See, in midsummer I planted a bunch of seeds I'd overlooked earlier.  Most seedlings were eaten by the resident groundhog, who LOVES all squash family plants, too.  But these things survived - the seed package didn't.  So here are some pictures of what resulted, hoping someone out there can identify them:

My new knee is still healing and I can get around quite well execpt for in the garden.  (Bummer!)  As you can see, I get out there anyway, and keep finding lots of weeds as well as things that need to be done.  I have a helper, but he's not a gardener and needs lots of direction, which it's hard for me to give since it's hard for me to get around in the garden.  Also, he's not one for pulling individual weeds out from among desireable plants.  Or even identifying which is which!

My next garden task is to plant all the things I ordered over the summer (maybe also to figure out where I was going to put them - I think I sometimes ordered more than one thing for the same spot - Oops).  At some point I ordered lots of shade plants and then the crabapple tree was wind damaged and had to be removed, so there's more light there now.

Got to go get more ice for my knee.

I got more photos from the garden, but Xanga doesn't seem to want to cooperate with downloading them, so they'll have to be saved for next time.

We went out for dinner and a movie (Religulous) last night. Total walking was maybe 2 blocks each way. A little too much, still, I guess, cause my knee bothered me all night. Finally went downstairs for an ice bag, which helped. But it sure was nice to get out with Tom - a thoroughly enjoyable date with my hubby!

The garden helper did NOT weed the stuff out of the brick path down near Forbes Avenue. I still have to check on whether he got the buttercups out of the golden groundcover (sort of like a tame 'creeping charlie' plant). He's good at hacking away at overgrown shrubs and clearing up every scrap of organic matter on the soil in certain areas - definitely a little too enthusiastic on clearing up debris. It's driving me crazy that I can't just get down and do the weeding myself!

Yesterday I scanned in some photos, next need to upload a new profile picture from Cape May this spring - birdwatching off the Hawk Watch platform at the Cape May Park. It was a chilly, but fun day. I no longer remember what birds I saw, but I remember having fun doing it!

Today my physical therapist told me my scar was beautiful. Guess it all depends on whose scar it is? At any rate, I seem to be recovering from my knee replacement surgery faster than I expected. We just put my "rollerator" walker back into the trunk of my car, and I'm no longer using a cane for the steps - although it's still only one step at a time. My knee lets me know if I forget and try to use that leg for the next step! And my hip and spine aren't bothering me the way they usually do when the weather changes (knock wood). Maybe it's one of those "unintended consequences" I hear about - but a positive one rather than negative.

But the garden looks like I've been neglecting it for over a month. My "helper" is great with big projects like trimming trees and such, but weeding seems to mostly be beneath him. Except for the hedge bindweed, which was the first thing I taught him. I called it "the weed I love to hate" and he's been very diligent about pulling it out and separating it from the composting materials. Anyway, so I find myself in various places outside the house pulling weeds by bending over (not good for back) because I can't get down on the ground (not good for knee). But I haven't tried to go down into the back garden again. I'd probably go bonkers if I saw it up close!

Tom took me out to a nice restaurant for my birthday. There went the diet! But it was wonderful. Especially the Molten Chocolate Cake with lemon ice cream. (but we shared that item)

Today's my birthday. I didn't remember until I came down to breakfast and Tom had cards for me.

Got home from the hospital on Sept. 11th around 8:30PM because they decided I needed a blood transfusion before I left and it took forever to get the blood, apparently. Been doing the exercises to rehab my knee fairly faithfully ever since. The first week they had a physical therapist come to the house, after that I've been driving to the PT I'd been going to for my back problems. Things seem to be coming along nicely. I can walk without even a cane, but still make it a point to take one with me - using the stairs is somewhat easier with the cane. Still only 1 step at a time on the steps, tho. Saturday I thought I'd just go for a little walk to exercise. Well, I ended up in the garden (of course - just had to see what had started blooming over the last 3 weeks), found weeds to pull and calendulas to deadhead, and generally over did what I was actually capable of. BUT - I enjoyed it greatly! (of course).

So, other than healing, I've not been up to much lately.

At 10AM I'm to report to the hospital to get all the paperwork done and get prepared for knee replacement. Why am i doing this?? (Seemed like a good idea when I scheduled it!)

Anyway, I got back from Aruba on the 4th and spent the past 3 days just catching up. Aruba was awesome. Went out to De Palm Island twice for snorkeling - the ocean off the hotel beach is full of sandy silt - can't see much except maybe first thing in the morning. The last couple days there, there was even some surf due to the hurricanes in the Gulf.

