Burial and Planting

A week ago today, I had planned to start my tomato and pepper seedlings indoors.  We had gone shopping and picked up a $1.79 seedling tray, some seed-starting potting mix, and vermiculite.  But the day's activities were instead filled with a phone call from my mother about her sister's impending passing and a notice that I should go say my final good-bye.  It was hard, and she did indeed pass the next evening.  

The week turned to funeral and wake preparing activities, including my having to work extra long hours prior to Friday's wake, just so that I could leave work early Friday to attend it.  There is no bereavement for the relation of "aunt" in Ohio.  I knew this without looking it up, because when my grandmother passed several years back, there wasn't even a single day of bereavement for my grandmother!  I had taken a vacation day instead.

So yesterday we laid my aunt to rest beside her beloved, with her mother and the only father she knew close by.  The wake was held at my mother's house and my eldest cousin's mother-in-law handled ALL the food preparation, setup and tear-down.  What an angel!  

I didn't count how many people showed up, but I would venture to say there were upwards of about 40 people milling about my mother's finished basement.  She has seating for almost that many and at times there was nowhere to sit.  It was a lively gathering with many kids playing underfoot.  Mom used to regularly host Christmas Day dinners with this side of the family as I was growing up, and we have easily hosted this many people at once, or more, many times over the years.  But yesterday was different.  Ever the people-watcher, as I looked around the room, it was obvious everyone was genuinely enjoying their family time together.  What a testament to my aunt's legacy! <3  Only one family left early that I noticed, and it was due to a very long drive ahead of them across the country. Everyone else stayed three full hours or more.

There were so many flower arrangements from the funeral, that I was able to take home two packed full of houseplants even though I didn't choose mine until all guests had their choice first.  Mom had about 5 large arrangements of flowers left still!

On a lighter note... after the wake yesterday, I re-potted the houseplants in one arrangement into separate pots.  But I ran out of pots, so when I hit up the big box grocery store (NOT Wally world, ick) later today, I will pick up a few pots for the others.  

I was also able to finally get my seedling tray set up yesterday evening.

I tend to just wing the seedling stuff, but this year I watched some videos and decided to "try better". So I am using this tray system instead of small round pots.  It can be watered from below and has its own little micro environment with the lid.  I'm also researching grow lights.  All I need is something simple, but some of the cheap $30 clip on lights, which is about all I would need for one tray, have bad reviews for the wiring.  Definitely NOT something I want to risk!  So, I'm still researching my options.  I won't need one until they sprout, so I have a little time to decide, but not much.  I'm also learning about mixing fertilizer into the water and when to do that.  There is SOOOO much to learn to be a good gardner!  I'm 7 years into this and though winging it has generally worked for me so far, I'm to the point where I just want to fail less. :)  Thus, I am digging in, trying to improve my techniques.  After all, I'm never NOT going to be gardening for the rest of my days. 

I'll leave this post by sharing a close up picture of a plant that came in the flower arrangement shown in the background of the photo above.  I'm not sure what it is and thus how to care for it yet.  So if you recognize it, please let me know what it is.  The leaf is gigantic and beautiful <3