Nautilus of Bloom

I've been feeling out of sorts with myself due to a long string of frustrating days. Then last night I slept for less than five hours, so I've been in a semi-altered state of consciousness all day. I keep pausing to ask myself why I feel so suboptimal, and then answering myself "Oh yeah--that." But at least I did get out to do some work in the back yard. I put all the corner braces on two more raised bed frames. Tomorrow I hope to assemble them. Everything goes ridiculously slowly when I'm this sleep-deprived. It was a beautiful sunny day, with all the birds chirping around. We had a visit from a very saucy bluejay, and a pair of cardinals. My tree peony in the front yard is beginning to bloom, extravagant crepe paper flowers bursting out of perfectly round, marble-sized buds, like a magic trick. I also re-read three Flannery O'Connor stories for a discussion we were having this evening: "Revelation," "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," and "The River." I think life may be too short for me to re-read very much more of her work. Although I do like "Revelation" because it's pretty funny and nobody dies.

Yesterday I talked to Queenie. She sounded a little better, so I'm happy. Every little bit counts. I oven-baked a corned beef brisket in the new large-size cast iron Dutch oven. We specifically wanted one big enough to put a big thing into and still have room for all the vegetables, in this case onions, carrots, and cabbage. It worked very well. Lucky we had leftovers so I wouldn't have to cook with My currently impaired brain!