10/31/05
Favourite New Thing
I can't get enough of the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative's Do They Know it's Halloween. It's been stuck in my head for three days.
10/27/05
Carbing up
OK so since there's no more gardening or weddings or anything, I've decided I'm going to write about food and knitting. Gennyland loves food, and gennyland's really into knitting.
Right now I am loving the following foods:
dried prunes (or fruits of any kind, really)
baklava
Mediterranée yoghurt (it's like pudding) - peach flavour
chewy chocolate brownies
Montreal-style bagels
...and I'm putting sundried tomatoes in everything.
What are your favourite foods right now? (I know there are maybe one or two of you out there who might answer this...)
Right now I am loving the following foods:
dried prunes (or fruits of any kind, really)
baklava
Mediterranée yoghurt (it's like pudding) - peach flavour
chewy chocolate brownies
Montreal-style bagels
...and I'm putting sundried tomatoes in everything.
What are your favourite foods right now? (I know there are maybe one or two of you out there who might answer this...)
10/26/05
Drizzle in my bones
I think there has been one sunny day in the last 3 weeks.
Being that it's the latter half of October, and being that we live in Canada, a nation not known for it's moderate climate, it should not surprise me that the weather lately has just sucked eggs. But man, it's hard to handle.
When I get up in the morning (at 6:30 or, ahem, um 6:50) it's dark. So dark that I have to feel my way down the stairs in a room full of windows. By the time I get out of the shower, feed the cats, fiddle with the woodstove and shuffle upstairs to get dressed, the sky is indigo. Or more of a dark cornflower. Whatever, it's dark and it's cold.
Then we leave the house at about 7:50 and it's just gray. And it stays that way for the rest of the day: gray and drizzley and chilly. The leaves long ago turned brown and yellow and fell off, and now it's plain ugly outside.
Oh and did I mention that it's dark when we get home too? Oh we can usually make out the path, unless we stop somewhere to buy something and are a bit late, in which case we have to feel our way into the house.
Did I also mention that we live in the woods? There aren't any streetlights, and we have been remiss in putting in adequate lighting on our property. Trick-or-treaters must take their life in their hands walking the 100 feet into our yard. I know I know, it's irresponsible, but we're working on it.
The drizzle seems to have set into my bones and is making me sick. I can't shake this cold that I've had for upwards of 2 weeks. I am cold. I am grumpy. The drizzle is bad for my marriage.
I think it's going to be sunny tomorrow. I am sure that I'll enjoy it from my office window.
(sigh)
Being that it's the latter half of October, and being that we live in Canada, a nation not known for it's moderate climate, it should not surprise me that the weather lately has just sucked eggs. But man, it's hard to handle.
When I get up in the morning (at 6:30 or, ahem, um 6:50) it's dark. So dark that I have to feel my way down the stairs in a room full of windows. By the time I get out of the shower, feed the cats, fiddle with the woodstove and shuffle upstairs to get dressed, the sky is indigo. Or more of a dark cornflower. Whatever, it's dark and it's cold.
Then we leave the house at about 7:50 and it's just gray. And it stays that way for the rest of the day: gray and drizzley and chilly. The leaves long ago turned brown and yellow and fell off, and now it's plain ugly outside.
Oh and did I mention that it's dark when we get home too? Oh we can usually make out the path, unless we stop somewhere to buy something and are a bit late, in which case we have to feel our way into the house.
Did I also mention that we live in the woods? There aren't any streetlights, and we have been remiss in putting in adequate lighting on our property. Trick-or-treaters must take their life in their hands walking the 100 feet into our yard. I know I know, it's irresponsible, but we're working on it.
The drizzle seems to have set into my bones and is making me sick. I can't shake this cold that I've had for upwards of 2 weeks. I am cold. I am grumpy. The drizzle is bad for my marriage.
I think it's going to be sunny tomorrow. I am sure that I'll enjoy it from my office window.
(sigh)
10/20/05
Cozy Feet
I am knitting socks.
I am the kind of person who would learn stonework and then immediately set out to build the great pyramids.
I learned how to knit last January after convincing myself for about 15 years that I was somehow unable to knit, or that I hated it too much or found it too boring to want to try it again. I made my grandfather a red knit tie (on his request - don't ask) back in the day, and I cursed every stitch. The pattern and the groove of the knitting never stuck in my brain, I have virtually no memory of making the thing, just that I hated it.
So when everyone in the world took up knitting last year, and because my mother had been harrassing me for ages to pick it up again, I decided to ask my mom for a tutorial over coffee one Saturday.
She quickly taught me the basic garter stitch. Bo-ring. I asked to learn the knit-purl stitch, so that was a bit of excitement. Within 20 minutes I asked her how increase and decrease, so that was a quick lesson. Then I was onto patterns in contrasting colours, which took another 20 minutes. My mom is a fabulous teacher, we know each other so well and speak the same language.
I went home and started messing around. I made experimental cat toys filled with catnip and stuffing, including one vaguely mouse-shaped thing. I started to knit something that had no form yet but which I was convinced would become a baby sweater with striped sleeves and a black cat head on the front. Ha.
I bought a bit of soft green acrylic at the local Giant Tiger and started on a sampler using a book of stitches mom lent me. I did cables. I did a basket weave stitch (my favourite). I learned all of those little tricky devils at once, and how to read patterns. Please note that I am not still talking about the same day, but rather a span of about 3 weeks. My mom gave me my paternal grandmother's collection of 1950's plastic psychedelic-coloured knitting needles so then I was really off to the races.
Then I bought the Stitch and Bitch book. I am a bit disappointed in it because most of the patterns are nothing that I'd ever wear or use, and I find many of them to be sloppily done (that bunny hat for babies sticks in my mind. The ear flaps are nowhere near the kid's ears). But the instructions are very helpful for beginners.
Next I made a baby sweater using an old pattern of my mom's, and it turned out fabulously. I made a variety of booties out of scraps of yarn. Then I used the S n'B book to make a little red baby beret featuring a black skull and crossbones on the front. I have discovered that the best routine is to use old patterns with new wools in new colours and switch it up a bit.
