Tag: The Gardens of Sonnystone Acres

Posted in Sunday Report

She Won!!! My #1 is Number One!

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I wrote last week…

If you’ve been following me on FB, you’ll have noticed that my #1 grandie, Emma, is On Fire; she has been first in most of her recent feis outings and second isn’t too bad, either. She placed 22nd in the World Championships in Dublin, Ireland earlier this year and I expect she’ll do even better in this “national” competition.

She did better all right! She beat her nearest competitor by 100 points! She dominated!

Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose

The word Proud doesn’t really convey my emotions. This little girl set her mind to Win back in 2020. She changed from a dance school that continually put her down and dismissed her talent to one that builds champions. Doherty-Petri Irish Dance School, or let’s just shout out her coaches, Lisa and Karen Petri, complemented Emma’s “Winning” attitude with Expectations of hard work, exactly what she needed. Emma Magnolia is very talented, but it’s the effort she’s put in, the training, and the learning from the losses that is so impressive. She deserves this and it fills my heart with Joy to see her achievements.

I wrote:

Unfortunately, my little Eliza injured her ankle and it’s taking its time to heal. She’ll be dancing, though, and she’s good, so we’ll see where she ends up.

She “ended up” #26!!! That’s out of Hundreds, you know, and is a great accomplishment!

Eliza Belle Mayne Jose

She’s back to full-on practices, so look out for her, especially at their Oireachtas in October. Eliza is super talented and we’re going to be celebrating a #1 for her in our future, as well.

Emma is now on her way back to Colgate University, where she will be doing an internship. This means she is not able to visit Sonnystone this summer. Eliza and Melissa will visit toward the end of the month and we maybe, might be able to sneak Emma in to the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Fest held August 1-3, if her job is flexible. We’ll see. I am prepared for the grandies to grow up, but holding out hope that we’ll all be together at Christmas.

Through all the tears of Joy, I was also shedding tears of fear and sadness – very efficient, but I’d rather not… My sister texted that she had had a “mini-heart attack” on Sunday. She really minimized it, so when she went for a heart catheterization on Monday, we were shocked that they scheduled open-heart surgery for the next day. Turns out she needed a quadruple bypass! The cardiac surgeon nixed the operation, though, as she has a meningioma tumor resting near her brain stem… Sooo, back to the drawing board, the cardiologists put stents in two of the four, and scheduled her back in two weeks to place the other two. She did well, but a previously undetected aneurysm in her ?wrist? burst and her arm “blew up like a sausage in the microwave” (credit to my niece Lauren for the description). What next? They kept her a little longer and did a CT to search for any other potential problems. She’s now home, thank-you Lord! I was a basket case, but this Strong lady has just faced it down with her usual calm. Donna is 17 months older than me, and though we’ve been rather estranged for the last 10 years, she had recently started to be friendly again. I am so grateful and ready to help her and her family through this rough patch.

The garden is pretty, but not all that productive. Oh, the tomatoes are going strong, but where are the cucumbers, bell peppers, and squash??? We’re not quite halfway through summer (mid-point is August 7), so I will try to be patient, enjoy the pretty, and support my fellow gardeners at the local Farmers’ Markets.

The Peace/Bird Garden continues to host a plethora of birds, bugs, and blooms…

These summer days, hot and humid, are comfortingly familiar. I’m so grateful to be able to get my work done early, then relax and enjoy life from the swing, fanning myself, sweat running down my face, and contentment in my heart.

Beaming Love and Peace to All of Us.

Posted in Sunday Report

Another Week wrapped up…

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

It was a good week here at Sonnystone Acres, despite “feel-like” temperatures in three digits and humidity described as “Very”. We were up with the birds getting the gardens watered and weeded and tied and propped, then I, personally, took it easy doing inside work or at the very least, shady porch work like swinging…

the view from the swing

The dang deer ate all of those lush purple garden phlox blooms in the Peace/Bird Garden. There is a little fawn running around in the meadow that I’m partial to and I’ve been lulled into thinking they are just cute little pets. I missed my chance to save those this year, but I’m dragging out the hot sauce spray for the rest of the season.

