Category Archives: fun

A Winter Bloom in May

fun, gardening

I like having house plants blooming in the winter. Seeing the colorful blossoms and greens gives me hope that spring will soon arrive.

Because my husband Bob was so sick this past December and died in January, I had no heart left to put my bulbs in soil.

Finally, I felt sorry for my amaryllis bulbs. Without any fanfare, I plopped them in a pot of soil. Now they have rewarded me with their trumpet-like blooms.

I have them out of the backroom and set them where I can enjoy the pink blooms in my kitchen now.

There are more flower bulbs and tubers in my basement. These are waiting for warm weather when I will place them in the soil outside. My fingers are crossed that they will do as well as these amaryllises have done.

Next week the temperature is predicted to turn warmer, without frost. If that is true all the bulbs will come out of the basement and start their journey to summer blooms.

Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved

Happy Easter!

fun, Odds and ends

It wasn’t that long ago that women wore hats. Easter was the time to get a new hat and show it off at church.

When my mom put on a hat, I knew she was going somewhere. Even if she went to the store Mom put on lipstick and a hat.

Times have changed. But I happen to have a hat collection. In the past, I’ve presented hat programs for Mother’s Day gatherings and for club meetings. Today, in honor of Easter I’m going to show off a few–some have a netting so may look a little blurry.

Often my head is too big for a hat, but I show off the hat anyway.

Happy Easter!

Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved

Being best friends from a distance

Friends, fun, technology



Joyce and I have been friends since first grade. We started school together in 1956 and have been best friends ever since.

Even though Joyce lives in Illinois and I’m here in Wisconsin, we still manage to visit. For quite some time we used our telephones to talk to each other, but we are going high tech now and we use the internet.

For Christmas, Joyce was given a Facebook Portal mini with the idea of connecting to me. Well, we finally figured how to use it and instead of holding a telephone, we are now talking and visiting as we look at each other.

Joyce on my computer screen.

We are also playing Words with Friends as we talk and laughing a lot, too.

Susan on Joyce’s web portal.

Joyce and I are enjoying our visiting time together more than ever.

I also connected with writer friends the other day. There were four of us visiting at the same time.

Isn’t technology wonderful? Especially since we are all sheltering at home.

Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved



Happy Birthday to a friend

Friends, fun

I received a reminder that my friend had a birthday today. Usually, a bunch of us would meet for coffee and cake to celebrate, but that won’t happen.

What could I do? I’m not big on singing the birthday song and I already sent a card, but there should be more I could do. I thought and thought. While going into a drawer for saved seeds, I found balloons leftover from a grandchild’s birthday.

The first balloon I tried to blow up, popped. It had a weak spot. The other three inflated without issue.

My stake for the balloons was an old clothes hanger I stretched out.

Getting ready to stick the balloons in the birthday girl’s yard.

I rang the doorbell (but I didn’t run away). We visited a bit from a distance. It felt good to talk to someone in person, even if I was in the yard and she was in her doorway.

Other people are reaching out to family and friends in creative ways, too. A lady I know is heading over to do a sidewalk chalk drawing for her friend’s 80th birthday. Now that’s being creative.

Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved

Growing my own

Farming, food, fun

Years ago, I sprouted seeds in my kitchen. With all that is going on, I decided to get started sprouting again.

I could have sprouted some seeds in a jar. I found simple directions on Google:

How to Grow Sprouts in a Jar

  1. Place one to two tablespoons of seeds in your jar, and cover with approximately two inches of warm water. …
  2. Drain the water, using a fine sieve or cheesecloth.
  3. Rinse the seeds by adding water to the jar, swishing the seeds around, and draining.
  4. Repeat twice a day, every day until your sprouts are the desired size.

I’d suggest you start with one teaspoon of seed for alfalfa seed. Here’s a link to growing alfalfa:
https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Alfalfa-Sprouts

I didn’t start growing my alfalfa seeds in a jar. Like any kid, I wanted a ‘toy’ to play with and bought a sprouter online. Kitchen Crop VKP1200 Deluxe Kitchen Seed Sprouter, | 6″ Diameter Trays, 1 Oz Alfalfa Included

That ounce of alfalfa that’s included will take me a long way, but I also ordered some seed mixes.

My new sprouter

Water drains from the top, through the sprouting levels and is caught in the lower green level. I’m to put the water through this straining system two to three times a day.

It’s like having another pet, though it is not a Chia Pet. It will grow edible sprouts. I’m not so sure about eating Chia sprouts. At least those packaged as a pet are not recommended to eat, but the ones that are sold as edible chia seeds are.

You’ll have to wait a few days to see how my project is growing.

Today I feel like a farmer again. Bob would be proud.

Copyright © 2020 by Susan Manzke, all rights reserved