Dandelyon's Worlds

Yesterday was frustrating, but it had some high points. I woke up to find that the black cat had once again pooped in the upstairs hallway, and so spent time doing things like mopping there, which was not on my plan for the day at all (and should have been done by my partner days ago, but all she'd done was pick up the solids and spray the floor with the denaturing spray). That eventually led to partner slipping on the stairs and dumping the entire mop bucket on the floor. She's ok (thank goodness), and (also thank goodness) I had a hamper full of dirty towels waiting by the basement stairs to throw on the floor to limit that mess and to keep it from seeping down to the basement and causing huge additional messes to clean, but that led to more mopping before breakfast, and much frustration.

My plan was to go to the gardening store, early, but partner had a medical appointment, so we ended up going to the gardening store late instead, and they didn't have the Cherokee Purple tomato plants I'd hoped to buy. Apparently those will (might) arrive by Monday. A nice manager checked to see if their other locations might have the plants I wanted, which led to arriving home even later than our late start should have led to. They also had only two cucumber plants, but more of those should be arriving later too.

While waiting, we looked at roses and bought an on-sale rose to fill a hole where a rose had died overwinter (I think over a previous winter, rather than the most recent one.) It's bare root, so we can't delay much getting it into the ground, but getting a flower on May Day sale is appropriate.

So we got home shortly before Cathy McMusic's planned Beltaine Concert, and was busy planting the few tomatoes I did buy during the concert, which would have been much more pleasant if the connection didn't constantly break up. I eventually listened to it properly later, improvising playing bass along with her songs.

And then the cat shat on the hallway floor again. Ugh. And looking around at my house, it's hard to remember how much progress I was making before I got the stupid Covid a year ago.

But in better news, in the lonely spot in the grass where we had, long ago, planted a bunch of tulips in a little circle garden that my daughter gave me, which had one lonely tulip show up most years thereafter, we found a little circle of four tulips! I guess the survivor got lonely, and created some new buds. I may yet dig them up and transplant them to a less lonely spot, but not while they're flowering. So that was at least one nice surprise for the day.

And I got to listen to live (over the internet) Beltaine music, and secretly play along with a couple of my favorite musicians in my own music room, and I lit a candle for my Beltaine fire, since I wasn't in the mood for sitting outside in the chill.

The lilacs are starting to bloom, and we still have a few ragged daffodils, and some lovely tulips, and I have some experimental pepper seedlings (experimental because I haven't tried those varieties, so if I get fruit I'll find out if I like them), and some sunflower seedlings, and outside there are lots of violets and dandelions. And I double-checked the 30-day forecast, and there are still no more lows predicted below the 40s (F), so while the beginning of May is historically risky for putting tomato plants outside, I'd been taking the ones I grew indoors out most days to harden them to sun and wind for weeks, and I feel safe getting them properly situated. (Two of the ones I overwintered are even blooming!)

And we did get the replacement seep hose buried, though that delayed planting peas. So there's lots of happy spring gardening news. Here's hoping for no Covid this year, and nothing else serious, and that the long covid keeps getting better. I have things to do and, especially, wonders to create!

I was wondering why I've been so tired the last few days. Stress of a new job? Plausible. So, Saturday I slept in, and got up to do a few online and at-home chores, and spent some time submitting stories--enough to not only make my 10 submissions for the month for the first time this year, but to nearly fill up the empty spots for last month too. And I got another "your story made it past the first read" note, making two stories being held at anthologies I'd really love to be in right now.

Then I dressed to go to the housefilk, realized I needed to online-pay a bill before I left, and started to yawn.

I hadn't been up that long! How could I be tired?

My Angel and I headed out the door with instruments, got in the car and I started to sneeze. There was this delicate floral aroma -- "Angel, are you" *sneeze* *sneeze* "wearing perfume?"

"No! When do I wear perfume?"

. . . Spring Allergens!

I stopped at the side of the road to spray my nose with allergy medicine--an advantage of the new diet is I can use those more often without getting nosebleeds, and we headed onward.

I spent most of the next day asleep, or functionally asleep. I totally forgot my plan to do readings on Beltaine. My phone reminded me of my plan to submit a story to one of the online magazines, but their submissions page says both "we are currently closed" and "we will reopen to submissions on May 1". I broke down and sent a query today. I'd really like to send that story there next, but if they're staying closed, I don't want the story lost in electronic limbo.

The Muse Fusion might be this weekend; if it's not, and the allergies abate a bit, maybe I'll do readings then.

In the meantime, Happy Spring Pollen Season, everyone!