Sophie's Story

     When I was a kid, my parents had geraniums around the house. The classic red ones that you see if you Google it. I was never very fond of them, I didn't think they were pretty and they smelled bad. I think I learned in chemistry class that the compound responsible for the scent of geranium and the compound responsible for the scent of skunk were very close. As a joke when I came home from college, Dad put a dried geranium in my room telling me it was my favourite flower. I agreed. The only good geranium is a dead one.    When I bought plants for my parents' deck this year, my dad asked for a geranium. He was wintering my uncle's big geranium plant and wanted one of his own. I learned for the first time that there are two kinds of geraniums, seed and zonal. The seed ones are obviously grown from seed which zonal comes from cuttings from a plant. The zonal ones are larger with larger flowers. Dad was specific, no seed geraniums.    I thought it was ...

        Last week I took my parents to a store to buy some plants for their deck. We got a tomato plant, basil, a geranium, a lavender plant and six petunias. Once we got back to their apartment, I potted the plants. They looked good. When I visited yesterday, the tomato plant had a flower and the lavender plant looked like it had a flower bud as well.    I bought a couple plants for myself which I put in our garden. I haven't had time to plant the carrot and bachelor button seeds that I bought. I have got this serious urge to get our garden started. I'm hoping to get some tomato, pepper, snapdragon and marigold plants today so I can plant them tomorrow. I'd do it today, but it's raining.    Willow turned one on Tuesday.  I had to work, but she got extra treats and her favorite toy plastic springs. She's a small cat with long legs. She likes to run, jump and watch the animals in the front yard from her cat tree. She likes to play hide and go ...

     Last week C and I decided that it was time to get the bikes out. The wheel passes for the Cannon Valley Trail had come in the mail. The weather was nice and it was time to ride.    We got a later start than we had planned. We had some discussion over riding the CVT or  a trail nearer to home. We eventually decided to ride the CVT starting at the Welch midpoint and riding toward Cannon Falls. The trail has a slight incline going that direction and we thought it would be easier. Having made that decision, C loaded up our bikes while I dressed and got our water bottles ready.    After the bikes were secured, we took off. It was a pleasant drive. We were both eager to get riding.    We pulled into the parking lot and found a space. There were not many people riding late yesterday morning. It's one of the reasons why we like to go on the weekdays. The trail is less crowded. Our plan was to bike to Cannon Falls and eat lunch at a coffeesh...

     I think I reported a few weeks ago that none of the amaryllis plants that my dad and I have had any buds on them. This was disappointing because I had done all the things my dad told me I had to do to get the bulbs to flower. That's what happens when you deal with plants. They do what they are going to do. I'd just have to try again next year.    Last evening, I watered the amaryllis when I noticed something that I had not seen before. A large stalk had grown and on the end of the stalk was a bud! It was tall and growing toward the window.     How had I missed it? I know that I checked the plants carefully when I watered them to see if flower  stalks were coming up. Somehow I had missed this. I'm guessing the flower stalk was behind some of the leaves so I did not see it. Amaryllis plants grow pretty fast. Sometimes I think that if you watch them you can actually see them grow.    It didn't matter. I was so happy to see the bud...

     When I looked back at my Facebook memories today, I noticed many years of Happy Stepmother Day posts. An internet search back then had told me that Stepmother's Day was on May 1. ( It's actually the Sunday after Mother's Day.) I decided that since I am a stepmother, I should recognize the day. I did for many years, in 2019 the posts stopped. I quit celebrating Stepmother's Day.     A bit of backstory is in order here. When I got married almost 20 years ago, I not only gained a  husband, I also gained five stepchildren who ranged in age from early twenties to early teens and a granddaughter. My joke was that I went from zero to five kids in 30 minutes the length of a standard Lutheran wedding ceremony.    It was important to me that my stepchildren feel welcome in our lives. The three older children were part of our wedding party. I had hopes that in time we would be a family. During our long engagement we discussed the issue of stepchildren a...