I've been negligent. This past weekend, it was my intention to weed everything, prune the blackberries, 'cull' the annuals, install some stepping stones that I made, and trim everything up. Instead, we went fishing on Saturday and I went with my parents to the air show on Sunday. All I managed to do was pick a zucchini and some tomatoes. The side garden is a total mess - I haven't touched it since early July - and the perennial one in the front is not much better. I definitely have to move some things around next year, perhaps I'll do it this fall.
The Abyssinian Glads are in full bloom, and they're gorgeous. I also am having some success with the little mini-rose that I rescued from the Reno Depot discount section. My pumpkin is bright orange - it's like a miracle to me! - and I have more zukes when I thought they were finished for the year. The yellow pear-shaped tomatoes are really prolific, we eat them almost every day. We haven't mowed the lawn since before the wedding, and it's a bit of a disaster.
Perhaps this week after work I'll plan for easy dinners and I'll pick at the garden every night for an hour or so. Maybe by the weekend we'll be ready to mow it and trim the edges. Right now it's a bit scary to navigate through some areas of the 'lawn'. It's full of frogs and mice and who knows what else.
I'm also on the verge of admitting to myself that I am a lousy container gardener. I just don't seem to be able to keep the plants lush and productive. They always dry out or something, or just get...neglected. I hate to admit it, but I lose interest in them after awhile and nothing thrives on that kind of attention.
Anyway, everything looks like crap right now, but I'm sure with a few hours' hard work it'll clean up just fine. argh.
8/29/05
8/26/05
World's First-Ever Pumpkin Injury?
Last night as I did my evening inventory of the veggie garden, I realized that my pride-and-joy pumpkin was sitting in the dirt. I don't really consider that a problem, except it's in a kind of sun-less dark place anyway, and I want the whole thing to go orange quickly because the frost could come any minute now. So I went and grabbed a handful of straw to raise the pumpkin up a couple of inches. I came back to my beautiful beast, and bent down to lift it up from the bottom so as not to break the stem. Well. Didn't I scrape my cheek against one of the climbing pumpkin vines. It's about an inch thick and covered in these scratchy hairs, like velcro, and I scraped myself pretty good on it. I have a patch of minute little scratches on my face and it's all red. I watched a movie last night and applied aloe vera to it every 10 minutes or so, so it doesn't hurt to badly but still, that's pretty dumb.
Am I the only putz out there who can injure herself on vegetables?
Am I the only putz out there who can injure herself on vegetables?
8/22/05
Ode to An Appliance
I remember a long time ago, when I first moved into my own apartment, how thrilled I was to have my very own refrigerator. Other people might have focused on another part of their house, but for me, that beat-up nasty old c.1982 beige refrigerator with the missing shelves was just the living end. I got such a kick out of going to the grocery store, buying healthy fresh food, filling the fridge, and just opening it to look at the contents. I thought "I have really grown up. I have the ability to store perishables." Even when we had to rig up shelving inside the fridge out of found wire racks and bungee cords, I still loved it.
Fast forward not all that many years, and I found myself becoming a new homeowner at age 26 (I move fast. The apartment lasted 2 years, or rather, we lasted 2 years in the apartment). Now I really had my own fridge, and oven and stove and sink, and washing machine and dryer, and it was almost overwhelming. Oh was I ever grown up, playing house, whatever you wanna call it. They weren't great - the stove was ancient and cacked out a few months later, the oven has its flaws, and I'm sure the fridge is not as efficient as it could be - but they worked and they were ours, so I was content.
As time passed, we started to upgrade stuff slowly, bit by bit. The stove died, so we got a new one. The washing machine kept flooding the basement, so we got a new one. We got a newish dryer and a newish microwave. The countertops started to compost behind the sink, so finally we had to spring for brand new ones this past winter. However, the kitchen was still missing one essential element: a dishwasher.
Growing up, we always had a dishwasher. My grandparents steadfastly did not have one, and I hated when we finished supper at their house and the expectation was that we would wash the dishes by hand (or dry, I can't decide which was worse). There is something in me that finds it really depressing to wash dishes. I guess it's that the hour or so after dinner is my favourite time of day; the work is done, our bellies are full, it's getting dark, everyone's at home, and it's the perfect opportunity to read a book or work on some kind of project. When Mr. Gennyland and I lived in the apartment, we decided on a division of labour that served us well until recent developments, wherein he does all of the dishes and I do all of the laundry and ironing and general clothes maintenance.
