Sheila, Being Real

The camassia lilies are blooming again, as you can see from the two in this picture. And yes, for those of you who asked in the comments yesterday, the little blue flowers in the background at left are forget-me-nots. We're having a banner year for forget-me-nots this spring. We have LOADS of them.

I cannot take a single picture that shows them all.

Note to self: Last year, as spring turned toward summer and the forget-me-nots stopped blooming, I pulled the spent plants and shook them over the flower beds to release the seeds. I sometimes don't pull the older plants and I wasn't sure how it would affect our "crop," but now I have the answer!

We had some little European goldfinches stop by yesterday. They like to pick buds off the tamarisk tree. I also heard the woodpecker again, and hoped to get a photo of it in the act of "pecking," but I couldn't get a clear sightline to the tree it was on. It's out there making a racket now, trying to find a mate, I think.

Well, my photo walk didn't happen. I had enough to do around here to keep me busy. None of it was very exciting, but it feels good to be on top of things.

I took the yucca outside for its annual bath, for example. That plant gets very sticky and dusty unless I wash it off every spring or summer. I also ordered a gigantic new pot for the avocado. It's badly root-bound in its current pot, and we've decided to put it in a planter on the patio and do our best to protect it in the cold winter. We'll see if it survives. I saw a video on YouTube showing a gigantic avocado tree in London -- bearing avocados! So apparently it is possible to grow them outside here, and if winters as mild as the last one are in our future, it doesn't seem inconceivable that it would survive. But it may not.

I walked Olga in the morning and we found more of Esley's rocks. By the way, "Esley" is actually Estella. I finally found some rocks where I could read the name more easily. I picked up two of them and put them in one of our planters on the patio, so Estella can see that someone appreciates her work.

I got some surprising news via Facebook that one of the women I was in Peace Corps with about 30 years ago, Sheila, died last year from ovarian cancer. I hadn't been in touch with her so this came out of the blue, and it makes me sad. She was about three years younger than me. We've lost a couple of people from our Peace Corps group in the years since, which I suppose shouldn't be surprising given the amount of time that's passed, but it still feels too soon. My main memory of Sheila was that she and I both loved dancing to Cheryl Lynn's disco hit "Got to Be Real," and every time it was played at any party we'd grab each other and head for the dance floor. I will never hear that joyous song without thinking of her.