Various and Sundry Monday: Vol 1

I always think of my sins when I weed. They grow apace in the same way and are harder still to get rid of. –Helena Rutherfurd Ely, A Woman's Hardy Garden, 1903

I have a lot of miscellaneous stuff I want to post about, but nowhere good to put it, so today's post is ala P.'s Sunday Sundry and Michelle's Monday Miscellaneous and thus we have Various and Sundry Monday. {As an honorable mention, Mrs. P does a sort of week-in-reflection post on Sundays as well, but she hasn't named it as such.} I'm not sure if this is going to become a weekly post; I dare say not. But today this is what I'm thinking of.

Lovely LadyBug
LadyBug is a such an easy-going girl. She entertains herself for hours with old-fashioned sorts of activities. She'll often hang out near me and find something to occupy her. I've spent five solid {non-consecutive} days getting my gardens cleaned out and put to bed for winter {still not done yet. One more day ought to cover it}. She often comes outside and helps me for a few minutes and then moves on to playing in the yard wherever I am.

The week before last she was content to hang out in the wheelbarrow and think quiet thoughts.

Saturday, she raked up all the leaves that had fallen from LadyBug Tree {and some that hadn't fallen yet — she had the rake up in the tree trying to get a few more for her pile} and spent a good hour running and jumping into her pile and then covering herself in leaves and having secret conversations with her pet wolf, Jacob {um, yeah. I know. I didn't prompt her at all on naming him. He's totally the wrong color.}.

Gallant Grasshopper
Of late, Grasshopper has been completely occupied with his Bionicle collection. He has spent hours upon hours combing through his box looking for just the right parts to make the perfect guy; and then he'll pull him apart and reassemble the parts with different parts to make somebody else new. However, these six Toa {they all have names, but I'm not sure which is Toa Lewa and which is Toa Gali and which is Toa Tahu} always remain intact. Grasshopper has tricked a few of them out — I'm pretty sure the armor on the brown one is not factory original, the red and green ones have guns in their hands and a couple are missing masks today — but for the most part these six fellows stay the same. I have found them standing sentry in numerous places through the house; on the couch, on Grasshopper's bed, on the kitchen table.

Garden Delights
Three years ago I had my gallbladder removed . It was super not fun and I hate to even mention it because gallbladder almost sounds like something that shouldn't be discussed in polite society {I won't even mention that I had an umbilical hernia that I didn't know I had repaired at the same time}. I was admitted to the hospital after my surgery in anticipation of a second surgery due to complications. Fortunately, the second surgery was unnecessary. However, I spent two-and-a-half days in a narcotic-enduced haze at the hospital, so Mr. Bug brought me some pretty yellow potted mums to cheer me up. I kept the plant indoors over the winter and when spring came, I divided it up and put it out in my flower beds. The mums bloom in fall, just as it is time to get everything cleared out for the winter. I brought this bunch in a full twelve days ago and they are just now starting to look a little faded. They have been so cheerful and bright on the grey days of fall.

Monday Music Spot: I Don't Want to Live on the Moon
I love YouTube. I'm a very visual person and if I can use a visual aid in my posts, I'm all for it. A video is even better. So, I often go to YouTube to find just the right something to illustrate what I'm thinking about. Thanks to YouTube's armada of media pirates {and their mad skills}, I almost always find what I'm looking for. Just look at this awesome clip from Sesame Street; Shawn Colvin and Ernie sing I Don't Want To Live on the Moon. Where else could I put it, but to end my Various and Sundry Monday post?