Not having a dishwasher at our house was a really big point of contention between hubby and I. He didn't want one, even though he was the one doing the dishes. I was constantly disgusted by the 5-day-old dirty pots collecting in the sink, and reluctant to cook in the resulting mess (I also do most of the cooking). We fought about it constantly. When he did do them, it took him about 3 hours, and often he only did them because we'd run out of cutlery or something, or because the summer heat made the sink smell. Now I'm not trying to open any cans of worms, but it was a source of fight material for the two of us for about 7 years. He's a great guy, just somehow time often...slips away from him somehow ("what? You mean it's Thursday already? Where did the week go?")
Just before the wedding, my parents blessed us with the Holy Appliance. They installed it while we were at work, and we came home to a gleaming white dishwasher filling the mystery gap left in our cabinetry (which a years-gone dishwasher must have once occupied, but had since been converted into messy open shelving). After a bit of juggling, our kitchen is complete. I am such an adult it makes me sick. Standing on the very edge of 30 (seriously, I've got, like a week and a half left in my twenties), it is a dishwasher that brings me supreme pleasure.
Here's the miraculous thing: Mr. Gennyland and I no longer fight in the evenings. I don't attribute this to our recent marriage as much as I attribute it to the dishwasher. Every two nights after dinner, it's filled and turned on and when we leave the counters clean and the dishwasher's happily churning away, and we turn off most of the kitchen lights so the room is illuminated only by the glow of the light over the sink, I leave the kitchen with such a feeling of homey contentment you have no idea. It's palpable. It brings back that feeling I used to get as a kid, listening to the dishwasher while we watched tv or I did my homework or wandered around in that sink-light semi-darkness scrounging for milk and cookies before bed.
Who would have thought a simple appliance could bring it all back? Thank you Kenmore.
Fast forward not all that many years, and I found myself becoming a new homeowner at age 26 (I move fast. The apartment lasted 2 years, or rather, we lasted 2 years in the apartment). Now I really had my own fridge, and oven and stove and sink, and washing machine and dryer, and it was almost overwhelming. Oh was I ever grown up, playing house, whatever you wanna call it. They weren't great - the stove was ancient and cacked out a few months later, the oven has its flaws, and I'm sure the fridge is not as efficient as it could be - but they worked and they were ours, so I was content.
As time passed, we started to upgrade stuff slowly, bit by bit. The stove died, so we got a new one. The washing machine kept flooding the basement, so we got a new one. We got a newish dryer and a newish microwave. The countertops started to compost behind the sink, so finally we had to spring for brand new ones this past winter. However, the kitchen was still missing one essential element: a dishwasher.
Growing up, we always had a dishwasher. My grandparents steadfastly did not have one, and I hated when we finished supper at their house and the expectation was that we would wash the dishes by hand (or dry, I can't decide which was worse). There is something in me that finds it really depressing to wash dishes. I guess it's that the hour or so after dinner is my favourite time of day; the work is done, our bellies are full, it's getting dark, everyone's at home, and it's the perfect opportunity to read a book or work on some kind of project. When Mr. Gennyland and I lived in the apartment, we decided on a division of labour that served us well until recent developments, wherein he does all of the dishes and I do all of the laundry and ironing and general clothes maintenance.
Not having a dishwasher at our house was a really big point of contention between hubby and I. He didn't want one, even though he was the one doing the dishes. I was constantly disgusted by the 5-day-old dirty pots collecting in the sink, and reluctant to cook in the resulting mess (I also do most of the cooking). We fought about it constantly. When he did do them, it took him about 3 hours, and often he only did them because we'd run out of cutlery or something, or because the summer heat made the sink smell. Now I'm not trying to open any cans of worms, but it was a source of fight material for the two of us for about 7 years. He's a great guy, just somehow time often...slips away from him somehow ("what? You mean it's Thursday already? Where did the week go?")
Just before the wedding, my parents blessed us with the Holy Appliance. They installed it while we were at work, and we came home to a gleaming white dishwasher filling the mystery gap left in our cabinetry (which a years-gone dishwasher must have once occupied, but had since been converted into messy open shelving). After a bit of juggling, our kitchen is complete. I am such an adult it makes me sick. Standing on the very edge of 30 (seriously, I've got, like a week and a half left in my twenties), it is a dishwasher that brings me supreme pleasure.
