Traveling

I'm doing a lot of traveling these days, so this poor blog, which already doesn't get a lot of posts, is probably going to be even worse.  I'll try to get posts in when I can.  This picture is of a new plant I bought.  It's called a kalanchoe.  Isn't it pretty.  The next picture down is another one that I bought at the same time.  I just love blooming things.  We'll see if I can keep them alive.

So.  Traveling.  In April I went to Chicago, Washington DC, and Philadelphia.  Chicago was a for a symposium I attended, Washington DC was a board of directors meeting and Philadelphia was to give three talks at a review course.  Tomorrow I go back to Washington DC for a committee meeting and next week I go to Seattle for a different board of directors meeting.  I'm seriously racking up the frequent flier miles.  Which is good because I used the balance of my flier miles to book a business class ticket to and from Paris in June for an international meeting.  

So far the traveling has been pretty smooth, although I did have to fly back into Dallas from DC one Friday evening when there were severe storm warnings in Dallas.  We spent an extra hour on the plane being rerouted across half the state, but we managed to land in Dallas finally. Ride was a tad bumpy, but we got here.  I was really relieved because Saturday morning I had to fly back out for my next trip.

Addy's taking the absences pretty well, but I have my regular sitter back and she and Addy get along well.  Which is VERY good considering how much traveling I'm doing.  Addy still seems to be okay being by herself.  Of course when I'm here she's with me constantly - in my lap when I read or watch anime or TV.  She does love being the center of attention.

I found out that I need to have some more periodontal surgery.  I was kind of hoping not to have to go through that again, but since it's been about 20 years since I had to do it before, I guess I shouldn't complain.  They'll do some surgery on my gums and some bone grafting in my lower jaw. That'll be happening when I get back from Seattle, because I have a solid month at home before my Paris trip.  Time for my mouth to heal.

Things in my yard are growing well, except for maybe the Russian sage and the hollyhocks.  I planted 10 hollyhock seeds and I have two tiny plants coming up.  And they don't look too healthy.  The Russian sage also is struggling.  I'm wondering if it's getting too much water with all the rain we've been having.  I went out and sprayed it and my roses this week though since it does look like something is eating on them.  

The hawthorn and azalea bloomed for awhile and were so pretty.  My roses are blooming too, so of course I cut some for in the house.  They are so pretty and smell so good.  I need to get back outside and deadhead them now.  The ones in the front yard need it too.

My little hummers are back and this little guys sat still for a picture.  I also saw a rose-breasted grosbeak on my red feeder!   Gorgeous!  I saw him and thought, "what the hell kind of bird is that?!" because I've never seen one here before and he's really beautiful.  I tried to get a picture but my camera battery was dead.  So I was cussing and switching batteries, but he flew before I could get a picture.  I looked him up though.  We're not anywhere near his range, so he must have been migrating through and just stopped for some seeds.  I was glad to have seen him. 

I need to find time to do some serious house-cleaning here shortly because later in the month my Colorado sister and her husband may try to stop by on their way through.  Her husband has never seem my place and she's only seen it once, so I hope they have time to stop by.  Even if it means I need to do a little better cleaning than when it's just Addy and I here.   

That's all for now.