Planting in the Cold

This is an update on the planting progress, which satisfies two of my resolutions -- to blog and to plant! In the last few weekends, despite temperatures in the 30s during the day, we have made big progress on the planting projects. Have planted four plum trees, three fig trees, an apple tree, a pear tree, two grape vines, seven blueberry bushes, seven camellia bushes, and one garden bed with winter veggie transplants. Yippee! Guess all of the bundling up in layers of clothing and grumbling was worth it. We have also continued our sod-wrangling, i.e., moving sod from the spots we don't want it to the paths in the front fruit orchard. Have almost lined all of the paths with a sod carpet. We are also making some progress on deciding where the other fruit plantings will go: a double row of grapes, a double row of blackberries, three miniature figs, and a persimmon in the front orchard; bunch grapes along the old fence near the barn; and more blueberry bushes in the barnyard. After the fruits, have to turn our attention to the flowering shrubs that will be planted along the long fenceline with our neighbors. It looks like our winter and spring will be filled with planting!

The Life List

While having lunch with several coworkers yesterday, we started talking about what things are on our "Life List", i.e., things we want to do or see during our lifetime. I have so many. Here goes with my often-to-be-updated list.

1. Attend the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena. I actually got to view the floats the day after the parade when I was in California a few years ago and they were spectacular. But I want to see them cruising down the Pasadena streets, see the moving parts in action, and hear the bands playing. There is a good chance that I can fulfill this goal as my daughter lives in LA and I plan on another holiday visit in the future. Just need to get tickets for a reserved seat so that I don't have to spend New Year's Eve camping out on the Pasadena sidewalks!

2. Visit Monet's garden in Giverny. Okay, this one is going to cost a few bucks and should include a trip to other spots in France to make it cost effective. I have always loved Monet's garden paintings -- maybe because it is the way I see the world without my glasses. Everything is an impressionist painting when you are extremely nearsighted and have an astigmatism! When I discovered that Monet was a serious gardener, I was hooked. I have several books about his garden and its reconstruction, a video about the garden, and a picture of his house hanging in my office.

3. Visiting the national parks on camping trips. I have visited a few of the biggies over the years (Grand Canyon, Smoky Mountains, Niagara Falls, Shenandoah) and many of the smaller ones (Saint Gaudens studio in New Hampshire, Sandburg's home in North Carolina, Lincoln's home in Illinois, the Gateway Arch in Missouri, Stone River battlefield in Tennessee, Longfellow's home in Massachusetts, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, to name a few). However, I want to visit many others, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore. Might be able to visit Yosemite on a visit with my daughter in California, but will have to wait for retirement to really explore the others out west. Let's see how many more I can visit in the meantime.

Okay, that's enough for now. What's on your list?

Blogging resolution

I have been really lousy with my blogging! Haven't posted anything since the beginning of November. Now, the holidays have come and gone and a new decade has even begun. Well, my new decade's resolution is to post a blog at least once a week. If I spend a few minutes writing for myself each day, then I will have a record of my life in little "blogs" to look back on at the end of this year.
My other resolutions: spend less money, finish that stack of UFO knitting projects, complete one knitted gift each month (this can be combined with previous resolution for a two-fer!), and get the numerous plants, trees, and shrubs out of their pots and into the ground!