Winging It

As I'd predicted, I have not resorted to making daily notes of my accomplishments this past week. I do know myself a little. So, as usual, I'm winging it with this column. It is Sunday afternoon, after all.

I have managed to repot a few plants since I last wrote. The flamingo plant (anthurium andraeanum), which is very similar to the peace lily, but with red rather than white spathes, as the "flowers" are known. The spathes are red, waxy, and heart-shaped, with yellow upright spadices. They prefer lots of indirect light and to be kept between 60° and 85°. I'd had mine in a north-facing window and much too close to the cold glass. After repotting it, and trimming away most of the browned, dead leaves, I moved it to the kitchen, where it's warmer. It's on a stand several feet away from the south-facing French doors. It seems to be recovering from my neglect.

The other repotted plants are a couple of avocado trees I've started from avocados I consumed, as well as a mango tree, also from fruit we ate. (Dennis will eat mangos, but turns up his nose at avocados.) I've started both trees before, but always managed to let the resulting plants die. I'd given an avocado tree to Sean Heavey, and it's thriving in the street-facing window of his gallery. That has encouraged me to try harder with my own tree starts. I did keep one alive on the front deck, out of direct sun, this summer. It came inside with something that chewed holes in its leaves. I believe I've eradicated that bug since none of the new leaves show any damage.

I've just spent a few minutes counting my houseplants, and I may be out of control here. There are 25 in my kitchen, 24 in our bedroom, only one in my bathroom, 23 in the dining room, seven in the living room, and 23 in the exercise/office area. That equals 103 plants sharing our living space. Granted, many are duplicates, but still, they demand some tending, I guarantee they take some time to water. Two of our daughters outdo me in plant acquisition, so I've passed on this addiction.

A couple pots of soup were made this past week. I used recipes I found online as guidelines, but didn't try to follow any exactly as written. There was a lot of leftover ham to be used (some ham was frozen for later use). Both pots started the same way: I cut up both a red and a white onion and sautéed them in coconut oil. Then I added carrots cut on the bias, then pressed in a couple cloves of garlic.

After that, I added a goodly amount of diced ham, and browned it with the veggies to release more flavor. To the pot a can of cannelli beans, undrained, was added, along with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of red lentils with a couple cups of water. The heat was lowered, then I stirred in about a cup of plain Greek yogurt. (I can digest that where I can't sour cream.) For seasoning, I crumbled in a tablespoon of dried mint leaves, along with a half teaspoon of thyme leaves, plus a spoonful of Better than Boullion, vegetable base. The soup was left to simmer, with the ham bone in it, for hours. Towards the end of the cooking time, I cut up a lot of fresh parsley, using only the leaves not the stems.

The second pot of ham soup was slightly different: I used two cans of white beans, diced up a few smaller potatoes, then threw in a handful of pearl barley. I'd used up my lentil supply on the first pot of soup, which I gave to our daughter.

I'm still painting a few kindness rocks. Lately I've been on a snowflake/Christmas tree kick with those. I'm spending a bit more time with my yarns and crochet hooks. If you're on Facebook, either my page or the Glasgow New & Used site, you'll know why. Please be kind to everyone you meet. And excuse me if I'm distracted or short-tempered, please. We all have struggles that aren't always visible.