Henry and Amelia's cactus
I have a fair bit done in the garden. After having 3 yards dropped on the driveway, we manually moved it to the back yard. I actually really love hard physical work, it is extremely satisfying to work outdoors to the point of physical exhaustion. I have a large assortment of lettuces, beans, peas, carrots, and pumpkins in. For herbs, sage, chives, lavender, rosemary, lemon balm, mint, thyme all in and up, all these things winter here (as in stay green and alive all winter!), and I also planted dill. I will be putting the basil and cilantro in later, when the temperatures are warmer. I have tomatoes and hot peppers as well, but again, I will put them in the ground later. I am quite thrilled about the garden at this point, my hours of work should pay off all year. Dave and I also want to put in some raspberry canes, but I have not got around to it. All beds are weeded, I moved a shrub and a large rosemary that was crowding. The kids have been good helping to water and weed-well Lauryn and Josh, Amelia only helps when I force her to. Josh is particularly enthusiastic, I can only imagine how he will harvest.
The kids played well today, no arguments, a big switch from yesterday. They picked and bickered and Josh had a meltdown in the Gap. I squared him around, we made our selections and left. Once I felt everyone had chilled, we walked over to Pier 1, bought a few things then over to Chapters to browse and have a coffee. It was the most delicious americano I have had in weeks for some reason. We came home and grilled some burgers. I topped mine with blue cheese and we had large salads with maple balsamic...divine. I am so done today, need to relax to prepare for two days of assessments. I cooked most of the day today, made an apple tart, apple butter, butter chicken, naan bread, oven bbq chicken, and we went for a hike in the afternoon. The woods were warm, the drop-offs and climbs steep and fern filled, and the kids enjoyed themselves, throwing rocks in the stream and looking at the flowers, and looking for good "adventure sticks". All in all, not a bad day.
Dave and Norm are training together, which is neat since Norm is army and Dave is airforce. It is such a small world ours, but I enjoy that smallness, and seek it out. Once I avoided the whole scene, preferring to associate with non-military, but now I cherish such connections. No one on this earth could comprehend it unless they lived it, so I enjoy this bit of connectivity we all secretly share. Dave and I skyped off and on today, his connections were poor, so it was disjointed here and there. Mike also called, and I am glad to say he is in a better place these days. Ana has a very optimistic prognosis, so we will keep them both in our thoughts. Hopefully we can visit him when we next go to Cali.
I miss Sandy. We travel our eerily similar lives thousands of kms apart, connected via fb mainly, but really, when we talk it is like no time has passed. Funny how good friends are. You never have to worry about offending them when you don't talk for ages, and you always get their line of thinking. You also still, after many years know exactly what sarcastic comment they would have in any given situation, and know what monty python reference would also suit. Whenever I need confirmation on my thoughts or anxieties, I can count on hers. Cheers to good, good friends. We plan to have a getaway somewhere soon, to celebrate the foolishness that is graduate work. It is long overdue.
I sat tonight and enjoyed the brilliance that is Natural Pastures cheese. Their camembert is mushroomy and creamy, so good with Helene's pepper jelly and a glass of wine. A bit of indulgence, after a long hike and my usual run. You are daring to imagine a new life....yes stealing a quote. But as I embark on major change I step forth with no hesitation. I can and I will. I will do so with bravery and fearlessness (stealing again!). It is rapidly approaching. I have no choice, it is written in my path, my life journey. Because as it stands, I have a real zest for life don't I, so I will do it with style.....hehe. I would love to capture my thoughts on here better. I have so many in the day I need to record them when they happen, document on my ipod like some idiot as the day goes by. Josh observing that Dad has been at work a really, really long time, the expression on Lauryn's face when she realized Josh had deftly blamed her for the dessert disappearance, Amelia being in charge of the activity schedule in the back yard...and things such as my thoughts on choosing action or choosing inaction-there is no true neutrality. You either do something, or you choose to do nothing (hell I spent a lot of time discussing the veracity of that one). Either way, you are making a choice to act or not to act. Choosing inaction IS an action, a statement in one direction.....I choose to be effective in my own world....
I will get there...that profound blog does exist....
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