lessons learned

I played Fannie Farmer this spring and summer. And I've learned a few things that I plan to do differently next summer. For instance:

1. Plant my rows further apart. In trying to keep my garden close to the house but outside Lucy and Linus' underground fence, I made it a tad too small. Even though my plants grew fine, it made it very hard to weed without stepping on other plants. I also encountered this:
   
   

Notice the okra is only 2" in the first photo, as opposed to the 7" and 10". The smaller okra tastes better, but since my okra plants were so close to my peas, I couldn't get on the back side of the plants. We didn't know these pods were there until they shot up even with the top leafs of the plant. Oops! I also didn't know okra would grow at the bottom of the plant. For many weeks I've only been checking the tops. Next year I'll know.

2. Plant the cantaloupe away from the peas and give it plenty of room. I only planted a few seeds, knowing how the vines like to spread. I didn't anticipate those few taking over the end of the garden and growing in and around the okra and peas. I also didn't know that they would produce more than one crop. After we harvested our first two (the third I picked too early and it wasn't good),I thought that was it. After mowing down the finished peas Saturday, dear hubby informed me that I had killed a baby cantaloupe that was growing among the peas. Note to self: look before you cut.

3. Grape juice and me are not meant to be. For the third straight season, I have tried to make grape juice. Season one was bitter and had to be used within six weeks. I'm not a big juice drinker anyway, and that wasn't a good idea. Season number two, I wasn't overly crazy about the recipe's taste. So I had a new recipe for this year, and I was so excited. Here's how the first batch turned out:

Juice when you go to bed; jelly when you get up.

And this is what it SHOULD look like: liquid.

Only one of 8 juice jars did not turn into jelly. And the sad part? I think it actually tastes better than the jelly recipes I've used in the past.

I'll probably plant my garden again next spring. I'll keep the okra and cantaloupe and tomatoes, try some different peas and beans. Who knows? I might get ambitious and try some winter veggies (lettuce and turnip greens) as well. Maybe. But I think I can officially give up on grape juice after this season. I think there comes a point in time when you just have to quit.

dream fodder

I like today's kind of shopping. Our first visit was to a place I'd never been before, but saw advertised in a catalogue. Called the Logan Trading Company, it's a gardener's haven with a wide variety of items to tie up your time and cause you to daydream. Like their products, their prices are out of this world, but it was well worth the time to drive to downtown Raleigh and browse. And they had everything, from the serious to the whimsical, from indoor plants or patio and terrace things to outdoor dig in the dirt and make a statement plants. I was totally intrigued.
And of course we followed it up with a visit to Lowe's (in the midst of trying to find a gas station under $4 that still had gas). I did buy a few plants there, and browsed through several sections gathering even MORE ideas for projects that I really don't have time to do, but I left with that "ahh" satisfied feeling. Sometimes I think I like looking and researching a project even more than I like the projects themselves.
And if I ever get brave enough to tackle anything else, I'll try to remember to take photos so I can post the before, during, and after.
Praise God for weekends!

shocker!

Evidently, it's been a very long time since I mailed a package overseas. I made the trip to the post office this morning. (Did you know they open at 8:30 instead of 8am?) Mailed package #1, then hauled the big one up there and said, "Surface, please." The postal worker looked at me, laughed, and said, "I didn't think you had been in here in a long time, but we stopped surface mail a year ago." I thought a minute, then asked what my options were. Turns out, an 11 pound box has one of two options: 1. Priority mail, which costs $60 2. Express mail, which costs $80. I brought the package back home with me. If I divide it into smaller packages of 4 lbs or less, I can send it air mail, which will get there faster AND will be cheaper than the rates she quoted me. But it still aggravates me that to send my friend coffee or cleaning sponges or highlighters, the postage will cost more than the products themselves. There's just something inherently wrong with that. For example, the contents of package #1 costs about $7. Postage was $10. If I stop and think about it, my friend is worth $20. I can not eat out several days and afford to send her a package periodically. But it still gets to me.
But on a brighter note: it's Thursday. That means one more day of "work" before the weekend. Whoohoo!

coffee

I'm not a coffee drinker. I tried it once when I was twelve, and a time or two in college. The last time I tried it, I decided it was silly to force myself to drink something I absolutely detested. I'm not even crazy about its smell. (Which was bad, considering I had to make the coffee at two of my jobs in college.)

