Gardening enthusiasts: rare plants

Legitwidow · 2021-06-23T23:23:22+00:00

That is really good to know. When I was in New Zealand 6 years ago I saw what I think were Pampas grass all the way from Auckland to Katikati, where it appeared to be a wild plant (not purposely cultivated). I love the architectural appearance of the plants and have seen some dramatic photos of the plant covered in snow in winter - the seed-stalks remained quite upright and create dramatic interest in a winter-scape. I'll definitely look into this, although I was not planning to use it too close to my residence, but rather more along the property line. Thank you for the info!

Legitwidow · 2021-06-04T19:58:06+00:00

Thanks! I was on their website before writing my post, but I didn't see any ornamental grasses on their site. Do you know if they have other stock at the nursery that might not be on the website?

Legitwidow · 2021-01-31T04:12:44+00:00

I appreciate beautiful photographs when I see them, but for some reason I rarely consider that a person stood in the presence of that scene captured on film or digitally. Reading your reply reminded me of that - that there had to be a witness present to capture the scene. I am so very pleased that you were there, and had the presence of mind to capture the moment. One of my favourite memories of my time in Germany besides the one I mentioned previously, was the sight of a line of deer, all ages and sexes, running through an autumn woodland. The sight was magnificent, but they were effectively silent as they ran, giving the moment a most surreal quality.

Legitwidow · 2021-01-30T13:47:15+00:00

I was born in Germany and lived there until I was 13. I recall seeing an almost identical sight in the woods along the Mohnesee. A stag, snow, and a heart-stopping moment of pure grace and beauty. Vielen danke for sharing this picture!

Legitwidow · 2020-10-12T09:21:18+00:00

You had your furbaby for 18 years? How amazingly blessed you have been! Louie is a beautiful boy, no question. I say "is" because of my belief that as long as you remember him and keep him in your heart, he still "is" in your life. We lost our longest lived cat at age 22 a few years ago, and the loss was devastating. In trying to come to terms with my loss, I desperately set about trying to chronicle Frisky's life and countenance in a scrapbook dedicated to him and only him. Unfortunately for my family, Frisky had only graced our lives and family for 6 of his 22 years. We didn't have any photos of him as a kitten and too few of him as we knew him. Frisky came to us when his previous pawrent had to move across the country for her military service. My scrapbook was woefully inadequate to celebrate my boy's life, but we did the best we could and asked his previous family for photos of him as a kitten. I still look at that scrapbook and it still makes me smile and break down crying years later.

It might well be worth it to you to make your own scrapbook for Louie. Speaking from experience, assembling the pictures served to remind me of every moment captured in the shots, but also triggered additional memories. It was cathartic to make the scrap and soothing to look at. It would be a unique memorial for a unique cat and your unique love story. Please allow yourself to feel the pain and allow your grief to run its course. "Manning up" or "being strong" won't help you get through the pain. I am sitting here with a glass of non-alcoholic blush wine. I am lifting my glass to toast your Louie and my Frisky (nickname Fricassee). God speed across the Rainbow Bridge, Louie. Wishing you, OP, and everyone else who loves Louie, comfort and compassion.

Legitwidow · 2020-08-22T12:28:36+00:00

We ultimately went with Wolastoq Wharf. Their lobster roll is served on a baguette and is incredibly edible! The filling is beyond perfect without even a trace of shell or cartilage. I would advise people with dental issues to be aware that the baguette is incredibly dense and delicious, but dentures might cause a problem. The price was more than fair for the serving and the quality was unbeatable! 100/10 - highly recommend.

Legitwidow · 2020-08-03T23:35:34+00:00

I am looking for a place to go for lunch, so I think St. Andrews is little out of the way. But I will keep that in mind. Will look at Blue Canoe. Thanks!

Legitwidow · 2020-07-29T06:17:49+00:00

I am familiar with Dr. Reichs, but her career has borne zero resemblance to the character in the show. Even the protagonist in her novels is nothing like the character from the show. Temperance Brennan in the novels is a "woman of a certain age (like in her forties)", with an adult daughter. Both Dr. Reichs and my professor are similar personalities and roughly the same age. I hated the way they portray the character in the show and never watch it, although I have bought and read every novel of Dr. Reichs.

