A great Saturday
Jan. 15th, 2011 02:00 pmLast night was my first night back at aikido in months, so of course we did high falls. I woke up sore this morning and stayed in bed for a bit, though I did have a wonderful phone conversation. After that I crawled out to the farmer's market. I had intended to get just some bread and some red peppers for the turtles, but, well, they had golden beets which would go well with the carrot recipe I'm making today, and grapes, and a sweet potato that would go well in soup once my chicken stock is made. And fennel. I can't just walk past fennel without some.
After the farmer's market I stopped by the post office, where an early book by Chaz was waiting for me plus the newest Benjamin January book by Barbara Hambly. I somehow missed hers when it first came out in hardback a few years ago, but the trade is out now. Now I'm waiting for the carrots and beets to finish baking (with a sprig of rosemary I picked from my garden), but in the meantime I've watched videos on how to prune roses, so that may happen after lunch or tomorrow morning. It's a sunny, warm day today, so it's a good chance to do some cleanup outside.
Dymphna, meanwhile, chowed down immediately on the red pepper (after I found her and brought her in here), so G'Kwan immediately joined her...and started trying to mate with her. Sigh. I'm ignoring the noises behind me. Just as well.
Later on tonight is SF in SF, with Diana Paxton and Rudy Rucker reading, followed by the always interesting Q&A led by Terry Bisson. And someone else is driving, so it won't matter if I turn into a pumpkin on the way home.
After the farmer's market I stopped by the post office, where an early book by Chaz was waiting for me plus the newest Benjamin January book by Barbara Hambly. I somehow missed hers when it first came out in hardback a few years ago, but the trade is out now. Now I'm waiting for the carrots and beets to finish baking (with a sprig of rosemary I picked from my garden), but in the meantime I've watched videos on how to prune roses, so that may happen after lunch or tomorrow morning. It's a sunny, warm day today, so it's a good chance to do some cleanup outside.
Dymphna, meanwhile, chowed down immediately on the red pepper (after I found her and brought her in here), so G'Kwan immediately joined her...and started trying to mate with her. Sigh. I'm ignoring the noises behind me. Just as well.
Later on tonight is SF in SF, with Diana Paxton and Rudy Rucker reading, followed by the always interesting Q&A led by Terry Bisson. And someone else is driving, so it won't matter if I turn into a pumpkin on the way home.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 04:30 am (UTC)Have fun with the roses. Did the links I sent help?
Don't worry about the roses too much, they really are very sturdy and tough. They love to be trimmed back. BTW during the growing season, when you cut your flowers, you can cut while thinking about how you want the next blooms to grow and help them along. There is good rose fertilizer at the nursery too. Use it.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 04:38 pm (UTC)fennel and roses
Date: 2011-01-16 06:53 pm (UTC)As far as trimming roses, there is lots of information out there for hybrid teas (the modern ones).
Rip off all leaves, cut out all dead material, all spindly limbs, all limbs that grow down or toward the center, then make the bush 1/3 shorter. Throw all cuttings and leaves into the green can that goes away because they probably have fungus you don't want to take into the new growing season.
Then I put a layer of fresh mulch under each bush, at least 1 inch thick. Mushroom compost is my favorite, but can be hard to find.
Re: fennel and roses
Date: 2011-01-16 11:49 pm (UTC)