots of it. Feels like it made up for a good chunk of April. I wonder if the grass will finally green up.

I weeded in three different places yesterday: here, Highfield and the grass garden at Edgewater. Got the peat moss spread on the grass garden, good timing.

Ron went to see his MD today, got a prescription for Prednisone and it seems to be helping him a lot.

Ron saw a rabbit today, first time in a long while.

We went to a demonstration last evening to support the Falmouth selectwoman who dropped the Pledge of Allegiance from their agenda last week. There was quite a crowd of flag-wavers, but they were for the most part polite and non-confrontational.