Pro-choice AND pro-life

(Warning: This post contains no reference to yardening.)

It's too bad that the anti-abortionists have co-opted the phrase "pro-life". My observation is they are not pro-life in any sense of the word. Consider the following:

• If you are against safe, affordable, effective birth control, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you see no reason to fund maternity care, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you don't support paid parental leave, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you don't want adoption to be affordable, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you are against healthcare for all, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you are anti-vaccine, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you don't want universal childcare, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you prefer lower taxes to good public schools, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you favor corporate profits over a living wage, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you support gun rights over gun safety, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you are unconcerned about climate change, you are NOT pro-life.
• If you support capital punishment, you are NOT pro-life.

I live in a red state where the anti-abortion forces and pro-choice forces are about 50-50. I doubt the current conservatives can be voted out of office, but I can certainly hound them about following through on their so-called "pro-life" stance. I invite you to do the same, wherever you live.

Still waiting

My landscaping has been penciled in for this week. I sure hope it happens as I have been holding off several other things to make sure I am free when they come. Fingers crossed.


Even though the rain has slowed down and the temperatures have soared, the grass keeps growing but it's not as dense. This weekend was mild, so I tried to dig up some rudbeckia, but I twisted my ankle a week or so ago, and just could not manage the shovel with one bum leg. I also questioned the wisdom of transplanting weeds along with the plants, as that bed is full of creeping Charlie and thistle. I have other plants in less weedy locations I can move if I so desire.

My daughter has taken just about every plant there was to take from the front yard, or at least as much as she had room for in her yard. I haven't been over there yet, to see the results of her labor, but given her eye for design, I'm sure it looks great, or will, once the plants establish themselves. Yesterday she "shopped" my garage, for lumber and other odds and ends. There are a lot of leftovers from various remodeling projects that I am happy to part with.

Today is Father's Day. I have been transcribing some of my old journals, currently from eight years ago, when I was planning what turned out to be my last trip to visit my dad. Needless to say, I miss him.

Mowing and trimming

That's about all I do regarding yardwork, mow a couple of times a week, trim when I feel like it. I ventured into no-man's land - the area behind my privacy fence and in front of the neighbor's privet (which smells absolutely lovely right now, like lilacs or milkweed) - to see what it looks like. Thankfully, the neighbors have been keeping it mowed; I trimmed along my fence.

The 'Blue Muffin' viburnum is done blooming, and it looks like another fruitless year. I thought maybe the sparrows had been eating the blossoms - I've had that kind of problem with them before - and that was why I seldom saw any fruit on the shrub. I've been offering the birds millet, which they love, but that doesn't seem to make a difference with the viburnum. It's cousin, 'Chicago Lustre', is starting to come on now. I'm not sure either will survive the landscape update.

The climbing rose on the south side of the house, in an area to be updated later, is blooming its little heart out. Once I learned that it blooms better on horizontal branches, I made an attempt to make the branches horizontal. I was rewarded for my efforts.


I purchased some more sweet potato vine and a few geraniums for containers on the deck. By this time of spring, the pickings are slim at the local nurseries unless you want petunias or begonias. One pot contained some volunteer zinnias, which is what I favor when it comes to annuals. Next year, I'll have to start some inside.

While waiting on the landscaper, my SO helped me cut down mulberries - they were getting completely out of control and I'm allergic to them - and I treated the stumps with herbicide. They were starting to form berries. The serviceberry is absolutely loaded this year, but I've seen only a few robins and catbirds back there instead of the usual feeding frenzy. There is even uneaten fruit on the wild strawberries. I guess if my yard has an abundance of fruit, there must be an abundance everywhere.

Road trip

This past week we spent a few days in Chicago. My daughter arranged the trip, as a kind of end-of-school-year treat for my granddaughter. All we had to do was tag along. I did make one request: that we visit the Lurie Garden. If I lived in Chicago, I would want to be near this spectacular year-round piece of green space.

The plants are not labeled, but I recognized many of them. And those I didn't got the Google Photos Lens treatment: take a photo, open it in Google Photos, click the Lens icon, and the app will try to match it with other photos. Very handy.

We also visited the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, which included an installation by Nick Cave of thousands of wind spinners. They were mesmerizing. If they sold them in the museum shop, I would have bought one. Instead, I purchased one at Wild Birds Unlimited (I had a coupon!)

Back home, we had another visitor to the backyard, a young squirrel who found itself trapped on the pergola. What you don't see in the photo is Finn sitting at the base of the post, keeping an eye on the youngster.

My next door neighbor has the kind of parents who periodically show up to help her with yardwork. They aren't very friendly, will say hi and that's about it. I'm sure they are wondering what in the world is going on in my yard. If they asked, I would tell them I am waiting on the landscaper to work his magic. Meanwhile, I keep the lawn mowed and trimmed.