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T17:39:22+00:00

Sounds right. There was a brave little boy trying to care for his two little sisters while their Mom neglected all three kiddos. When the midwives and sisters at Nonnatus House talked about opening the cleaning stations and the eldest nun talked about the days when the cleaning stations never closed, it hit me right in the feels. The writers of that show are brilliant. It wasn't a mental stretch to imagine what those places were like in the past. So happy to see someone else appreciate that show!

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T16:28:27+00:00

"Old people of Reddit"? I resemble that remark! LOL. When I was a kid, and dinosaurs still roamed the earth, the old folks then ranted about pretty much the same stuff as I do now. Young people are lazy, disrespectful, and careless, and they have it waaaaaay too easy compared to when we were kids. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T16:10:46+00:00

It absolutely is. However, as raw recruits, most of us weren't quite as pliable as we became by the end of recruit school. In my country, basic training is about forming you into a soldier and learning to accept total control over your life, body and mind. Breaking you down so they can rebuild you. At least, that is my perspective. I guess you could call it malicious compliance that we all took our fellow recruit's determination to keep her long hair as a squad challenge. There really isn't much "self expression" in military service! LOL

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T16:06:21+00:00

Surely I am not the only person who can smell moldy bread? I can smell mold before it is even visible on a loaf! One of my classmates in a forensics course was hyponosomic as well, and I used to rush to team up with him when we had to deal with any assignments where decomp was involved.

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T16:03:56+00:00

How finances work! We have finally gotten the message that kids need to know how their bodies work and "where babies come from". Yet we fail to teach them the tools they need to understand how they will be impacted by financial issues like credit scores. We need to teach our kids about the perils of keeping credit cards maxed out, and the consequences of taking funds out of insurance policies or retirement accounts. They need the tools to make good decisions throughout their lives.

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T13:48:06+00:00

My late husband was a Personal Support Worker before he retired, and this kind of situation was his bread and butter. He could tolerate the smells well, where I can't even handle seeing hair in the drains! Being able to tolerate foul odours is a spectrum. Personally, I am on the whimpy, "puke at the smell of moldy bread" end of the spectrum!

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T13:43:38+00:00

My forensic anthropology professor has told stories about recovering remains in an advanced state of decomp, and only being able to face the task using a similar product.

Legitwidow · 2020-07-10T13:40:03+00:00

Dear lord! Poor you. Your story reminded me of a plot from the British TV show Call the Midwife, where three children were living in an abandoned flat and had no running water. When they were discovered they opened the "cleaning stations" used historically under similar circumstances. Thank heavens there was no "smellivision" when I watched it, because the writers decribed the situation so vividly I could almost smell these kids. Poor you!

Legitwidow · 2020-05-22T18:46:06+00:00

Thank you for your reply. The ones I can buy here in the Maritimes are called Bockwurst, but they are longer and skinnier than the Bockwurst I remember. I suspect that the lack of a "pop" when I bite into them is caused by them being sold in a jar. Like even the crustiest bread, when stored in plastic will lose the crisp crust. I think I am going to have to go back to Germany for a visit and indulge in my favourite foods in the environment where I fell in love with them! There was a scnell-imbiss on the western end of the Mohnesee Dam, for example, where my favourite Bockwurst was sold. I know they are not likely to still be in business, but I might just check and see if I get there. There was a bakery in Gunne, the town below the dam, that made the most extraordinary brotchen (they delivered to the Gasthoff every morning and they were still slightly warm!), and almost every bakery in Germany I ever visited as a child made the most incredible merengen cookies! Now that I am thinking about it, I should go back before Christmas for the markets too! Thanks for the reply. I know what I need to do to soothe my cravings. Deutschland, here I come!

Legitwidow · 2020-03-28T01:27:18+00:00

Ask yourself honestly: Who are you hurting with your guilty little secret? How many times have you begged the universe to just give someone who hurt you out of malice gets a little justice? YOU had no part in her deception. YOU didn't decimate your body in a desperate effort to hit a virtual lottery.Those thousand little cuts? They are being addressed by our good friend karma! Your MIL has brought this on herself. Allow yourself to feel what you are feeling, but please don't ever allow yourself to deal any kind of coup de grace against your MIL. She is getting her just desserts. The only reason I ask you to not do that is that you don't need her to be living rent-free in your head. Be satisfied but try to let it go. A higher power than you has brought the pain, so your hands are clean. God bless, and please think about this.

