Thursday, May 28, 2020

I got my teeth cleaned yesterday.  We will pause here for a moment of silence.

They took my temp, they made me wash my hands, they were PPE'd to the gills. Everything was covered in plastic. BTW, I love my dentist. He's a good man and he takes care of his employees. They stay with him.

Anyway. About 15 minutes in, I realized that my hygienist was the first person to touch me since March 17th. Well, she leaned on me a bit and put her gloved fingers in my mouth. But still.

On my walk yesterday, I finally met Leticia, the woman who has the most beautiful garden. She took me into the back yard and O, she can see the lake and the mountains. She has a fountain. And so many flowering plants.

Here she is. And they bought that house in 1995 so she's had time to get it right.

Now this is my garden and this is my elderberry. What a beautiful plant she is. My gardener friend warned me that this girl would get, ahem, big. Lord. I should try to figure out how to make elderberry syrup.

In the 80's today. A bunch of us old swimmers met in the pool parking lot to get caught up.  How can we break into the pool? Should we try under the cover of darkness? As soon as the lake is bearable, I'm getting in...and swimming to the other side. Nah, kidding. I'd be killed by a jet ski. Anyway it's a a mile and a half wide.


5 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

What beautiful gardens! Good for the soul, good for the world.
I should call my dentist and make an appointment for a cleaning. I just don't want to. Not smart. I know.

Elizabeth said...

I'm glad you got some human contact, even if it was by your dental hygienist. This world is so weird, but your little corner looks beautiful! My ex is from Switzerland, and his mother used to pick elderberry and make tea with the flowers for all kinds of ailments. I swear by the syrup -- if taken at the beginning of colds or whatevers, it really does nip them in the bud!

Sabine said...

Elderberry syrup, excellent. Also just boil them mushy and put through a sieve and add some mint and honey and eat with vanilla ice cream.

beth coyote said...

Sabine-yum!!!

Adie Das said...

Pick lots of the flowers. Put them in a big pot with cold water, a plate on top and something heavy on the plate, so the flowers are pressed into just enough water. Leave overnight. Next day remove flowers with a sieve. Measure the now yellow water for each liter, 1 kilogram of sugar plus 12.5 grams of citrus acid. Stir, stir and stir again until all the sugar is resolved. Put in clean glass bottles.
I've just done it last week, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands! Our elderberries flower white though, not pink as yours.