Tracie's World

You know you've reached a certain age when you start waking up in the middle of the night sweating.  Last night I woke up about 11:30 PM, hot enough to turn the a/c on.  Here it is October, and I was turning on the a/c.  Confident that with the a/c on, the temp would go down enough to be comfortable, I went back to bed.  Howevuh - I woke up again about 2:00 AM, thinking I was sweating to death.  I went into the hallway to turn the a/c down, and the thermostat showed that it was only about 65 degrees in the house.  I'm sweating to death and it's only 65 degrees?  Obviously, turning down the a/c is not going to help.  If I didn't know it before, I certainly knew it now.  It would seem that I'm officially into perimenopause.  Here's your sign. I'm not sure how I feel about all this.  Getting the occasional gray hair was one thing.  While I thrill at the anticipation of no period ever again, it also means I'm getting older, and so...

Time to mention a passing - that is, the final passing of my garden.  Now that we are into fall and colder temps at night, it was time to say goodbye to my vegetable plants.  So - yesterday, I took most of the plants out of their respective pots, and emptied all the soil.  They are now all piled up on the outside curb waiting to be taken away by the garbage man.  Other than some remaining perennials (e.g. my chives and my strawberry plants), all my other garden plants are now no longer with us.  My balcony feels terribly bare, and I confess to being just a little bit verklemfpt.  It was a great run, though. I went into this goal thinking it would be great if just one plant worked out ok.  Who knew it would be so successful and that I would turn out to have a green thumb?  And who knew it would turn out to be such a blessing and help me learn so much (and not just about gardens)? I still have my begonia, which I re-potted and dead-headed, as well ...

This weekend is BYU homecoming, an event in which I don't usually participate.  But knowing that Brian Stokes Mitchell was going to be performing at last night's "Homecoming Spectacular" show, I decided it was worth the effort to brave the journey to Provo, accompanied by Angel and some of her family, to go see it.  If you've traveled from SLC to Provo and back lately, you know that it really is a brave journey.  But anywho... That all got me to thinking about my time at the "Y".  My career there was pretty unremarkable.  I had no money, no car, no looks, not many friends, and nothing really to recommend me.  Other than 1 year I spent playing in the marching band, pretty much all I did was study, and hang out at the International Cinema.   All these memories and feelings came flooding back to me as I was sitting there listening to Stokes, and the BYU Philharmonic, the Young Ambassadors, the Living Legends, and the Men's Chorus.  It ha...

Shame on me - I've been so consumed with the house lately that I've failed to make any mention of my garden.  Which is not good, as that was this year's personal goal, not buying a town home and moving.  So - here's the latest... Good news! My garden is still growing and producing - although after the expected and none too thrilling change in temperatures this week, I'm not sure how long I can say that.  Alas, although most of the plants came with me, I found it necessary to leave the majority of the tomato plants behind.  I couldn't figure out a way to move them, let alone fit them on the balcony.  But other than the yellow pear plant, the big tomatoes really didn't do so well, so it was not a particularly devastating loss.  The other plants, howevuh, made it in one piece and have adjusted well to their new environment.  In fact, they've thrived.   The currant tomato plant has been giving me little tomatoes to snack on just about every day...