Our squash are still not producing fruit and their bloom time is over. I blame the excessive rains in their early days, because now our pollinators are buzzing around. I’m starting some seeds and hope to put some new plants out in a couple of weeks, as they are 55 days to harvest and that gives me until mid-September to get a good crop. Hopefully, the bees will see them this time.

This week in the Edible Garden…

butternut squash
sweet cherry 100s

Samantha and I went to the $5 matinee on Tuesday, viewing Disney’s Elio. It was okay, good enough. Disney has really blown it with their recent films and I’m kinda sad about it. This one had no strong opening advertising and I guess they felt like they had spent enough on it. They need to take a look at their creators and try to get them back in touch with the audience. But it was cool in the theatre and we had a good time.

Hope you had a safe and happy holiday! We tried to ignore it, but our neighbors put on some very loud fireworks displays – we couldn’t see them, but we could hear them. It was just too humid to go downtown for the Eville show, so we tried to watch them on TV, but failed. Oh, well.

We’re back to living in the “family” room, though I’m still arranging shelves and such. That may never end, if you know me…

Next Week my calendar is Blank, so I may just do nothing — I’m very good at it.

Stay Cool!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

The Last Missive of June…

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Posted in Sunday Report

Summer moves in…

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

It was a Good week here at the Acres, even though we didn’t see the sun until Thursday. Samantha came over for a piano lesson on Monday, and Nova did a beautiful job singing at the EMA Recital.

I was up early today so I could get some work done in the garden before the heat index becomes dangerous. The edible garden stays in dappled shade until noon and it was pleasant for a couple of hours before the humidity crept in like a kudzu vine, activating every sweat gland on my body – and I think I have been over-endowed with sweat glands. I managed to plant some pole beans along the arbor in the spots where our watermelon shriveled, and a couple of areas where the cantaloupes are stunted, then did some work on our washtub containers, which were flooded during the Monsoon Days.

The Edible Garden is thriving…

The middle picture is of our “early girl bush” tomato, a determinate that currently has eleven tomatoes on it and another half-dozen flowers coming on! I’ve never grown them before — hope they taste good!

The Peace/Bird Garden looks lovely, as well…

All of the books that were in the family room have been moved into the living room and we are very close to pulling up the carpet.

We had planned on this project being done by now, but the cataract thing changed things up. It’s worked out great, though, as the Heat Dome keeps us indoors.

Stay cool, dear Readers!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Celebrate Dads and Grand-daughters!

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

Our #3 grand-daughter, Eliza Belle Mayne Jose, graduated from 8th grade on Thursday. She will continue on to 9th grade at the same school, Avenues The World School, so it’s called a “Stepping Up” celebration. We watched on Vimeo and I wasn’t much impressed with the videography, but when my beautiful grandie walked up to pick up her certificate, I felt that overwhelming surge of emotions where your heart swells up and pushes tears out of your eyes. I love this girl more that words can say – well, you know that. When she was little, we would do a pretend morning show together. She was the OG musical.ly and would often facetime me so I could watch her latest choreography, usually to music that made me blush. She was born with a fabulous sense of fashion and she’s the one who I consult on which sneakers to buy. I’ll get to see her at the end of July and I can hardly wait.

Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads out there! I had a good one, but he’s been gone 28 years now. He would visit me every Wednesday, an event we dubbed “Music Night”. He would play the uke and we’d sing; he’d have me play the piano and we’d sing; I’d play some good tunes on the stereo and we’d sing.

Me and Dad at the Eaton Family Reunion, Grayville, IL 1979

We also drank and smoked and talked and laughed and sometimes argued, but we’d always end up singing. I haven’t done much singing since he died and my voice has gone to hell, but in my mind those harmonies still play.