The next thing to tackle: Socks. My Waterloo.
My maternal grandmother is dutch (her name is Oma). She is a human knitting machine who can practically do one perfect sock in a night. She has been making socks since she was 7 years old, and she's now 80, so that's 73 years' worth of socks. I am terrified of the day that the flow of socks stops coming. But I wanted to surprise Oma with my new sock fixation, so I stubbornly bought a book. Well. None of the book patterns can match up to hers, and so I ended up having to call her to talk me through the turning of the heel. She did it without batting an eye, without even picking up her own knitting at the other end of the phone line. She's amazing and the heel turned out perfectly. The socks ended up coming out two different sizes, but at least the stitches are all perfect.
I've now decided that I'm going to knit Oma a pair of socks for Christmas. She gives them to us grandkids every year, but I've never seen her wearing them herself. I think it'll be hilarious to present her with her own lovingly-knitted pair. I am a stubborn little curr so plowed ahead on my own. I got pretty far - I only needed a talk-through on the second part of the heel-turning (I lied and told her this is a practice sock) - and I think I'm finally getting it. Although hubby did affectionately ask me what sizeS these are going to be.
Next year, everyone knows what they're getting for Christmas.
I am the kind of person who would learn stonework and then immediately set out to build the great pyramids.
I learned how to knit last January after convincing myself for about 15 years that I was somehow unable to knit, or that I hated it too much or found it too boring to want to try it again. I made my grandfather a red knit tie (on his request - don't ask) back in the day, and I cursed every stitch. The pattern and the groove of the knitting never stuck in my brain, I have virtually no memory of making the thing, just that I hated it.
So when everyone in the world took up knitting last year, and because my mother had been harrassing me for ages to pick it up again, I decided to ask my mom for a tutorial over coffee one Saturday.
She quickly taught me the basic garter stitch. Bo-ring. I asked to learn the knit-purl stitch, so that was a bit of excitement. Within 20 minutes I asked her how increase and decrease, so that was a quick lesson. Then I was onto patterns in contrasting colours, which took another 20 minutes. My mom is a fabulous teacher, we know each other so well and speak the same language.
I went home and started messing around. I made experimental cat toys filled with catnip and stuffing, including one vaguely mouse-shaped thing. I started to knit something that had no form yet but which I was convinced would become a baby sweater with striped sleeves and a black cat head on the front. Ha.
I bought a bit of soft green acrylic at the local Giant Tiger and started on a sampler using a book of stitches mom lent me. I did cables. I did a basket weave stitch (my favourite). I learned all of those little tricky devils at once, and how to read patterns. Please note that I am not still talking about the same day, but rather a span of about 3 weeks. My mom gave me my paternal grandmother's collection of 1950's plastic psychedelic-coloured knitting needles so then I was really off to the races.
Then I bought the Stitch and Bitch book. I am a bit disappointed in it because most of the patterns are nothing that I'd ever wear or use, and I find many of them to be sloppily done (that bunny hat for babies sticks in my mind. The ear flaps are nowhere near the kid's ears). But the instructions are very helpful for beginners.
Next I made a baby sweater using an old pattern of my mom's, and it turned out fabulously. I made a variety of booties out of scraps of yarn. Then I used the S n'B book to make a little red baby beret featuring a black skull and crossbones on the front. I have discovered that the best routine is to use old patterns with new wools in new colours and switch it up a bit.
The next thing to tackle: Socks. My Waterloo.
My maternal grandmother is dutch (her name is Oma). She is a human knitting machine who can practically do one perfect sock in a night. She has been making socks since she was 7 years old, and she's now 80, so that's 73 years' worth of socks. I am terrified of the day that the flow of socks stops coming. But I wanted to surprise Oma with my new sock fixation, so I stubbornly bought a book. Well. None of the book patterns can match up to hers, and so I ended up having to call her to talk me through the turning of the heel. She did it without batting an eye, without even picking up her own knitting at the other end of the phone line. She's amazing and the heel turned out perfectly. The socks ended up coming out two different sizes, but at least the stitches are all perfect.
I've now decided that I'm going to knit Oma a pair of socks for Christmas. She gives them to us grandkids every year, but I've never seen her wearing them herself. I think it'll be hilarious to present her with her own lovingly-knitted pair. I am a stubborn little curr so plowed ahead on my own. I got pretty far - I only needed a talk-through on the second part of the heel-turning (I lied and told her this is a practice sock) - and I think I'm finally getting it. Although hubby did affectionately ask me what sizeS these are going to be.
Next year, everyone knows what they're getting for Christmas.
10/19/05
Shifting Priorities
I have been a terrible blogger of late. As with everything I do, I'm really enthusiastic about it for about three weeks then I let it drop. I'm thinking that the dip in enthusiasm on this particular project is due to the fact that since we returned from the wedding (a shocking two-and-a-half months ago) I have neglected my garden to the point where it feels like someone else's yard. The lawn is about two feet tall and I am not exaggerating. I've let vegetables go bad on the vine and gave up on weeding ages ago. I am a bad blogger and apparently a bad gardener too.
In other news, fall is here in full force and it's been a wet one. Hubby and I are trying to hunker down and get our fall chores completed but we're being waylaid by travel plans and a lot of rain. Our to-do list this month includes stacking the remainder of our 10 cords of firewood into the shed, replacing the door in the basement, and building an awning/small overhang over the main door upstairs. When the snow starts to fall, I'm also going to remove the eavestrough on the north side of the house. We had a lot of leakage last winter, it was hellish and threw me into the depths of despair for about a week. I hate putting bowls down to catch water falling from the ceiling in my own kitchen. Whoever designed my house should be kicked in the shins.
So far Eric has managed to get 2/3 of the wood into the shed, and we've bought a new door, which is sitting in our basement. We've also designed and argued over the overhang. I figure it's a day project.
