When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed...

In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash'd palings,

Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,

With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,

With every leaf a miracle--and from this bush in the dooryard,

With delicate-color'd blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,

A sprig with its flower I break.

Clivia

Clivia is a genus of monocot flowering plants native to southern Africa. They are from the family Amaryllidaceae. Common name is Bush lily.
They are a non-woody evergreen plant, with dark green, strap-like leaves. These leaves produce clusters of bell-shaped flowers on a stalk above the foliage. The flowers somewhat resemble those of certain varieties of Lilium or Amaryllis. Orange is the most common colour but there are also Peach, Near White, Apricot, Red and Yellow varieties.
Specimens were gathered by British explorers William Burchell and John Bowie in 1815 and 1820, respectively. Clivia nobilis became the first named species when in 1828 the Kew botanist John Lindley named it in honor of Lady Charlotte Florentia Clive, Duchess of Northumberland (1787-1866)., who was for a time the governess of the future Queen Victoria.

(taken from Wikipedia)

My clivia plant is blooming now. In the 18+ years that I have had this plant, it has only bloomed a few times. I have found that fertilizing it with African violet fertilizer starting in March gets it to bloom sometimes.

I looked out the window and what did I see?

A coyote with a squirrel in his mouth running across our front yard!

Of doctors and ufos

Today we visited our favorite doctor, Dr. Grif. He has been Nathan's neurologist for over 20 years. Dr. Gloom and Doom, our neuro-surgeon during Nathan's traumatic brain injury, asked him to consult, along with 17 other doctors during the initial stages of Nathan's coma. The only doc who gave us any hope was Dr. Grif. He talked to me on the phone for hours several times, explaining patiently what could happen in the coming weeks/years. Even though the news was not very encouraging (such as: not one normal brain wave on initial e.e.g.s), he was always there for us. We see him every six months and he is so excited by Nathan's recovery, while not a complete recovery, there is a good quality to Nathan's life and he is happy. Dr. Grif loves to talk about flying saucers, chupacabra, mothmen, out-of-body experiences, hauntings, all kinds of scary stuff. Our visits are filled with talk of these things interspersed with the usual "how are you feeling" kinds of questions. This doctor is one-of-a-kind, who still takes patient's notes by hand and does not have his nose stuck in a computer. May he never retire!

88 isn't it great?!

Grandpa K. turned 88 today. We celebrated yesterday with KFC, "darn good chocolate cake" and ice cream. A merry time was had by all, we were done in about an hour, and resumed our nightly tv viewing. We are quite the party people! Grandpa has 2 older brothers, both in their 90's, so we expect him to be with us a while longer. He is still the same sports fanatic he always was and can tell you the names of all the baseball players, what teams they play for, and how they are doing this season. He played on church baseball teams into his 60's.

Friday or What I did on Thursday

Where has the week gone? Yesterday, Belinda and I went to Kent to the cannery/storehouse. We picked up cases of wheat, rice, and oatmeal. I also got 40 pounds of macaroni in bulk. We are working on our year's supply of food. In the afternoon, I rearranged my storage room. Sometimes it is hard to prioritize food over Christmas decorations. I was able to make enough room for the newly purchased items, but if I buy any more, it will take a major reorganization of the storage room.
A food storage calculator is available here:http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm

Also a little tip, do not store dry spaghetti near a sunny window. It will turn bright red and smell terrible. Don't ask how I know!

The Electric Knife

This morning as I was putting away the blades that go with the electric knife, I remembered when I received it many years ago. It was Christmas, 1965, I was a young bride meeting my in-laws for the first time. They had not been able to make the trip from Kansas when I married their son in Washington state the previous Christmas. The knife was a gift from his oldest sister, Peggy and her husband Jerry. At the time I thought it was a ridiculous present. We were poor college students living on beans and not much else. What would I ever do with an electric knife?!
I have had that knife now for 43 years. It has been used to carve countless Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys. It has cut ham and corned beef and roast beef. It has been present at many happy family occasions. The youthful marriage ended, the mother and father-in-law have both passed on, and I haven't heard from Peggy and Jerry for many years. But the knife is still here with me, a reminder of good times and times long past.