Sprout details

Yesterday's sprouts:

1 eagle pass okra
2 delikatesse cucumber
1 quadrato d'asti rosso pepper
1 black hungarian hot pepper

Today's new sprouts:

1 leutschauer paprika hot pepper
1 tendercrisp celery
2 crnkovic yugoslavian pink tomatoes
1 goldman's italian-american red tomato

The radishes look like rows of clover...

Sprouts!

Hooray! Hooray!

My little seeds are sprouting without help...yay!  Not only are all my radishes sprouted now and green little plantlings, but my other seed starts are popping up.  I have two cucumber starts, one okra, one bell pepper, and one hot pepper.  I'm so proud!

Yay!

Oh, the rain

It seems as if the rain will not end.  I know, I know...spring rain and all that.  I just don't know why it can't rain and be sunny at the same time...  I much prefer sun after all the winter gloom.  It is, however, supposed to reach 70 degrees today!

My sister thinks that we can get the plants to sprout faster if we place a saran wrap tent over them to make a greenhouse.  I think I will give that a try.  Anything to get the tomatoes and peppers sprouted faster...

All the little radishes are wiggling their sprouts into the ground.  I had to move the pot to the garage to save them from being drowned in all this rain...

The Random Files: On an Easter Sunday

Today is Easter.  The whole Jesus shindig and whatnot.  Celebrate your own way:  candy, bunnies, church, eggs,  family dinners, skinned knees, wine, prayer, NCIS marathons...whatever.

***

Today, while trying to get the dog outside, I noticed two grackles exiting my old gas grill on the back porch.  Apparently they are creating quite an elaborate nest--twigs are protruding from the front lip of the grill.  It seems all barbecues are on hold as the grill operates as an avian nursery...

Spring is a time of regeneration and warm weather.  Turn off the TV.  Step away from the Interwebs.  Put all phones--yes, that includes the cell--to ring straight to voicemail.  Go outside and spend a good long time with the quiet world outside your door.  What crazy sounds are the local birds making?  What smells are carried to you on the breeze?  When will the cicadas begin the summer hum?  What stars are spinning overhead as the sun drops past the horizon?

What is your world without the chatter?

***

I am loving the web comic called Girls with Slingshots.  I found it a few months ago and have enjoyed keeping up with the adventures of Hazel and the gang.  I love the ghost kitty....Doooooooooom!

Blessings we should count

Today was a good day.  [Technically, the time indicates today is Easter Sunday, but I haven't been to bed yet.  That means in my world it can still be Saturday for the remainder of the post.]

The sun was mostly out and it warmed nicely.  The windows were open and the spring breeze wandered around smelling of growing grass.  It was a good day for sheets on the line (had I not been too preoccupied with grading).

I discovered my French Breakfast radishes are sprouting already!  The seed coats are cracked and a little plantling is beginning to emerge.  Oh, and the number of seeds in the pot is closer to 80 than 40.

I planted the squash seeds in starter pots today.

Did I mention how many tomato and pepper plants I have?  Yes.  I broke them down by category.  However, this afternoon I realized how MANY plants my total came to!  I am growing 24 tomato plants.  [That is NOT a typo.]  What the hell am I going to do with 24 tomato plants?  [Consider that I am also growing 28 pepper plants.]

Perhaps I should give away a few of the seedlings if they sprout?

I suppose I will spend the best part of July and August cooking and canning like mad.  I am not going to complain either!  If I spent $60 and end up with hundreds of dollars worth of food that will last through the winter, I am thrilled!  Plus I will still have more seeds for next year...(with the exception of the radishes and maybe the carrots).

***

While grading papers today, I confess to procrastinating a bit.  I caught the beginning of The Splendid Table on NPR.  There was a lovely piece about kindness and how we forget to be kind until we are humbled.  Here's the audio link to The Tire Iron and Tamale by Justin Horner.

***

In other news, the son of a high school acquaintance passed away as a result burns sustained in a fire.  The family is on my mind.

 

Let the garden experiment commence

Yesterday, I started some seeds for planting in the garden between the beginning and end of May.  In theory, mid-April is a good time for planting as we should be at the end of "last frost of the season," but quite often we get one or two freezing nights afterward.  The sun was beautiful and warm--a great day to be outside.

I started six each of the following:

Crnkovic Yugoslavian--pink tomato
Black from Tula--purple tomato
Goldman's Italian American--red tomato
Ananas Noire--striped tomato
Quadrato D'Asti Rosso--red bell pepper
Red Cheese Pepper--red bell pepper

I started eight of each of the following:

Black Hungarian Pepper--hot pepper
Leutschauer Paprika--hot pepper
Tendercrisp--celery  **I planted 8 starter pots of this with two or three seeds in each.  Seeds are itty bitty and I thought it better to be safe than sorry.

