Zen gardening

My bromeliads, pink and red, are in full bloom. I have a lot of them in the front yard and side yard. Some of the ones in the side yard were destined for the yard waste pile, but I waited too long to toss them and they took root. After that, I didn't have the heart to rip them out of the ground a second time.  I wouldn't mind if the neighborhood plant thief  came and took a few bromeliads since I have so many, but that is typically not how she works.

One desert rose, hidden on the lanai, is in bloom, and my angel's trumpet cutting has yellow leaves and white bugs. I treated the angel's trumpet with soapy water. The web site instructions say to spray daily until all signs of the pests are gone. I'll do this everyday and see how it goes.

                            Large desert rose, small desert rose, angel's trumpet

My two pineapples are almost ready to be picked and my pepper plants are still small and not very productive. My time spent in the garden is very limited, and it shows. Oh well, as soon as I'm rich I'll be able to take some down time to work in my garden!

And speaking of garden, I don't even cut the grass any more. Ralph has happily taken over that chore. Did I say happily? I'm thinking it must be very happily, because this past Saturday he told me my mother wanted me to take her on an errand. He said he would do it for me but he had to mow the lawn. I found out later that she asked him to take her. I went on a 15 mile bike ride on Saturday and was in the middle of a potential dehydration/heat stroke event when he assigned this task to me. Surely, he wasn't trying to kill me, was he?            

Manatee Memorial Hospital is participating in the 2011 Sarasota/Manatee Heart Walk on Saturday, September 24 at Payne Park in Sarasota. Feel free to visit http://sarasotamanateeheartwalk.org/ for all the details. Heart disease continues to be the number one killer of men and women in the United States. Walking is the best activity that you can do for your heart. I know, I prefer biking...I'm just saying. Do what you want, just do something. I'm talking about exercising. You'll also want to eat a heart healthy diet and control your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

Recently I bought seven new scrub hats for work in an effort to stimulate the economy. I was wearing a flamingo scrub hat that I found in my closet. All the guys at work hated it, but the patients and their families loved it and so did I. And that's all that counts. When I went to work yesterday wearing the first of the new scrub hats, David, one of the nurses promptly remarked, "And the hat just isn't working." I promptly told him there are six more where that one came from and eventually he'll see one he likes.

Let's face it, I am fully aware that I do not look very attractive in scrub hats. They are a necessary evil when working in the cardiac cath lab, so I just go with it. Since I don't really have a choice, I strive try to wear fun hats and forget about them.

Carmella's Casa Italiana is running some new specials and introducing two signature sandwiches and a signature dish. Visit our web site http://casa-italiana.info/ for information as this news unfold. (Donna, the news is 'unfolding,' so it won't all be there at once.")

I wasn't in the right place at the right time this morning to capture the sunrise. I feel compelled to take these pictures because soon the sun will be rising too late for me to see it. Also on my agenda is going to the beach to see a sunset. Haven't done that for way too long.

                                                     Just after sunrise

The price of gas is going down and we made it through another day. Stay strong. I see something on the horizon. Could it be hope?