Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Finished....Again


I've finally finished the revisions of Who Buries the Dead requested by my editor. Now on to book #11!

To celebrate, I took the afternoon off and went outside to tackle my winter-killed garden. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, so I had a pleasant afternoon of cutting back roses (I'm late; in New Orleans roses get their heavy pruning in late January-early February) and sighing over dead plants. I could spend the rest of the month working on my garden and still have a million things to do, so I'm going to need to pace myself.

The eastern side of my house is a narrow, fifty foot butterfly garden, and it's almost all dead. Lots of replanting to do!

On another note, tomorrow we take Angel back to the vet to have his kidney levels tested. Wish us luck.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Much luck with Angel!!!! Hoping for the best news possible. Sabena

Charles Gramlich said...

Congrats on finishing that. I have been spinning my wheels of late.

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

Best of luck with little angel, your gardening, and #11. I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation of March 4!

JustWingingIt said...

Congrats! One more thing you get to cross off your to-do list.

Fingers crossed for a good checkup for Angel!

Veronica

Rachel Walsh said...

Congratulations on finishing, Candy. Most excellent news, for us as well! :-) And I hear you with the dead garden; except that mine was killed by our crazy-hot Adelaide summer (a record-breaking 13 days over 40C, several of those days a scorching 43-45C. Ouch). Some very welcome rain today, softening the soil, after which I'll be joining you in the removing and replanting ...
Most of all, best of luck with Angel. Crossing fingers and toes that all is OK.

cs harris said...

Sabena, thanks!

Charles, I really spun my wheels on this one.

Barbara, thank you.

JustWingingIt, that to-do list is out the door!

Rachel, thanks. 13 days over 40? Oh, goodness! Do the schools still not have air conditioning?

lmhess said...

Oh, Candy - your poor garden. I'm somewhat worried about mine since we had a hard freeze way back in November and no snow blanket for protection. But yours is too sad as your little growing things aren't used to the bitter cold. Good luck with it... and with Angel, as well.

Suzanne said...

Good luck with Angel, I will be thinking of him.

I understand how you must feel about your dead garden. And you too Rachel. We had record heat here in Melbourne too. My big, long established trees are doing well but I lost the battle with all of my pots. I am going to have to dump the dead plants, clean them out and start again in autumn.

Well done on finishing the rewrites for Who Buries The Dead That must be a great burden off your shoulders.

Do your kitties like to "help" you write? I had a budgie for many years who used to think it was great fun to jump on and peck at the keys on the PC then stand back and watch whilst I went ballistic. He didn't like it when the PC got more attention than he did. His other favourite method of distraction was to hang upside down from my glass and peer in at me.

cs harris said...

Imhess, I lost more than I should have because the freeze hit so early, and I was so preoccupied with the kittens that I didn't cover many things that I should have (two hibiscus, two aloe vera, a fleur d'amour, etc). Others I don't bother covering because they're too numerous and so quick growing, such as the milk weed and other butterfly plants. Plus, all those days of fierce cold killed things that will take a quick plunge down into the 20s. I'm worried about the orchid tree that was a replacement for one blown over by our last hurricane.

Suzanne, the one nice thing about New Orleans is that our water comes from the Mississippi so it is plentiful and cheap. (I don't drink it, though!) And Angel is the one who "helps" me write. He loves to sit on my lap when I'm at the keyboard or trying to write on a notepad. And if I ignore him, he bites me. Not hard--just annoyed little nips--but it can be a real jolt. He's a cranky old thing.

paz said...

Good to know that you have finally finished "Buried." Can't wait to hear about that road trip, and of course, be able to "behold" the babe!!!

Are some of the plants in your butterfly garden native to New Orleans? If so, they should be fine, even in this unseasonable weather. I planted a butterfly garden with varietals native to the northeast, and it has survived all kind of climate craziness (including Sandy). ANd I am told it will grow back after this snowy winter. Of course, I love orchid trees, whether native or not, so I am hoping that it survived!

Rachel Walsh said...

Candy, no, the kids no longer get days off school for the heat as school buildings are now all air-conditioned. My three kids look at me with envy when I taunt them about all those summer days in the 70s and 80s that we got to stay home from school, drinking ice cold raspberry cordial and running under the sprinklers (I kinda miss those days, too!)

cs harris said...

Paz, I get all my butterfly plants from the Botanical Gardens, but I honestly don't know which ones are native. Many of the ones that died, such as the milk weed, may come back from seeds.

Rachel, my girls were still getting "hot" days in 2000 in Adelaide, a Seymour College. I remember once saying I thought it was silly to have kids try to learn in such heat, only to be told by the other mothers, "WE did it. Stiff upper lip!"

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