San Miguel de Allende, Mexico - 1955!

It is astounding to see this photo and to become aware of how much this village has grown in sixty-five years!  Truly a small village at the time.

I saved this photo to write a blog on the 18th of June.  Finally, today I feel like writing again. Somehow all the joy of writing has not been around much lately.

I've noticed a change in attitude and energy in the last few days with a desire to garden more, cook more and to move around more.........good news for me.  Hope you are experiencing this feeling  as well.  Being energetic has always been part of the joy of my life.  Maybe I have been trying to compensate for the fact that there is not so much to do so I have taken it really, really easy.  Who knows?  Least of all me.

The sounds of the egrets clacking and squawking in the eucalyptus trees across the cobbled stone road from my house are a welcome sound.  The new fledglings are trying to get their bearings.  I presume that is what all the noise is about.........

It has been so quiet around here that I welcome nature's sounds!  Yesterday while sitting here reading there was a loud boom and the music that I listen to constantly stopped.  I was reading, so I continued.  The silence was absolutely like having a clear spring of water flowing around.  Quiet, solitude.  Lovely.  Three hours later, the music returned.  A blown transformer had been replaced.

Cooking has been sporadic.  I got a wild hair and made banana bread on Friday because the bananas were getting too ripe then yesterday I made a large pot of spaghetti sauce with meat balls.  Enough for many, many meals!  So today I will not have to cook but just heat up the spaghetti and meat balls along with a small salad and very small flan for dessert. 

Gardening has shown the most results.  The gardens are abloom not only from the rains that come almost every evening, but also more attention to the flowers now that everything is blooming.  It is a glorious sight.  I will photograph the various gardens this week and share the photos with you in the next post. 

I learned something astounding this week.  Maybe many of you already know but in all the years of gardening it is something new to me.  About two years ago while at a Garden Club meeting at the home of a member who had amazing orchid gardens, the gardener said he stuffed banana peels in the beds to cause the flowers to bloom.  At the time it seemed strange to me, but I always remembered
that.  Then the other day I read that if you take the peels, put them in water for a few days and then pour that water on your flowers, that you will have greater blooming.  So, the experiment has begun.
I put three peels in a pitcher of water and this morning I poured that water on the clivias by the front door.  We'll see what happens.  They are not blooming at present and have no buds. 

In the same article about the banana peels, it said coffee grounds are good as well as egg shells.  The bananas provide potassium, the coffee grounds provide another needed ingredient and the egg shells provide calcium.  Hence, if one were to use all three there would be no need for Miracle Gro anymore.  Who knew?  I knew about coffee but not the reason.  Stay tuned.

Reading has been somewhat sporadic.  I ordered Bolton's book and slogged through the first 18% of it before I gave up.  Most of it was self aggrandizement of himself with a nugget here or there.  I have moved onto Little Fires Everywhere.  We'll see if it captures my interest while I wait for Mary Trump's book to arrive later this week.  ALWAYS have something ready to read.

Netflix continues to peak my interest.  Documentaries are always a delight for me.  Lately one on Sinatra, another on Robert Kennedy and Quincy Jones were fascinating. These documentaries come with film footage from the era.  It is astounding to see things that were occurring back then  Then lately I have been hooked on watching episodes of Feed Phil.  Not so much because of the food, but because of the places he travels to that are so interesting.  Marrakesh was spectacular as well as the segment on Copenhagen.  The segment on Chicago and Buenos Aires was delightful too.  He's a quirky guy and makes me laugh, which is a good thing. It sure is nice to watch things that don't have commercials.

Never did I think I would complain about CBS  Sunday Morning since I've been watching it since Charles Kuralt hosted it.  However, the amount of commercials far outnumber the interesting segments much to my dismay.  Yes, I will continue to watch just for those nuggets of inspiration that are on there from time to time.

That's about it from my casa to yours.  Hope this missive finds you discovering ways of inspiration, grace and joy to continue the journey to safety, sanity and life in this alternate Universe that we are now living in. 

Thanks to all of you who send me private emails and to this amazing couple in Canada who send me colorful greeting cards and messages on a regular basis.  I'm astounded and grateful for each of you.