To thwart all of my plans, since the middle of September I have been to Vancouver (4 days) Toronto (2 days) St. John's Newfoundland (5 days) and Toronto again (2 days). Friday I'm off to Montreal. I don't put my suitcase away in the closet anymore. I am sick of airports and of Tim Horton's. My friends all think that the travelling is very glamorous and exciting and I will tell you that it's not; it's dirty and exhausting and makes my back hurt. The food is bad and I come home with an inch of grime on my face. I end up sitting in badly-lit airport waiting rooms, eating unhealthy things and talking to strangers at hours when I'd rather be cuddling in bed with warm cats and my knitting.
This weekend, i will probably mulch a bunch of plants, rip out a bunch of plants, and try to put things to bed a bit. Our focus now has to be on the inside, and on making sure our house is sound and warm for the winter. Soon we'll get the woodstove cranked up and we'll be off to the races for another season of frosty hijinks. At least I'll have warm blankets, good food, soft cats, a lovely husband, and my knitting.
In other news, fall is here in full force and it's been a wet one. Hubby and I are trying to hunker down and get our fall chores completed but we're being waylaid by travel plans and a lot of rain. Our to-do list this month includes stacking the remainder of our 10 cords of firewood into the shed, replacing the door in the basement, and building an awning/small overhang over the main door upstairs. When the snow starts to fall, I'm also going to remove the eavestrough on the north side of the house. We had a lot of leakage last winter, it was hellish and threw me into the depths of despair for about a week. I hate putting bowls down to catch water falling from the ceiling in my own kitchen. Whoever designed my house should be kicked in the shins.
So far Eric has managed to get 2/3 of the wood into the shed, and we've bought a new door, which is sitting in our basement. We've also designed and argued over the overhang. I figure it's a day project.
To thwart all of my plans, since the middle of September I have been to Vancouver (4 days) Toronto (2 days) St. John's Newfoundland (5 days) and Toronto again (2 days). Friday I'm off to Montreal. I don't put my suitcase away in the closet anymore. I am sick of airports and of Tim Horton's. My friends all think that the travelling is very glamorous and exciting and I will tell you that it's not; it's dirty and exhausting and makes my back hurt. The food is bad and I come home with an inch of grime on my face. I end up sitting in badly-lit airport waiting rooms, eating unhealthy things and talking to strangers at hours when I'd rather be cuddling in bed with warm cats and my knitting.
This weekend, i will probably mulch a bunch of plants, rip out a bunch of plants, and try to put things to bed a bit. Our focus now has to be on the inside, and on making sure our house is sound and warm for the winter. Soon we'll get the woodstove cranked up and we'll be off to the races for another season of frosty hijinks. At least I'll have warm blankets, good food, soft cats, a lovely husband, and my knitting.
9/29/05
Harvest time! Getting reflective (sniff)
I had a pretty successful year in the vegetable garden this year. Looking back at my first blog entry, where I listed the veggies that I would be growing, I find it interesting to remember the journey that we have all made together (me and the vegetables of course):
yellow pear tomatoes- delicious, prolific, we're still eating them.
Roma tomatoes- these didn't work out so well. Lack of water cracked the few that I had.
little wee eggplants and one 'Dusky' eggplant- a total flop.
Royal Burgundy beans- these were great until we went on our honeymoon, when they all dried up and went bad on the vines.
red peppers- these were ok. Not as many earwigs as in previous years, but they were small.
cayenne peppers- as usual, I have so many that I don't know what to do with them.
pumpkins- not the one I actually planted, but my accidental pumpkins are gorgeous!
zucchini- oh man, do I have zucchini. Off of 3 plants I have managed to eat more zucchini than I ever wanted. Thank god Martha Stewart published a great zucchini-mint soup recipe.
ground cherries- These are so fabulous! I don't know what to do with them except eat them right off of the plant, but they're so delicious. They'd make good jam, they taste like butter.
cucumbers- I have become the brunt of many jokes from bringing cucumbers to work all the time.
okra - I think I got one good pod off of my okra. I kind of forgot there were there.
spinach- we had some good salads early in the season.
bunching onions- these come back year after year.
chives- I transplanted them into a pot, and will try to take them in for the winter.
artichokes (these are in the perennial garden)- they seem happy.
scarlett runner beans (against the deck)- I have about 8 lbs of beans in my fridge.
lemongrass- I started this inside from lemongrass stubs, and it is now about 4 feet tall and quite dramatic looking. It's back inside now.
italian basil- so much basil it's crazy.
thai basil- ha ha, I thought these were ground cherries, and I have so much of it.
globe basil- didn't work out.
lemon basil- worked, but I don't know what to do with it, and it went to seed.
parsley- this didn't work very well.
tarragon- transplanted it with the chives.
dill- turns out I never had dill.
fennel- this got huge - but what to do with it? it didn't produce a bulb.
thyme- it's always there, and it's doing fine.
radishes- nothing. I don't like them anyway.
carrots- nothing.
rhubarb- I got a few stalks.
and the ubiquitous mint- for zucchini-mint soup, and mojitos!
Sunflowers - not really a veggie but ended up in the veggie garden. They got about 10 feet tall.
Sweet peas - I grew these for decorative effect and it worked.
Acorn Squash - I got about 7 little squash off of them, and they're delicious!
Cantaloupe - surprise! I found this little guy the other day, hiding under the acorn squash. He's only about 5 inches, but I'll see how big he can get before eating him.
In addition to all of this bounty, I up-rooted the banana plant once again (the fall ritual) and he was not happy. But I left him on the deck so as not to shock him too badly, and we'll see. I don't think I have a perfect spot for a plant like that - 5 feet tall with a 5-foot canopy. Hm. I have to give it some thought. Maybe I'll have to break out the grow-lights in the basement.
yellow pear tomatoes- delicious, prolific, we're still eating them.
Roma tomatoes- these didn't work out so well. Lack of water cracked the few that I had.
little wee eggplants and one 'Dusky' eggplant- a total flop.
