Grow, grow, grow

Grow, grow, grow your garden
Gently all summer long
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Fresh veggies inspire my song!

 

 Lame, I know. But getting out in the garden, in between rainy, cool days has been inspiring. It’s giving me energy I didn’t know I had. And that, ladies, is a really good thing because lately I have felt like a slug. I sometimes look behind be to see if there is a slime trail.

I got one garden weeded and planted last week and what an accomplishment that felt like! We decided that the little garden behind the house, that was formerly the veggie garden until last year, would serve well as what we are terming the kitchen garden. I planted onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, herbs, strawberries and lettuce. Things I may want to harvest little by little as I need them. Oh, and, of course peas. Peas never make it into the house. We pick ‘em, shell ‘em and eat ‘em as a quick, fresh snack.

I am not so sure the strawberries were the best idea. We will have to wait and see if the chipmunks discover this fruit. Growing up we had strawberries out back and those cute little rodents always seemed to find the ripe berries just moments before we did.  

We also started prepping the big vegetable garden for planting in about a month. A lot of weeds have started growing back so we used the garden a dumping ground for sticks and branches that came down off the trees this winter. Himself also tossed is the ornamental grasses he cut back while I was out of town. I got to do one of my favorite springtime chores – burn, baby, burn. I don’t know why I like to do that. It’s hot, stinky and dirty. But, later on, in that former path a of destruction, will be fertile ground that will yield a great bounty.

We learned many lessons from last year’s newly expanded garden. Preparation, weeding, and good watering are essential. More isn’t always better. There’s always enough to share. Save something for a rainy day. Not everything will do well.

Hmm?? Those sound like lessons for life!

AMDG

Houston, we have contact

Contact dermatitis that is, aka Poison Ivy! I think this is the earliest I’ve ever gotten it.

It must be summer!

AMDG

There’s No Place like Home

“An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered;

an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.”

– GKC, All Things Considered, 1908

Last week I had to do a bit of traveling for work. I visited two of our plant locations to present some training for our new website. All-in-all, it was a good and productive trip but there were occasions during the time away that reminded me of just how much of a homebody I am.

While on the west coast I had a meeting with several co-workers who live out there. One is a transplant from Ohio. In fact, he still keeps his home here and comes back as often as possible. Pete and I got to talking and I was surprised to learn where he lives – less than a half mile, as the crow flies, from our house. Even funnier still, he lives in the house whose barn I’ve been coveting all these years!

I have been wanting to photograph this barn for ages. In the Spring one side is fronted by beautiful Forsythia bushes that just pop out against the dark red siding. The other side of the barn is adorned with old tools hanging on it. I found out it’s listed on the national historic register. I had to fly 2,000 miles to meet my neighbor. Next time I’m just going to ring the doorbell!

After two days in Washington we flew to Denver and that’s where the fun really began. It was cold and snowy. What the heck??? We just left sixty degree temps and back home it was supposed to be in the 70s and 80s. Snow, 40mph winds and 19 degrees is just not what I bargained for!

As I drove us north towards Cheyenne I kept seeing signs saying that the highway was closed ahead. It didn’t say where and the roads seemed fine to me. I live in northeast Ohio, I’m used to a little, even a lot, of snow. Well, they weren’t kidding. Just before the Wyoming state line there were gates and barricades across the road.

What to do now? We didn’t know how or if we could get through to our plant. We did what every self-respecting traveller would do – we pulled into the first open establishment we could find – a laundromat! It was warm, dry and they had a plug for Julie’s wireless hotspot.

We weren’t sure if we should turn around, go back to the airport and find the first flight home, hunker down for a night in a nearby hotel and try again the next day, or find other roads to just keep trekking on through.  There were a couple of people there busy with their laundry that offered us assistance. The woman told us of a phone number that we could call on our cells to get more info on road conditions and closures.

The man, though, that was there made the greater impression. He was poorly dressed, unshaven and missing a few teeth. In a different setting, his looks might have raised a few red flags. But, he had the kindest eyes and, when he heard we might want to stay in a nearby hotel, warned us which ones not to go to as they were rather seedy.  

Several phone calls later, to both our travel agent (no open flights until late the next day) and to our coworkers (an alternative route) we had a plan. We arrived several hours later than originally anticipated, but we made it safely and in one piece to the office.

And, you know what? I’m glad we did. I was greeted by some of the nicest people that I’ve worked with and we had a great and productive meeting. The next morning went just as well. 

On the drive back to Denver we got a little taste of what we had missed on the highway the day before. Drifts covered much of the road, cars were spun out here and there, and traffic came to a standstill in several locations.


After boarding a supposedly delayed flight we made it back to Ohio right on time. Got to love those tail winds! When I pulled into our drive my headlights caught the now blooming hyacinths. Such a sweet, sweet sight! And, an ever better one awaited me inside. At almost 2am, Himself and the hairy beast were awake and waiting for me.

 

There’s no place like home!

AMDG

It’s just a number?

Have you ever watched the TV show Numbers?  In it the FBI solves crimes with the assistance of a brilliant mathematician, Charlie.  He uses various mathematical principles to extrapolate data from a crime into information that can be used to catch the culprit.  As a math minor in college I find this to be more than a little intriguing. 

