Cinco de Mayo, the date

Feeling accomplished after this weekend.  Last year, my neighbor replaced the wood fence with block wall.  I was okay with it, I paid half.  The workers he hired, though, didn't care about how they left the place.  They overturned two of my huge pots and left them on their sides on the lawn.  They apparently cut the roots on one of my 22 year old italian cypress.  I was driving past my back yard one day and I noticed it was looking redder than the others.  Then the heavy rains came and soaked the ground, followed by a week of heavy winds.  I turned the corner one day in early December to notice the space between the trees.  The tree fell on top of the overturned pots. Because I've had so much to do for Auntie's estate, this weekend was the first time in 18 months that I've been in my back yard.  I hate gardening, so it was the at the bottom of my list of chores.  The grass must be chest high in places.

I finally hired someone to come out, chop up the tree and haul it away.  I don't know if $500 is a fair price in California, but it was another $300 if I wanted another tree gone, $200 if I wanted it trimmed.  Wow. I think these trees cost me less than $10 when I first moved in.  Four guys came out, it took them less than 30 minutes, they had a big chipper & truck.  I think Mom had her italian cypresses trimmed for $50 each (about 15 years ago).  Well, she had time to shop around and they didn't haul away the branches.  They packed what they could fit into her green bin and left the rest in a pile.

I didn't have walking space in my garage because I was digging for tax history for the CPA.  I thought they would go through the garage and make their way around the house to the gate, so I pushed everything back into place.  That is accomplishment #2.  Then I weed whacked the side of the house to get to the downed tree.  The grass was knee-high in that area.  Accomplishment #3.  So at the end of the day, my back was hurting and my sinuses were stuffy, even after a shower.  I felt so bad, I didn't go to see Mom that evening.  Woke up Sunday, still stuffed but it cleared by noon.  Now I remember why I hate gardening.  Allergies!  I never wanted a garden. 

So Sunday, I was trying to make Almond Jello.  It's a Filipino thing that you have with fruit cocktail.  It's milky (sweetened condensed milk) with almond extract.  Mom used to extract flavor from actual almonds but that's alot of work!  Anyway, it's supposed to be really stiff because it was originally made with Filipino gelatin which is actually dried seaweed.  Unflavored gelatin is the modern adaptation.  I didn't put enough gelatin and I added too much water.  It's too soft and too sweet.  I'll try again after I eat my first attempt.  I'm using up my aunt's gelatin and her almond extract.  She used to make this alot because it's a light & simple dessert, hence all the gelatin I inherited.  I can keep trying.