Royal Burgundy beans- these were great until we went on our honeymoon, when they all dried up and went bad on the vines.
red peppers- these were ok. Not as many earwigs as in previous years, but they were small.
cayenne peppers- as usual, I have so many that I don't know what to do with them.
pumpkins- not the one I actually planted, but my accidental pumpkins are gorgeous!
zucchini- oh man, do I have zucchini. Off of 3 plants I have managed to eat more zucchini than I ever wanted. Thank god Martha Stewart published a great zucchini-mint soup recipe.
ground cherries- These are so fabulous! I don't know what to do with them except eat them right off of the plant, but they're so delicious. They'd make good jam, they taste like butter.
cucumbers- I have become the brunt of many jokes from bringing cucumbers to work all the time.
okra - I think I got one good pod off of my okra. I kind of forgot there were there.
spinach- we had some good salads early in the season.
bunching onions- these come back year after year.
chives- I transplanted them into a pot, and will try to take them in for the winter.
artichokes (these are in the perennial garden)- they seem happy.
scarlett runner beans (against the deck)- I have about 8 lbs of beans in my fridge.
lemongrass- I started this inside from lemongrass stubs, and it is now about 4 feet tall and quite dramatic looking. It's back inside now.
italian basil- so much basil it's crazy.
thai basil- ha ha, I thought these were ground cherries, and I have so much of it.
globe basil- didn't work out.
lemon basil- worked, but I don't know what to do with it, and it went to seed.
parsley- this didn't work very well.
tarragon- transplanted it with the chives.
dill- turns out I never had dill.
fennel- this got huge - but what to do with it? it didn't produce a bulb.
thyme- it's always there, and it's doing fine.
radishes- nothing. I don't like them anyway.
carrots- nothing.
rhubarb- I got a few stalks.
and the ubiquitous mint- for zucchini-mint soup, and mojitos!
Sunflowers - not really a veggie but ended up in the veggie garden. They got about 10 feet tall.
Sweet peas - I grew these for decorative effect and it worked.
Acorn Squash - I got about 7 little squash off of them, and they're delicious!
Cantaloupe - surprise! I found this little guy the other day, hiding under the acorn squash. He's only about 5 inches, but I'll see how big he can get before eating him.
In addition to all of this bounty, I up-rooted the banana plant once again (the fall ritual) and he was not happy. But I left him on the deck so as not to shock him too badly, and we'll see. I don't think I have a perfect spot for a plant like that - 5 feet tall with a 5-foot canopy. Hm. I have to give it some thought. Maybe I'll have to break out the grow-lights in the basement.
9/27/05
When gardens become stressful
Ok so I have been really really busy over the last, um, 2 months. After the wedding I returned to work and the busiest work season of all. In just over a month I have trips to Vancouver (4 days), Toronto (overnight), St. John's (five days), Lindsay ontario (overnight - personal) and back to Toronto (another overnight). All of those cover at least one weekend day.
The yard has gone to crap. The grass is about 2 feet tall, everything's dying off and I'm just leaving it there. I haven't picked any apples so the yard is full of rotting little fruit, and I left the hose laying across the lawn all summer so that now I can hardly find it. It's scary. And it's so stressful to look at. Neither hubby nor I have the energy to tackle that yard, any aspect of it, even though frost is coming and things have to be dealt with pronto. On top of it all, the days are getting shorter so I have only about one hour after work during which I might do this stuff. And there's $750 worth of firewood lying in the laneway waiting to be stacked, but getting rained on nearly every day. The stress, I tell you, the stress.
On Saturday I went into the garden and ripped almost everything out. I picked all of the vegetables and threw all of the spent plants into the woods. I felt better.
Tonight, I'm going to uproot my cannas and use their pot for the newly-dug banana, which has grown exponentially over the summer so that it now has 9 leaves. NINE LEAVES. That's major. It's not quite big enough yet that it will create a canopy over our heads, but it's getting there. After tonight it will reside in our living room once more, taking over the house with its giant leaves, making our open-concept home seem oppressive. Perhaps I should invest in a parrot to complete the scene.
Then I'll have to do laundry, iron, sort out the clothes situation, water my plants, clean the toilet, and find some time to sleep.
These are normally my weekend activities but the weekends have disappeared down the drain. (sigh)
The yard has gone to crap. The grass is about 2 feet tall, everything's dying off and I'm just leaving it there. I haven't picked any apples so the yard is full of rotting little fruit, and I left the hose laying across the lawn all summer so that now I can hardly find it. It's scary. And it's so stressful to look at. Neither hubby nor I have the energy to tackle that yard, any aspect of it, even though frost is coming and things have to be dealt with pronto. On top of it all, the days are getting shorter so I have only about one hour after work during which I might do this stuff. And there's $750 worth of firewood lying in the laneway waiting to be stacked, but getting rained on nearly every day. The stress, I tell you, the stress.
On Saturday I went into the garden and ripped almost everything out. I picked all of the vegetables and threw all of the spent plants into the woods. I felt better.
Tonight, I'm going to uproot my cannas and use their pot for the newly-dug banana, which has grown exponentially over the summer so that it now has 9 leaves. NINE LEAVES. That's major. It's not quite big enough yet that it will create a canopy over our heads, but it's getting there. After tonight it will reside in our living room once more, taking over the house with its giant leaves, making our open-concept home seem oppressive. Perhaps I should invest in a parrot to complete the scene.
Then I'll have to do laundry, iron, sort out the clothes situation, water my plants, clean the toilet, and find some time to sleep.
These are normally my weekend activities but the weekends have disappeared down the drain. (sigh)
9/26/05
Bah humbug.
I have been in a colossally bad mood for the last couple of weeks.
Harumph.
I need a weekend. I at least need one opportunity to sleep in, or sleep trouble-free, which I'm not really getting.
Today I'm having the kind of day where I make faces behind everyone's backs. I hope nobody turns around or I'm screwed.
Harumph.
I need a weekend. I at least need one opportunity to sleep in, or sleep trouble-free, which I'm not really getting.
