Flowers on Friday: Hellebores!

My second favorite flower in my garden (after roses, of course) is Hellebore. 

The foliage in the foreground is Colchicum bulbs that I have planted among the Hellebores.

Hellebore is a wonderful perennial that requires very little care and loves to live in the shade ... where it rewards the gardener in late winter with graceful flowers that last for months.

Most of the Hellebore plants in my garden are seedlings, because they can reseed with wild abandon.  While this may be a problem with other plants, which can spread and take over a garden, that's not the case for me with Hellebores.

Look at all these tiny new seedlings!  The larger leaf at the top of the photo is a seedling from last year that's large enough to move, if I want to.

Hellebores promiscuously interbreed with each other, and it's exciting to see what the new seedlings look like when they are old enough to flower ... usually when they are two or three years old. I leave the tiny seedlings in place to grow and get established, and I carefully transplant some of the larger, yearling seedlings to other spots in the garden.

This is 'Pink Frost', one of the few named cultivars that I have.

I want to pollinate some of the 'Pink Frost' flowers to see if I can make my own hybrids with it.

Hellebores are wonderful pass-along plants!  Many of my original ones came from friends and/or plant swaps ... seedlings of seedlings from their gardens.  I continue the tradition, sharing seedlings from my garden with others who are interested.

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Weather has been unseasonably warm for us this winter, and my garden is incredibly confused.  Some plants are budding and growing right on schedule (like the Hellebores), and some are very, very early.  Many of my roses have broken bud are starting to sprout, weeks and weeks earlier than normal.  Others are still dormant, like they're supposed to be in late February.  It's going to be a weird garden year.

Winnie

Winnie went to Mexico yesterday afternoon.

Her little old-dog body just gave out.  My husband and I decided that it was best to send her on her way.

My heart is broken.  Grief is as deep as the love that she and I shared, and right now it's pretty overwhelming.

RIP, and vaya con Dios, Bitty Dog.

Women's March on Washington

I was there, with my sister and two friends.  Sit back while I share some photos that show what I saw, accompanied by a few thoughts that describe how I felt.

Pink isn't my favorite color, but I knitted a hat and wore it proudly ... to put myself and my head in the sea of pink for the March.

We took a photo in the Metro station as we arrived in DC.

That's my sister in the pink hat and black jacket right in front of me.

Both sides of the escalator exiting the station were set in the outbound direction, to move more people.

This was our first view of part of the crowd.

So many satellite trucks along Independence Avenue.

A sign propped in a rose bush ... you knew that I had to get a photo of it.

Video screens allowed those of us in the thick of the crowd to hear the people who were speaking from the stage.

Gloria Steinem

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser

There were so many people!

Other times, we had a bit more room.

Yarn bomb, quietly left behind by a marcher.

This was my favorite sign of the day.  When I told that to the man who was holding it, he put his hand on his chest and told me that it comes from his heart.

These two police officers with a PA system on top of this ambulance, were directing marchers at an intersection.

Madonna did not reflect the view of anyone that I spoke to during the day.

The 'After' photo, as we waited for the train to take us home.  

Exiting the station, on our way home.

This panoramic photo that gives a good look at the crowd where we were.

To see how much space 500,000+ people occupy in downtown DC, watch this video (which, coincidentally, appears to have been taken from the top of a building near where we were standing when I took the panorama.)

It was a l-o-n-g day ... I left home at 5:30am to be at my sister's house at 6:30am, and I got home after 9:00pm ... but it was profound.  I can't adequately express the feeling of being in a crowd like this, a peaceful, respectful crowd, who gathered to show what we hope is not a minority view of our country.  My United States respects all of its citizens, and is a melting pot for foreigners who come here to make a better life for themselves and their families.  We met so many people, visited with out-of-towners, local residents, young women, old folks like me ... I am very, very proud to have participated.

Been there, done that, ordered the T-shirt.  It was surreal.

With This Many Crowns, I Should Be a Princess

The saga of dental difficulties relating to the replacement of the bad crown on one of my upper incisors is finally, mercifully, almost over!  

It all started in 2012 ... yes, five years ago.  (I told you about it at that time in THIS post.)  Summary of the saga is:  faulty crown extracted, bone grafts (twice) trying unsuccessfully to get a good substrate for dental implant, crown prep for three-tooth bridge with a not-so-awesome temporary, one gum graft, and a lot of healing time allotted in between procedures.  In addition these difficulties, last summer I left the dentist that has been caring for my teeth for 30+ years.  Her practice grew too large and impersonal, and I felt like a source of income instead of a patient.  It was time for me to move on.

Fast forward to October of last year:   Went to my periodontist for an evaluation and asked him for a recommendation for a new dentist.  Without hesitation he had a suggestion ... told me that he thought that it was a great match for my personality and that I would be happy there.  Turns out that I am happy ... very happy, as a matter of fact.

Dr. Dana Culda practices general dentistry, and specializes in prosthodontics and cosmetic dentistry.  She evaluated the condition of ALL of my teeth, and came up with an awesome plan.  In addition to finishing the bridge on the one side of my upper arch, she recommended that I crown the three teeth on the opposite side.  Her recommendation was based on the fact that those three teeth had decades-old composite fillings whose margins were failing, which led to decay in places that no amount of dental hygiene could prevent.  Doing all of this work at the same time would result in the best possible aesthetic outcome.  My husband and I talked it over, and we agreed to proceed with Dr. Culda's plan.

This is the model of what my teeth will look like when they're all finished.  Even though it's a lot of work, and expense, I'm really excited to get on with this.

Yesterday was the big day ... a VERY long appointment to prep my teeth for their new look!  Here is the bed-head, no make-up, unedited Before photo ... the first time I have showed this ... and the last look I had at that stained temporary bridge on the left and my natural teeth on the right.

This morning, my mouth is sore but fine.  Dr. Culda is a perfectionist, and she took incredible care to make sure that each tooth was prepared perfectly, that impressions were perfect, and that my temporary teeth are as perfect as possible.  Want to see?  (Scroll down and prepare yourself for another bed-head, no makeup selfie.)

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I love this more than I can adequately express in words ... even though my upper lip and nose are puffy and sore, it's an incredibly-huge improvement!!  

In three weeks, I have an appointment to try the final bridge and crowns.  I can't wait to finally be finished with this ... especially because having beautiful teeth again is going to be the amazing outcome!