Early Bloomers

When a freeze threatened about a month ago, we moved all of the houseplants in from the front porch, where they had spent the summer. The north light in the dining room is one of the best spots downstairs for green plants, although it's not great for bloomers. Most striking is how much the rubber plant that Doug gave us about 3 years ago has grown. This was its first summer to go outside; I had been worried about wind or insect damage, but finally gave in and sent it out with the others. It grew an additional foot tall, with huge leaves.

Also spending every summer outside are the Christmas cacti, a white one we received as a gift one Christmas, and the pink one at left that grew from a sprig Aunt Doris Linville gave us eons ago. This year, both plants had set buds by the time we brought them inside and the white one bloomed for Halloween. The pink one will still be in bloom for Thanksgiving. So much for Christmas this year. We can always hope for one of the amaryllis to mark the holidays.

This has been a busy week. Norm had his eye checkup at UMSL Optometry Clinic, and although they are still checking him for glaucoma, he doesn't need to start any drops yet. When he went to volunteer at the food bank on Thursday, he was kept busy breaking down boxes from the huge amount of food donation that was coming in prior to next week's Thanksgiving distribution. I worked at the sewing machine on Thursday to catch up with "block a month" projects for quilt guild and made it--just under the wire. I didn't get any pictures taken of them, but I'll try to remember next time. On Monday afternoon and on Wednesday evening we visited in the homes of a couple of Compton members about the accessibility fundraising campaign. Far from being a chore, these visits help us to learn more about the history of the church and of the people involved.

Last night we had a bon voyage dinner for Matt and Sam, as they left by car this morning for Florida. Matt's parents and grandma joined us for another adventure in Judi's Daredevil Cuisine--my habit of trying out new recipes on unsuspecting guests. The greek-style lasagna was a hit, along with the greek salad and some purchased baklava! We pray for safe travel for our "boys" as they finally get reunited with Doug in Ft. Myers. This morning Norm and I enjoyed meeting with Compton Heights book circle to discuss A History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Neither of us is finished with it yet, but we had a good time anyway. A total of 8 readers met at the Thurman Cafe, a neighborhood eatery at the corner of Thurman and Shenandoah in South St. Louis, not far from Missouri Botanical Garden. They have wonderful breakfasts, scones, muffins, cinnamon rolls and coffee! (No we didn't have all of that at once, but we did bring extras home for tomorrow.) We'll be back!