Today I'm having the kind of day where I make faces behind everyone's backs. I hope nobody turns around or I'm screwed.
8/29/05
Bad Little Gardener
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.
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.
8/26/05
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...
7/24/05
I must be doing something right
Aside from the early days, when I accidentally flattened my only pumpkin seedling with my clumsy fist, this has been a terrific year in the vegetable garden. Sure there have been things that haven't worked - my peppers are not fabulous - but all in all, it would seem that whatever concoction I've rigged up this year is working.
I slathered the dirt with compost, and turned over the soil with my shovel for the first time this year. Every other year, I've rented this terrible tiller and bounced along with it, mainly just mangling the dirt. This year, I dug it down about a foot and flipped it all as easy as pie. I don't know why I didn't do this before.
Also, I moved things around a bit this year for crop rotation, in an effort to fool the bugs or at least keep them guessing, slowing them down on their path of destruction. Squash vine borers, earwigs, cabbageworms and aphids seem to have forgotten about my vegetable garden this year, and concentrated their efforts instead on my potted flowers and perennial beds. Ha! Perennials will come back, but there's nothing as devastating as waking up to a dead zucchini vine.
The real successes this year are (compare to the list I made in my first entry):
- Royal burgundy beans. These never cease to amaze me.
- zucchini
- cucumbers (am I going to have to start pickling them???)
- basil. Oh. My. God. I have a forest of basil.
- sweet peas
- mystery squash
- the acorn squash that I planted late in the season, from a small flat of yellow seedlings
- stocks
- fennel
- ground cherries
The failures this year have been the root vegetables:
- radishes
- carrots
...but I don't really care about those - I hate radishes and carrots are cheap enough at the store.
The jury's still out on the peppers, but there are flowers and some plants have wee little peppers on them, as-yet-untouched by earwigs (knock on wood).
I know I have gone on and on about the crazy squash and cucumbers in my garden, but I want to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Every day they are climbing up something new - up the garden ornament alongside the sweetpeas, up the remains of my rhubarb, down the path (uncannily well-aimed, I might add), up the beans, around the thai basil (which comes up to my knees at least), and over the fence into the lawn.
I'm at home, so I'll attempt to add pictures to this post shortly.....
In the meantime, the weather's beautiful, it's going to rain soon, people are trickling in for the wedding (Eric's family are gathering, my grandmother arrived yesterday, the maid of honour comes the day-after-tomorrow) and so far, I am nerve-free. It's all good...
I slathered the dirt with compost, and turned over the soil with my shovel for the first time this year. Every other year, I've rented this terrible tiller and bounced along with it, mainly just mangling the dirt. This year, I dug it down about a foot and flipped it all as easy as pie. I don't know why I didn't do this before.
Also, I moved things around a bit this year for crop rotation, in an effort to fool the bugs or at least keep them guessing, slowing them down on their path of destruction. Squash vine borers, earwigs, cabbageworms and aphids seem to have forgotten about my vegetable garden this year, and concentrated their efforts instead on my potted flowers and perennial beds. Ha! Perennials will come back, but there's nothing as devastating as waking up to a dead zucchini vine.
The real successes this year are (compare to the list I made in my first entry):
- Royal burgundy beans. These never cease to amaze me.
- zucchini
- cucumbers (am I going to have to start pickling them???)
- basil. Oh. My. God. I have a forest of basil.
- sweet peas
- mystery squash
- the acorn squash that I planted late in the season, from a small flat of yellow seedlings
- stocks
- fennel
- ground cherries
The failures this year have been the root vegetables:
- radishes
- carrots
...but I don't really care about those - I hate radishes and carrots are cheap enough at the store.
The jury's still out on the peppers, but there are flowers and some plants have wee little peppers on them, as-yet-untouched by earwigs (knock on wood).
I know I have gone on and on about the crazy squash and cucumbers in my garden, but I want to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Every day they are climbing up something new - up the garden ornament alongside the sweetpeas, up the remains of my rhubarb, down the path (uncannily well-aimed, I might add), up the beans, around the thai basil (which comes up to my knees at least), and over the fence into the lawn.
I'm at home, so I'll attempt to add pictures to this post shortly.....
In the meantime, the weather's beautiful, it's going to rain soon, people are trickling in for the wedding (Eric's family are gathering, my grandmother arrived yesterday, the maid of honour comes the day-after-tomorrow) and so far, I am nerve-free. It's all good...
7/21/05
All Systems A-Go...... or?
I recently purchased a nifty water timer so I can sleep at night when I'm away on business and it's eight thousand degrees outside. The only thing is, it's a bit tricky to operate, and I'm not sure if it's working.
I went to Canadian Tire and bought the only timer on the rack that can be set to come on every day at the same time and water for 15 minutes (or whatever). I set it for 9 pm just to see if it works, but then I left town and asked my boy to watch for it and see if it's working. He forgot each night, but it rained on the weekend so he wasn't concerned. Only thing is, since the weekend, every day has been around 30-32 degrees and sunny, and if the garden's not being watered we have a big problem. My tomatoes won't be happy.
So tonight I'm going to write a note on my hand and try to remember to look out the window at 9 pm to see if the timer worked. If not, I will swear at it and try to see what I'm doing wrong. I followed the instructions to the letter so I don't see why there'd be a problem.
In other news, I went away for 4 days and when I came back I discovered that the squash are truly out of control. I am growing zucchini, cucumbers, acorn squash, and mystery squash. I call it mystery squash because I think the seeds lived in my compost and they popped up all over the place where they weren't invited. They're the same size as the ones I carefully started in my basement, so I'm thinking maybe next year I can try to direct-seed all of my squash and free up some of my personal time and space (ha). However, I have no idea what they are. I hope they're pumpkins, perhaps from my jack o'lantern last october. Who knows. But this year for the first time (knock on wood) I haven't had any powdery mildew whatsoever. My garden is covered in squash. They come up to my knees and beyond. They've literally crashed the gate and grown out onto the lawn. They're starting to grow up the garden ornament/trellis that I got in early June. They've usurped my peppers and are threatening my beans and basil. I am going to have to start pruning the vines down if they keep trying to smother everything else.
