Your Questions About Gardening

Creative gift ideas please for a 75 year old man!?

My fantastic neighbour has been so supportive while I’ve been dealing with breast cancer. He takes my dog out several times a day and calls in to check on me when I have my “bed” days due to chemotherapy. He even brings occasional gifts for my 2 year old son!

He’s made life so much easier for me and I would like to buy him a gift to say thank you.

He doesn’t drink and has diabetes so alcohol or chocolate is not an option! He doesn’t seem to have any particular hobbies apart from gardening, which he does for other people as he lives in a flat. He drives and likes looking after his car. He and his wife seem to enjoy eating out and jumping on the bus or in the car for day trips and holidays.

Other than that, I can’t think what else to tell you.
I’ve thought about a gift certificate/voucher for a meal with his wife in a nice restaurant and I thought he might enjoy a nice indoor flowering plant. Not very exciting really! Anyone have any other ideas?

Why is my friend being so unsupportive of my relationship with my husband and my pregnancy?

I have a really amazing husband. And my friend constantly gives me bad unasked for advice on my marriage and pregnancy. Me and my husband never fight, he’s never said anything mean to me or done anything wrong, he’s so attentive and we have all the same goals in life. I’m now 36 weeks pregnant and have had a really easy pregnancy. I didn’t look or feel pregnant at all until about a month ago. I only stopped working 2 weeks ago and plan on going back after maternity leave as I work in the family business and can take baby with me.  My husband works very hard long hours as a fitter/machinist.
I think my husband can do no wrong. My friend thou feels different. I sometimes feel she is trying to make us fight and gives me stupid pregnancy advice. She says i “wait on him like a slave” and “I am doing damage to my baby by doing housework” and gives me silly advice about money even thou she’s horribly in debt and we own 2 houses. I dont see myself as a slave. Yes we  conform to a more traditionalist lifestyle but that’s because it suits us. She told me to stop doing all housework and make him do it, but he works really long  hard hours and is so tired so why would I force him to clean. I do try  really hard to make him happy but that doesn’t make me a slave. He does all his parts to earn what I do for him. He buys me flowers, rubs my pregnant feet, gives me all the money and treats me like a queen. I do things like… He wakes for work at 5 so I wake up early aswell cos i like to keep the same hours and i make him coffee and pancakes, French toast, or an English breakfast.(she says this is dumb) I lay his work clothes out ironed, make him fancy lunches, and always have dinner ready when he comes home, I do all the housework, I also give him back massages every second night as he gets sore with all the lifting. I really love to cook so it’s lucky he isn’t fussy. I also bake cookies, pies, pastries and cakes for him(not me thou… Diabetic). She tells me to stop having sex with him saying im too far along and will have a stillborn?? Tells me to stop doing housework altogether and just stay in bed?? Don’t walk the dog while pregnant??(but I like walking the dog after he gets home from work) stop cooking him dinner?? (what will I eat then?) she complained cos I made and froze 3 dozen meals in the freezer for him to eat when I’m in hospital and the weeks before and after to make it easier. She said he should make his own. But what’s wrong with me making it? She complained that I’ll have a stillborn from vacuuming everyday… Or even once a week. But with 2 long hair indoor cats and a 60kg great Dane who lives inside I really have to vacuum every day cos they shed hair absolutely everywhere. She says i have to stop all housework… She complained that I pick up the dog poop in the backyard? But I sorta have to. I dont wanna avoid using the backyard all day cos it’s got poop everywhere… Great Danes really do crap everywhere. She even gave me attitude cos I put a little makeup and perfume on before he gets home from work.  I do all the gardening but that’s cos I like gardening… She tells me to get rid of my dog. But thats my baby and she’s a really great dog, she doesn’t bark, bite or even notice babies in prams when I walk her. Very laid back lazy dog. She says I’ll “hate the dog and everything I have to do for it when the baby comes out” and that ” you’ll have to learn how to devote ur life to the baby and forget about ur husband” why would I forget about him? ” get rid of ur cats cos u won’t have time for them”. So if it were up to her I would hang around her house all day, throw away all our pets, stop doing housework, stop cooking, stop wearing makeup and eventually get a divorce. Why is she being so horrible and constantly putting my husband down even thou it’s clear I don’t feel the same? I’ve never complained about him so why would she say to me “I’m gonna have a talk to ur husband about this”? That would just make it look like i complained. When I never have! I’m very happy with our life. I love looking after him, and cleaning and being pregnant. She says I need to be wrapped in cotton wool practically. But I’ve had the healthiest pregnancy. She acts like it’s “wrong” to love my husband so much. Is it cos shes never had this? Her babies father dumped her 3 weeks after telling him she was pregnant. So what’s the real reason she keeps being so mean to him? She reckons we got married to fast and young. But we were 25 and knew eachother for 6 months but I knew on out first date I wanted to marry him.
Animal hoarder? Troll alert! I’m a vet nurse who already has had toxoplasmosis so that’s a mute point. And anyway we don’t let the cats even have litter boxes in the house. They let themselves out the doggy door as I have enough “shi.t” at work that I really don’t want it at home. They are very well toilet trained.
Apparently owning 2 cats and a dog and vacuuming every day makes someone an animal hoarder.
Im definetly gonna tell her to stick it. I usually just say I have to go if she starts being weird. I think it’s jealousy. My mother says she wants me all to herself… Or my husband all to herself. She doesn’t have a partner as hers ran off after 3 years of dating 4 weeks after getting pregnant. I don’t think she has any idea what it means to be a wife or a girlfriend. Or financial responsibilities. I can’t just give up work and sit at home and let my husband do all the housework. We have 2 mortgages and a baby on the way. My family owns a veterinary surgery and I’d never wanna give up my job and sit around at home cos I love my job. I’d go insane from boredom with no housework or job.

