Survivor

OH MY GOSH - tonight's episode was one of the all time BIGGEST blind sides EVER in the history of the show. It was phenomenal. And because J. had told me what the SF Chronicle about the episode, which led us to believe something completely and totally different was going to happen, we were just stunned - in that sort of pleasant 'wow, some weeks this show is back to being really fun to watch' - which it isn't always.

Now I'm watching Lost - and they've added 'subtitles' - kind of like the VH1 pop up videos - they're offering 'helpful hints' about the context of what's happening in the current scene. Perhaps they've realized that if you haven't watched this show from Day 1 (which I have) and haven't watched most episodes more than once (which I also have), you will have a very hard time figuring out what in the heck is happening. It is very hard for me to follow these days - with the constant switching back and forth to 'on island' and then 'off island' scenes. It's complex. But oh so good - it's just a fantastic adventure.

I am wishing for a 'commitment free' weekend but sadly, there is no such thing anymore. The best I can hope for is trying to sleep in until 7ish, hopefully. We hope to see a musical at LPC in Livermore and then we have church on Sunday morning and a church meeting Sunday afternoon.

The weather is supposed to be cooler and a bit windy. We are working on the yards little by little - lots of pruning, weeding and planting. I got brave with the Park Seed catalog a couple years ago and ordered some plants that are now threatening to unify into their own country. The butterfly bushes are beautiful and fragrant when they're in bloom - which isn't often. They grow like weeds - the 'trunks' are getting thicker and thicker to the point where pruning them involves using a saw. And they are incredibly tall - I try pulling a branch down to bend it down to prune the top but I can't get all the height off. So they are getting huge and tall and impossible to keep 'groomed'. Same with the potato bush tree which has grown incredibly the past few years - it's just too high to prune/trim without a ladder. So the gardener prunes the sides all the time but the top has these long, wispy branches that just get higher and higher. We're going to have to get the ladder out this weekend and try to trim it a bit.

We have a grafted Japanese Maple in a box - it's a BIG box - the kind that you can't lift. They'll have to cut the box off around the root ball. We will get it transplanted into the ground in the next few months and pray it survives. It is a really beautiful tree and it's not something we could find again if we wanted another one. We've had really good luck with Japanese Maples and have three in the front and two in the back. They get a little brown in the summer from the heat - but we try to remember to spritz Cloud Cover on them when it's really hot and they seem to do OK. We love them because they are beautiful and 'lighter' looking than regular trees. And, they don't have very complex root systems which is OK around pools.

B. is preparing for his Jr. Prom which is next weekend. He is wearing a black tux, with a purple vest, black shirt and black tie with a purple 'pocket' hanky. He will look smashing. His date is wearing a purple long dress. We don't know much more than that. We still don't really know where they're going - nor how much we will need to pay for the evenings activities. But we do know he seems excited about it. And that's a nice thing 'cuz he's a typical 17 year old and doesn't seem really 'happy' about much of anything.

That's it for now. More this weekend.