Had my second cataract removal on Tuesday and it’s gone well – not as well as the right eye – but every day is more clear. I expect I’ll be seeing a lot of fog soon, anyway.

“Surely we’ve had enough rain this week to last us a couple”, I wrote last week. Surely we did, but the ever-whimsical Spring disagreed and brought us a deluge of four inches on Friday, another 1.5 on Saturday. Luckily, we had most every plant staked or propped and there was very little damage to the gardens.

I would have preferred to be sitting in a lawn chair at the Handy Festival, but since our Entire Day here at Sonnystone was decidedly un-sunny, I assumed it was the same over in Henderson. I was soo disappointed when I found out on the evening news – rain still pouring outside my window – that it was sunny and dry just across the river.

Here comes the humidity! We still haven’t turned our a/c on, but looks like we will soon. I’m beginning to start moving books off of shelves in the family room so we can pull up the carpet back there. Casey is restless if he can’t work outside, so this might be a good time to start.

Stay Cool in your neck of the woods…

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report, The Gardens of Sonnystone...

Photo Blog

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

Not much to report this week, but a picture is worth a thousand words…

Tuesday I have the cataract removed from my left eye and I should be seeing in 3D by Wednesday. The W.C. Handy Blues Festival starts Wednesday, as well, and I hope to feel well enough to attend – and that the weather is co-operative. Surely we’ve had enough rain this week to last us a couple… New Harmony Antiques Show is the 14-15th, and the Wilson Auction House over there will be having a seriously good selection of collectibles for us to bid on, so I should have lots more to share with you next Sunday!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report, The Gardens of Sonnystone...

Let it Grow…

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.” —Abba Louisa Goold Woolson.

After a cool and rainy May, June met us with Sunshine and balmy breezes. My cataract surgery went super great and I’ve been outside breaking all the rules to finish up the gardens and porches. I have been careful, but I couldn’t resist.

Let’s take a walk around the house, starting in the Edible Garden. Along our trellis, the cantaloupe, butternut squash, cucumber. and watermelons are all coming right along. None of the lima beans I put in sprouted, but I’ve got two more cucumber plants to fill the bare space soon.

On the outside of each side of the trellis are 14 bell pepper plants – 8 California Wonders and 6 Big Berthas. In between the peppers and the trellis are sunflowers of all kinds and they are going to town! At the south end of each side are moonflower vines, sure to shine.

In the back and on the sides are nine tomato plants – 4 Better Boys, 1 Early Girl Bush, 1 Celebrity, a sweet cherry 100, a husky red cherry, and one called chocolate sprinkle that is alleged to taste like a black cherry.

Nine squash – five zucchini, four yellow straightneck prolific – are having the time of their lives, flowering like champs, but where are the bees? I have anise hyssop to attract them, not to mention a yard full of clover, but so far I’ve seen very few.

The peas are flush with edible pods (Oregon sugar pods II) and I’m often out there snacking.

I’ve been so bored with my own cooking lately – like for the past year – and decided to learn a new style: a countertop griddle. So far, Casey is better at it than I am, but I warned him if he is tooo good, he’ll end up doing all the cooking. We used an old highway sign as a heat shield, which I think is kinda cute.

Around here on the front porch, walking in from the north side, I’ve moved all the coleus that I propagated last winter and they look great! I guess I’ll end up with twice as many next year….help!

In the Peace/Bird garden, the hummingbirds are back buzz-bombing each other at the feeder, and Casey had a skirmish with a squirrel (he won) the other day. This garden is all native perennials and they are so reliable and calm – you might say peaceful. I am so thrilled to be able to see the avian display with a clarity I’ve never experienced. It’s a dang miracle.

I think I’ll grab a handful of those sugar peas, sit out on the swing, and enjoy. Wish you were here…

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report, The Gardens of Sonnystone...