Here's the miraculous thing: Mr. Gennyland and I no longer fight in the evenings. I don't attribute this to our recent marriage as much as I attribute it to the dishwasher. Every two nights after dinner, it's filled and turned on and when we leave the counters clean and the dishwasher's happily churning away, and we turn off most of the kitchen lights so the room is illuminated only by the glow of the light over the sink, I leave the kitchen with such a feeling of homey contentment you have no idea. It's palpable. It brings back that feeling I used to get as a kid, listening to the dishwasher while we watched tv or I did my homework or wandered around in that sink-light semi-darkness scrounging for milk and cookies before bed.
Who would have thought a simple appliance could bring it all back? Thank you Kenmore.
8/18/05
Nasty Blog Spam
It seems to me that whenever a new form of communication is introduced into the world, there's an element of the population which seeks to infilatrate it with junk of some sort. Usually, this spam is supposed to be selling us something - low interest mortgages, penis enhancements, russian brides, free payments on a student loan - but I wonder: what the likelihood is that some unsuspecting person one day will open up their email account and say "Hey now, this nice polite African gentleman seems to need help. I should send some money to him." or "you know, I've always wanted bigger boobs. I think I'll click on this random email from this person whose scrambled name I don't recognize." Does this sales tactic actually work? I wonder what business school teaches this as sound practice (probably one advertised on the internet).
Who are these people that sign up for email accounts, blogger accounts, web page addresses, with the sole purpose of sending crap into the world? They're as bad as phone solicitors, only phone solicitors often take the hint and don't call you back. The most insidious thing about spammers is that they seem to be brainless robots, because what actual person would make that their job description? (At a party: "hey, what do you do for a living?" "I send random emails to people advertizing penis enhancements.") Can you imagine? Now that's an ice-breaker.
The spammers have discovered the lucrative sales arena of the comments section in my blog. I'll bet they rest easier knowing that they've spread the word to the eight or so people who actually read this thing. MikePrice or whatever the robot's name might be, I think it's time you went out and got a job with sunlight, 'cause you're not going to convince any of us to pony up.
I find it sad that nothing's free from this kind of human junk. Perhaps I'm an innocent, but I feel like some things should just be straight-up, no-nonsense, communication. A few pictures here and there, a bit of news, but no intrusions. I can think of nothing in the world that repels the touch of someone who feels the need to put their mark on something, anything; humans have to go and scribble all over every surface that becomes available. There's no respect - everyone always has to one-up it with their own mark. It's what we do: we build things or discover things and then proceed to put our names on them and, eventually, to destroy them. Maybe I'm overreacting, and mashing two issues (one small, one really large) together, but I'm just sick of it.
Who are these people that sign up for email accounts, blogger accounts, web page addresses, with the sole purpose of sending crap into the world? They're as bad as phone solicitors, only phone solicitors often take the hint and don't call you back. The most insidious thing about spammers is that they seem to be brainless robots, because what actual person would make that their job description? (At a party: "hey, what do you do for a living?" "I send random emails to people advertizing penis enhancements.") Can you imagine? Now that's an ice-breaker.
The spammers have discovered the lucrative sales arena of the comments section in my blog. I'll bet they rest easier knowing that they've spread the word to the eight or so people who actually read this thing. MikePrice or whatever the robot's name might be, I think it's time you went out and got a job with sunlight, 'cause you're not going to convince any of us to pony up.
I find it sad that nothing's free from this kind of human junk. Perhaps I'm an innocent, but I feel like some things should just be straight-up, no-nonsense, communication. A few pictures here and there, a bit of news, but no intrusions. I can think of nothing in the world that repels the touch of someone who feels the need to put their mark on something, anything; humans have to go and scribble all over every surface that becomes available. There's no respect - everyone always has to one-up it with their own mark. It's what we do: we build things or discover things and then proceed to put our names on them and, eventually, to destroy them. Maybe I'm overreacting, and mashing two issues (one small, one really large) together, but I'm just sick of it.
8/16/05
Greek Salad Anyone?
After the wedding madness was (mostly) over, we went off on our honeymoon to Fernie, BC for a week. We flew to Calgary in the wee hours and picked up our rental car, which was supposed to be a compact car but ended up being a 'free upgrade' to a small pickup truck. Yee haw!
