Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Hello June! You've graced us with a beautiful day. My garden is coming to life, with lettuce, spinach, peas and herbs coming in nicely. I still need to get some flowers in, like cosmos and zinnias. It seems so late at this point, but I'm going to get some seeds planted and let nature take its course. I've always started seeds in the greenhouse in March, but this year that didn't happen. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to see how the flowers do without the headstart. The herniated disc seems to be healing, slowly but surely. At this point, the only part of my leg that is still not back to normal is the area right below the knee. It's just a small spot. It's numb and at times feels like sandpaper is scraping across it. Other times there are pin prick sensations. It's all very strange. Yesterday my knee was very sore and twinging with pain most of the day. Today, the soreness and pain are gone. I'm wondering if this is happening as the herniation ...

Yesterday I used most of the red potatoes I grew in the garden this summer to make a hearty potato soup. As I was standing at the stove, happy with how the soup had turned out, in walked Angel Baby. Being the culinary student that he is these days, he tested the soup and said, "Needs more salt and pepper." Everything I cook, no matter what, his first comment is always, "Needs more salt." I know I tend to go light on the salt. I'm just not a salt fan. Right after he said, "It needs more salt and pepper" he stepped in and took over. He took the white pepper and sprinkled some in. He then chopped some rosemary and added it along with some oregano and thyme. He reached into the cupboard and pulled out the soy sauce, pouring in a capful. He whisked the mixture carefully, dipped a spoon into it and took another sip. "There. Better." I followed suit and took a sip. He was right. He improved what I had started. He talked about the soup now having a f...

The new fireplace is just wonderful. Having a fire on chilly evenings . . . there's something magical about it. A fire offers much more than simply warming an area. It whispers, "Relax. Slow down." The next few evenings and mornings are supposed to be much cooler, so I'm stocking up on kindling and firewood. I have several books stacked on the side table, just waiting to be selected and enjoyed. This time of year is my favorite because it's like I'm given permission to wile away the hours without feeling any guilt whatsoever, and now I can do it in front of a lovely wood fire. Today I cleaned the garden of the tomato, green pepper, and poblano pepper plants. And the basil. I clipped the basil stalk at its base then brought the bushy plant into the kitchen. Its aroma filled the whole house.  I left the lettuce, spinach, and kale in their bed as they are still going strong. Some carrots and beets remain as well. This weekend, I'll sow more carrots and beets ...

I found this today as I was pulling weeds from my very neglected flower bed on the north side of the house. At first I was unsure if it was something that had been growing under all the weeds, or if it was a piece of plastic from a long forgotten toy, or something else entirely. It was just really strange to find amidst the weeds and wood chips. The more I looked at it the more I thought it was a fungus, so I pulled my phone from my jeans pocket and typed in "orange tube fungus" and the very first result was an image of this very odd-looking thingamajig. It is the mutinus elegans. I figured elegans meant elegant, and it does, so whoever named this certainly had a sense of humor. It really isn't all that elegant in my humble opinion. I read further and learned the fungus is more commonly referred to as the "elegant stinkhorn," the "dog stinkhorn," the "headless stinkhorn," or, and this is my personal favorite, the "devil's dipstick....

With just a couple of days remaining in the semester and the bulk of the grading completed, I've turned my attention to starting the big summer project: painting the house.  I am so excited. And I'm in no hurry. I have all summer ahead of me. So I've started the scraping work, just taking my time. I decided to begin the process on the back side of the house since it's in the worst shape. That's the west-facing side, so it gets a lot of wind and rain pelting it. I've made some good progress over the last week. Last evening when I stepped off the ladder after scraping the fascia board, I felt such satisfaction with the amount of progress I've made so far.  Before I can continue on to paint this side of the house, though, one section of cedar shingles needed to be completely replaced. The old shingles are so rotted that a layer of wood came off with the paint. I figure this isn't a good thing, so new shingles it is. A quick run (as quick as can be living 30...

Enjoying the morning sun For a long time now, I've been wanting chickens. I grew up out in the country, and my parents always had chickens. Before moving to the city, I owned chickens and a turkey. Having fresh eggs every day was pretty much a given. Being able to simply enjoy watching the hens roam around the yard was something I didn't know I would miss so much. But I did. I really wanted chickens again. Unfortunately, living in the city doesn't make having chickens easy. First there was the hubby who needed to be convinced. Then there was the city ordinances to take into consideration. As if those two obstacles weren't enough, I had to think about my neighbors. So I went to work on Hubby. I talked about chickens all the time. I'm quite sure he finally just reached the point of thinking all right already. Give the chicken talk a rest. Please. I kept suggesting I was going to buy a coop and create a space for the chickens behind the house. They'd be com...

The garden is bursting. The tomatoes are ripening, giving me my first tomato sandwich of the summer. The herbs are tall, full, and giving off their wonderful scents. The second seeding of lettuce has reached the almost-ready to pick for salads stage. Even the bush bean plants I bought--sickly, near death plants I was sure were too far gone to be saved--are full of lovely, long beans. And the seeds I meticulously planted in egg cartons back in March? The ones that I thought were duds and after ten weeks of watering along with setting out in the warm sun only to get not even a hint of anything growing? The ones I ended up throwing into the compost box? Well, I now have a hodge-podge of zucchini, squash, and tomatoes where I spread the compost in early June. I'm hoping the zucchini and squash produce, as they are thriving and flowering beautifully, but the tomato plants have a lot of catching up to do to produce. The cool weather definitely isn't helping, but there's still Aug...

For the last, oh, I don't know, seven or eight years, I've been saying I want to move out to the country. I want a couple acres to have chickens and some sheep. I want to grow my own foods. I want to be able to see the sunrise and the sunset. I want. I want. I want. Because of my wants, I troll an online realty site, searching for properties that might match up with what I envision for my desired self-sustaining lifestyle. Not long ago, I came across what appeared to be "The One." "The One" is a small farmhouse on 3.35 acres. One picture shows a red barn. Another picture shows a garage/workshop "complete with concrete floor." The property has apple trees, cherry trees, and peach trees. The garden space is right behind the house, close to the little red barn. My entire being feels a pull towards "The One," and I regularly check in to see if it's still available. Today when I checked in, I saw the price had been lowered by $12,000. It...

Seems like I haven't written in quite some time. That's not to say I haven't thought about writing a blog post. I have. Nearly every day. But I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and write. I sound like so many of my students. So, taking the advice I always give to students who lament not knowing how to start a paper, I'm just going to write. The post will be a hodge-podge, so if you stopped by for something eloquent and insightful, you might be disappointed. Or not. Back into the swing of things at work, and this semester I'm trying something new. For years, I followed what could be considered a fairly typical approach to teaching: creating a calendar with exercises and longer assignments listed, their due dates, and all students doing these exercises and assignments. If a student didn't do the exercise or assignment for a given due date, he/she couldn't make it up. The points were just lost. This semester, I still have a calendar with exercises l...