I have noticed when I’m showering on the weekend that I’ve smelled wood smoke. I thought maybe a neighbor had a fireplace that they lit for warmth.

Then recently, I noticed it was just Sunday I was smelling the smoke. Why would the neighbor only light the fire on Sundays?

Then I realized that I was smelling the smoke after I watered my bathroom orchids, which I do every Sunday morning.

The orchid potting mix has chunks of charcoal in it. I haven’t been smelling fire. I’ve been smelling my orchids.

My orchids are still blooming. I think I’ve only been without orchid flowers for maybe a month in the last year. Amazing!

I worked in my garden yesterday! Woo hoo!

I started by repotting a houseplant, and while I was going to the garage to get the pot, I saw a container that had some old seeds in it. Some of the seeds were from a mgambo tree. They’re fuzzy! They’re often used in leis. My friend Cheryl gave me some in Maui. I’m not sure if it was THIS time, or another, but that was four years ago.

They’re super old now, but I wondered if they might still sprout. I planted them. I also planted some herb seeds that students gave me at Christmas.

I watered everything in the back yard after that. I need to get some new watering equipment. I need hoses that aren’t expandable. The expandable ones put the water under too much pressure, and the potting mix gets blasted out of the pots.

Since I was already outside, I mowed the lawn. It really needed mowing. The last few weekends have been rainy, so I haven’t been able to do it until now.

And then there was one last thing to do… My driveway has a lot of weeds growing in the cracks. I wanted to use salt and vinegar to kill them and poison the ground. I got most of them, but ran out of salt and vinegar, so I’ll have to finish another day.

Happy Birthday to Denis! Woo hoo!

There are more warmer days happening here. The plants in my back yard are liking it. The amaryllises have bloomed. They have more bloom spikes this year than they did last year. And the nasturtiums I grew from seed a year ago are finally blooming!

And the fig already has a fruit on it. Woo hoo! Hopefully I can eat it before a bird or bug does.

And speaking of food, I’m growing some potatoes this year. When you grow them in containers, you’re supposed to plant them way at the bottom in shallow soil, then as they grow, you bury the stems and slowly fill the pot. That way, roots grow off the stems, and you get more potatoes. I did this back in Baltimore with a storage tub. This time, I’m just using a pot.

The pot to the left is herbs. Yay, herbs!