Now I understand the Mama's impatience about planting her vegetable garden. During her last several years, she was sowing seeds into the ground earlier each year. April, March, even February. Some years, the Husband and I didn't even get the chance to turn over the ground and work in compost and bags of top soil, which meant she got less yield. On one hand that was okay because how much bittermelon can I eat, as no one else would. On the other hand, we had less squash, tomatoes, beans, and her Filipino vegetables to eat, requiring us to head over to the Marina farmer's market every so Sunday. Except for the traffic that was a fun outing for the three of us. Supposedly I must wait until after the last frost to sow the flower seeds I gathered last year, along with that big packet of wildflower seeds I bought last Spring. Part of me says to put some in the ground now so that they can benefit from the rain the Farmer's Almanac says we'll be getting this month.

"Yikes, a flamingo!" exclaimed the fish. " I need to get back into the sea. Blub, blub." "Yummmm!" smacked the flamingo. "More leaves on the left."

It's winter but the ornamental pear tree on the front yard doesn't think so. For the past few weeks, it has been slowly shedding its colorful autumn leaves. I love the warm yellow and red colors on the ground. I've already raked twice. Maybe I'll rake once more just so they won't be flying over to the neighbors' yards or into the gutter and clog up the storm drain. Not thoroughly though. I think the leaves make a warm cover for the bulbs, tubers, and seeds that are in the soil beneath them. Not to say, the dried leaves will turn into lovely mulch and soil come Spring.

I got my first piece of advertisement for a Medicare advantage plan in the mail yesterday. It wished me Happy Birthday! That was last month. It stated that it is time for me to think about Medicare, even though I won't be eligible until the end of the year. The mailer did give one two piece of valuable information. Namely, I can enroll for Medicare three months before I turn 65, nine months from now. Unless things change between now and then, the only reasonable and, thankfully, affordable option for me is the Medicare advantage plan that the Husband is already on. Five Facts about Medicare Medicare, established under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, was signed into law by President Johnson in 1965. President Truman and Mrs. Truman were the first Medicare beneficiaries, receiving the first Medicare cards. In 1972, President Nixon signed a bill to expand coverage to persons under 65 who have long-term disabilities. In 1982, hospice services was added as a Medicare

This post ends my time writing movie reviews on the Missus Lady's blog. At least for now. Maybe I'll do more reviews, now and then. The Missus Lady would like me to do book reviews for some future ABC Wednesday round. I'll think about it. It has been fun being part of this round of ABCW . Purrrrrrrrrrr. The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) Setting: Warsaw, Poland during WWII, 1939 to 1945 This movie is based on the real-life story of the husband and wife caretakers of the Warsaw Zoo, Dr. Jan Zabinski and Antonina Zabinska, during World War II. The couple defied the nasty Nazis by hiding over 300 Jews in the zoo during the war. It is a sad and horrible, yet uplifting, tale. The movie begins with the bombing of Warsaw in September 1939, the start of the war, during which many of the animals died. Dr. Lutz Heck, an actual Nazi commander and a big-time zoologist for Hitler, transfers the best of the surviving animals to German zoos, after convincing the couple that it