Spring is here

Hubby and I finally managed to do a couple of gardening chores this week. Just before several days of drizzle, as it happens. My parents gifted me with a small mesh bag of gladiolus bulbs. He dug me a deep trench along the edge of the front steps & I planted about 2/3 of them. I still have about ten more. They're planted behind my daylilies. I hope they make it ok.I have terrible squirrel problems & my bulbs don't always last very long.


We also moved the young maple tree that had been growing hard up beside the front porch into the backyard. It's about..7-8' tall & has little leaf buds on the branches. Poor tree would never have survived in its original location. Someone would've had to cut it down. Too many branches, too big, roots all under the porch, etc. Now it's about 5' away from the back porch in full sun. Hubby dug a deep hole and we put a layer of composted manure in the bottom. I nipped off a bunch of the lowest branches. He's tied to a stake. Hopefully he'll survive our attempt at transplantation. His new location gives him a fighting chance at a long life. The power lines aren't too close so maybe he'll have a chance to grow to his full rounded shape. The deepest roots were under our concrete front steps & porch, we had to cut them to move him. I'll be sure to baby him over the next couple of summers so it won't suffer with the heat and the drought. Our neighborhood has quite a few mature trees considering we live in suburbia, maybe he'll make it. I've no idea what type of maple he is except that he's not a silver maple. I just recognize that he's a maple. His leaves were red last fall. Pictures to come.

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Goddess of the Rose; P.C. Cast

Written by P.C. Cast Goddess of the Rose was first published by Berkley in 2006. I have read two of the other books in the Goddess Summoning series and I like them all. Review of Goddess of Spring HERE. Ms.Cast's heroines are smart and capable without beating the reader or the hero with it- a trait I find lacking elsewhere.

Mikado Empousai is an ER doctor who lives and works in Tulsa Oklahoma. Her all consuming hobbies are raising roses and volunteering at the local municipal rose garden. One night after a blind date with a guy who makes snap judgements about people based on what they read (!!!), Mikki is transported to the Realm of the Rose under Hecate's domain. Let's just say she breathes new life into an all women all the time locale desperately in need of regular care.

The beast, meanwhile, has haunted Mikki's thoughts and dreams since she was in Tulsa. Exactly how she ended up in the Realm with him puzzles her at first. After Mikki gets her bearings, though, her attraction to him returns in full force. First she must save the roses, then find the love starved ladies a little companionship then maybe she'll have time for the beast.

The Beast actually has a name, and a cool one at that. Unfortunately for him he has a long history of mistreatment and neglect which affects how he reacts to Mikki. Apparently the sins of the father are visited upon the son even in the Realm of the Rose. Luckily for all- Mikki's there to save the day.

Looking beyond the superficial to the substance underneath is always insightful. Dropping a stone in a pond causes ripples- watching the ripples and how they effect changes in the pond and along the shore is fun too. Mikki is the stone dropped into the pond. Will the pond be positively or negatively effected?

Highly recommended. Keeper.


Corrected: Sept. 30, 2008 ~ As the anonymous poster below kindly pointed out, I was mistaken thinking Mikado Empousai is an ER doctor. On page twenty of the copy I used for research, Ms. Cast writes, "..executive assistant for the director of nursing services at St.John's Hospital .." (Goddess of the Rose, P.C. Cast, Berkley Publishing Group, NYC NY; ISBN 0425208915) I appreciate the chance to set the record straight.




Image found at Barnes and Noble