Weekly Wrap-up

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I have had to be on Prednisone for ten of the last fourteen days, finally finished up a couple of days ago, and it has been excruciating for my brain. That stuff makes me so speedy, I can’t focus, I can’t sleep, I’m irritable, my stomach hurts…I’ve done too much griping and had one day of out-of-the-blue tears. I guess the upside is that my back and right arm are not giving me even a wince of discomfort and my head is back to its normal thinking, which is probably not normal, but you know what I mean.

We went to the Shannon’s School of Dance Recital last night and it was great! Really super. I haven’t seen the Jr girls in a while, so just being around them was a treat.

Samantha and Nova

In between storms, we’ve been able to get most of the garden planted and it’s looking good.

I still need to plant the green beans, and have plans to get a flat of marigolds and stick them around everywhere I can fit them. My nasturtium is starting to bloom out on the South Porch, but I want to move them back to the Edible Garden, and that involves a lot of switchy-changey of containers.

The Peace/Bird Garden has been loving all this rain.

This will all need to be completed by Memorial Day, as I have my first cataract surgery the day after. While I don’t mind not being able to weed, I Love to plant, so it’s working out well to have it all done beforehand.

I’ve talked to several people who’ve had the cataract surgery and each had different ideas about what lens to implant, but none had any problems with their procedure. That’s reassuring.

We’re planning the Cemetery Loop from Mount Carmel to Parkersburg to Marion Church to Albion to Grayville and say hello to the Ancestors. It’s been a year since Casey and I spent some time cleaning some 100plus-year-old gravestones and I’m curious to see how they look. We scrubbed and used some stuff called “wet and forget” that is supposed to continue to work over time, so we’ll see. We don’t usually leave decorations in those old cemeteries, but I will be doin’ up the Eatons’ front-row plot in Grayville with a saddle this year.

Hope this missive finds you well and enjoying the season!

Peace

Posted in The Gardens of Sonnystone...

Garden journal week #2

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

Posted yesterday on my gardening blog, Growing Every Season 2. Not much going on, but nice pictures…

Garden Journal Week 2

Thanks for reading…

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report, The Gardens of Sonnystone...

ADPIE

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I’ve been sick since Wednesday, flat out on the couch both Thursday and Friday, finally somewhat upright yesterday. My little brain has been doing the Nursing Process since the onset of symptoms — that is Analyze, Diagnose, Plan, Implement, Evaluate — and as I’ve analyzed the hell out of the illness, I have no diagnosis. Isn’t everything Covid now? It’s not a cold (what happened to our old familiar rhinovirus?), but the body aching is reminiscent of flu. The coughing could be either/or, low-grade temp same. After my #3 vaccine, I was sick for a day, and somehow this feels the same, only with lots of coughing/snot. I’m calling it Covid because I want to finally face this thing I prepared for all these years…

Even though the diagnosis is iffy, the Plan is the same, so I implemented decongestants, cough drops, tylenol, plenty of fluids. The most important treatment, for me, is to lie down with a box of tissues at hand, and let my body do its healing thing. Our immune systems are wonderful and hats off to mine for its valor and ongoing dedication to my well-being. I still feel rundown, and definitely brain-fogged, as if I’ve been gone for a while, but I have rallied, so I’ll evaluate the Plan as a winner and carry on.

It’s been rainy, a good time to be stuck on the couch, and of course the gardens love it…

(I didn’t realize that I had the long lens on my Nikon when I shuffled off to get these pictures between rains, but it’s an interesting change of our usual view…)

The Edible Garden

The Peace/Bird Garden

The Jose’ Family is moving into a new apartment even as we speak…err, write. Their new place has a large terrace and I’m excited to help Melissa plant and grow a nice garden. They still plan on visiting here at the Acres in a couple of weeks, so I’m gearing up for Camp. I’ll let you know as soon as I know when they’ll be here and we’ll plan parties!

Take care of yourselves! Watch out for mystery viruses!

Peace