Who buys a 2.5 quart jar of whole kosher dills ?

 It's that time of year. The bee balm is blooming. The lilies are out in full force, the clematis keeps trying to be beautiful, but the storms keep beating the hell out of it. Still some blooms though.

  I am eating the biggest kosher dill pickle I have ever seen, from a big jar I bought the other day. Bought it for the jar really. Am I the only one who does that ? lol

 I have not been writing since last March. Where've I been ?  Don't know really.  Nowhere. Here. Addressing some health issues. Trying to keep the world from flying out from under me. I've been kind of okay...nothing serious...although it hasn't always seemed like that. lol I am writing a garden/fresh food recipe column for a newsletter that comes out 4 times a year. But that's it. The muse has left the building. I have had no interest in writing or reading or anything else much.

 Had a terrible time getting the garden in this year. And there has been so much rain that it's washed out seeds and drowned some things. And of course the weeds are magnificent. They seem to thrive in this weather. Even though I lived in the Pacific Northwest for a long long time, all this rain has made me terribly depressed and I am sick of it.  Feels crazy saying that, since parts of the country are suffering terrible droughts. According to the experts, this is the 5th wettest June in history with almost 8 inches of rain so far. On a happier note, the berries are looking really good and we now have bird-spread red and black raspberries coming up EVERYWHERE. Which is good, since the road guys mowed down all my blackberries out front when I wasn't home.  ggrrrrr

  The chickens got moved outside finally and are growing nice and big. And one of my sweet little hens turned out to be a damn rooster. And he's trying to start crowing, but sounds like a strangled hedgehog.....they are so funny. The little shit is already trying to chase me out of the chicken run when I open the door in the mornings. I'd really like to keep a rooster, but I am not putting up with that crap again. I tried to reason with him, lol, but he doesn't want to listen. Hopefully I will be getting eggs within the next month or so...have you seen the price and availability of eggs at the store ?  Insane.

  My computer has been out again. My PC died and the super geek nephew tells me the power switch, the motherboard and the hard drive are all fried. Dammit all.  I am currently using a friend's laptop, and can't wait to have a regular pc again.  These little laptops are just not for me. The good news is that when I had NO computer for almost 2 weeks I started reading more again.  I've been going to our little local library and reading all the Patricia Cornwell I can get my hands on. lol  About 3 of them a week.  The librarian just raises her eyebrows at  me...

 I wound up in the hospital last month, them thinking I was having a heart attack. Me thinking they were wrong. But I went, because my blood pressure shot up to some vulgar number (210/140) and it scared me.  They put me into the chest pain ward and kept me overnight and ran all the cardiac tests on me they could think of. The good news is they said I have a very healthy heart, no blockages or restrictions of any kind. The bad news is, it cost about 15,000 dollars.  They finally decided that I was suffering from situational depression and stress, and put me on an anti-depressant. I guess when I was telling the doc that I was so overwhelmed...that I had had 8 people in my life die in 6 months, that my sister-in-laws brain cancer is back, that I feel like I cannot cope some days...they drew this unreasonable conclusion. BUT--this little episode has at least caused me to finally have all the tests doctors have been harping at me about for years, because of my family history of heart disease. Haha. I win. No heart disease.

  My knees are still in bad shape and I guess it will be time soon for replacements.  We have tried several different things and nothing works for long. Sigh....

 On a brighter note (maybe) my husband has decided that we are going to Atlanta, Georgia over the 4th of July to a giant International AA convention. A grand event, celebrating 80 years of Alcoholics Anonymous. In ATLANTA.  In JULY.  I am trying to not even think about it.  If you never hear from me again, it will be because I have died.  In ATLANTA.  In JULY.


 Alright. Seems that either I don't write at all, or I blather on like an idiot. Must be time to see about getting out there to weed the tomatoes and green beans....




  Namaste, y'all....