It's also very difficult for a sprinkler to do it's work when it keeps hitting the bottoms of these giant leaves. Ah well - I love acorn squash, and I figure all of these things are good to grow because I actually eat them (unlike beets and radishes, which I really don't care for at all).
Needless to say, the garden looks like crap because it's a solid green lump and I can't weed in all of that mess. Perhaps I'll take an hour or a day or something this weekend and try to boss those vines around. I'll take some pictures of it too.
Wedding countdown: 9 days. I met my brother-in-law last night for the very first time (they live in Austria). Hubby and I have been together 7 years. It was very strange and surreal, but I loved every minute of it. I have a feeling this will be the most magical and surreal week of my life - the combinations of people who will be in my house at once will be unthinkable. It's really very special for me to meet his family, since my family is so close. And it's special for him too, to say the very least.
Tomorrow's my last day at work, then I'll be off-line until the end of this wedding blur.
I went to Canadian Tire and bought the only timer on the rack that can be set to come on every day at the same time and water for 15 minutes (or whatever). I set it for 9 pm just to see if it works, but then I left town and asked my boy to watch for it and see if it's working. He forgot each night, but it rained on the weekend so he wasn't concerned. Only thing is, since the weekend, every day has been around 30-32 degrees and sunny, and if the garden's not being watered we have a big problem. My tomatoes won't be happy.
So tonight I'm going to write a note on my hand and try to remember to look out the window at 9 pm to see if the timer worked. If not, I will swear at it and try to see what I'm doing wrong. I followed the instructions to the letter so I don't see why there'd be a problem.
In other news, I went away for 4 days and when I came back I discovered that the squash are truly out of control. I am growing zucchini, cucumbers, acorn squash, and mystery squash. I call it mystery squash because I think the seeds lived in my compost and they popped up all over the place where they weren't invited. They're the same size as the ones I carefully started in my basement, so I'm thinking maybe next year I can try to direct-seed all of my squash and free up some of my personal time and space (ha). However, I have no idea what they are. I hope they're pumpkins, perhaps from my jack o'lantern last october. Who knows. But this year for the first time (knock on wood) I haven't had any powdery mildew whatsoever. My garden is covered in squash. They come up to my knees and beyond. They've literally crashed the gate and grown out onto the lawn. They're starting to grow up the garden ornament/trellis that I got in early June. They've usurped my peppers and are threatening my beans and basil. I am going to have to start pruning the vines down if they keep trying to smother everything else.
It's also very difficult for a sprinkler to do it's work when it keeps hitting the bottoms of these giant leaves. Ah well - I love acorn squash, and I figure all of these things are good to grow because I actually eat them (unlike beets and radishes, which I really don't care for at all).
Needless to say, the garden looks like crap because it's a solid green lump and I can't weed in all of that mess. Perhaps I'll take an hour or a day or something this weekend and try to boss those vines around. I'll take some pictures of it too.
Wedding countdown: 9 days. I met my brother-in-law last night for the very first time (they live in Austria). Hubby and I have been together 7 years. It was very strange and surreal, but I loved every minute of it. I have a feeling this will be the most magical and surreal week of my life - the combinations of people who will be in my house at once will be unthinkable. It's really very special for me to meet his family, since my family is so close. And it's special for him too, to say the very least.
Tomorrow's my last day at work, then I'll be off-line until the end of this wedding blur.
7/15/05
I'm Afraid of My Garden
It finally rained the other day. Not like drizzle, or even a reasonable shower, but it rained, it thundered, it lightninged, and it actually even hailed. It rained all through the night and gave everything a really good soaking, which is quite a relief because it's been so hot here lately that the plants are starting to think they're desert plants. My sunflowers are about 4 feet tall, which is so rewarding since I've had troubles growing sunflowers (I know I know, long story).
However, there's one small problem. With all of this heat, regular watering, and the occasional storm, the plants are a bit out of control. I grew a lot of cucumbers and squash this year, and now they've formed something of a carpet over most of the veggie garden. The beans come up to my knees, which is unusual, and the thai basil (which I thought were ground cherries, but that's another story) is so prolific that I could start selling it. I practically need a machete to get through the vegetable garden and some plants have started making a break for it, threatening to climb the fence and start down the other side.
The perennials are doing super well too, at least most of them. The wedding flowers are still lagging behind. Ha ha ha Mother Nature, you're so funny, I get the joke - you can let up now. They've only got 2 weeks to pick up their socks and start blooming. If anyone's got tips here, please feel free to share them with me; I'll try anything at this point. Ah well, my neighbor (whose garden has won awards, I should say) has offered to let me come and pillage her yard for flowers so I'll at least have something. There's always Queen Anne's Lace and ferns.
I didn't count on the weather being so incredibly hot this year, so everything's blooming early. I have these beautiful buttery white lilies in the garden which would have been totally perfect, but they're almost done; I doubt there'll be anything left in two weeks.
So there's the update - I don't really have anything more interesting to say, though if you want some wisdom about weddings, I have these tidbits to offer so far:
1. You fight a lot more leading up to your wedding;
2. Don't try and do it all yourself;
3. Wine is your friend;
4. Get lots of sleep;
5. Let your husband pick his own tie.
Check back regularly for more nuggets from Genny as the next three weeks unfold...
However, there's one small problem. With all of this heat, regular watering, and the occasional storm, the plants are a bit out of control. I grew a lot of cucumbers and squash this year, and now they've formed something of a carpet over most of the veggie garden. The beans come up to my knees, which is unusual, and the thai basil (which I thought were ground cherries, but that's another story) is so prolific that I could start selling it. I practically need a machete to get through the vegetable garden and some plants have started making a break for it, threatening to climb the fence and start down the other side.
