Saturdays in the Garden - Traveling through Time and the Stargate

OUTSIDE

This refrain is getting very old but I once again spent very little time in the garden this week.  The weather has been pretty perfect for Autumn though I'm not sure I've had first frost in my little pocket of a yard.  An exceptionally windy day brought down about half the leaves in town - thankfully some of the color is left.

I did get a couple of small things accomplished.  I bought a new leaf composter made of cedar wood that is a little less ghetto then the no longer really circular wire bin that is currently not doing its job in my compost area.  I am the world's worst at making compost, a process that is supposed to happen naturally so it takes real talent to be bad at it.  I also moved in most of my fragile plants in to their winter quarters.

I've also been playing a little bit with propagation by stem cuttings.  My county Master Gardener group had a short program about it earlier in the week.  It seems like it should be so easy but I'm not so sure.  I have a cutting of  a coleus, a houseplant I can't remember and some other pretty purple plant in water (as you can see my notes were stellar), I have a leaf cutting of a geranium in soil as well as a stem cutting of a chrysanthemum.

LIFE

After several weeks on the road for work and with the weather changing, I felt in serious need of some nesting.  So with a list of house projects about a mile long, I embarked on a two week staycation with the primary goal of puttering around the house.  I'm halfway through my vacation and it's amazing how fast it is going and how slowly my to do list is getting done.  I allocated Monday to re-organizing and deep cleaning the kitchen.  I'm still not finished, lol.  Even though two weeks seemed like an eternity and that I should have plenty of time to get my entire life back under control, I think a number of items on my to do list are going to stay where they are.  It's been a good lesson in just how fleeting time is - it is never standing still even when we wish it to.

I have given myself plenty of time to relax as well which may be having a tiny impact on my productivity level.  I've been mainlining episodes of Stargate SG1 which I discovered is available on Amazon Prime.  This is one of my favorite shows that went along just brilliantly for a good long time and then crashed and burned heavily in later seasons following the departure of the charismatic headlining actor.  Sound familiar (cough *X-Files* cough).  What can I say?  I have a weakness.  I can't decide if I need to get some of my feelings about the show out with some Sunday blog posts.    Sam and Jack are one of my favorite all time ships and may be my favorite in the category of "handled extremely poorly by all involved." So lots of angst there to ramble on about. 

For a girls night last weekend I also finally caught Richard Curtis's (writer of Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral - pretty much most of the charming and touching British films you can think of ) most recent movie About Time.  I loved it and cried like a baby. There is a time travel element that you don't want to think too hard about - it's not the point of the film anyway.   It's ostensibly a romance but it is also the story of a father and son and about embracing the all the moments of one's life.  It's all told in that funny, slightly quirky Richard Curtis way.  If you can deal with wonky time travel rules and like a bit of heartfelt sentimentality mixed wit a healthy dose of humor then I definitely recommend it.

BOOKS AND BLOGGING

It's Dewey's Read-a-thon day and I am participating my head off.  Here's my post where I will be keeping track of things.

I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir on audio and it was really great.  I now want an astronaut/botanist/mechanical engineer/smart ass boyfriend.  Anybody know any?  I also enjoyed, (with less relish and fewer boyfriend longings) Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander, second in a mystery series featuring Sir John Fielding, founder of the Bow Street Runners.

I'm still trying to get through the middle grade book The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau, 2nd in the Book of Ember series.  It is not working for me.  I also started The Pursuit of Mary Bennett by by Pamela Mingle - Jane Austen fan fiction focused on the least charming of the Bennet sisters.

Last week on the blog:
SUNDAY:  Mini-Reviews:  The Case of the Missing Marquess, Cybele's Secret and The City of Ember.  These are all middle grade/YA books.
TUESDAY: Top Ten Tuesday:  Ten Places books have made me want to Visit. 
THURSDAY:  Sign up and plan post for Dewey's Read-a-thon.

This Coming Week:
SATURDAY:  This post and a Dewey's Read-a-thon tracking post.
SUNDAY:  Review - TBD
TUESDAY: The Top Ten Tuesday post is the ten new series I'd like to start - I'll give it some thought but I don't really keep up with new releases etc... unless they make a big splash.  May come up with my own listy topic.
THURSDAY:  Review - TBD

I think that's it!  Time to get down to some read-a-thon reading.  Hope you all are having a lovely Saturday reading or enjoying some cheesy sci-fi TV!  Are there any other SG1 fans out there?