Peas and Potatoes

Tomorrow is my first pick-up day at our new CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture farm, Shared Earth Farm. We opted for a "Sample Share" this season, based on the premise that we have planted our own garden and perhaps the sample will supplement what we have grown ourselves. We also subscribed to a dairy and are due to pick up milk, cheese and yogurt (I think). I have a very bad habit of signing up for things and immediately forgetting about it. At some point it comes creeping back into my consciousness and then I am on the hunt for "what was it?" That goes for plays, doctor appointments, the dentist, etc. I do try to use my electronic reminders, so I have this pick-up time and day entered into my phone on my calendar with the alarm set to remind me an hour ahead of time. Believe, I'll probably be shocked the first time it goes off and I realize I should be in the car, on the road, finding my way, listening to Pester (our GPS) - all for a handful of peas and potatoes. That is on the list for this week. Probably new potatoes and cool weather crop of Sugar Snap Peas. Who could ask for more?

My biggest problem is that I won't be here for the next three or four Thursdays to pick up anything. I'm trying to arrange for my neighbor to pick up whatever is available and to use it for her family. I hate to miss out on the goodies. She might also be surprised to find out that to get the share she may have to muck out a stall or something to earn the goods. We are supposed to contribute labor to offset the cost of production. I'll see what the deal is tomorrow.

Then I'm trying to figure out how to get the garden we have planted watered. We are having pretty regular rain right now, and the weather is rather cool. However, we had a friend water for us last year and ended up with a $441 water bill because he left the hose running and used 41,000 gallons of water. There is a certain balance to be achieved when one is retired. I'm learning.

I can't believe I haven't been doing any writing

Honestly, until I read Casaubon's Book this evening I had lost the "thrill" of blogging. I have a year to catch up on. Question is, shall I? Maybe not. I think that I will proceed from here and just include some flashbacks that are explanatory of the current activities, interests, missions, studies and friendships. But not tonight. I started too late. Check back again - I'll be here.

I recovered

I guess I needed the rude awakening. I got busy and made my doctor's appointments for my mammogram and bone density exams and for a repeat PAP cause I had a questionable one last time. I have had them before so I may be on the way to another colposcopy exam. Anyway, I also found a new dentist and have already been to have my teeth cleaned. The Mammo, etc, is tomorrow.

I bought a Wii and WiiFit so I could exercise at home. I did good for 3 days and then it was a Saturday so I didn't interrupt Jay's morning by doing my exercises. Sunday morning came and it was off to church. Monday came and there was no reason other than I didn't want to get out of bed. I am such a creature of no habit, no routine, no ambition, no perseverance, no focus and no goals. That about wraps me up. I do OK when I have had some successes. I recently got shot down really bad at a time when my energy level was pretty low and it has been hard to rebound. I have had to work to try to shed some very hard words that came my way and I'm really not there yet. That experience invades my thoughts daily, and especially when I am trying to sleep. It has left me with a spirit of resentment that is pretty hard to shake. While I have prayed to be able to forgive it's hard to forget.

Today I'm back on the WiiFit board, gained back a couple of pounds, but it's that kind of weight that can come and go in a day so I'm not discouraged. To be truthful I weigh more now than I have ever weighed in my life. It's pretty hard to admit and to take but I have to keep it all in perspective. I know too much to be fatalistic, but it taking a toll on my body. So I really have to take it one day at a time.

I'm working on some quilting and sewing projects - some Christmas and birthday gifts for family members. I'm tired of working outdoors. Leaf fall is on it's way and soon we will be inundated. The deck will get covered, so soon I will have to rearrange things so it will not be impossible to deal with. A little prevention is needed. So, today is already successful since I got up, exercised, ate breakfast, mended my exercise pants and blogged. And it's only 1:10 p.m. Now, brush teeth, take pills and do more sewing.