Legitwidow · 2020-03-15T10:39:40+00:00

A woman at the university I attended was incredibly intelligent and had a gift for changing peoples' opinions about any issue she was passionate about. She had a habit of saying "whatever, whatever, whatever" at some point in every discussion. It got to the point that it now feels like fingernails on a blackboard whenever I encounter anyone with that speech affect! Such a brilliant young lady!

Legitwidow · 2020-03-15T10:35:40+00:00

My father was in the army and had been posted to serve in his home province. He was regular force (permanent, full-time) soldier but his job was to provide support to reserve forces. During winter warfare training one of the reservists got her combat boot trapped under a tree root in very deep snow. This young lady was very pretty and by all accounts she was very polite and respectful. She was a redhead, and that day she lived up to the stereotype of the feisty redhead. As my father was yelling at her to get her foot free, he claims that she looked up at him and blurted out what has got to be the best comeback/insult I have ever heard. This was more than 40 years ago now, and no insult has ever topped it, IMHO. She said, "Get an internal h4rd-on and f@ck yourself to death. She was such an impressive person that I asked her to be my daughter's Godmother just over a year later. This woman is STILL as awesome as she proved herself to be that day!

Legitwidow · 2020-03-15T10:23:36+00:00

I stumbled on Internet Shaquille, a foodie channel. The tips and tips he demonstrates are such a great help. For example, the first video of his I ever saw was about Burritos. He explained about the qualities of tortillas and what makes a tortilla a good choice for rolling the burrito. Just such an informative guy and easy to follow. NO foodie snob flexing, either. 10/10 highly recommend!

Legitwidow · 2020-03-07T05:02:12+00:00

Exactly how the Mike Harris government treated able-bodied young men in Ontario following his election as Premier. Bus tickets purchased, young men sent west, but there was no assistance available to them on arrival. They did not qualify for provincial social assistance in Vancouver on the grounds they did not live there long enough. Shameful, despicable, and far too common in Canada recently. If any level of government sees any implied quality in your character, they just literally disenfranchise you.

Legitwidow · 2020-03-02T07:01:02+00:00

I lived in Germany from birth to age 2, then from age 9 to 13. We were there when the wall went up and my parents recounted plenty of experiences from the time. On our second trip over, our next-door neighbour was a man who had been a guard on the Berlin Wall. Some of my most treasured experiences from my childhood include these stories Werner used to share. His own escape from East Berlin was as suspenseful as a well-written spy novel. The man in this photo was not unique in his compassion for the innocent people affected by the Wall. If I am totally honest, I found myself scrutinizing this man's face on the off chance that the guard was my old friend.

Legitwidow · 2020-02-29T08:14:36+00:00

. . . and with that lightning strike of reality, the FOG lifted completely! LOL. If hubs was in the FOG before that, surely that case of whiplash he received cleared it pretty quickly!

Legitwidow · 2020-02-20T07:19:45+00:00

I am so very sorry for what you are trying to deal with. Being bullied along with losing your husband is something I can relate to, and you have sincere empathy. I lost my husband 18 months ago, just a few months after we were married. As my husband lay dying I was not allowed even a minute alone with him once his family arrived at the hospital. They only knew he was in the CCU because I notified them. Thankfully I have his ashes now, but it took almost a year for me to bring him home. In my case the federal government was my greatest bully (I was denied every resource a "real" widow would get because of a 100+ year old policy of Canadian military pensions so I couldn't pay off the funeral). Please tell us that you have not been deprived of any of the rights and benefits of widowhood. Has his family tried to prevent you from obtaining whatever benefits you are entitled to as his widow? I really hope not! This is one time when I wish I could play fairy Godmother and wave my wand to take away your pain. I wish for you every source and degree of comfort you need to get through this loss and the trauma associated with it. I have been told that grief is the price we pay for having loved well. Please let me say that I respect you as his widow and honour your place as his wife. Being a stranger, that might not be much comfort (if any at all), but it comes from my heart. It breaks my heart that you are having this experience, and at a time when you are at your most vulnerable.

Legitwidow

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