Pre Op

This has been an unusually stress filled week, and it's the week before Mothers Day rolls around.

Triple stress action coming.

My dermatologist found some skin cancer on my chin right under the left corner of my lower lip.

It's just basal cell so apparently no great cause for alarm.

But this coming Monday I roll out of bed at the ungodly hour of 4 something am to be at Georgetown Hospital at 5:30am for surgery at 7:30.

How lucky was I that somebody cancelled that spot?

On GG's suggestion, I went to Plastic Surgery At Georgetown, where she worked for many years to see her favorite Doctor.

Now you must remember my legal name isn't Jane, it's rather long and very Irish Catholic.

So I go by Jane.

Imagine the surprise of both myself and the nurse when Dr. Pittman was "Are you GG's ex?"

When I said "yes", the nurse whirled around on her stool and said "Jane"?

Outed. Again.

And imagine their surprise when the "responsible adult" who comes to pick me post op is GG's sister, mother of the former Mr. B, now Mr. Big Shot, who just had her own surgery, same Doctor, though a much more difficult procedure a scant two weeks ago.And do you know how hard it is to find a responsible adult who isn't working on Monday morning?

I think the stressful part comes from all the phone calls from different departments in the Hospital  asking me the same questions. My answers are pretty much "no", which makes me feel very healthy. But one more round of this and I might take some recreational drugs.

Just for fun you understand.

Oh my god, the worst of it all? No gardening for 10 days after surgery!!

Why oh why is it always no gardening just when I've gotten strong enough to dig up and move a rosebush by myself?

Glass half full:

 I'll be able to fill the house with lily of the valley

 And lilac.

And I'm promised a little scar which might make me at 5'2 and 110 lbs. look a tad  more dangerous.

Get back Jack!

We Never Go Out Of Style

Latest review from the world of innkeeping:

"Beautiful neighborhood and beautiful cozy home. If you've watched The Holiday, think of Iris Simplins' cottage. Very close to bus stops and metro stations. Overall great experience and great time."

My favorite Hollywood house! Score 1 for smallbutcharming, 0 for Gus and Lucy this time.

My turn to smirk.

Quite honestly it is not a beautiful neighborhood, it's a little shabby.( But hey,  at least the RV is gone from down the street).

I guess its  heart and soul shines through.

Though today was a day to try the patience of anyone with a soul.

Carlos was going to reattach a piece of lattice that had come down in February on my back deck when the winds were gusting at 35 miles an hour. It had only gone up in November so I was eagerly looking forward to summer when it would be covered with grapevine, birds eating grapes and cats trying to catch birds.

What should have been a 20 minute project according to the boss became an all day affair requiring 3 trips to Home Depots, a lumber store, breakfast, lunch and a tank of gas.

Oh and a new drill bit for Senor and whatever else the hell he wanted.

Anything that could go wrong did go wrong and finally there we were in the parking lot of the final Home Depot where I was laughing so hard I was crying.

And the installment process hasn't even begun yet.

This is gonna take all week. And Thai food.

I may be unlucky in the choice of deck refinishers/trellis installers, but I sure am lucky in friends.

In real time and in IT time.

I just read this beautiful piece by Denise at chezdanisse tonight and it got me thinking.

Is it true no one reads blogs anymore?

I don't believe that judging from the number of pageviews I get and I'm not offering anything of much consequence.

Or teak chairs like Marie.

But I don't want blogging to go out of style like a pet rock or  scrunchies.

So I'll keep reading if you keep writing and vice versa.

Deal?

Spring Break

Before we get to the important news, the garden, let me give you a quick update on the innkeeping.

Lovely guests, one from Seattle brought me coffee beans and tea, another from Nebraska brought treats for the cats. Gifts for Gus and Lucy.....they were beside themselves with excitement.

A tiny ball and 4 pieces of ribbon/cord/string to chase. Of course all gifts disappeared with minutes of being received, probably to be found, at a later date,by Olga the housekeeper.

Olga calls Gus "Puss in Boots", said with requisite Spanish accent, well she is from Bolivia, and can often be found playing with him when she meant to be dusting.

 Or maybe she's just picking the mulch off of him, which certainly constitutes cleaning.

Because with the sudden outbreak of spring we're all in the garden(s).

One Sunday I had two neighborhood husbands helping rather digging up the mounds of scilla that were threatening to overtake Virginia.

They also removed a ring of sparkle grass that was driving me crazy and replanted several hunks of phlox.

Carlos announced my garden is a community garden. 

I did not demur.

I did agree to take him out for Thai.

We have decided we are like a mob of meerkats, leaving our homes only during the warm weather to socialize with one another and work in our gardens.

We've had our first cookout,first baby shower/rave, first drinks party, first hanging out, moving from house to house following the sun or sheltering from the rain.

We've exchanged plants and recipes, gossip and confidences.

If it feels this good to throw off the winter in Virgina what is it going to feel like in the Northeast?

Nirvana awaits.

xo J

From Where I'm Standing

Clearly being an innkeeper keeps a woman busy.

Laundry, fresh flowers, removing cat hair, attempting to remove cats....duvet cover on, duvet cover off, duvet cover on.

Duvets covers are my Achilles heel,or maybe my rotator cuff?

But you know me, I enjoy the hell out of each guest.

New faces, new stories, different reasons for being here.

An internment at Arlington Cemetery for one, a work conference for another, visiting the museums and an old friend for the first. Todays guest is a t-tiny Ukrainian photographer from Brooklyn here to take pictures of the cherry blossoms.

There's always a reason to come to DC.

And for those of you who worry, I do check peoples reviews from other hosts, make sure Airbnb has all their information verified and usually exchange several emails with them before they darken my doors.

I've had two men but all the rest are woman traveling alone and they want reassurance that my neighborhood is safe and that I am sane.  Well, the hood's safe.

I've had lovely reviews and the cats were finally mentioned in one. To their delight and my amazement they were described as cute and friendly but not intrusive, that's the part that made them smirk and me shake my head in disbelief.

 Okay, not intrusive, but maybe a little stalkerish?

In other news Hilary Clinton is running for president and spring has sprung in the garden.

And who else watched the clip of Martha roasting Justin Beiber? Wowzer!

xo J