More Yardwork and Other Miscellany

This is the beginning of a datura (jimsonweed) flower. My daturas haven't done much this year. One of them has languished in the pot, not dying but not exactly growing either, and the other two are also small but at least they've bloomed once or twice. In fact I missed the flowers, they came and went so quickly. This one will probably be fully open today.

I was on the fence about growing them again anyway, so I'm not heartbroken. I think they like a hotter, drier environment than we've had this summer.

Yesterday I caught up with a few tasks and errands:

-- I went to the doctor to follow up on my recent blood tests. My cholesterol is still high, though not as high as it's been in the past. The doctor asked if I'd considered medication. I told him my mom's cholesterol is high too, and we've never had strokes or heart attacks in our family, so I'm not concerned. He agreed and said I was still "very low risk" despite the numbers so for now we're not doing anything. Otherwise everything was normal.

-- I trimmed some more of the landscaping in the front garden. We have a Hebe down by the street that's half dead, so I took all the dead parts out, and tore out more ivy to keep it from climbing up the walls of the house.

-- I posted some stuff on Freecycle. We had a stack of plastic plates and bags of plastic cutlery dating back to our wedding party eight years ago! Dave and I are infrequent party hosts (can you tell?) so I gave all that away. I also gave away a WiFi signal extender that wasn't very effective, but the guy who took it messaged me later and said it "works pretty well," so I guess it was just us. I might list some more items too. When Dave comes home the house will be empty!

-- I cleaned out and organized the pantry and the spice cabinet. We had a lot of stuff, particularly baking stuff, that was quite old, such as an unopened container of bicarbonate of soda that expired in 2013. I remember debating throwing it out the last time I cleaned out the pantry, and we haven't touched it since, so I chucked it. We just don't bake much. I also discovered frozen sausages in the freezer from last November! Gotta eat those when Dave returns. It's easy to lose track of stuff in there.

Another current bloomer -- our Inula.

Last night I watched the final episodes of "Heat," a four-episode Australian family melodrama that I discovered on Channel 5. It was pretty good, though kind of over the top. The main "bad guy" turned out to be so loathsome it defied belief.

Then my brother called me with the news that my mom is once again not doing well. I don't want to fly off the handle and across the ocean if it's not necessary, especially since Dave is gone and I'd have to figure out what to do with Olga. So for now I'm staying put. Mom is not very aware anyway, so I'm debating what to do in the longer term. I'm not sure she's going to make it to October, when I intended to visit next. I'll look into airline tickets and see what my options are.