The perennials are doing super well too, at least most of them. The wedding flowers are still lagging behind. Ha ha ha Mother Nature, you're so funny, I get the joke - you can let up now. They've only got 2 weeks to pick up their socks and start blooming. If anyone's got tips here, please feel free to share them with me; I'll try anything at this point. Ah well, my neighbor (whose garden has won awards, I should say) has offered to let me come and pillage her yard for flowers so I'll at least have something. There's always Queen Anne's Lace and ferns.
I didn't count on the weather being so incredibly hot this year, so everything's blooming early. I have these beautiful buttery white lilies in the garden which would have been totally perfect, but they're almost done; I doubt there'll be anything left in two weeks.
So there's the update - I don't really have anything more interesting to say, though if you want some wisdom about weddings, I have these tidbits to offer so far:
1. You fight a lot more leading up to your wedding;
2. Don't try and do it all yourself;
3. Wine is your friend;
4. Get lots of sleep;
5. Let your husband pick his own tie.
Check back regularly for more nuggets from Genny as the next three weeks unfold...
7/11/05
Whoa Horsey
Is it just me, or is everything in the garden blooming way too early this year?
By the time my company comes at the end of this month, the garden will be past it's peak. All the lilies will have bloomed and fizzled out, and unless I can squeeze a second blooming out of the delphiniums, they'll be gone too. My dahlias haven't really been doing much either, except for two pots on the deck. The bee balm will also be looking crappy by then, as will the hostas. It's so hot out, they must think that perhaps they have become tropical plants. Now if only my wedding flowers would get a move on ...
In other news, I'm getting married in 19 days and the butterflies have officially moved into my stomach. I slept about 3 hours last night. Tonight, I am hitting the gravol or else I won't be able to work. This past weekend was my last free time before the big day, as I'm working next weekend in Toronto and during the week in Kingston and Ottawa, then our company arrives the weekend after that. It's a whirlwind.
By the time my company comes at the end of this month, the garden will be past it's peak. All the lilies will have bloomed and fizzled out, and unless I can squeeze a second blooming out of the delphiniums, they'll be gone too. My dahlias haven't really been doing much either, except for two pots on the deck. The bee balm will also be looking crappy by then, as will the hostas. It's so hot out, they must think that perhaps they have become tropical plants. Now if only my wedding flowers would get a move on ...
In other news, I'm getting married in 19 days and the butterflies have officially moved into my stomach. I slept about 3 hours last night. Tonight, I am hitting the gravol or else I won't be able to work. This past weekend was my last free time before the big day, as I'm working next weekend in Toronto and during the week in Kingston and Ottawa, then our company arrives the weekend after that. It's a whirlwind.
7/4/05
Warning: Rocky Road Ahead
Oh boy. So for all of you who are counting down the days until my wedding (what, you mean you're not?) we're sitting at 26 big sleeps.
This would be totally fine and dandy, except that my lovely place of work has thrown me some big curveballs for my last three weeks in the office, and I'm feeling a bit wracked. When I started working here, they told me summers are slow. They lied.
At home, the ranunculus are still pathetic and the RSVP cards have slowed to a dry trickle. The only things left to do are the really heinous things like moving furniture around and buying stuff, and fixing up our house a bit so more than 2 people can use it.
This is all to say that the blog will likewise be a bit patchy for the next while. If I seem unfocused, it's symptomatic of a greater mass confusion - my only hope is to keep hanging on, keep my head above the water and keep breathing. In a month this will all be over, and you will undoubtedly be able to enjoy more frequent postings as well as wedding photos.
In other news, I went to Newfoundland last week and had a real blast. I love that place. I love pointing out how different it is there when I get home, like "did you know that in Newfoundland, it's peak whale season right now? Did you know that in Newfoundland, they call small towns 'outports'? Did you know that in Newfoundland, the gardens are all about 2 weeks behind gardens here, yet the Queen Anne's Lace is already in full bloom?"
I went down there for some meetings and to witness the opening of The Rooms. It was fantastic, though I didn't know that the opening ceremonies were outdoors and I ended up with a real Rudolph nose. You could see the pattern of my hairstyle burned onto my forehead. Anyway, I am over that, but I am still excited to have met Rick Mercer in person. I am a real fan. Not in a have-posters-on-my-bedroom-wall-know-his-entire-personal-history kind of way, but I think he's a terrific Canadian and I'm proud that his brand of smart humour is popular across this country. He's like our version of Jon Stewart, for those of you south of the border who don't know of him. I've linked to his very own blogger blog at the side of this page.
Anyway, while there I went hiking around Signal Hill, which was amazing. If I lived in St. John's I'd do that every day and my gluteous maximi would be minimized. (For those of you who don't speak latin, that means I'd have a tiny ass). But in all seriousness, the landscape at Signal Hill alone is breathtaking - the water was a Caribbean blue, and the vegetation is so interesting that I was a total geek and took plant pictures. Unfortunately my camera isn't the greatest and they didn't really turn out. Some lovely soul in St. John's has taken the time to label the plants on Signal Hill with plant tags and latin names which, as a plant-nerd tourist, I very much appreciated.
The next day we took a quick drive up to Cape Spear and saw some whales. Again, I didn't get any satisfying whale pictures. They weren't exactly cooperating - most of the time all I saw were spurts of mist from their blowholes. I don't even know which kind of whales we were seeing, all I know is that I was cold and my lunch wasn't agreeing with me. Then we drove to the airport and I came home, many hours and half a bottle of Pepto Bismol later, to the stinking heat of Ottawa. It was 7 in St. John's when I left, and about 30 in Ottawa when I landed. How is a girl to dress?
Anyway, I went, I cooled down, I met Rick Mercer, I provided the people of Newfoundland with some comedic relief after realizing that I'd packed one high-heeled shoe for a black-tie gala (here's a plug for Gallery Shoes in downtown St. John's - they've got beautiful stuff and friendly staff who don't laugh too hard at people like me), and I saw some great short plants and some whales. Now I gots to get through the next few weeks, and then go and get myself married. No sweat.