We drove to Eric's aunt and uncle's place, and they gave us lunch and graciously took us to Banff and area for the day, just to look around. As I had never seen the Rockies (yeah yeah I know), I was beside myself with excitement, taking all kinds of dorky pictures out the window of the moving vehicle. Banff is beautiful, though overrun with tourists, and it was a lovely day. After that, we drove to Fernie, where we stayed at the gorgeous Island Lake Lodge for five days. We returned almost a week later, and attempted to get our lives back in order. I took another week off of work to myself to get caught up on laundry, putting gifts and other wedding stuff away, finances, photos, and other stuff.
But one of the big surprises when we got back from the honeymoon was the vegetable garden. Dear god, who would have thought that cucumbers and zucchini could grow so much in one week - much less a very dry week!? My brother and his girlfriend were staying at our place, and I think they must have watered the garden at least once, because it was bursting. Behold the harvest upon my return!
There were also a LOT of beans, but they'd started to go woody and tasteless, so I don't consider that a success.
So I've been giving cucumbers away at work, to my mother every time she comes over, and basically to anyone who crosses the threshold at the house. I've since picked off about 5 more, since they hide under the foliage, and they seem to be ripening really quickly these days. I think I'm going to try to freeze the zucchini, cut into chunks with onions, and see how that goes. I read somewhere that you can do that and they taste okay when thawed, but I have misgivings since they're so watery. If they're not frozen, I'll have to make zucchini muffins, zucchini soup, grilled zucchini, stuffed zucchini, the list goes on and on.
Another shock when we got home is that the mystery squash has finally presented itself to us! Are you ready? (Drumroll please).....
It's a pumpkin!
I originally thought it was a watermelon, but now I see that it's got coarse ridges at the top, near the stem, and that the skin is a lot tougher than watermelon skin. There are two of them there (the other one's hiding on the other side of the fence) which have weighed my fence down to the breaking point. Luckily, they're now both resting on something so they won't break.
So the divine irony of it all is that I was so sad to have crushed my one pumpkin seedling early in the season, but now the garden is completely overrun with involuntary pumpkin vines. Ha.
I am pleased with the progress on the acorn squash as well - I have about 5 little squashlets, and more potentially on the way. They seem to grow and ripen quickly so I'm not too concerned with the length of the season. Plus, it's been quite warm this year, so everything is a bit advanced.
I've also been making pesto like a madwoman, and giving batches away as gifts. I have so much basil it's silly, and it's starting to go all leggy and flowering.
So that's the vegetable garden update. I think I'll leave it all at that - I don't need to go into any more detail about the honeymoon. It was very nice to get away.
We drove to Eric's aunt and uncle's place, and they gave us lunch and graciously took us to Banff and area for the day, just to look around. As I had never seen the Rockies (yeah yeah I know), I was beside myself with excitement, taking all kinds of dorky pictures out the window of the moving vehicle. Banff is beautiful, though overrun with tourists, and it was a lovely day. After that, we drove to Fernie, where we stayed at the gorgeous Island Lake Lodge for five days. We returned almost a week later, and attempted to get our lives back in order. I took another week off of work to myself to get caught up on laundry, putting gifts and other wedding stuff away, finances, photos, and other stuff.
But one of the big surprises when we got back from the honeymoon was the vegetable garden. Dear god, who would have thought that cucumbers and zucchini could grow so much in one week - much less a very dry week!? My brother and his girlfriend were staying at our place, and I think they must have watered the garden at least once, because it was bursting. Behold the harvest upon my return!
There were also a LOT of beans, but they'd started to go woody and tasteless, so I don't consider that a success.
So I've been giving cucumbers away at work, to my mother every time she comes over, and basically to anyone who crosses the threshold at the house. I've since picked off about 5 more, since they hide under the foliage, and they seem to be ripening really quickly these days. I think I'm going to try to freeze the zucchini, cut into chunks with onions, and see how that goes. I read somewhere that you can do that and they taste okay when thawed, but I have misgivings since they're so watery. If they're not frozen, I'll have to make zucchini muffins, zucchini soup, grilled zucchini, stuffed zucchini, the list goes on and on.
Another shock when we got home is that the mystery squash has finally presented itself to us! Are you ready? (Drumroll please).....
It's a pumpkin!
I originally thought it was a watermelon, but now I see that it's got coarse ridges at the top, near the stem, and that the skin is a lot tougher than watermelon skin. There are two of them there (the other one's hiding on the other side of the fence) which have weighed my fence down to the breaking point. Luckily, they're now both resting on something so they won't break.
