Independance

in.de.pen.dance: n., a dance in the pen; overwhelming excitement due to new-found independence.

I'm doing the independance today (I know, I'm spelling it wrong on purpose...) for two reasons.

One is that my garden is doing fairly well and I just took in my first harvest (apart from those little surprise potatoes the other day, and the kale I put in my salad on Tuesday).

My hefty red cabbage!

I managed to carve this out this morning - I'm pretty sure it's ready to go as it's firm to the squeeze and heavy as a rock! Supposedly if I cut it out right, little mini-cabbages will grow from the base leaves for the rest of the summer. I'll keep you posted...

A few other shots from the garden:

Green Cabbages - I'll probably harvest those this week, too. And yes, they've got cabbage worm big time. But I don't think I mind that much...

Swiss Chard sprout - this is one of two that's come up so far. But I think I'd be fine with just two, though I would like it if a couple more sprouted, too.

Carrot sprout! This is one of 21 that I counted the other day. So cute!

One of my beautiful peas. The camera fogged up a bit when I took this because they're planted right by the output for the dryer... hopefully they don't mind that too much.

And finally, the biggest reason that I'm doing the independance today is because this morning I got up and, given that I don't have to be at work until 12:45, started doing laundry. In our home. No laundromat required. That's right: on Tuesday I bought (with Jack's money) a washing machine for our home! Yippee!

Ok, so both machines are older, but they work well. And don't mind the clutter - I had to move everything over to make room for the installation and haven't reorganized yet. So I've got a kenmore washer and a GE dryer, and I no longer have to drive to the laundromat, feed quarters into hairy machines, and wait around while weird older men stare at me... yeah, I'm pretty stoked about having our own washing machine now!

Until next time!

Surprises!

On Wednesday morning, the 24th of June, I received a phone call at 6:30 from Jack. He asked me about this and that, then eventually said he had to put the phone down because he needed to park his car. "Where are you?" I asked. "Crescent City!" he said, before hanging up the phone. The next sound that met my ears was the loud fan of his engine as he reversed into the driveway.

I gave him about fifteen minutes before I told him that I had figured out he was coming about a month ago. But it was still a great, albeit inevitably short, visit. We got some important things done, but as always there was too much to do. He left feeling slightly stressed and neither of us was eager for the long drive. He made it back to the park, and will be going into the backcountry tomorrow (after being forced to stay frontcountry by several thunderstorms). Only about 10 weeks remain, now. The summer is definitely going by quickly.

After he left, I worked my butt off on Monday so that on Tuesday I could take most of the day to hike - the first time I've hiked on my weekend since I started work! The toils of being sole inhabitant of a two-bedroom home with a large-ish yard and a garden to care for... Anyway, I hiked the entirety of the Mill Creek Trail (not to be confused with the Mill Creek Horse Trail that Jack and I hiked over the winter), ending with a swim in the river, and the hiked the entirety back. On the way I caught up with Janice and Ron (coworkers) and had a pleasant time hiking a mile or so with them. Overall, I put in 9 miles, and then had derby practice that night to boot! It was a great day, to say the least.

Tree tunnel on the trail. :)

Another surprise: I was actually able to get a very small window of time off for Michael and Mimi's wedding!

Dad paid for the ticket (which I would have never been able to afford at this point in my financial life) and I flew red-eye to Michigan on Thursday, arriving on Friday morning, got measured and chose fabric for my own wedding dress, hung out with my parents and sister, went out for ice cream!!!, rode Gregory around the airport (I LOVE that bike!), and then went to the wedding on Saturday, flew home Saturday evening, and drove from the airport to arrive at our house a little after 1 o'clock in the morning. Sunday I had to work, but I survived. Today I have been kicking back and taking it easy - working on tasks for a little bit at a time, then kicking back some more.

I've been checking in on my garden, since I didn't pay it much attention while Jack was here or during the few days before I left for the wedding, or while I was (briefly) gone. There are pea pods growing large, there are cabbage heads that are firm to the touch, there are little sprouts of carrots and swiss chard taking root where I planted a couple weeks ago. I did some research on my various plants - particularly those I hadn't grown before. The potatoes mysteriously lost all their leaves a couple weeks back, and since they haven't come back, I've gathered that I ought to just dig them up since they won't be growing anymore.... I thought I'd try digging in one section of the mound and see what I came up with, and surprise!!

Pearl Potatoes!

They're tiny, some of them are the size of pinto beans. But I think this is reason enough to dig up the rest of the mound. I have a few more potatoes that have grown roots in my home and I think I will transfer the mound to the garden (within the relative safety of the fence) and plant those there. Perhaps there will be more potato success in my future. This is the first time I've ever grown potatoes, though, and I have to say that it's probably the most remarkable-seeming thing. I dug in a pile of dirt with no plants in it and found a handful of little edibles!

Until next time!

Time

There is an ebb and flow to my life and my moods. I miss Jack terribly, but for awhile I am fine, productive, the house is clean, the garden is groomed. And then I slip into endless hours of Netflix (the possessive demon that it is) and sitting on the couch, thinking thoughts all morning long instead of getting out of bed and attending to my chores before work. On those mornings it's all I can do to get up so that I'll be to work on time, let alone actually get something done around the house first. At least, when I am in these lower times, I still have work and roller derby to keep me busy.

The house is looking better than it did before, though. I've started a new system where I draw cards and tackle a few housekeeping tasks every day so that I stay on top of it. Well, I haven't stayed entirely on top of the tasks, but I've been managing to do a halfway decent job of it and catching up when I can (on derby days it's really difficult since I've so little time at home). Heck - I actually mopped the kitchen floor last night, and that's been needed for probably more than a month now! The cleaning is coming along, but the tidying is where I'm having a harder time keeping my focus. I've got so many different piles going in the bedroom right now that it's taking up a quarter of the room! I'm trying to finish tidying the living room (I started yesterday) and dust it (I pulled that card this morning...), then maybe tidy the mud room (I pulled that card, too). But that "tidy bedroom" card will probably not truly get tackled until the weekend. Although I did start today by tidying my overcrowded nightstand before I got out of bed (may as well be useful if I can't seem to get out of there...). I just keep chipping away at it all. It's a big thing, keeping a two-bedroom house with a 1/4-acre yard, veggie garden and flower garden all by yourself.

In the meantime, I'm working on trying to be more friendly with my normal-seeming neighbors. I just met the one in the nice house next door this evening - seems like an okay guy, said I could borrow his weed-whacker if I wanted. I might take him up on that, since it'll be awhile before I can afford my own. Too many other things I want to get that are higher on the priority list. Like a washing machine. I think next week I'd like to get a washing machine from the used appliance shop in town.

And in the meantime, the days barrel onward. Work is going well, derby continues to be kick-my-butt fun, and that paper chain on the living room wall gets shorter and shorter every day. None of it is touching the floor anymore. Jack will be home before I know it.

Until next time...