This would be totally fine and dandy, except that my lovely place of work has thrown me some big curveballs for my last three weeks in the office, and I'm feeling a bit wracked. When I started working here, they told me summers are slow. They lied.
At home, the ranunculus are still pathetic and the RSVP cards have slowed to a dry trickle. The only things left to do are the really heinous things like moving furniture around and buying stuff, and fixing up our house a bit so more than 2 people can use it.
This is all to say that the blog will likewise be a bit patchy for the next while. If I seem unfocused, it's symptomatic of a greater mass confusion - my only hope is to keep hanging on, keep my head above the water and keep breathing. In a month this will all be over, and you will undoubtedly be able to enjoy more frequent postings as well as wedding photos.
In other news, I went to Newfoundland last week and had a real blast. I love that place. I love pointing out how different it is there when I get home, like "did you know that in Newfoundland, it's peak whale season right now? Did you know that in Newfoundland, they call small towns 'outports'? Did you know that in Newfoundland, the gardens are all about 2 weeks behind gardens here, yet the Queen Anne's Lace is already in full bloom?"
I went down there for some meetings and to witness the opening of The Rooms. It was fantastic, though I didn't know that the opening ceremonies were outdoors and I ended up with a real Rudolph nose. You could see the pattern of my hairstyle burned onto my forehead. Anyway, I am over that, but I am still excited to have met Rick Mercer in person. I am a real fan. Not in a have-posters-on-my-bedroom-wall-know-his-entire-personal-history kind of way, but I think he's a terrific Canadian and I'm proud that his brand of smart humour is popular across this country. He's like our version of Jon Stewart, for those of you south of the border who don't know of him. I've linked to his very own blogger blog at the side of this page.
Anyway, while there I went hiking around Signal Hill, which was amazing. If I lived in St. John's I'd do that every day and my gluteous maximi would be minimized. (For those of you who don't speak latin, that means I'd have a tiny ass). But in all seriousness, the landscape at Signal Hill alone is breathtaking - the water was a Caribbean blue, and the vegetation is so interesting that I was a total geek and took plant pictures. Unfortunately my camera isn't the greatest and they didn't really turn out. Some lovely soul in St. John's has taken the time to label the plants on Signal Hill with plant tags and latin names which, as a plant-nerd tourist, I very much appreciated.
The next day we took a quick drive up to Cape Spear and saw some whales. Again, I didn't get any satisfying whale pictures. They weren't exactly cooperating - most of the time all I saw were spurts of mist from their blowholes. I don't even know which kind of whales we were seeing, all I know is that I was cold and my lunch wasn't agreeing with me. Then we drove to the airport and I came home, many hours and half a bottle of Pepto Bismol later, to the stinking heat of Ottawa. It was 7 in St. John's when I left, and about 30 in Ottawa when I landed. How is a girl to dress?
Anyway, I went, I cooled down, I met Rick Mercer, I provided the people of Newfoundland with some comedic relief after realizing that I'd packed one high-heeled shoe for a black-tie gala (here's a plug for Gallery Shoes in downtown St. John's - they've got beautiful stuff and friendly staff who don't laugh too hard at people like me), and I saw some great short plants and some whales. Now I gots to get through the next few weeks, and then go and get myself married. No sweat.
6/27/05
Garden anxiety
I noticed yesterday while looking through the veggie garden that my basils - the globe basil in particular - have been beset by some sort of illness or pest. Some of the leaves on the Italian basil have spots on them, and on the globe basil (which was totally thriving last week) much of the plant got dark and crispy and is falling off. I don't know why. I caressed the plant, thinking 'this is the last thing I need right now.'
I'm already kind of a neurotic person. If there is something out there to worry about, I will worry. I can hardly watch the news. When I'm in that state of mind, I can wander around the garden and instead of seeing beautiful blooms, thriving patches of green, zillions of different kinds of bugs, and new shoots on plants I grew myself, all I can see is disaster and destruction. The beds are a mess. Some of my annuals died. Everything needs to be deadheaded. Something's eating my clematis. The basils have gone to pot. It all needs so much watering and work and weeding and pruning and mowing and aaaaaaaaa how does anyone do it?
Phew (pant pant) sometimes it's too much for a girl to take. I think I need a snooze.
But really, I have to lighten up. Everything's exploding and the things that aren't doing so well ... at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. One day it'll be forgotten. So we don't have radishes this year - big deal. I don't even like radishes. And when people come over, they don't immediately see the holes in my clematis leaves or the rotten globe basil at the far corner of the vegetable garden. As long as I can enjoy all of the flowers I feel I am due (it's a sliding scale, really, I am flexible), my vegetables allow me to eat something at harvest time, and I have fresh herbs when I need them for cooking, I'm happy. It's all organic, it's all green, and it's all better than winter.
Winter, which brings on another set of worries.
I'm already kind of a neurotic person. If there is something out there to worry about, I will worry. I can hardly watch the news. When I'm in that state of mind, I can wander around the garden and instead of seeing beautiful blooms, thriving patches of green, zillions of different kinds of bugs, and new shoots on plants I grew myself, all I can see is disaster and destruction. The beds are a mess. Some of my annuals died. Everything needs to be deadheaded. Something's eating my clematis. The basils have gone to pot. It all needs so much watering and work and weeding and pruning and mowing and aaaaaaaaa how does anyone do it?
Phew (pant pant) sometimes it's too much for a girl to take. I think I need a snooze.
But really, I have to lighten up. Everything's exploding and the things that aren't doing so well ... at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. One day it'll be forgotten. So we don't have radishes this year - big deal. I don't even like radishes. And when people come over, they don't immediately see the holes in my clematis leaves or the rotten globe basil at the far corner of the vegetable garden. As long as I can enjoy all of the flowers I feel I am due (it's a sliding scale, really, I am flexible), my vegetables allow me to eat something at harvest time, and I have fresh herbs when I need them for cooking, I'm happy. It's all organic, it's all green, and it's all better than winter.
Winter, which brings on another set of worries.
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