A Queer Mobile

Peonies past expectations

Just to make you all jealous, here's a portfolio of the peonies (and a couple of Japanese Irises) in the garden.

With a warm March but a cold April we weren't sure what to expect from the garden. The peonies have a week earlier than usual, and beautiful beyond words. Although they're fading now, our poppies and coreopsis are taking over. Lilies are next, too.

John's IDEA award at the Marion Arts Festival

Two years ago John set up an award to recognize exceptional design among the exhibitors at the Marion Arts Festival. John and the first prize winner from the previous Festival tour all the exhibits to find an artist who goes beyond excellent in craftsmanship to display unusual design abilities.

Here John presents the IDEA award to Jose Sierra, this year's winner - and also the first prize winner in the separately judged artist competition. (It's the first time one artist won both awards.) The award is a small sculpture that John is handing to Jose in this picture - and a small  honorarium that John also funds.

John at the Marion Arts Festival

The Marion Arts Festival was packed this year - and we had the weather for it. I helped John set up his display in the Marion town square about 6 AM on Saturday 19 May, then I headed home to walk Ki and relax a bit. Just before noon I headed back to the Festival, and I could barely get to John's exhibit because of all the crowds. I snapped this as he was making a sale of one of his new sculptural pieces.

We had substantially less stuff to take home at the day's end. John sold two sculptures and three tables - a very good day indeed!

Diane and John's new home

My dear friends Diane and John finally moved to their retirement dream house in Aptos, California. They're maybe eight blocks from the beach in a beautiful two story house. John brought back this Chinese warrior from one of his business trips and installed him as the guardian at the front door. Fuchsias and camellias were at their most brilliant.

Below see pictures from the beach...

My physical therapist fired me

Actually he fired himself... Before I left for California I visited my PT once again. He was so pleased with how well I've been doing that I don't need to go back. I've been keeping to my standard regimen, though: weight work with elastic bands and free weights three times a week and stretching daily. My sequence is so heavily customized to my particular body that I won't post details here other than these:

• slow shoulder shrugs with weights
• bent-over rows with weights
• reverse arm lifts for rear deltoids
• upper deltoid work
• rows with elastic bands
• pulls with elastic bands for the back
• neck and pectoralis stretches daily

Let me know if you'd like to know more...

Back here at home...

I made my trek westward last week. I made it back home last Thursday, and John and I spent the weekend in the garden. He did lots of heavy weeding, and I prepped Earth Boxes for some tomato seedlings. An Earth Box is a self-contained growing system that works wonders on vegetables. I did pretty well last year with tomatoes in two Earth Boxes. To prep them for this year I followed the instructions on the website:

• dig out the old plants
• top up the planting mixture
• add 2 cups of hydrated lime to the boxes where I'll plant tomatoes - it prevents rotting tips on ripening fruit
• add 3 cups of organic plant food to each box
• install the plastic barrier on the top to keep weeds down

I'll plant tomatoes in the boxes with the trellis installed by cutting an X in the plastic and planting directly in the box. The plastic pipe that comes up is for watering: I keep the boxes moist by simply filling it until water comes out the overflow hole. It's impossible to over-water.