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I caught this little guy snoozing on the job in the garden. I mistook him for dead just laying there as he was with his feet kicked back and his head hanging off the edge of the marigold’s bloom. When he heard my phone snap his picture he woke up and buzzed back to work.
Lullabee
…
Don’t sleep lightly
Sleep very tightly
Happy slumbers to you.
–Winnie the Pooh
There will be no more homeless fairies on this farm!
We have Becky Zee to thank. She shared her knowledge, guidance, and kiln on my first clay play building project.
Yes, I’ve missed a couple days of sharing my make-its for October. I have been busy making stuff though, so without further ado, here we go…
Sunday my big creation was roasted purple potatoes with fresh rosemary. The rosemary was from the garden; the potatoes were not, despite my best efforts. I tried to grow several varieties of potatoes this year and they were doing well until it came time to need more dirt and containment. I don’t think the containers were big enough. Or maybe I smothered them with too much dirt. In any case, the potatoes were a failure. But whatever, that’s what grocery stores are for.
In retrospect, it was a weird garden year. Here is what happened:
I planted all that stuff and more. The delacotta squash, zucchini, crooked neck squash, pumpkins, and most of the cucumbers were a big flop because of the blasted stink bugs. The only squash that worked for me this year was the acorn squash, which I hid from the smelly bugs in the flower bed between the hibiscus, roses, and black-eyed susans. The acorn squash is still producing actually. It was a great year for green bell peppers, berries, lettuce, okra, and sunflowers. The tomatoes did ok. This was the first year I grew beans and they made me happy. They are still making me happy actually…
The sunflowers were planted from the seeds my sister gave me in the garden journal she made – the gift that keeps on giving…
Ok, ok….enough with the pictures….I could bore you with garden pictures forever. Wait! Just one more thing about the garden: ground cherries. They surprised me by growing this year. I never had them or heard of them or anything until last winter when I was flipping through the seed catalog, but there they were being all sexy and mysterious. I read up on them and found out they were related to Chinese lanterns, which are so neat looking, but which I’ve never been able to grow despite multiple attempts. I figured the ground cherries wouldn’t grow either, but the idea was too irresistible not to try, so I ordered them and I planted them and didn’t write them on the grid and then I promptly forgot about them in the planting frenzy that ensued in the spring. Then one day last month I went outside and they were like, BAM! Going all crazy between the dill and the mint and I was like, ‘um what the hell is happening here?’ and then I remembered: ground cherries. So I ate one and it was not everything I’d hoped it would be, but it was something. They are curious and cute, so I put them in a jar until I could figure out what to do with them. I think they belong in an arugula salad with lemon poppy seed dressing.
Monday I made space in my closet for warm clothes and I made time in my life for self-care. Not particularly exciting, but it needed to happen.
Today, I worked on a new choreo.
This is us, this is love, this is where I’m home.
We’ve been on staycation for the last week. It’s all my fault. How can anyone be expected to vacate when the moonflower is unfurling all her Love across the fence? I mean really!
the moonflower leaves sweet Valentines
I can’t possibly tear myself away from this. Someone must remain present to witness it all.
Time tending the garden must be subtracted from time in transit, from time absorbed by electronic screens, and from time preparing agendas and itineraries.
Planning a vacation sounds like work in comparison when there is a Magic Queendom just outside the doorstep…
a squash blossom forest
…amusing sights abound at every turn.
this from a tiny seed dropped in the dirt!
Ants parade around accompanied by birdsong bands. A lizard mama skitters away-quiet as a whispered secret-when the hiding place for her glowing eggs is suddenly revealed to a startled human female, who quickly restores their cover.
Over the course of the week, we did venture a short distance from home. Just around the corner is an enchanted land where fairies frolic and gnomes make homes.
And just a little further out, though still remaining firmly rooted in the City of Kings, there was another garden to visit.
El-D commands the sea creatures
And that is what I did on my summer staycation.
You reach out with any little part of yourself and rise from the dirt to be what you are. How you make my heart ache with your sense of belonging.
Vanity of vanities! We all have the same breath.
(Solomon was right.)
roses & arugula intermingle
cucumbers bloom
blackberries ripen
I realize that most people probably think other people’s resolution reports involving statistics do not make for interesting reading material. I get it, I do. But whatever. It’s my blog. I do what I want! If I want to whip out a t-test or a flowchart, I will! Just try and stop me.
Actually, October is not a month for t-tests. October is a month for life beyond spreadsheets; it is a month for magic-y magic and wild, wily witchery.
subdued witches
not so subdued witches
I might have been on a bit of a witch kick. I tore through three of Paula Brackston’s books:
I haven’t bought The Silver Witch yet, but it’s on the list. I love this author! Necromancers, hedge witches, and warlocks, oh my! Each story was set in a different period with unforgettable characters. The language was beautiful and the magic strange.
And as if by magic, I did manage to make some progress on the resolutions…
1. Cook something fabulous and complicated every other week.
I did! Four times fabulous with varying degrees of complicated.
2. Eat dinner before 7:30
I had a 61% success rate here — up 8 points from September!
3. Tend the garden.
I spent over 9 hours out there planting mums and pansies, pulling weeds, removing dead flowers, picking arugula and planting Brussels sprouts, spinach, cauliflower, and lettuce.
MoonPie smells the roses
4. Finish Inferno choreography.
Done!
5. Write a book.
I got a whooping 5 hours in his month. Better than last month, but I need to invest way more time here.
6. Meditate 15 minutes a day.
Not even close. Only got in 2.5 hours.
****
What were your happy accomplishments in October?
When I turned to leave Rose’s bed,
She clung to my shirt and whispered,
“Please don’t go.”
