It's Astounding . . .

Time is fleeting.

Madness takes its toll.

Just a little memory trip back to college days and midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show  :-D

Time has certainly been fleeting, however.  Let's see, when last we left our intrepid heroine (that's me :-D), she was standing in front of a plant stand with a black plastic garbage bag in hand . . .

Yup, everything did go out, and I left the next morning for Detroit and the National African violet Convention.  There's a convention for everything  :-D

I didn't remain plantless for long - I really tried to not get too much, but I was left unsupervised in the commercial sales room quite regularly . . . and I came home with 56 varieties - both plantlets . . .
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. . . and leaves

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The vast majority of the plantlets didn't stay plantlets - pretty much only the ones on the left side of the photo stayed in plantlet form.

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I worked on Sunday afternoon when I got home, washing leaves (I use Dawn Dishwashing soap) and putting them down.  I filled this tray:

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And then I worked most of the day on Monday (a recovery day  :-) ), to fill this tray,

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Which, incidentally, is my brand new swanky tray that I won in one of the Ways & Means raffles!  Yay Me!  It's hard plastic and has air vents and everything (you do have to remember to check the vents, though - I left one open the first night by mistake).  The leaves are down in the basement, where I've found they seem to sprout better than anywhere else in the house.

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I kept nine plantlets in plantlet form (putting down leaves of each for insurance  :-) ).  Here they are, isolated in my guest room.  Not hard to isolate anything right now - because there wasn't anything in the house  :-D   I kept these nine because there is a "definish" chance (got Wicked on the brain, too!) that I will be able to take seven of them to show in October.  Two are standards, so they won't be ready, but the other seven are semiminiatures, and it's my hope to take them to Tulsa in October to the Missouri Valley African Violet Council convention and show, and get the three blue ribbons I need for my Senior Judges' card.

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I have good news on that score - I spoke with the Chair of Shows and Judges, and he advised that I should take my third test now, and he would hold my card until I have my ribbons.  This is great and it means that I don't lose a year in the process to Master Judge.  I'm very happy about that  :-)

So, I'm starting over and it's pretty exciting stuff  :-)  I don't expect all of those leaves to make it - well, I take that back.  It was a "fruitful" day when I was working - both days, actually, so they will likely all make it.  I did choose carefully.  I picked up some old favorites, but I also got a lot that are new to me, so it will be a waiting game as to what blooms true and what I want to keep in the long run.  I won't remain much over 50 plants for too long - and I don't have to think about much except these nine for quite awhile  :-)

In other news of the day/week/month, I haven't spoken much about healthy pursuits since early May, and that's because I wasn't being very healthy.  I avoided WW because I just didn't want to know about it.  ::::::: fingers in ears::::::::   :::::::::::I can't hear you!!! la la la la la la la lal la la la la la I'm not listening!!!  If I don't get on the scale this isn't really happening!! ls la la la la la la la ::::::::::

Right.

This is a pattern for me - to be going along, doing great, and then BAM! I fall down, and I fall down hard.  It doesn't help that my body does do these huge jumps up/down, but I did go back to WW this past Wednesday and I was up 10.4 pounds from where I was in early May.  So, I'm back on track, and working hard - although this weekend was challenging - I was at the Highland Games with a couple of friends.  Holy crap it was hot.  In the 90's.  The food choices were not great (fish & chips, sausage rolls, and meat pies), and the beer was plentiful - there's nothing quite as good as a very cold beer on a very hot day.  But all points were accounted for, and I keep moving forward.

That's City of Chicago pipe band.  They are a Grade 1 band (that's the best). 

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There aren't very many Grade 1 bands here, so I was really happy to hear them - it's pretty amazing to hear all those pipers sound like ONE. They are really good and I'm so glad I got to hear them.

But man - it was hot!  Sometimes I really don't like my Irish skin, and my head sweats - always has . . . so on a very hot day after a couple of beers . . .   I look like this:

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Yikes!  Actually - I don't even need to have a couple of beers to look like this on a very hot day.  Oh well.  I was, however, covered in sunscreen, so other than a few new freckles, I'm none the worse for wear (thank goodness), and I did have a hat - hence the smushed hairdo.

Comments

candy said…
Aww you look great! Happy and glowing and enjoying life and doing what you love. You go girl!
A :-) said…
Thanks Candy - it was a lot of fun :-)
Amy said…
I forgot you were there too. I had such a good time at the highland games. I was even talking about you to my nephew when he was talking about learning to play the bagpipes. Glad you had fun. I did too.
A :-) said…
Amy - I looked for you both days - I'm surprised we didn't run in to each other! Now is the time for your nephew to start if he's interested :-)

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