A Beautiful Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

My friend, Cindy, sent a Comment about her attempts to save Timmy's lemon tree which died of consumption---it was consumed by some "buggies", as Cindy referred to them. Fausto, the Master Gardener, had a more technical, clinical name for them---"little bastards"! As we looked at them through his microscope, he said, "See the little bastards?" and sure 'nuff, there they were! That day he gently washed each remaining leaf with a cotton ball and water, and then sprayed them top and bottom with a mix of Dawn soap and veggie oil, which would suffocate the "buggies" and hopefully spare the tree. Sadly, that was not to be the case, and Cindy tried her best to save what was left after the dead branches were trimmed away. I greatly appreciate the attempts my church family made on this for me.

*

Cindy mentioned that her hubby's favorite movie is "A Beautiful Mind", of which I watched portions on Saturday. It is really a great movie, a true story, but I must say, I would go bonkers if I had to work with theorums and calculations all day long. It seems as though "John"'s natural calling was doing the math, as it were, and eventually he won a Nobel prize for his work. This movie, plus "Good Will Hunting" feature men with the brilliant gift of figuring out the math in life, while struggling with a mental illness. I wonder, which came first......???

*

Besides trying to rescue the lemon tree, Fausto is also busily working on another project for me. One time he had asked about the lamb in the flower bed by the church sign, wondering if he should paint it. I told him it was my lamb and if he wanted to freshen it up, he certainly could. One of the ears had come off, which was already glued on, and was probably the reason we got him at a discount originally. He repaired the missing ear and painted the lamb all fresh and new. Fausto has excitedly tackled the job of painting all the little garden decorations in that bed including the statue of the child reading a book which was a gift from the Douglases; plus a turtle, as well as a baby's head cradled in angel wings, donated by Cindy. He even brought me photos of the finished work, but is not bringing the pieces back to church until Yard Day to put in place once the mulching is done. Cindy's daughter, Tara, has mulch for the flower bed where her family and I attempted to plant bulbs (so far, nothing!) and then Fausto will replace the decorations. All will be fresh for Easter, even if no flowers bloom there!

*

Already the sun is beaming on me, making me squint, adding character to my face through the wrinkles around my eyes, and I rejoice! Today is Bible study, our course in worship practices. Always makes for good discussion, especially when adiaphora is involved. Of course, lunch afterward at our favorite Monday place and then home until meeting Kathy B. for a baseball game. The manager at Longhorn gives us a 10% discount for being frequent shoppers plus some of the ladies order from the children's menu which means they get out of there for around $5-6.00 for lunch. Since I order the adult menu portion, mine probably equals theirs because half comes home for another meal.

*

My time this afternoon will be used to put the finishing touches on The Palace Press and get it out to the Owners and residents. I need only print one copy for Gus, who has no e-mail. He just got back last week from CO where he spent the winter (backwards, I know!) and the first thing he asked me was "where is the lemon tree?" I had to tell him and he got a bit misty eyed, since he knew the value it had to me. A while back he had wanted to do a graft from his tree to mine, but then chose not to in case the graft harmed my tree. I am guessing he is thinking he made the right decision since it died anyway.

*

Now I must send out my reminder to the ladies for our monthly dinner this Thursday, "Breakfast for Dinner". I can smell the bacon cooking already!