Today I had the privilege of coffee shopping for a friend. We were cooking buddies in language school, and kept in touch even after we returned to teaching. She was maid of honor in my wedding. This summer she stayed in China instead of coming home for the summer break, and so was unable to stock up on those nice things that we can live without but prefer not to. So I offered to send a care package, and she gave me her list. And number one was: coffee.

I never dreamed there was so many different flavors of coffee, much less brands. I was almost tempted to buy one of every flavor, but stuck to the list she gave me. After all, if I sent someone to the store and requested Dr. Pepper and someone sent me one flavor of every kind of soft drink, while I'd be appreciative, I'd also be a little disappointed.

So for all my coffee inhaling friends, do you try different flavors or do you find one you like and stick with it?

Momma Power

Several weeks ago a family friend of ours was summoned to the place where his son works. A boy who has bullied and attempted to bully their son throughout high school had come by and paintballed his car. The paint washed off easily enough, but the blasts left little dents all over. The parents wanted to call the police and report it; the son wanted to call the boy's Momma. His parents were trying to reason with him that this was a criminal offense and needed to be addressed as such, as well as claim insurance on the car, thus involving the police. The son's response was that this boy had been in jail before and it wouldn't matter, but calling his Momma would. I don't think the parents were too convinced that calling Momma would make a difference, but it made me laugh a little.
In this 19 year-old's mind, nothing would get through to this boy or put him in more trouble than telling the Momma. And to a small degree, I think that may be true. Granted, I agree with his parents that the police should be called and the Mother obviously can't control her son, but there's something about having a boy's mom see firsthand what the child has done.
Think back to middle school...besides the issue of girls, what prompted more fights and arguments among boys? ...your momma jokes. There's some relationships that are tight, and I don't think the term "Momma's boy" came about without reason. I've seen numerous high school kids get in trouble for things and would gladly take a punishment but "just don't tell my Momma..." They won't their Moms to think highly of them.
So to all my Mommy friends out there, I know you get extremely frustrated with so little time to yourself and the endless list of things to do, but know when all else fails, you're still Mom. You've got that Momma Power!

6 unspectacular things that you may not know about me

1. I Christmas shop all year ‘round. I like the hunt; I like trying to find bargains of gifts that are useful and wanted. And of course, I like the challenge of shopping during the season itself, provided I’m not in a rush to be somewhere.


2. I didn’t start wearing make-up every day until second semester of my freshman year in college. Some days I still forget to put it on.


3. I have an overactive imagination.


4. I hated, hate, and will hate running. PE teachers were never my favorite in school.


5. My husband and I are a lot alike. We share similar philosophies and viewpoints on most things, leading some in our families to claim we are hard-headed, stubborn, and opinionated. I’m not sure whom these similarities horrify more – my family or his.


6. I work better with looming deadlines hanging over my head, which is the total opposite of my “get-it-done” husband.
   

the beginning of the last quadrant

It's official. We are in the fourth act of 2008. So here's the list of what I hope will happen:

The demise of the following characters:

• the garden - while my tomatoes and okra are still gleefully putting out; it's time for the peas to be mowed under; and unless I develop a wild urge to plant turnip greens, broccoli, or lettuce, by the end of this month I will plow the whole thing up and mulch it.
• apples - while my target goal was to finish off all the apples before this month, I didn't quite make it. But Lord willing, by the end of the week the remaining two buckets will be tres finis and I will be glad!
• living room painting - another Aug project, but hey, it's officially started!
• muscadimes - two buckets down, and we're not counting how many to go!
• the 2008 presidential election - three REQUIRED training sessions between now and the big day; I'm hoping our laptop doesn't crash like it did during the primary

the birth of new characters:

• pears - oh me, oh my, I do hope these finish faster than the apples!
• a quilting group - some quilters in our church are discussing getting together once a month to quilt; I hope it comes to pass (and yes, I DO plan to finally baste and start finishing Bobby's quilt)
• CHRISTMAS shopping!
• prayerfully, hopefully, maybe just maybe a new SEMI-PERMANENT CHURCH LOCATION!
• A TRIP TO ALABAMA
• a beading class - there are rumors floating around that one of our many lady beaders at CBC is going to offer a one day beading class. I've already bought a few beads!

There are lots of other things happening, too, but if I write too many more then my head feels full and my heart feels panicked. Onward, ho!