I started six of the following:

Delikatesse--cucumber
Eagle Pass--okra

I also directly sowed about 48 French Breakfast Radish seeds in a long planter.  We will continually plant and pick these so I wanted something simple and close to the back door for easy pick/eat salad toppings.

Today it is misty and rainy so there isn't much gardening happening outside.  Inside I am soaking my beans for a few hours before I pot them [Mayflower Pole Bean, Cherokee Trail of Tears Pole Bean, and Purple Podded Pole Bean].  I will also pot the Musquee de Provence Winter Squash seeds as well.

This weekend looks like the date for popping the Bull's Blood Beets, St. Valery Carrots, and Rocky Top Lettuce Mix in the ground.  I'll also pop in the Tall Telephone Peas as they can handle the cooler weather.  I just have to set up the trellis first.  They can grow to 8 feet!  I might try them against the back fence as well to see if they will respond to the area.

I wanted to grow watermelon, but I figured with the squash being so sprawly, I'd tackle them first and see how it goes.  If I can wrangle them easily, then I'll add watermelon to the list next year.

I ordered my seeds through Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year.  The prices for everything we ordered was very reasonable.  We even got a gift packet of Parisienne Carrots!

For flowers, we ended up with 2 pansies (Orange Sun, Laura), cosmos (Sensation Mix), multicolored pinks (Baby Doll Dianthus), Hazelwood Blues Morning Glory (a mix of light to dark blue flowers) to put over the mailbox and along parts of the fence, Radio Calendula, and French marigolds (Harlequin).

Experiment

I'm terrible at consistency.

I can be punctual.  I can be bloody pig-headed about having things my way.  But, following a mundane routine is just not part of this body's makeup.  Anathema.

Do I feel that following a particular schedule or to-do list will help me be a better person?  Maybe.  I hear that consistency is required in the raising of children.  I had boundaries and bedtimes and curfews and acceptable friends and acceptable social engagements.  Perhaps that is why I now despise these things--my personal rebellion.

This little revolution has gone on long enough.  I am becoming unproductive with such a loosey-goosey meandering through a day.

So the experiment that will follow is a tiny bit scary as it steps outside my norm.

Ok.  Not so much with the science.  But I am going to attempt to develop a daily routine in hopes that I can become a more productive writer, teacher, and person.

Put on the goggles and buckle up.  It's going to be a bumpy ride...

One of those days

I'm having one of those days where I feel pulled in a zillion directions.  I hate this feeling.  What do I want, you ask?

1)  Sunlight.  Although it isn't sunny today, I am noticing the light.  I don't know if it is considered a wavelength?--but the strength of the light.  It isn't as weak as it is during the winter.  We're on the cusp of the spring thaw.  The sun is also coming up earlier.

2)  Moon.  Full.  Enough said.

3)  Outside.  I want to go for a walk but I have a million things to do that require my attention.  Also, it is muddy slush with ice patches on the road.  Still not the greatest walking conditions.

4)  Grading.  Ok.  Well I don't really feel pulled to do this except the deadline is tonight for grades and I should just suck it up and finish.  I suppose complaining takes more time than actually doing...

5)  Writing.  I just put together another piece of my puzzle yesterday and now I'm wanting to write but I won't until I get this stupid grading done.  I do enjoy death scenes.  Does that make me perverse?

6)  Reading.  I'm sucked into Patrick Rothfuss' book The Name of the Wind.  I am enjoying the voice and the structure of the story.


Moon Report:  100% of full.  Full moon.
Outside:  Soggy snow and mud.

Lucille Clifton

I totally suck as a person with both an English BA and an MFA!  How could I possibly miss the death of Lucille Clifton??  She died last Saturday (February 13th, 2010).

The poetry of Lucille Clifton is not overwhelming; it does not beat the reader down.  There is a quiet power and deep love in her work.  It is a weird analogy but her patterns always remind me of water ripples--the reverberations feeding out from the central point until they touch the edges of our outer self.  It brings comfort and transformation.

Links 

Sorrows.
Won't You Celebrate With Me. [video]
Remembering Lucille Clifton.  [Poetry Off the Shelf]
Far Memory.

Vaccu-suck and share

Ok.  Last week I had one of those vaccu-suck experiences on the web.  I was innocently clicking on links I visit regularly--and wham--I was following links from blog to blog and site to site reading all kinds of wild and fun things.  So I thought I'd share a few...

1)  Whatever.  John Scalzi.  There are lots of great links and lovely introductions for new books.  Also he declared February 15th to be International Grover Appreciation Day.  Really--I swear!  Anyone who loves Grover is A-OK in my book.

2)  Blake Charlton.  New writer with a his first novel coming out on March 2 [Spellwright].  Med student.  All-around multi-tasking genius.  His blog is excellent--well written, intelligent, and funny.  If there's ever a remake of West Side Story featuring internists and surgeons...or maybe you need a sympathetic soul after witnessing a talking pile of laundry...