who even answers these questions on the chrysanthemums, by steinbeck 10 points… plz help?

Question 1 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

How does her conversation with the stranger become meaningful for Elisa?

They talk about their dogs, and she can see loves his dog as much as she loves hers.

She can see he is passionate about his being in the outdoors, just as she is passionate about her gardening.

She realizes she can fix the same things as he can, and views herself as his equal.

She feels good because she is able to provide some work for him, which will mean he can have supper that night.

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Question 2 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

Why does Steinbeck chose to have Elisa act so strongly as she sits in her dress and rides into town with Henry, only to have her relax in the seat after passing the stranger on the road?

Steinbeck wants to show Elisa cannot concentrate after she and Henry pass the stranger, because she feels so sorry for him.

Steinbeck wants to show Elisa is so angry at the stranger, she can only relax to try to focus on have a nice time at dinner with Henry.

Steinbeck wants to show that Elisa must learn her place in society, and that she should act accordingly.

Steinbeck wants to show the role of women in general for that period of time, and that Elisa realizes she could never be the strong woman she has the actual potential to be.

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Question 3 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

What is Elisa’s first impression of the stranger on the wagon?

She thinks he is there to swindle her out of some money.

She thinks he will try to steal some of their cattle or vegetables.

She views him as a way out of the life she wants to escape.

She sees he is a big man who has been aged by the traveling life he leads rather than his actual age.

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Question 4 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

How does Elisa most closely match the concept of Pigasus?

She admits at times she thinks she can actually fly.

She considers her special gift of gardening to be her only way to showcase all her talent.

She has great strength and power inside, but cannot seem to find a way to let it show.

She desires to have talents and gifts she knows she can never have.

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Question 5 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

Elisa agrees to let the stranger do some work for her because

she feels sorry for him.

he threatens her and she is afraid.

she feels they have made a connection with each other.

she wants him to leave quickly so Henry will not get jealous when he sees her speaking to a stanger.

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Question 6 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

All of the following phrases are used to descibe Elisa in the beginning of the story except:

“Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were clear as water.”

“She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked.”

“The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.”

“At the back of the house she dug in the can pile and found two old and battered aluminum saucepans.”

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Question 7 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

Use the following quote from the story to answer this question:

“Far ahead on the road Elisa saw a dark speck. She knew. She tried not to look as they passed it, but her eyes would not obey.”

Why does Elisa “try not to look” at what she sees in the road?

She knows the stranger has thrown her flowers down, and was only trying to get work from her.

She knows the stranger could not fix her pot, so he threw it down the road.

She knows it is a bird that has died, and cannot bring herself to look at it.

She knows Henry will be angry with her if she brings attention to it.

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Question 8 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

What message about society is Steinbeck sending through this story?

Neighbors should share more with one another.

Husbands should encourage their wives.

Strangers cannot be trusted.

Strength and power can be present in some of the most unexpected people.

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Question 9 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

What do the conversations between Elisa and Henry reveal about their relationship?

They spend much of their time completing separate tasks, only speaking to one another when forced to do so.

They are kind to one another,
Question 9 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

What do the conversations between Elisa and Henry reveal about their relationship?

They spend much of their time completing separate tasks, only speaking to one another when forced to do so.

They are kind to one another, and recognize each other’s strengths.

Henry is clearly a dominant husband, as he does not compliment his wife.

Elisa hates living on their ranch, and longs for material things Henry cannot provide for her.

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