Let's see if I can get those photos, using luvthewaves explanation:

Above (I hope) is a photo of the Mussel Shell River from the bridge on our relative's ranch.

Above is the "Hex" on the side of the barn. It was created by a local artist and features the family name "Moe".

The Stone House.

Windmills.

Well, I found out what I was doing wrong - the HTML reference was several lines longer than it looked like. I was copying only what was in the window, not all of the commands.

So I'll finish with Alicia's pretty flowers - and my shadow:

I read the FAQ - it was no help at all.

It didn't - let's try again: http://x41.xanga.com/91a8275401d29208312082/q162202704.jpg
http://xef.xanga.com/ee1c635247330208312467/q162203039.jpg
http://x96.xanga.com/caa82b5602578208312253/q162202851.jpg
http://xe1.xanga.com/b1a8345a01d79208312120/q162202738.jpg
http://x9b.xanga.com/a8bc6356d0730208312394/q162202972.jpg

I didn't have my camera out during the Bar Mitzvah nor while we were in Oregon. But when it came to the family reunion, the digital camera came out and I went to work. So here are a few of the pictures I took at the Stone House Reunion. The stone house was built in 1908, so it is the 100 year anniversary of the house. This reunion was of Tom's family. He is related through a great grandfather.

The first one is of Alicia's flowers, 'cause I always am a sucker for flowers:

Then there were the 6 windmills.

And the art on the barn:

The Mussel Shell River:

The Stone House:

I'm not sure I understand this way of putting in photos - hope this comes out OK.

And it was a great vacation. The Bar Mitzvah party was awesome! With a DJ who kept the kids thoroughly occupied for about 4 hours and had us adults up and dancing, too. My knee and hip seem better than they were at the end of March 'cause I did more dancing than I was able to do then. Matthew did an excellent job with his prayers and torah & haftorah readings. They even had a nice program for the Bar Mitzvah service.

Dan, Karen, the grandkids and Tom & I toured ?Lava Lands ? Anyway, a park with lots of old lava flows including one with lots of obsidian and plenty of interpretation of when the flows happened and how they overlaid one another. There was a lava tube cave (I skipped hiking through that) and a walk through the lava fields, which I did participate in. The next day we just hung around the condo reading and playing games, and the following day went to the High Desert Museum where we looked at a number of exhibits, a couple of lectures and demos, and walked around trails to various points of interest. They have a great display of birds of prey and also otters. Then it was off to Great Falls for the reunion.

We met relatives we'd never known from as far away as Norway and Hawaii. It turns out that the ranch right next to the Stone House is owned by descendants of the uncle who sponsored the patriarch of the family when he first immigrated from Norway to be a sheep herder. Tom never knew that. So we met lots of really nice people, got a tour of the "Best of the West" cereal factory in Harlowton, ate at the "World Famous" Twodot bar in Twodot, Montana, and went on a scavenger hunt for special locations around the Stone House and it's ranch (the scavenger hunt involved finding the location, signing names in a logbook at the location, and taking pictures).

Can't seem to download my photos right now, so they'll show up at some later time.

Tomorrow we embark on a complicated vacation. First to Cupertino CA, only 5 miles from where my son Dan lives, for my high school best girlfriend's grandson's Bar Mitzvah. But when I called Dan to see if we could stay with him, he said he won't be there because they'll be in vacation in Oregon. But did we want to join them in Oregon after the Bar Mitzvah? Of course, we said "Sure!". So we're leaving Cupertino on Sunday afternoon and flying to Redmond OR, wherever that is in the state...

We stay with Dan, Karen and 2 teenage grandkids until Thursday, when we fly to Great Falls MT and take Tom's disabled brother out to dinner. Next Friday, we drive to Harlowton MT, which has the closest motels to Two Dot MT where a big family reunion is being held centered around a century old stone ranch house that has been in the family for more than half a century. I know only a few of these relatives so it may be a difficult time for me - I'm not real good at small talk. Anyway, we return to Great Falls Sunday night, take Dean out to dinner once again, and fly home on Monday, the 25th.

After that, I go to the surgeon for pre-op testing for my knee replacement, then I'm going to Aruba to get in some beach time before I get thoroughly disabled for an unknown (hopefully relatively short) period of time.

The garden is doing amazingly well. There is a group of red daylillies that I probably should photograph - maybe someone can identify them. There's been continuous bloom for about a month now and there are still some buds yet to open. I've got lots of plants on order - compulsive plant buyer?? - and will have to have my helper do all the planting. BUT - I now have more places to put them since the "wall anchor" people who repaired the brick under the bay windows took out a couple large shrubs.