Numbers tell a story, sometimes more than we’d like to admit.  In the IF world we count CDs, months (or years) actively trying to conceive, pills we take, thyroid levels, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  For the lucky lady that gets the BFP, numbers represent the weeks of life growing inside.

And just where is all this going?  Thanks for asking.  Two very different, but yet not, numbers, 55,555 and 300, got me started down this road.


 

Down this road.  (I love puns.)  55,555 is the mileage the odometer turned on my way to church last week.  At least this time, when I took the picture, I was stopped at a light, unlike the last photos.  I was thinking about all this number represents.  A lot of life has happened in all those miles.

We drove to North Carolina once and Tennessee twice to visit my aunt and uncle.  My aunt Mary is my mom’s older sister and most like her in so many ways.  When we visit with them we talk about so many things -  religion, politics, culture, health – nothing is off limits.  I see so much in my aunt the things I miss most of my mom.  Going home is always bittersweet.

We drove to two different GK Chesterton conferences, one in Maryland and one in St. Louis.  If you ever get the chance, go to one of these.  You will encounter some of the nicest, smartest, most amazingly down-to-earth people you ever want to meet.  And Dale Ahlquist is pretty cool too.  Himself and I can also say we are both published photographers as a result of these conferences.  Funny, we missed last summer’s conference due to illness and there weren’t any pictures published.  Seems like they missed us!

This car as gotten me to jobs at four different employers, one I love and the rest, well, let’s just say I’m glad they were consulting and temporary.   It’s taken me shopping and to church and visiting and to the park.  Just this past Saturday we headed down to Amish country to load up on the essentials – bacon, butter and cheese. 

And 300?  That is this post.  I now have had something to say three hundred times.  Sometimes it’s been thoughtful and eloquent and insightful.  Other times it’s been vapid and trite.  But, like the odometer mileage, it’s all been representative of life.  My life.  And it is good.

AMDG

PS.  Well, it was the 300th post until yesterday's papal announcement.   I guess giving that one over to Pope Francis was a good thing!

PPS. Another math nerdy thing - did you know today is PI day?  It's 3.14!

Habemus Papam!

Perspective

I haven’t been posting much lately, obviously, and, when I do, what I write has been fairly brief and pretty lame.  I wanted a quiet Lent, so maybe the lack of posting has been a good thing. 

I guess it’s just a matter of how I look at it.  Isn’t so much of life like that?  The same thing, viewed from different perspectives, can yield vastly different feelings and attitudes. 

So, for the moment, I'm embracing the quiet, and, when I get the chance, the beauty below.

Is Sara trying to get out or am I trying to get in?

AMDG

Wahoo!

Chief Wahoo, that is!

The drive in this morning was amid freezing rain, sleet and snow here in northeast Ohio.  

At 3:05pm the first spring training game of the Cactus league began.

Can the warmer weather be far behind?

AMDG

"Remember man that thou art dust

and unto dust thou shalt return."

 

 

Going viral

Thank you for all your well wishes after my last post.  Yesterday I was talking to a neighbor friend who is an RN at the local hospital.  She seems to think what I have is norovirus, not rotovirus like I had mentioned.  Not that the name matters, same yucky symptoms just by a different name.  Apparently it’s running rampant in this area, so much so that several schools have closed.  It should only last 24 to 48 hours.  I must be an overachiever since I had it for four days.  If only the seven pounds I lost would stay away!

I suppose I could look on the bright side.  Since I couldn’t be too far away from the “facilities” I had a chance to get a few things knocked off my “to do” list when I was feeling up to it.

One of my house plants, a Swedish Ivy, had gotten crazy big.  I bought a new, larger pot for it a few weeks ago and I finally made the switch.  If you’re one of those people that has a brown thumb, get one of these plants.   They grow like weeds even with the most minimal of care.

I finally watched Casablanca.  It has been driving my BIL bonkers that I have never seen that movie.  It is one of his favorites and one he considers a standard setter.   He’s in the business so I guess he would know.    I’ve had it from the library for a couple of weeks so when I was feeling a bit punk yesterday afternoon I slipped it in the DVD player.  It was funny knowing so many of the lines from the movie having never seen it before. 

I don’t know the last time, if ever, I backed up my laptop.  With all the pictures we take, the hard drive was full.  I was frequently getting error messages telling me that files could not be saved.  So, new external drive in hand, it is now backed up, cleaned up, and a bit more spacious.  And since I was fiddling with the computer, I installed tax software and got ‘em done.  Yeah me!

I picked up a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while now, Confessions of an Ex-Feminist by Lorraine V. Murray.  I’m wishing I would have started it sooner.  She is an excellent writer with an engrossing story to tell.  When I finish, I’ll write more about it.  It would make good Lenten reading for anyone looking for something.

Hmm?  Maybe I should get sick more often.

Nah, not worth it.

AMDG

How not to lose 3 pounds in 24 hours

In one word - Rotovirus.

I don't know where I managed to pick it up, but it is most unpleasant.  Avoid at all costs!


AMDG