A rude awakening

I was just lying there, woozing in and out, hoping for one of those warm, snuggly, almost perfect go back to sleep experiences. We had our first frost warning last night and I had even dealt with the plants. I didn't bring them all in as we are supposed to be in the mid-70's by the end of the week - just gathered them together on the deck under a cover. I coughed a little a couple of times and all of a sudden I had this rush of pain right up into my mouth. It was stomach acid. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I knew we had something in there for acid relief and I found two bottles of Mylanta under the bathroom sink. I grabbed one and drank, forgetting to shake, shake, shake. Uck. So I shook, shook, shook and drank again. Read the instructions and drank some more. How much is enough? I was in shock. That has only happened once or twice in my memory but it is once or twice too much. I lay down again - actually sort of sat up - trying to figure out what had caused that. Several things went through my mind - the two Celebrex I take every day for my "joint pain", the wine I had two days ago, the dinner I ate last night (green beans, sliced tomatoes, brisket and mushrooms, and baked sweet potatoes). Finally I decided I knew what I had done. It was the tomato sandwich I ate right before I went to bed. Who knew?

The rest of the time in bed was spent trying to decide if I was going to get up by 9:00 to go across the street to the Senior Center to get my flu shot. I finally must have slipped back into that warm spot I had yearned for earlier and woke up at 10:57. Of course it was too late for the flu shot since that ended at 11:00. I don't know what my problem is except that I considered that I am having some anxiety about a book discussion group I am leading, am going to go to Disaster Mental Health training with the Red Cross soon, and it is heading towards winter. My inclination is to just shelve all my good intentions and hibernate. So, it's still the retirement blues I think. There was something to be said about others making all the decisions. I'll call my doctor's office and schedule an appointment. I need to go anyway.

Thoughts on Cruising

I took a Fall Foliage Tour from NYC to Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was too early and there was not a single fire-kissed leaf anywhere. I also realized that I have been immensely spoiled by living abroad for extended periods of time. Being on a cruise, to me, was like being with the people who lived on military bases and never shopped anywhere but in the American Exchanges or Commissaries, or learned the language, or did anything but take arranged tours to places of interest. I guess the exception was The Netherlands, where there was no family housing and everyone had to live "on the economy." But activities and shopping were, for the most part, confined to the military bases nearby. I was bored. I didn't hang out in the bars or Casino on board, and one can only eat so much. And the lines. I really hate lines. Years ago I decided I would either be first in line or last - or, planning ahead to be in line, taking a book to read while waiting. For a meal I know I will have fewer decisions to make if I go last, because there will be less to choose from - except on a cruise, where the line seems to never end. As often as possible I opted to go to the Dining Room where I could get table service - especially for breakfast. I learned my lesson one morning when I got up for another coffee before I had my last bit of meat and cheese and returned to find my place cleared. Very efficient. Very annoying. They offered to get me more of what I had, but when I returned myself to find the meat and cheese what I had before was not to be found.

I also found that I was glad to never have cruised before. I had nothing to compare my cruise to and could enjoy what I was doing - not constantly comparing this cruise to the 5 or 7 others I had experienced. I actually met someone who had been on 54 cruises - WHY? Can't they cook?

The tours were nice, but the New Scotland can hardly compare with the Old, and there was too little time to muck about in museums, etc. I could have opted to go off on my own in a taxi or on foot, but could not have managed to get to three lighthouses in Portland that way. I did learn interesting historic facts about all the areas, and nice stories about locals. The guides were locals from the villages we visited and it was apparent they were very proud of their little towns and their histories. These were all founded by loyalists transplanted from the lower 13 after the Revolution. They prevailed in very difficult terrain most of which was impossible to farm.

My most exciting moment of each day was to return to the stateroom to see what towel "critter" had been folded by Carlos and placed on my bed. I went to a "towel-folding" class and bought a book. I will be holding a class at the next R-Ranch get-together. It was so entertaining. I also sat through a 3-hour art auction - just for the experience, and did see artwork that I loved. My favorite was an oil portrait of Mohammed Ali. Another artist, named Agam I believe, did wonderful linear work that really appealed to me. Unaffordable but appealing.

