Yesterday's Meeting

Our quarterly volunteer meeting was great. Our liaison is the chaplain at two different hospitals. He took pictures of the gift shop at the other hospital to give us some ideas to improve our gift shop. One of the other employees stuck them into a power point presentation so we could get a good luck at what does well for them.

We discussed it and decided on four of the things that the other gift shop does well with and started cleaning out some of the stuff we have had for a long time, including a ton of magazines that were donated for us to give to the patients.  Hopefully we will be able to upgrade the look and provide more stuff for the patients, families, and staff.

 

Good Trash

Today I was able to give a child a little toy that was a free thing brought in and put in our basket. There were several choices and he selected the one he wanted. His dad told him to say thank you and he did. The little boy's face lit up and I felt good, too. 

I brought several newspapers from last week to use beneath the pine bark nuggets for a little path in my tire garden.

And I have a pile of box tops to take to the school toward the end of this month. I'll take a couple of bags of old magazines to the school when I take the box tops. 

The plastic bags from WalMart make good packing material and I use them to pick things in the garden. I drape it over my arm so I have both hands free for picking stuff. People complain about the plastic bags, but I like them. If they don't have holes in them, I get a lot of use out of them. I buy small garbage can liners. but I usually dump the contents into a free plastic bag, knot it and toss it in the big can outside. The liners I paid for last a long time that way.

I've used baskets and bags for my stuff, but really it makes a mess. I have a bunch of insulated bags for frozen stuff, and I'm willing to clean and air them.

Finally Rain

The weather keeps saying it's going to rain but today it finally did. It was raining when I woke up and came down steadily for a good while. The sky was gray, the air was cool, and a nice steady rain came down. I like days like this.

Once Upon a Time

I was in high school and college in the 60's. It was a time of civil unrest due to racial tensions. There were some of us who felt that the two extremes were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Black Panthers. So it was possible to want change without being violently radical. At present I am reminded of that time but there is an absence of a calm way to show support for anybody. I am against violence and I don't really think it does a lot of good. People who feel sympathy aren't necessarily willing to join in that kind of group. The civil rights movement wouldn't have accomplished what it did without the passive resistance choice as opposed to violence.

Stuffed Eggs

This is a cool low-carb snack. Larry was saying it was too hot to eat, so I reminded him that I'd made these. He perked right up.

New One

I wish I had a clue what this one is. I planted it in one of the flower boxes. It's really tall and doesn't blend in with the rest of the flowers. I pulled up three others but this one is so firmly rooted that I decided to let it bloom to see what it was. I think I'll let it go to seed, gather the seeds and then get rid of this one. It has stickers on it...not really thorns, but not smooth.

Deadheading

I have enjoyed the day lilies, but most of the blooms are gone and I need to cut the stems off. It's not as much fun as it sounds like. I wanted perennials because they would provide color and not be a lot of work every year. Well, deadheading is a pain and there's no way I can keep that flower bed free of grass and weeds. I think I'll weedwhack the whole thing...weeds, grass, and deadheads.