Computer Games

Since February this year, I've barely read any books. This has mainly because my drama watching and video game playing has taken a sharp uptick. Since February, I've played Hades, Two Point Hospital (and assorted DLCs), and am currently on West of Loathing. As for dramas, I'm not even sure how many I've watched except that I am on the Story of Yanxi Palace now, and am about 1/3 of the way through its 70 episodes. 

Anyway even though today I was feeling lazy, I forced myself to go out and do some simple yard work since the temperature was mild, and the skies cloudy. I spent about an hour outside and dumped and spread 9 bags of mulch, and arranged all the stones from 1 bag of rocks around a flower bed. I could have done more vigorous work, like plant any of the 4 hosta plants that we purchased from Home Depot over the weekend, but in the end just felt too much inertia. 

Despite my laziness, I guess today was a productive day, now that I think about it. In the morning we went for a playdate at Catie's, then we did grocery shopping at Aldi. After we got back from Aldi, E and I ran into 2 neighbours who were out walking their dogs, and we chatted for a while. Then we came back inside and I immediately started preparing White Bean Chili for our dinner tonight. After I was done, I put E down for a nap, and played some West of Loathing as I drank my customary afternoon Earl Grey tea. Then I went outside to do yard work, which brings me to the present, having just come in from the outside - chased in by fat droplets of rain.

Mother's Day 2021

Recently Jon has been pretty slammed at work, so this year for Mother's Day I decided to DIY almost everything myself (he will be cooking the steaks though). I don't mind because I see Mother's Day as really just an excuse to eat good food, and I don't feel like a 'Mother' anyway. Today after spending almost 2 hours at Millennium Park with Lynne, our neighbour, E and I went to Trader Joe's on the way home. I already had some idea of a menu for dinner on Sunday, but decided to also add some stuff to the menu after getting some inspiration from looking around. While there, I also couldn't help buying some flowers for myself, even though I had told Jon that I didn't need/want Mother's Day flowers. I ended getting a mixed bunch with some sunflowers in them, and another smaller bunch of red spray roses.

After putting E down for a nap, I finally got around to arranging them on the dining table:

Anyway for Mother's Day this year, the menu will be:

- Caprese salad (need to buy some Basil)

- Cream of Mushroom Soup

- Filet Mignon steak

- Roasted baby potatoes

- Side of veg (not sure what yet)

- Torta Caprese with fresh mixed berries (Flourless Chocolate cake)

Upon reflection, this menu features an awful lot of the word 'Caprese'. What a strange coincidence.

Wiethop Greenhouse

On Sunday, we visited Wiethop Greenhouse in Ballwin, for the first time. It's located along a row of plant nurseries in Barrett Station Road, and we have driven past it before several times when it was not in operation over the Summer. I had wondered how they survived with such seasonal retail, and after visiting on Sunday and again today, I can safely that I now know how: they do such roaring business during the times that they are open for retail that they don't need to operate at other times.

When you first enter, its size is not readily apparent. Wander through a small dark passageway however, and suddenly you hit the main greenhouse area where there are just rows and rows of plants, all stacked up together in the thousands. Though their perennial section is pretty small in comparison to other nurseries, there is no doubt that Wiethop can't be beat for their selection of Annuals and Vegetables/Herb starters, all at remarkably low prices. Jon said it was like the Walmart of plant nurseries, and it's an apt description. The long lines of cars trying to get in and out of the parking lot (even on today, a weekday), makes a lot of sense now.

Anyway on an inane note, visiting Wiethop wasn't what inspired me to take the effort to write out a post today. Instead it was really to note that for the past week (or maybe 2?), I've been gardening almost everyday for at least an hour. The only exception was last Friday, the day after I got my 2nd shot of the Covid vaccine, when I was just out of it. As a result, E and I have become tanned (she runs around the driveway and plays while I garden), and probably even a little sunburned. 

E and I ended up at Wiethop again today as a result of all that gardening (because I am terrible at estimating numbers of plants needed, and visualising where they should go when I am not physically in the garden, and so always end up going back and forth to plant nurseries until I get the right number/combo). When we left Wiethop this time, we passed a woman on a motorized scooter/wheelchair thing, and E said, "Cutting grass!" happily, because she thought the woman was sitting on a lawn mower. And I was half mortified, half amused. 

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As I write all of this rambling nonsense, I am conscious of the fact that I feel kind of out of it on this gloomy, rainy, day, which probably explains why I even bothered to write any of it to begin with. All just because I was amused, and wanted to document E's comment.