Impulses and Seeds

I hope I didn't make a mistake and jump the gun a bit.  See, I'd been hardening off my new plants over the last few days, and I'd been leaving them out until around 4:00 PM.  They seemed to be doing fine, so this afternoon, I went ahead and planted them into their permanent homes.  

Now my little raised bed herb gardens are complete.  In this section we have Lemon Thyme, Greek Oregano, Orange Mint, and Sweet Mint.

In this section, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm, Peppermint, and Italian Parsley.

And in this section, we have Cilantro, Rosemary, French Tarragon, and Sweet Basil. 

That's all the herbs I'm going to have this year.  

By the way, apparently I have the gene that makes you not like Cilantro.  I'd let Brennan cut some to take to her bearded dragon -- and for them to eat themselves if they want-- and while we were doing that, I asked her if it smelled OK to her, because it smells like stinkbugs to me.  She smelled it and said it was OK, so this afternoon, when I was cutting some to dry on impulse, I tasted some and nope, it tasted as bad as it smelled.  I'll be saving that for the kids. 

Then I told her to get some sweet basil, too, and she was like, not sure how to cut it, so I said, "Do you want me to do it?"  She handed me the scissors and I whacked a couple of big sprigs of it, and she said, "OH!"  I guess she doesn't realize how aggressively you can harvest herbs.  

By the way, they'd come to cook me dinner for Mother's Day, which is why they were here cutting herbs.  Cody made something he called pasta jambalaya -- which is like regular jambalaya, but made with spaghetti instead of rice.  It was really, really good, and I enjoyed visiting with the kids, even though they didn't stay long.  

In other, somewhat related news, this sunflower has a couple of buds on it now. 

As does this one. 

There had to be at least four different varieties of seeds in those little packets they were handing out.  I'm going to try to save some and plant them again next year. 

Speaking of seeds, I've been able to collect a few from my Bachelor's Button. 

I'm only getting them from the plant nearest the carport -- the one that's so big and bushy.  I want the ones in the actual flower bed to seed where they are.  I'd put little baggies around some of the wilting blooms, but then I accidentally figured out I could just kind of roll them between my fingers and the seeds would fall out by themselves.  I figure by the time this plant dies back, I ought to have a good bit of seeds there. 

In other news, I'm not sure what I was thinking, but a week or so ago one of the piano teachers I follow on YouTube made a video about how to thrive as a self-taught student.  In the video, he recommended getting a good course book, and suggested two that he really liked.  One is the Alfred's All-In-One that I'm already doing, and the other is called Adult Piano Adventures.  

I don't know why, because I'm not usually one given to impulsive purchases, but I went all the way back to a level one beginner book...and bought it. 

I haven't started yet, but will probably do so here in a little bit.  Meanwhile, I'm still working through the Alfred's Level 2 that I've been doing for what seems like forever now.   I have a piece I'm working on that I want to play for you, so I bought....this microphone for my phone. 

The piano teacher also recommended getting a phone mike to improve the quality of your recordings, and to be honest, I'd never liked the way my songs sounded when I videoed myself playing.  The tone didn't sound right.  It was harsh and brassy.  I'm hoping having these mikes will help.  Plus, if I ever get around to making more vlogs, they'll help with that. 

The last thing that arrived was my replacement lawnmower pull cord.  

I was going to come home and see if I could figure out how to replace it, but it's been raining off and on all day, so I'm putting that off until -- probably the weekend.  

And finally, I finally heard from the Diabetes Solutions place, and we have an appointment scheduled for next Wednesday.  Alas, it's going to be over Zoom, which I'm not thrilled about, but I guess it's better than having to show up in person.  

I'll let you know how it goes.