The Sandwich Life

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. What would I do without music? This song is one of those that helps relieve the ache I get inside me sometimes. I adore Rod Picott. A week from TOMORROW folks! Man, I can't wait to have him in our house again. Time to send your money in.....Friday, May 18th....potluck at 6, music to follow...this will be a great one. There's something about his songs that is just good for my heart. Why is it that songs with a lot of hurt in them somehow heal?

 

2. Rod has promised to sing Sheetrock Hanger for Owen and me. And even if he hadn't, I think that if Owen asked with his new cheetah puppet he made at school, Rod would have to agree....

3. Iris isn't particularly one of my favorite flowers but they can suck me in....and I do have a weakness for Siberian Iris....here's a white iris that is out at Japan House....

4. Here's another picture from the ponds at Japan House....although I haven't seen the goslings in the last few days...I hope they're o.k...

5. I got a few plants in the mail that I had ordered some time ago when I guess I was feeling more flush...and between the plants and all the packets of seed I have strewn across my sideboard, I fear once again I have been too ambitious. We were talking about putting raised beds on our patio but it's almost planting time and it hasn't happened and...well...I'm just not counting on it. Especially since Ernie told me that some garter snakes live under the daylily plant back there....he just looked at me and said, "Didn't you know that?" Like I'm stepping foot on the patio again....  Geesh.

 

Allerton Park Peonies for my Peony Starved California Friends

Yup....this is for you Brandaburs....and any other peony lovers out there.  Ernie and I were going to make the boys come with us to Allerton this morning but they were playing so happily together....and Leo was whistling which always makes my heart sing...so we left them here and went by ourselves.

It was perfect.

Random Pictures from the Sandwich Life

The best time of year for this haphazard border along our alley is right now....allium, chives, iris, peonies....and you can see some of my herbs....oregano, lemon balm, pineapple mint, flowering sage, and bronze fennel

my love-in-a-mist about to burst open. I planted these years ago and they just keep reseeding....I love them

this is what I think of as the classic peony. We had them all along the side of our house when I was growing up

my friend Gail's clematis

Japanese maple helicopters in my friend Becca's yard

we stole some clematis from our friend Mary's old yard since the house is empty right now

my sweet pea

 

More Peony Porn

 

 

 

 

Helping A Bit

May I just say....?  

I have had a relatively crappy week.

Nothing earth shattering.

Nobody dying.

Nobody's cancer out of control.

Nothing serious.

Just crappy.

That's just how it is sometimes.

 

The peony with rain drops on it however?  

It helps a bit.

What Was I Thinking?

What was I THINKING having sex without birth control?

I ask you.

Sigh.

Last night before bed Owen dreamily explained to me that Ernie was a Mangel (man + angel).  This morning he screamed at us for a lengthy period telling us that we don't understand him, are unfair and never believe him..and are jerks.  

I said, "uh, yeah....but you still have to go to school."

Monday Report

Even though I didn't have a spring break (o.k....I left work an hour early one day) I still hate to have it over. Back to busy mornings, checking on homework and nagging them to get to bed ontime.  And having the weather suddenly change, from warm and sunny to cool and almost seasonal, just reinforces it the feeling of back to reality....

It was a pretty lazy weekend but I say that a lot, don't I?  Yesterday I spend a chunk of the morning making lists, uploading pictures, updating software....little busy computery things that always make me feel good...and seem to be Sunday morning tasks for me.  Then we did some measuring of the patio and figured out what we will need in terms of lumber for the raised beds.  I made the boys clear off all the dead morning glory vines along our ramshackle fence.  I didn't boss them around too much though as they kept keening about it being the last day of spring break.  Ernie and Owen shot baskets for awhile and Owen obsessed over his loose tooth.  According to him it's been loose almost an entire YEAR!  He wouldn't let me just pull the damn thing....he tried eating an apple with it...didn't help....Ernie even took him to the store and let him buy some of his beloved Laffy Taffy...it got it a bit looser but still no go.  In the afternoon Ernie and I sat in our yard and read and crossword puzzled respectively. Finally dragged ourselves inside and got dinner and boys into the shower, etc.

Oh, and you'll be happy to know that Toothwatch 2012 is now over.  Last night in the middle of the night Owen showed up by our bed, proudly holding a tooth.  

Busy week ahead....a work thing Wednesday evening and Justin Townes Earle at the Castle on Thursday....the next few weeks are going to be very busy.  It's all good but I am a homebody at heart so I always have to steel myself for these periods of time.  For now I'm off to see how few cherry blossoms are left at work....

