Happy New Year my friends. I hope the new year has found you rested and healthy. This winter’s weather has been amazingly beautiful! We are just at the tail end of a cold snap, with temps down to-11 with the wind chill with wind gusts up to 45 mph, that has many people running around trying to sort out burst pipes and water damage issues, while we are looking at a new system that is supposed to come in tonight with 11 inches of snow and an inch of ice by the time it’s over in a time span of less than 48 hours. Should be an interesting ride!

I finally managed to place my order with Jolly Farmer! As usual, trying to get to everything has been tricky, but things have slacked off for a bit, but that lull will not be lasting too long as there has been some major changes with my mom. 

Flower news first….

It wasn’t a huge order this season, but a bit larger than last years. As I’m writing this I realize I didn’t do Dahlia’s this year, which is interesting, they are a good seller, but I do tend to like to dabble in different things from year to year, after all, variety is the spice of life isn’t it?

I ended up with things that I do not typically grow, but I know that hubby wanted to try some of the things I ordered, and I thought they would be easy to resell. We shall see how it goes when the Spring Market arrives. I also did get things that I absolutely love and just can’t live without.

Lisianthus is certainly at the top of my list of love. They are a very tricky seed to start, germination is often low, and they have to be started super early inside – I just do not have the time or space to do them, so they are ones that I tend to purchase as plugs. The nice thing about getting them as plugs is that they are already 4 inches tall, I just need to pot them up when they get here, stash them in the back of the greenhouse and wait to put them out, then stash them in the garden, and then basically ignore them – because they are so slow growing – and late bloomers, they are almost a surprise by the time they finally bloom mid to late July. This year I purchased the Voyage series. I’m looking forward to seeing how much I love them, this series has more of a fuller flower, as opposed to the ABC type that look more rose like and have compact blooms. I love me a good dramatic full bloom! Interestingly enough, I opted for Champagne this year, which happens to be close to the new Pantone color of the year “peach fuzz” I think they are calling it? For a few years now there has been a popular Dahlia called Café au Lait, which is very close to that “color of the year”, perhaps Pantone is just late to the show? In the voyage Lisis I also purchased yellow for my daughter & of course pink for me. The pink ones sold out within 15 minutes of being in my shop, and I have someone who waitlisted themselves just in case I ended up with extra. 

I did do Geraniums this year, simply because they are a very fun plant to grow, and hubby loves them, which are the two reasons why I decided to do begonias also. It doesn’t always have to be about the cut flower garden. I do love having color and scent on the patios and next to the entry doors at home, so they will all make great additions to the patios. 

Also, the ranunculus, patio combos and moss rose will be part of the patio schemes this year. Can you tell I’m trying to cut back on the garden this year? We have a few trips planned for the summer months, so I’m trying not to put as much into the garden as years past. I’ve managed to cut back from 1,600 my first year, to only 200 last year, we will see how much smaller I can go, but I do not have much hope for much less than 200 this year. We shall see how it all plays out. 

Of course the Snapdragons are going in the garden, but certainly not 140 of them, nor 140 of the stock, perhaps I will only keep 25 of each, but we shall see if I can get rid of them soon enough. I’ve put them in my shop as an Early bird situation, but people buying those have to keep them warm and cozy with light for several weeks. The prices will go up for the Spring Market because they will be potted up and have been held in a warm and cozy spot and be a bit larger. 

I always buy foxgloves for a friend of mine, but I’ve never planted any at my house simply because they do not do well in full sun, frankly, that’s all I have at the farm….no shade to speak of right now. But as the tree plantings grow and things move along, I believe that the foxgloves can start being stashed through the plantings in the fields. Also, as we work on the studio area, there might be some places to stash a few in the shade. It will be fun to see how things change shape as the bard rebuild starts to take place. 

I did get some Hollyhocks also, dwarf size because we tend to get high winds. I’d like to place them along the new studio, but the ground hasn’t been broken for that yet, so we shall see where I end up stashing them. Perhaps I will put them near the studio for now, and when the dirt begins to move, I will just say a nice goodbye to them and be okay with losing them, with thoughts of knowing I can put more in as the studio gets built and walls are put in place. 

I’ve also gone through the seed catalogs, but have not placed my order yet. I feel bad for purchasing new seeds when I didn’t use all my seeds last year, but honestly, I’m not sure if indeed they are any good because I wasn’t super careful when storing them. We will see what happens as time goes by.

