Is the thumb black, or do you just want to be somewhere else?

This weekend I go to a regular acquisitions conference and will be gone for 4 days. A variety of my life areas are converging in this post because of this event. I'm venturing out as a no-longer-junior librarian as I'm kind of in charge of my own unit now. That's a cool development on the professional ambition side of things.

Also, it will be the first time that I'm away from my boy for an extended period of time. I've done a couple of overnighters away from him, and he did okay with that, but during this trip he will see the prolonged disappearance of his beloved "nana" and the body that is attached to them. I'm just glad I'll be out of town when he has meltdowns for hubby and grandparents. I hope it goes better than I imagine.

But the concern at the forefront of my thoughts is my newly-planted lavender, which, contrary to this articles advice, I did not plant in a container but in the ground in our front yard after pulling out some beyond-their-prime bulbed plants that were hanging out around the rose bush. Freesia, the neighbor thought it was. They'll come back. So, I'm adjusting the watering schedule for the lavender, but it just doesn't like it where it is. It might be that the soil is not porous enough, despite having a nice cushion of organic soil. Maybe I can replant in a container before I leave on the conference so it doesn't die off completely in my absence. And, of course, my buddy thinks to give me gardening advice the day after I "groomed" aforementioned rose bush. My cuts were at a 45 degree angle facing away from the center of the canes, so I hope I did okay.... My mom says roses are hardy, so we'll see....