I enjoyed the train ride up from Harrisburg to Penn Station and learned how really easy it is to get to the heart of NYC. Getting on the ship and off was easy and I encounter no real delays, etc. Of course, I went armed with my motto of "No expectations and no disappointments." I was not disappointed. I also have little to no desire to do it again - unless my husband is with me. It would be a good adventure for the two of us, and the reasonable price makes it attractive.

Today's Challenges

I do have some challenges today. I won’t go into detail. My purpose in writing is to put into perspective the fact that here I am in all of the glory of the R-Ranch and have been reachable. I have argued against having easy access to telephone service here simply because it is a good excuse to ignore everything that is going on elsewhere. Likewise for TV. However, there are arguments for having the ability to call my husband without having to drive to Dahlonega to “just say hello”, to ask him to change my airline reservation so I can stay another week, to receive messages about various family issues, etc. I can now send email messages from the Lodge or I can sit out in the middle of RV-2 and go on-line thanks to the graciousness of someone who has a Hughes network satellite dish there that does not require a network key. Perhaps there are not as many flies there as at the Lodge. To do this blog entry I decided to write it in Word first and paste it into the Blog when I go on-line. That decision took care of the fact that I don’t want to drag my computer to the Lodge, or anywhere else right now. I am waiting for a visitor that I learned only last night to expect.

I owe Ellen a vote of thanks for telling me about Picasa2, downloadable from Google. I find that it, in combination with my Roxio media management software, allows me to edit photos and transfer them directly to my blog. I owe Terri M. a vote of thanks for encouraging me to buy a digital Walkman and to learn to transfer music onto it to accompany me on my walks. Actually, more than anything, I am enjoying listening to the local FM radio station on it as much as anything. It’s just a little dynamite of a music machine. Lastly, I owe my husband so much. I am so grateful that he is so generous in his encouragement of my travels, and never complains when I am not at home to be with him. I am enjoying my respite alone – for a few more hours- here at the R-Ranch. Just finished reading Brother Odd by Dean Koontz. He is such a delightful writer. Start reading about Odd Thomas in the first book by the same name. There are three in the series. Do it especially if you are an Elvis fan. On to my next chore now – some retrospective blogging about recent trips to California and Florida. I seem to be behind. Pea

The Power of a Table

I have been writing about my outdoors and it has gotten even better. I found a great table at Rite Aid, of all places, for $46.00. It has all the requirements - four legs and a top - a great glass top, and the best part, the requisite hole in the middle! Now I can encircle the hole with my nifty lazy susan with all its little compartments for goodies, and put the umbrella in the middle. I can sit outside and read my book with a place to put my coffee. I was there earlier this evening and could imagine how people sit at a table in pleasant weather and write whole books. I am thinking about taking my computer outside and seeing what happens. I just need a longer extension cord. I am rather limited here at Horror House by boxes that contain electrical outlets - but no juice. So we plug cords in inside and drag them under doors - trying at the same time to keep either the warm air in or the cool air in and the bugs out. One day I found an orange cat had strolled in the front door and was wandering around the dining room. There's a story there.

When I was at the University of Kansas I rented two rooms in a house - upstairs. My bedroom was an old sleeping porch with leaky windows and it was cold, cold, cold. I saved enough Green Stamps from my grocery shopping and was able to redeem them for an electric blanket. I went home, remade my bed with the new blanket and snuggled in with my textbooks to study. I left my door open to the hallway so I could get some more heat. All of a sudden this big orange cat walked in my door, hopped up on my bed and proceeded to pee. Then it hopped down and ran out. It was just horrible. I have hated orange cats ever since. The cat in my dining room surely sensed that for it ran out the front door immediately. Yes - I had a flashback - it was PTSD!

But I'm loving my deck and my table and another new bird feeder - and my soul is being fed.