• Creative,  Reading

    March 2016 Book Report

    Read +Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon: As I finish my third reading of this book, I have to say I have developed an appreciation for taking it slow and sussing out the details of this book and series. With any of Diana Gabaldon’s books, when they first come out it is a race to devour the story, to see where it leads. Often I finish mentally exhausted, which is to be expected after 800+ pages. And then I don’t pick the book up again for years. I’ve read the first four in the Outlander series multiple times and really need to pick up the last four once again. I’m…

  • Creative

    Hello!

    Hi friends! I’m still here, just taking a little bit of a blog break at the moment. About a month ago I decided to buckle down and get down to business with finishing my book. The first round of editing was finally completed a few months ago but then I had to format the book into chapters. That took some time because I was also including a break down of campsites along the trail. After all of that, I began researching how to submit books to publishers. I am not a writer by profession but I had enough knowledge to know I had to send query letters to publishers first.…

  • Gardening

    Early March Yard Ramblings

    I walk around the yard these days and I get glimpses of life pre-Forest. I will never be that same person, have those same moments, but I get glimpses. It’s peaceful, and yet still incredibly fast-paced and definitely not still. Just being able to notice the sun (Earth) changing positions as it heads towards spring, seeing the different ephemeral weeds popping up in the yard, or the budding of the trees; those were things I barely caught a glimpse of last year. As much as I get those pre-Forest glimpses I really, really love the here and now with Forest as he wanders the yard. He loves it so much…

  • Baby Teddy,  Family

    Forest at 18 Months

    We’re deeply entrenched in toddlerhood. Except, when I look at Forest, I can easily see him as a little boy already. The baby-baby is long gone. It’s a fast and subtle change. It seems that every few weeks is a new transition, something that will throw us (and him) off for a few days until we get back into the swing of things. Most of that has to do with sleep…sleep is *hard* around here. At his 18 month checkup Forest was 24 lbs and 9 ounces and 32 inches long. I knew he had grown a few inches since his visit in early December and I believe it was…

  • Friday Five,  Memes

    Friday Five | 5

    Downton Abbey!!! The series finale was almost everything one could want after several ‘blah’ seasons. You know, one character I never thought I would come to like was Thomas. Frankly, I think he and Edith might have become the better characters by the end of the show. And Bates? His character just went from loveable to creepy. 7 Lessons Bindweed is Teaching Me Super Tuesday and Primary voting: I know this is not the week that happened, but I did vote in my first ever primary and Super Tuesday. Florida has closed primaries, and as I was a registered Green party member in that state, I did not ever get…

  • Creative,  Reading

    February 2016 Book Report

    Read The Lady Elizabeth by Allison Weir: I started this back in late January but didn’t finish it until sometime in mid-February. It was fairly long and took a lot out of me! However, I really did enjoy it. The author has several historical fiction books of this era that I want to read at some point in time. What I liked about this book was that it followed the life of Elizabeth Tudor (Queen Elizabeth I) from about 3 years old until about 25 years old, when her sister Queen Mary died and Elizabeth became queen. The book picks up on the rumor that Elizabeth may have become pregnant…

  • Gardening

    The Late Winter Yard & Garden

    Justicia spicigera, Mexican honeysuckle Gladiolus dalenii A creeping violet thing that we’ve long lost the tag for. Prunus mexicana, Mexican plum blooms. Tomatoes in the vegetable garden. Bolting Chinese cabbage. Peach blossoms Sophora tomentosa, necklacepod The last of the cauliflower Sugar snap peas Carrots Our strawberries are finally looking like they will do well this year! ‘Bali’ tomato seedlings Variegated hydrangea Mexican flame vine Foxglove Budding brugmansia Budding azalea Crawfish burrow Bolting mustard greens Collard greens Red Russian kale Parsley Bolting cilantro Dill Nun orchid flower spike Woodland painted petals flower spike Scilla sp., Leopard lily spike

  • Food,  Gardening

    Current Fermentation Projects

    Kombucha If you’ve been reading here for any length of time you may remember when I got into kombucha. I let my SCOBY go into the compost when I was pregnant and for much of the year after Forest was born but, I think it was last summer, my SIL gave me her SCOBY because she wasn’t doing much with kombucha at the time. Well, it molded quickly and I had to chunk it. I ended up ordering another SCOBY from Kombucha Kamp and had success with it for 6-8 months. There were some down times when I wouldn’t be interested in brewing and would let the SCOBY just hang…