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Hello
The habit of writing here definitely begets more writing. My head was cluttered and the urge to just be away from writing in this space overtook me. Spending time working on photos, writing, thinking of something to say, to share—all of it went away. It still isn’t back, but I will force myself to spend a little time writing here again and maybe I will be creative again. There are times that I just miss walking in the woods. The only thing I had to do was to walk and in the evenings I could read books. Sometimes it is just nice to live life and now worry about documenting…
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Inspiration for the Uninspired
Maybe this will be some inspiration for you (and me) if you are uninspired (like me) at the moment. A little sunstar through the Hoh Rainforest, some ferns dappled in morning glow. Uninspired lately to sit down and work on photos, to write, to blog, to paint the studio, to do anything creative. Now I am coming down with something that I haven’t pinpointed yet—doesn’t feel like a cold, feels like something possibly worse. Sore neck, extremely sore glands, back of my head hurts. Not sure. Hoping to return soon to wrap up some trip reports and get back to being creative. This holiday weekend will be full getting yard…
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Morning on the Hoh River
–Calm river flowing Morning sun shines through the trees Peace comes over me.
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Trail Happiness
A little unfocused…. there, that’s better. Last weekend: hiking, husband, friends, wind, wine, Goldfish cracker, shooting stars, monkey rock, fall colors, overcast, afternoon sun, throngs of people in the middle of nowhere, wildflowers in Fall, spring water, lost in thoughts. Soon I’ll be wrapping up our hike in Washington state, showing you the beautiful sights of Lost Maples State Natural Area and a few other things around here. But for now, I am mellowing out here at home, doing things around here and looking forward to a weekend with family. How are you? (Don’t forget to drop by Sprout Dispatch this week and see what is going on!
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Studio Progress
I’ve finally started working on painting the studio. The need to create and have a space that is organized and there for me to retreat to when I want has pushed me to get going with putting things together in here. One can of paint is all I bought but it is very clear that I will need at least one more. The deep eggplant paint on the walls is difficult to cover and is taking multiple layers of paint. I’m also painting the baseboards as I’m going. The off-white they were painted does not look good against the bright white of the walls. Listening to music via my mp3…
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Luffa & Seeds
The luffa we had growing at the community garden was still going strong when we finally left the garden a little over a week ago. There were fruits growing all over the fence and while I had taken some of the fruits throughout the summer to dry and keep the ‘sponge’ part of the plant for later, I wanted to have a few more. Here are three that I had let dry. The one on the far right I peeled when it was green and the fibers were clearly evident once peeled. I set it outside to dry and ended up leaving it far too long causing it to mold.…
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Farm Fest at the Last Organic Outpost
About a month ago I saw a post or link via Merriwether’s blog or Facebook feed regarding something called Farm Fest held at the Last Organic Outpost urban farm near downtown Houston. Ever since, I kept an eye out for it in hopes that I would be able to go. Timing worked out and I was able to go on my way home from Beaumont where I’d been visiting Chris over the weekend. (Merriwether was also there and I talked to him for a few minutes, learning about beautyberry jelly and the uses of the horrible invasive Chinese tallow.) I was a little nervous when I exited the highway and…
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Old Florida Haunts
I’ve been missing Florida lately. Likely a combination of returning to writing my Florida Trail thru-hike book and that winter has come. Winter is the best time in Florida. This was one of our favorite haunts in the Keys, near the Ohio Missouri channel. We often went here and snorkeled; lots of good ocean creatures hanging out in this area, plus you never knew what kind of interesting things would wash up here. Orchids! Many times when we didn’t have anything planned on the weekend we’d just take a drive down to The Redlands and go orchid and plant browsing/buying. I think this was at Banjong Orchids near Krome Ave…
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Ah, November.
November? What? +I’ve been eating a lot of massaged kale salads lately which led me to start some kale seeds in the garden. I have mustard and collards doing well but the swiss chard bit the dust thanks to the deer. I’m going to try my luck with kale in the garden and hope we don’t have the issue of aphids we had last year at the community garden. My kale salads are just a bit of olive oil, some tarragon vinegar (oh, this stuff is so good!) and sea salt (or any salt will work). Sometimes it is just kale and those items, but lately I’ve been adding in…
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The Future Compost Pile
Having a compost pile is something we have been looking forward to since we bought the house. For awhile I stopped keeping my food scraps completely. We’d moved further away from the community garden and I was just not in the mood to keep it up. Back in September Chris decided that we could start a makeshift compost pile in a ratty trash can left by the previous homeowners. I rinsed it out and we stuck it on the side of the storage shed/carport and I started the pile by throwing in the weeds I collected from clearing out the vegetable bed area on the south side of the house.…