Emergency Mealybug Remediation

I had a really busy day at work yesterday, not only with normal checking in and checking out and re-shelving, but with continuing to weed our non-fiction collection. We have some ancient books about L'Ancien Regime and various other aspects of European history -- books at least as old as me -- and it's past time to update a lot of that material. So I worked on that all day, and on the walk home I told Dave I wanted to spend the afternoon relaxing in bed with a book that, for a change, I want to read. (As opposed to a Newbery medal winner that I'm reading more for work.)

But did that happen? No.

Because when I got home, I remembered that I had just noticed the night before that our jade plant was being attacked by some kind of white, fluffy insects. (Mealybugs, it turns out.) The recommended mealybug deterrent is a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, and we had neither cotton swabs nor alcohol on hand, so I had to make a quick run to the pharmacy around the corner. The jade plant is much happier now.

Once I'd done that, though, I wound up on a campaign of houseplant maintenance that ended with our avocado once again moved outdoors for the summer:

Last year we didn't think to move it outside until August, and it was so nice to have the extra space around our back door. So this year we got it out early. We thought we'd leave it on our rather weedy patio this time around.

I think this may be that tree's last year. It's starting to look scraggly and it's just too big for our living room. (I know, I said this last year, too.)

Boris Johnson has gone on TV and confirmed that restaurants and other venues will be able to open for indoor service on May 17, and next month we might even be able to HUG EACH OTHER! (This is assuming we see someone we want to hug, of course.) Also, crucially for me, the ban on international travel is being lifted, so I can fly to Florida as planned without annoying the government.

I tried a couple of times to call my mom on Mother's Day but she didn't answer her phone. My brother says this isn't unusual -- she never answers it these days. I'm not sure it even rings, to be honest. She may have it turned off. She never liked the phone much. But she lives in a unit with daily assistance so I know she's fine, and hopefully she got the flowers I sent her. My stepmother told me that she got hers.

(Top photo: Another scene along the Regent's Canal on Sunday.)