Spring Fever

I think I've been experiencing a bit of spring fever today after spending some time with my friend, Trish, yesterday. We went to a knitting class together to learn how to knit, and then went to a nursery to look for seeds. She's somewhat of an expert gardener in my opinion, so I had her help me select things easy to grow, and things that were successful here. In the end, I spend $25 on seeds, and made a scarf.

 I planted all my little seeds into some planting things I had leftover from the fall, and set up a card table next to the brightest window in our house, where I'd had my other seedlings on a chair. I also planted some mesclun in my wheelbarrow outside next to the cilantro (and possibly some volunteer violets). So, I planted eggplant, coneflowers, delphinium, chamomile, cilantro, blackeyed susans, parisian carrots (they're round and can grow in pots), and radishes (also compatible with a pot, and should be ready to eat in 24 days!). When the weather is a little more of a sure thing, I'll start the cucumbers, sunflowers, stevia, basil, and more pumpkin seeds outside. If I had more planting things, I'd probably start the stevia and basil inside as well, but I'll have to look for more pots. It's very exciting! Trish also gave me some of her own Egyptian walking onions from her harvest last year, so I'll be excited to start those soon too. She said they'll grow pretty much no matter what. This summer, we've decided to learn how to can our vegatables too! We'll see how that goes. We have another knitting class next weekend too, we'll learn how to knit in the round. I think that'll be very handy, and I bet I'll be able to make many cute things for my future neice/nephew. The week after that we're to learn pearling. It's fun to do things like that with a friend. It's just nice to finally be able to call someone my friend that I know will likely stick around and not disappear after awhile. Also, a friend that I can relate to and not feel like the fish out of water I've felt like for so long here. I do find it strange I tend to find friends that are much older than I am, she's ten years my senior, but it doesn't worry me too much--most girls my age aren't like me.

Any way, as for now, I'll finish this up.

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

Waking up in New York

This morning, just before I woke, I was in New York, on the street I grew up. The rest of the day carried a somewhat nostalgic feel, as yesterday's snows melted away in today's warmth. That used to happen, except in the opposite way, a random day of warmth amidst a winter long of cold, dark, and snow. We had one glorious day of beautiful white fluff, and a wet warmth today that made me smell and see visions from my youth when I wasn't paying close attention to the distinguishing things that surround me. Cracking the car windows, I drove down the streets and highways, with just tolerably cool gusty air bustling through the spaces to blow in my face and on my arms.




Snow coverted Rosemary and Eucalyptus




From my kitchen window


As my mind sat in the low wakefulness between alarms, my brain tried to grasp at the fleeting threads of a dream not quite pleasant but never the less on my childhood street, so as I often do, I visited what I remember instead in clarity that only comes when I'm in the hypnotic state between wakeful consciousness and dreaming. I tried to reason through the rest of the dream, to follow it through. I remember riding a rusted bike with a thin frame and tires, wobbling along down our street. I passed our neighbor in nostalgic anticipation since I hadn't been out and down the street in so long. Much had changed, and yet some things were familiar. I remember as I left the dream being pulled backward away from it, seeing the houses in a distance, and thinking it wouldn't be right to build another house in the big open field where the pear trees grew across the street---realizing I would never be there, there in the place of my youth as it was, time forever passing, never turning back. Being able to look back on our lives is probably one of the greatest gifts, and yet our greatest crux.





I am growing some seeds, recycling plastic egg cartons. I started four tomato plants, four pumpkin plants, and four pepper plants.

The tomatoes and pumpkins are already bursting from their fibrous cocoon, but the pepper seeds may have been too old. I also planted twelve shasta daisies, but they too have not sprouted into this world yet.



Reaching for the sun



They sit on the chair I've had since it was in my bedroom at my desk in Mount View, right next to the window and my suffering thyme plant. 

 



Winter thyme

My rosemary and eucalyptus already begged to be put outside to die (you can see them in the first picture above covered in snow), they were just dying slowly inside, but the thyme is hanging in there...as long as this human remembers she needs to be watered before her leaves are crispy critters.  





Three in a row



The fibrous cocoon



The pumpkin seeds I held onto from my harvest pumpkins I bought this year, and these may not make it to fruition, since they don't like transplantation a whole lot, but at least I know these seeds are fertile and will take to the ground quickly. I just need to determine a good place to plant them. They have a will to take over, so it needs to be somewhere I would want that to happen, and where they would be happy.





I guess since I started these seedlings in such small containers, they may outgrow them rather quickly, and may need another home before going outside. I hadn't thought of that when I chose to use the clear plastic egg cartons, only that they would act as a good greenhouse, which they have.

I've written this whole long blog and not mentioned Valentine's Day, but its not significant. It reminds me of all the things I used to get on Valentine's Day from boyfriends long past, and all the things I got them. I remember decorating shoe boxes with Rachael, and getting long stem roses delivered. I wouldn't have thought in my young mind then, that I would settle for anything less. Well, I have, and I'm happy with it. Not to say I wouldn't be happy if it were different, but life is a game of give and take, and I can't think of anything I would sacrifice for it to be different.

We will have a special dinner at home tonight, and go running together. We may not have the stuffed pork chops I had planned until tomorrow though...we had a heavy southern style lunch today. I was able to meet up with Zach and some of his friends from work for lunch at a buffeteria iconic to this area. Maybe just that spinach and fruit salad I was planning!

Ah, St. Valentine....how your day has changed.

A Small Orange Project

So, like I have done for so many years, I am inspired by my older sister, and though I am not naming my hamster Rina to mimic her hamster Tina, I have made a lunch bag. It is not nearly as nice or detailed...I'm lucky to sew in a straight line. It's fabric left over from my other project the other day, and until that fabric is used up, it will probably be seen again, and again, and again. Maybe I'll make grocery bags next. The problem there is remembering to bring them to the store. I have three I bought, but never remember, but maybe, just maybe I'd be too excited to use ones I make to forget them...at least at first. I did think a lunch bag would be nice since I used a brown paper bag or some hideous grey thing. It's not insulated, but for now, I don't think that is necessary...there are usually fridges if I must keep something cool. And besides...I usually just bring a PB&J sandwich and call it good. Here are two pictures I masterfully took with my iPhone.

The button I actually found in the old sewing shoe box that used to belong to Zach's Grandma Rosie before she passed. It's interesting to think she used to own an outfit that this button would have gone with.

I began a new rotation on Wednesday, and so far, it's great! I don't have to be there until nine, and I usually get out by five if not sooner. Therefore, as of today, I've begun to plan meditative times in the morning before I leave.

Also, I think as of tomorrow, I am going to eliminate processed sugar from my diet. If I do have a gene that predisposes me to diabetes, I'd rather get in good habits now and hopefully ward it off as long as possible. Plus, I just consume too much sugar. I am always way over on my calorie counter for the amount of sugar I am suppose to intake. So, no more sugar on cereal, no more chocolate chips, no more icecream, no more cookies, cakes, and candy. Granted, I understand that I should allow exceptions, but at least in the beginning, I'm going cold turkey...

On a related note, I guess the FDA is trying to make sugar regulated like nicotine and alcohol, which would increase the cost of sugar containing products because they can tax it extra and maybe put an age limiting factor on its sale. That would be interesting. I'm not sure how they think they're going to do that.

“The creatures that inhabit this earth--be they human beings or animals--are here to contribute, each in its own particular way, to the beauty and prosperity of the world.”

“Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility...without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed, or unhappy because of circumstances.”

“Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.”

-Dalai Lama XIV

Quotes copied from: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/570218.Dalai_Lama_XIV