O.k.  Onward to the week.....

Just a Couple of Random Notes....

Ohhhh...the weeds, the weeds, the weeds.....  We've been making gardening/yard plans.  We need to buy a boatload of topsoil and compost....and we're planning to tear up some of the patio we don't use and put 4 small raised beds in there....that's where the tomatoes and peppers will go....lots of sun.

Some of our strawberries already have teeny, tiny little baby strawberries on them!

And on an inside note....our bathroom is looking great!!!

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  My husband makes the best scrambled eggs in the world.  I don't really like them made by anyone else.  When my sister Judi was dying and didn't want to eat much anymore, one of the few things she loved was Ernie's scrambled eggs.  If he wasn't home I would offer to make them but she would just shake her head and tell me "thanks, but I only want Ernie's."  I had scrambled eggs for breakfast in case you couldn't tell.

2.  Yesterday, after our traditional Friday Fries and Peanuts lunch, Ernie and I just drove for awhile.  It felt so good.  We took some pictures but then we noticed the skies toward Champaign looking threatening so we scurried home to be with our babies.

3.  Later, when the rain hit Ernie ran upstairs to close windows.  By the time I made my way into the kitchen our contractor/friend Todd was closing the windows already.  Damn, I like having two husbands.

4.  Oh, oh, oh.....speaking of Todd....he told me the most wonderful story.  When his nephew was around 4 years old he had him come over and gave him grass seed to plant.  He told him it was sucker seed and would grow suckers.  So his nephew obediently planted the seed and carefully watered it.  He came back on Easter and Todd had stuck suckers in the ground.  He said his nephew's face was awestruck.  Is that WONDERFUL?  I love Todd, as does the rest of the family.  Owen has somehow sucked him into some project to do with Ezio. Todd is a good man.

5.  Yet another reason I love my husband:  he's on a Johnny Thunders kick.  When it's just us in the car he puts on Born to Lose and we drive down the road shouting "I said HIT IT."  It makes one feel remarkably good.

6.  So no Peter Case in Milwaukee tonight.  I tried to figure out how to make it work but even with V'ron's kind offer to put us up it just didn't fit in with the weekend.  Owen is home from his sleepover and reportedly didn't sleep until 4:15.  Hmmmm.  God knows he's exhausted.  As it turns out Paul Collins was kicked off the tour for wretched behavior and so it wouldn't have been the reunion we'd hoped for.  However, it would have meant all the more Plimsouls songs which would have been good.  Sigh.  It just wasn't in the cards.  Next time Peter....next time.

7.  No weekend plans....for awhile I thought about painting our bedroom but somehow I don't see that happening....  We need to do some garden planning....eh, we'll see.  Tonight is family movie night.  Last night, in the delicious silence that happens when Owen is out of the house, Leo and Ernie and I watched a movie together.  We tried to watch some tornado movie on Netflix but it kept stopping so we tried a movie about lightning.  Honest to God....I think this was the worst movie I've ever seen....Roadhouse notwithstanding.....

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  The other night as we were picking up before the Bottle Rockets house concert Owen paused and said, "Mom, is that pregnant girl coming to this one?"  I thought for a minute and realized he was talking about our friend Amy who was at the Eric Brace and Peter Cooper show....ON her due date no less.  I told him no, that she'd already had her baby, but wasn't coming, and he said, "Oh, because I had the pillow for her back ready if she was coming."  And THAT is why I put up with any of his less than enchanting moments.

2.  Last night Ernie and I were sitting on the porch waiting for our friend V'ron and her son to arrive and there were two cable trucks on our block with flashing lights.  A cable emergency?  Why do cable trucks have flashing lights? It made the block seem quite dramatic but kinda confused me.

 

 

 

3.  Shouldn't coasters be, by their very nature, absorbent?  Because the smooth, shiny kind that I have my drink sitting on right now just let all the condensation roll right off onto what it's not supposed to.

4.  Ernie and I just went to Target because A. the boys were out of underwear and we still don't have a washer and dryer.  Ernie actually considered going to the laundromat until I said, "Oh good god no....let's just buy some.  B.  I needed a frame for our Bottle Rockets/Mark Gerking poster and C. we bought some mucinex in hopes of dislodging the small animals that have taken up lodging in my throat.

5.  I also threw in some mascara because hell....mayble I'll make an effort one of these days and last time that occurred to me I found I no longer even OWNED mascara....not even dried up tubes that you use just to make yourself feel like you're making an effort...

6.  I want to go do yardwork but my bed is calling a HELL of a lot more loudly....