There will certainly be Zinnias, Cosmos, Feverfew, Bells of Ireland and perhaps Godietas. I’m sure there will be other things that happen to land in the garden, but I do need to be very aware of our plans for summer travel.

As for new news about mom….

She had several more falls in December, the 22nd she ended up in the hospital for a few days, we ended up bringing her home to our house on Christmas, she wasn’t strong enough to change herself or use the restroom on her own. She gained some strength back after a few days, so she went home for a day to have her kidney stones removed with the IG famous doctor, then went home with the care giver. A few more falls, a few more phone calls then January 5th rolls around.

Her friend Kris showed up at our door, reporting that mom was not well, her speech was slow, she couldn’t remember how to use her to phone to call me, and she was very weak. We called 911 to have them meet us down there. I arrived to find mom all tucked into bed, chatting with the EMT’s, like everything was just fine. By this time, the EMTs know her well. They seem to think that they should transport, but she assures them that everything is okay. They start to talk about her at least making an appointment with her GP to do a follow up, when I step into the room and mention that mom cannot move her feet at all, and she is unable to standup. The EMTs all stop and look at me, look at mom, look at each other, and decide that indeed they need to transport. When they tried to get her up, it was extremely evident that something was a bit more serious this time than in the past. Mom couldn’t get her legs to do much of anything.

Off she went to the ER, later that night was checked into the actual hospital this time. Not the care decision unit this time, but an actual hospital room. Turns out she has yet another infection, honestly….between all the different doctors she has been in contact with, this last one being the IG famous doctor that did her stone removal and placed another stint in, told me she didn’t’ need to be on another antibiotic, even though she didn’t finish her rounds before….assured me it would all be fine. Indeed not fine…

One the third day of her being in that room we were notified that we had to start gowning up to go in to see her because she had an extremely contagious infection that was resistant to antibiotics. This is after she had 8 visitors over the several days prior, two of which were her great-granddaughters 1 month and 2 1/2 years old. However, after talking to the doctor – who seemed to be much more grounded in reality than the damn nurses – we were assured, unless we were playing in her bodily fluids we did not have to be overly concerned about it. 

Dear God….while all of this is happening, I’m beginning to notice a huge tilt in my hormones again, as if going through menopause once wasn’t enough, it appears that all of my symptoms had come back full force – brain fog, bloating, hot flashes, emotions over the roof….needless to say, it’s been a bit much!

As luck would have it, an unbelievable stroke of luck – mom has landed at a care facility – where indeed this time I did not have to call the insurance company to fight this time, I did not have to argue with the hospital care team about, I did not have to have the conversation with mom about, it just happened – it just finally all happened. We were given three options, we chose one, but then quickly changed our minds about it after reading reviews about it, and decided to place her in a facility that isn’t super close to us, but it isn’t horrible – just a 31 minute drive from home, 23 from work. 

It’s a private room, which the facility says is paid for 100% by insurance for 20 days, then if need be she can switch to long term care – in the same room….with cable tv, two windows, a closet and a dresser, a nice bathroom with a walk-in shower, three hot meals a day, round the clock care, peers to interact with, and safety……I’m still trying to process all of it….

It’s been a long, long road. My younger sister is unable to cope very well with any of it, she hasn’t been in the picture much at all, for whatever reasons, I’m unsure of, but I’m only guessing she just isn’t able to handle the stress. My older sister is an addict, she’s hardly capable of taking care of herself, let alone trying to be part of this process. Thankfully my husband and my daughter have been amazing, and so supportive, I’m not sure what I would do without them. I’m hoping to take a break from all of it very soon, but first, we deal with the new weather system about to blow in around 10 o’clock tonight!

Clay has been on hold for a while, I have been journaling a bit, and have been posting on my Double J Flowerranch IG account about all of it. I also have free downloads to go with your journaling, for me, just putting together the pages and the prompts have been a help, doing some sort of creating at least – until I can start with clay again when the weather warms up and things slow down a bit. I have a big sewing project to do before March arrives. I’m thinking I’m going to need to start packing mom’s things soon….with help from my daughter and husband thankfully, but that will be a process in-and-of-itself. 

Thank you so much for stopping by, until next time my friends. Hugs to you!