3)  Making Light.  Theresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.  I don't even know where to begin.  Let me start by saying I've never seen so many links to everywhere and everything in my life! I enjoy the commentary...

4)  Seven Stories Concerning Joss Whedon -or- The Road to Damascus.  Posted January 11, 2010 on Patrick Rothfuss' blog.  Actually he's pretty amusing on the whole.  See the post on how to determine his "cool factor" on the Gaiman-Day rating scale...


Moon Report:  20% of full.  Waxing crescent.
Outside:  Sunny.  Icy crust snow--very sharp on bare ankles.

Literary Passings

J. D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, died yesterday.  He was 91.

Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, died yesterday.  He was 87.

Catharsis

Sometimes we should all just stand in the snow and scream at the top of our lungs.

Moon Report:  94% of full.  Waxing gibbous.
Outside the Window:  Dark

A laugh

Since I have been talking about American views of other cultures in my class, I couldn't resist posting this here.  Obviously this is an example of how Americans are perceived as a culture in other parts of the world, but still I think this is a good mirror for the topic.  This commercial should never go to waste.

Moon Report: 0% of full. New Moon.
Outside the Window: Melty and grey. Getting muddy.

Lazy reading

I think my brain is atrophied.  I have taken to using audio books to supply my craving for literature (or what passes for it).  That way I can listen to the book while doing other things...like grading papers or surfing the web or knitting.  I could pretend that I was multi-tasking, but that really isn't it.  I'm just lazy.

Currently I am listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  I couldn't wade through the book in written form--I didn't have the patience and my mind kept wandering.  However, I like listening to it on CD.  I can easily follow the story.  I can't do much for "multi-tasking" while listening because it is not unlike reading Dickens or Melville.  The most I can do is knit...but maybe my shawl will be done by the time I finish the book--26 discs!

The next books in my audio cue are The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk.

I am working on a variation of the Eye of Partridge Shawl.  I am working it in a worsted weight yarn because, let's face it, I want something snuggly when I curl up.  The yarn is nothing fancy--a blue/cream/browns variegated acrylic called Retro-Modern Ombre from I Love This Yarn! [Hobby Lobby].  The stitch really helps avoid pooling and makes a wonderful texture.

Because the original pattern is a really tight V shape, I decided to modify the pattern to widen the V.  I didn't want a shawl to end up dragging around like Morticia Addams' dress just to make the width as long as I like it.  So I am adding additional yarn overs--I keep changing my mind about the pattern so I have ripped everything out four times at last count...

Ok, as I am writing this, the system snow promised to us started to fall.  We're supposed to get 2-4 inches of system snow before the lake effect snow starts to kick in.  But right now, although it is coming down steadily, it is that wispy micro snow that just seems to make the roads slick and icy.  It will have to get thicker and heavier if it wants to do more than annoy people...

Moon Report:  48% of full.  Just shy of the quarter moon.

Outside the Window:  Snow.  About 24 degrees (coldish).  Overcast.

Up during the wee earlies

Sometimes insomnia is worth it.  Last night my back yard was beautiful in the almost full moonlight.  The white blue of the snow and the blue black of creeping tree shadows were picture perfect.  If only I'd thought to actually take a picture!!!

This brings me to another resolution for the New Year:  to share.  I am not exactly an open book--even with my friends and family.  I don't think I have always been so closed, but I have noticed it getting worse as the years pass.  I hoard secrets about things that I feel are private or emotionally close to me.  So I am going to violate that habit in the worst way possible:  I am going to post an unpublished poem from my dissertation.

How to Take it Back


In the earliest morning light
she shuts off the car, steps out and the snow
she brushes back on the windshield readjusts itself.
Everything has accumulated overnight.  Frigid
air steals the bitter choke in her throat as it pulls away
from her, as she walks backward through the door.
Whole and without question the dead air swallows her,
shackles her in the heavy moments.  The rooms are filled
with coffee and shower soap, with dribbled words.
Silence spreads like unfurling leaves.


The pre-dawn darkness erodes the morning 
and again harsh streetlights filter through the bedroom window catching
the isolated curve of her icy hipbone.  She remains
uncovered, eyes open to his stiff and breakable
backbone, the uncrossable line.  His shoulder 
half hidden by a blanket, the murky and shadowed skin.
Orange light squares the walls.


He returns to her, faces her with steady eyes.
She rolls into the crook of his arm, cheek against ribcage,
feeling each contraction of his heart.  She pretends
to be awake and the stars have reappeared
as eyes of angels peeking between the arms of clouds.
These two begin to breathe as if it is their first breath in this life.
Calves and elbows and navels--this continuous loop of flesh
and madness.  Where they fasten together like hooks and eyes unfastens.
They uncreate the form of it all, bodies
awkward and angled and moving.
They rebuild themselves.


