This year’s record rainfall means a stellar year for cacti and succulents. Friday, I visited the Ruth Bancroft Gardens, a private collection of cactus and succulents that is open to the public. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, the photos speak for themselves.
The toilet auger and a bookshop on a houseboat in Paris.
Sadly, life happens even to folks who do know better. I managed to flip a solid block of plastic into the toilet: it sank out of sight immediately. It was small, only two and a half inches by half an inch. The problem was that it had 3M adhesive on one side. Of course, I couldn’t see it for myself, but it seems the stuff stuck the plastic to an inconvenient spot in the flush system. Voila! Toilet blockage.
Just as I was picking up the phone to call ABS plumber, I remembered that font of all knowledge called YouTube. There is a marvelous DIY channel called “See Jane Drill.” There I discovered the toilet auger.
The toilet auger is to a plunger as Mount Everest is to Boot Hill. I immediately acquired a Rigid brand auger from(you guessed it) Amazon. Although I watched the how-to video three times, it still took me a couple of tries to use this gadget correctly. It’s not hard, but it is awkward. But as they say, third time is the charm, and on the third try, the blockage was cleared and the toilet flushing right and proper.
Now I am primed and ready to clear any toilet at any time. No more waiting around for plumber business hours; no more having to pay premium dollars to a plumber on Christmas Eve. Sometimes my life is so exciting, I can’t stand it!
Do I need to mention that I am reading?
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George is delightful. It’s the story of a bookseller whose combined home and bookshop is a houseboat. He is not an ordinary bookseller: he is an apothecary bookseller.
He prescribes books for his clients; printed medications and tonics that will sustain and sooth during the ups and downs of their lives ranging from embarrassment about the appearance of their toes to loss of a love. Could you imagine anything more idyllic than a houseboat on the Seine, filled with vintage books? I love the idea of prescribing books for headaches, fatigue, heartbreak, or just a Spring tonic to boost the sparkle in life.
My Spring tonic books are “Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin, “The Greater Trumps” by Charles Williams, “The Great Divorce” by C. S. Lewis, and “Four Quartets” by T. S. Eliot. What are yours?
Sybal's Front Door 