So the divine irony of it all is that I was so sad to have crushed my one pumpkin seedling early in the season, but now the garden is completely overrun with involuntary pumpkin vines. Ha.
I am pleased with the progress on the acorn squash as well - I have about 5 little squashlets, and more potentially on the way. They seem to grow and ripen quickly so I'm not too concerned with the length of the season. Plus, it's been quite warm this year, so everything is a bit advanced.
I've also been making pesto like a madwoman, and giving batches away as gifts. I have so much basil it's silly, and it's starting to go all leggy and flowering.
So that's the vegetable garden update. I think I'll leave it all at that - I don't need to go into any more detail about the honeymoon. It was very nice to get away.
8/15/05
Warning: the Wedding Edition
OK so I promise that I won't go on and on and on about this, but the wedding was pretty great.
Despite my misgivings about decorations, planning, etc., despite my lack of sleep, despite all of the stress, and despite trying to wrangle humans that were not always the most cooperative, everything went so super-smoothly that looking back, it feels like a dream. Both of us had a lot of fun, both in the week leading up to the big event (when I met my in-laws for the first time and had some wonderful days and campfire evenings spent together) and at the party itself.
And for all of you who were waiting with baited breath (c'mon, humour me), here is a photo of the happy couple:
(sorry, I removed the photo)
Note the bouquet - I know you were all worried about it (ha ha), but it turned out beautifully.
(photo removed - by me)
I ended up having to buy the Casablanca lilies and the leather ferns, but everything else comes from either my garden or my neighbor's. I was really happy with the bouquet; I designed it myself!
My mom made the dresses (all hand-beaded, she's a pro) and did my hair (we bought freesias for that too), and she also made the table runners and stuff too. We all made desserts and had a dessert buffet, instead of the traditional wedding cake (who can pick just one?).
(this photo was also removed - but the cakes looked fabulous if I do say so myself)
I was very relieved once it was all over. I'd had about 3 hours of sleep and was pretty shaky until about 3 pm. Once I was suited up, I was pretty much fine, but man it was touch and go. Here's a fun one of me, ever the classy lady, enjoying my first beverage of the day.
(photo of me drinking a beer removed)
All in all, I've gotta say, I recommend marriage. Hubby and I are getting a huge kick out of calling each other husband and wife, and things feel really really smooth and healthy with us these days. All of that fighting leading up to the wedding really paid off, 'cause I think we got it all out of our systems.
I am going to blog further on the honeymoon, and on the state of my garden upon my return. Suffice to say, I have recovered from the shock, but man, a lot can happen in a week...
Despite my misgivings about decorations, planning, etc., despite my lack of sleep, despite all of the stress, and despite trying to wrangle humans that were not always the most cooperative, everything went so super-smoothly that looking back, it feels like a dream. Both of us had a lot of fun, both in the week leading up to the big event (when I met my in-laws for the first time and had some wonderful days and campfire evenings spent together) and at the party itself.
And for all of you who were waiting with baited breath (c'mon, humour me), here is a photo of the happy couple:
(sorry, I removed the photo)
Note the bouquet - I know you were all worried about it (ha ha), but it turned out beautifully.
(photo removed - by me)
I ended up having to buy the Casablanca lilies and the leather ferns, but everything else comes from either my garden or my neighbor's. I was really happy with the bouquet; I designed it myself!
My mom made the dresses (all hand-beaded, she's a pro) and did my hair (we bought freesias for that too), and she also made the table runners and stuff too. We all made desserts and had a dessert buffet, instead of the traditional wedding cake (who can pick just one?).
(this photo was also removed - but the cakes looked fabulous if I do say so myself)
I was very relieved once it was all over. I'd had about 3 hours of sleep and was pretty shaky until about 3 pm. Once I was suited up, I was pretty much fine, but man it was touch and go. Here's a fun one of me, ever the classy lady, enjoying my first beverage of the day.
(photo of me drinking a beer removed)
All in all, I've gotta say, I recommend marriage. Hubby and I are getting a huge kick out of calling each other husband and wife, and things feel really really smooth and healthy with us these days. All of that fighting leading up to the wedding really paid off, 'cause I think we got it all out of our systems.
I am going to blog further on the honeymoon, and on the state of my garden upon my return. Suffice to say, I have recovered from the shock, but man, a lot can happen in a week...
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