He is shadow and everywhere the same color,
the color of blue ghosts over his knees, earlobes, and fingers.
She is blind with yellow light from the street outside--
it might be snowing.


"Blue Under the Moon." Diss.  U of Idaho, 2001.

Since I'm feeling a bit poet-y today, here's the link to "Cold Watercolor" by Wyatt Prunty.  This is The Writer's Almanac poem for today (January 3, 2010).

Moon Report:  88% of full.  Waning gibbous.
Outside the Window:  Bright blue sunny.  Snow glare.  Cold.

Geeking for the New Year

Ok.  Can I say how excited I am to see the new season of Chuck?  I know.  Not my usual cup of tea, but it is funny and just seems to be what interests me lately.  Also, the music for the show--awesome!

Chuck Season 3 Preview [January 10, 2010 on NBC]

This isn't a video or anything, but it is a song from a band I adore.  Luisa's Bones by Crooked Fingers.

A Road Map

Sometimes it is easier to find your way when you already know where you are going.  These questions are from Julia Cameron's book The Vein of Gold on pages 105-106.  I think they are useful when I need a reminder about what things move and motivate me.  Think of them as a useful compass...


1.  Name five favorite films.
2.  Name your favorite childhood book.
3.  Name three characters you loved.
4.  Name three characters you would love to play.
5.  Name three topics you think about.
6.  Name three topics you read about.
7.  What was your childhood book about?
8.  What are your movies about?
9.  Do your movies and books have anything in common?
10.  Do your characters, your reading, and your thinking connect up somehow with your movies and your childhood book?


Other helpful sites
The Happiness Project Toolbox
Authentic Happiness
The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch


Moon Report:  95% of full.  Waning gibbous.
Outside the Window:  Cold.  Partly cloudy complete with muted snow glare.

The Lists

We all have our lists of things to do.  These are a few of mine...


Books


1.  The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2.  Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
3.  Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
4.  Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
5.  The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski  
6.  The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt
7.  The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr


Music


1.  Hyms to the Darkness by Jeff Zentner
2.  Chasing Locusts by Strawfoot
3.  Furr by Blitzen Trapper
4.  Ghost Dance by The Pine Hill Haints
5.  Regard the End by Willard Grant Conspiracy
6.  Miss Halfway by Anya Marina
7.  Elysium for the Brave by Azam Ali


Vegetables


1.  Beans:  Mayflower, Good Mother Stallard, Lazy Housewife
2.  Carrots:  Dragon, St. Valery
3.  Lettuce:  Cracoviensis, Amish Deer Tongue, Tango
4.  Hot Peppers:  Black Hungarian, Rooster Spur
5.  Sweet Pepper:  Chervena Chushka, Napoleon Sweet
6.  Peas:  Amish Snap
7.  Tomatoes:  Crnkovic Yugoslavian, Black Krim


I'm still debating whether I want to tangle with squash vines and cucumbers.  Not that I don't love both, but they take up soooooooo much space.


Heirloom Seed Banks:  Seed Saver's Exchange, Baker Creek Seeds, Heirloom Seeds


Moon Report:  100% of full.  Full Moon.  
Outside the Window:  Wet snow.  Coldish.  Overcast.

It's that time of year again, folks

New Year.

What the hell?  Where did the old one go?

What did I do this year?  Taught school.  Subbed for schools.  Wrote the majority of my novel...still not finished.  So there really hasn't been much to report.

What do I hope to accomplish this year?  A finished novel.  A literary agent.  A book contract with a major publisher.  Oh, yeah, and a garden with more than tomatoes and peppers...

Yes, that will happen.

Moon Report:  98% of full.  Waxing gibbous.
Outside the window:  Snow.  Coldish.
 

Confession

This is not about confession as in "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned...", but the kind of writing that allows for the expression of emotions--even the ones we keep hidden from just about everyone (including ourselves).

I am perpetually fascinated by the masks people wear. Some people are distant. Some people are smart. Some people are slackers or lovers or garbage collectors. Most of us wear masks even when in the arms of the most intimate company.

We do our best to "keep up appearances"--to maintain our facade through the daily routine. But sometimes we crack. Sometimes the mask slips and we are on full display in our rage and fear and sadness and hope and love. We can be glorious. Even if only for a moment.

Occasionally, we allow these slips to be channeled into a written format. It can be as horrific as a slap in the face. It can be easy and small. But it makes us real. It gives us shape--even long after we are gone.


Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
PostSecret
The Secret Postcards
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists


Dear XYZ--

We've lived separated lives over years, centuries, eons...who can tell? In the too short moment crossing I...(insert phrase of your choice here). Did you know you still live under my skin? I never imagined this would be so wrenching.

Words take too long.

Moon Report: 80% of full. Waning gibbous.