What's Been Happening

 As tiny as my backyard is, gardens both vegetable and floral, plus the grass and patio... well it's quite enough to keep an old broad like me gainfully occupied.

All Hallows' Eve - Initial Cleanup

On October 31st, my father's deathday, my mood was tenuous at best. The void yawned. So as a counterbalance, Mother Nature was kind enough to send us a day of glorious weather after a frosty night that had dipped to about -2 degrees Celsius.

Rake in hand, I ventured into the yard and saw that our neighbour's chestnut tree had, to a leaf, dropped its organic linen, all over my yard.

Hard work is my personal key to any kind of mentalz, so I set to.

Aaaaand finished up about six hours later with a clearer head and reasonably tidy yard.

Going Forward

I have tried vlogging and indeed I have a YouTube channel, but the drama there can be extraordinarily toxic. I am choosing to stay clear of it. Periodically I may make a video pertaining to some subject about which I might currently be blogging, but perhaps privatized and accessible through this, my blog.

I've always felt more comfortable writing than speaking so this is the way to go.

Plus, I have plans to continue my online serial story. I actually first put it online years ago as a serial tale of fantasy and magic (can't quite remember the venue at that time) and have come full circle to the realization that that's what it was always meant to be in the first place.

It has seen several incarnations but I'll be re-writing it as The Wrath of Mool.

Other Subject Matter

Also, I am a retired person but it's not like I've nothing to do! I claim to be a writer so perhaps I should work on that for my next career. With this in mind, I'm also making a valiant attempt at writing a mystery novel. 

To date, I have the rough outline which is getting there but still needs fleshing out in spots, a cast of characters, and a premise:

A recently retired literary editor is looking forward to embracing her new freedom by writing and editing her own book when she happens upon a dead body in a local park.

I love reading mysteries and have always wanted to write one.

In Other News, I Set Up An Indoor Garden

I got one of these grow tents on sale and have reno'ed the laundry room to accommodate its 2' x 4' footprint. It is 5' in height, ventilated, and wired with LED grow-lights, I've added more LED and some repurposed clamp-lamps from past indoor grows.

Then I planted a couple of second generation "cherry" tomatoes, kale, okra (don't ask..), olive (again don't ask), a couple of red bell peppers, scotch bonnets, some spinach, lettuces (red leaf & romaine), and also I've brought in from the backyard, a dandelion (growing like shite cuz it thinks it's died and gone to plant heaven) and a chamomile shoot.

And I stuffed my mango tree in there cuz it needs to socialize just like me.

Not Just Any Indoor Garden

Oh, c'mon, you didn't think I'd NOT pop a couple of C.Rex did you? 

My summer crop and subsequent harvest were adequate to keep me high into 2022 so it's not like I need a grow right now. However, I thought I'd take this opportunity to do a little experimentation so I have two (2) winter projects that I started yesterday.

• "Mini" Genetics Test: One of my plants got so repeatedly dug up by squirrels early on that I took it down to the end of the garden to live its best life. What remained of it at that point. I basically forgot about it, though it got watered along with everything else, and it never got dug up again but - damage done - it never grew past twenty five inches or so. I let it go to seed and I want to see what sort of plant it will produce.
• Etsy Sativa: I have mostly indica strains and have been hankering after a good sativa. I went looking on Google - as you do - and found a seller of sativa seeds on Etsy. I received them yesterday and I have them soaking. Two have already popped so I will be putting them in paper towel before I go to bed tonight.

Before I Sign Off

Found An Old Manuscript... or Three!

Yes, I was rummaging out an old card-type filing system/box thingie I had from years ago to keep a carding system of my plants, and discovered its last use had been (an attempt) to plot some stories I was writing at the time.

I do believe this is the motivation I need to get going.

Cheers!