Annika, congratulations 🥳🥳

Quote from: Alana Ashleigh on June 19, 2025, 01:10:03 PMAnnika, congratulations

Thanks, Alana! When the Wal-Mart pharmacist asked why I was prescribed Estradiol, I proudly stood my ground and said: gender affirming. Then, I went into the ladies section and picked out two dresses I paid for at non-self checkout. And all of this happened this morning in Butte, Montana. Who says drugs aren't empowering?

I guess I'm surprised they asked why, although pharmacists do need to think about the complexities of people's medications.

Good for you for being unafraid to say what's true for you. I'm proud to call you my sister.

Annika, I love Ponderosa pines (but I love almost every kind of tree). I planted a dozen a few years ago. They're not native here, though they do exist about 40 miles north. I figured with our summers getting hotter and drier all the time, I should try filling some of the gaps with a species that might do better in those extremes than some of our moisture-loving natives. A couple have passed to the great beyond, but the rest are doing quite well. It's the very wet fall, spring, and winter that I think may be their biggest challenge.

Quote from: Pema on June 19, 2025, 04:27:29 PMIt's the very wet fall, spring, and winter that I think may be their biggest challenge.

From what my daughter told me (she's the one with a degree in environmental horticulture, not me), Ponderosa pine are drought tolerant but not resistant (Douglas-fir was my first choice but the state nursery was sold out). From what I understand, they are taking over irrigated parts of eastern Montana (almost like an invasive weed). I'm not sure where you live, Pema, but if you can pack your bags (or pinecones in this case) and thrive in Roundup, Montana, you can adapt to just about anything.

Quote from: Dances With Trees on June 18, 2025, 06:03:00 PMThe forester stated: sir, it will take a thousand years for the trees to mature. To which the general replied: that's why you should have planted them yesterday.

There's a remarkable intro in one of the Meetings with Remarkable Trees series the BBC did (which is good). Somewhere in an intro, one of the interviewees points at a planting which was two centuries old and says, 'My great, great, great grandfather planted those. As a cash crop.'

Patience is a virtue.

"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky." - Kahil Gibran



So proud of you, Anni. <3

Maybe it is just the day. There is so much going on in my life and it's hard to believe a tiny little patch changes things overnight. But I have shed more tears today than I have since my best friend died a few months ago. If this is what it means to 'transition', then I'm all in. Until today, I didn't realize I had forgotten how to feel.

Clarification: Bod died a few weeks ago (not months). Must be the patch.

Quote from: Dances With Trees on June 20, 2025, 05:35:23 PMMaybe it is just the day. There is so much going on in my life and it's hard to believe a tiny little patch changes things overnight. But I have shed more tears today than I have since my best friend died a few months ago. If this is what it means to 'transition', then I'm all in. Until today, I didn't realize I had forgotten how to feel.

Annika, I am an avid cryer, and I'm elated to have you join me. Know that you are loved, my sister.

Quote from: Dances With Trees on June 20, 2025, 05:35:23 PMMaybe it is just the day. There is so much going on in my life and it's hard to believe a tiny little patch changes things overnight. But I have shed more tears today than I have since my best friend died a few months ago. If this is what it means to 'transition', then I'm all in. Until today, I didn't realize I had forgotten how to feel.

Best wishes ... being a "cryer" .. like me as well, simply means you have the ability to empathize with others. That's very important, and means you're normal.

A mock orange fronted by a peony. Poor execution of landscaping design but the two seem happy together at least for now.  As Lee Ann Womack suggested, "I hope you dance."

It looks to me like they are dancing.

Sometimes I feel like landscape design is for people who like things manicured and just-so. (And sometimes I do have to recognize that things simply don't work where I've put them.) Just yesterday, I had to trim and wrangle and separate an absolutely massive double-flowered peony and a gigantic calla, both just loaded with blossoms. I'd constructed a cordon around them to try to keep them upright, but their combined weight had made a joke of my effort. I was telling my wife last night that they're both too large to be where they are, but both of them together are preposterous.

And yet... They're obviously very happy there, together. I have until October to figure out what I want to do about it.

I say let them dance.