elainegrey

Friday: took the day off, tromping around in the yard a good bit. Small rocks lining the entrance to the new roof water drain*, some raking, some scouting the fence line. In the late afternoon i joined my sister's family to see The Last Jedi which we all thought was well done. (And likely to spawn another ninety films.)

Saturday: Christine and i tried to translate our Yuletide tradition of visiting the San Francisco Flower Mart to North Carolina. The restaurant was a satisfactory replacement, the nursery less so. It's possible we missed more yuletide bounty from earlier in the month. Just because it was less Christmassy didn't mean it was a disappointment: we hauled home three cat sculptures that now reside in the little courtyard area, two flats of pansies, miscellaneous phlox, and two spiderworts. I planted half the pansies, discovering that the soil (clay) was pretty solidly packed and mixed with gravel. Fie. As i dug to loosen it, i was worried i would cut the phone line again.

Sunday: As Meeting ended i felt a pressure to return home asap. I assumed it was my shyness kicking in. I just felt awkward. At home though, i found Christine in distress with the elephants. I'm glad i got home quickly. I don't think i was able to offer much solace; she did something new to cope.

While she coped, i worked in the yard, most successfully inscribing a 20' diameter circle within the driveway island and turning soil for the pansies and phlox in the area between the circle and the house. (The island is a blunted tear drop shape, with the fat end extending towards the house a few feet further than the inscribed circle.) Loosening the soil means finding more rocks: small chunks of quartz (walnut sized) and larger slate bits. One good sized rock turned up: maybe the volume of two coffee mugs? I do wonder if i am inefficient in messing around with such small rocks, but fitting them together to line the area around the drain intake gives me pleasure.

I've read another good speculative fiction work: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. It's book two in a series. Book one has holds that will keep it out of my hand for a small forever. I'm glad i went ahead and read book two. I didn't feel like i was missing out: the character whose back story might have been outlined in the first book couldn't recall that back story. The story of survival that makes up the back story thread of another character in this novel resonated when the speaker at Meeting on Sunday shared his interactions with a street boy of Nairobi. The second story was one of identity and embodiment. I was quite pleased to find a second very engaging book in a row.

I also read Daytripper by by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon. Too quickly: i need to go back and look at the art and give it the time it deserves. I am appreciating the graphical novel selection my library system has made in Overdrive.

Am i still happy, despite the elephant visit? It certainly created an ache but i think i also continue to carry the openness and lightness i've become aware of. The ache for Christine is not that different from the irritations and discomforts and physical aches that punctuate my physical being.

I suppose i do have an awareness that one particular discomfort is one i hope will fade before i need any assistance dressing it. Maybe better medications will come about. I can hope.

Back to work!


* About 30% of the roof water drains into a small area outside the kitchen window in the tiny "courtyard" at the front door. There's not much room for water barrels even if it was a place i'd want them visible. We've managed to adjust drainage so it's not pooling near the foundation, but in a heavy rain i've watched it wash down the driveway. Part of the driveway re-work was to address this drainage issue, so there's a pipe to drain the roof runoff into the east yard. I'll probably design a rain garden near the outlet.

Meeting yesterday was "intergenerational worship" where we did a modified worship sharing on questions the youth of the meeting had about our community. It was a little more social than my usual experience of worship, and engaged in exposing self and witnessing others as they struggled (or not) with their exposure. The clearness committee after went easily, although counter to the direction preferred by a person not there. I have to trust that was OK.

It was warm when i got home and i was hungry, so i turned around to the grocery and got a shopping list of cold creamy things: yogurt and cottage cheese and ice cream and sherbet. And i got chips. The bagger placed all the cold things in the insulated bag and then the chips on top, so the insulated bag could not be closed. I am NEVER satisfied by other baggers. I did it "professionally" for a while and still sting from the "coaching" i got from patrons. I suppose i should gently coach other baggers, but most i shop with Christine. Then Christine attends to paying, and i bag.

People watching at the grocery store reveal that we have gaggles of Google interns in Mountain View now: i suppose i was a jejune intern when i went to Los Alamos in summers.

I continued to goof off with Mac Ports in the afternoon. Grass (a GIS analysis package) seems to have a known bug that was fixed in the past few weeks, but still doesn't work for me. I'll give it one more try.

Our [LATE] Spring Cleaning effort: In the late afternoon we loaded up the CDs and cabinets in the truck. Today is going to be more loading. Some things will be on the deck, so this morning i spent a long time cleaning up all the thick birdseed shells and rearranged the planters to give more room. Hopefully this cleaning will also help keep the carpet clean, but i have doubts. I pondered power cleaning for a little while this morning, but i think the plants and bird seed would introduce more dirt quickly. The intensity of real power washing would be overkill: maybe we can just Try using mop water to wash down the deck. (It drains down on the neighbor's patio: so i haven't done that in the pat. But it's time to change.)

A local local-foodie blogger actually was harvesting tricale wheat last week.



I feel i've been letting myself go, grow. It's probably been good for me, but i feel the need for focus and discipline. Not in bad ways, but more like needing the support of that.

It's been an odd day without Christine, i can feel the rattling around restlessness of not wanting to experience missing her.

It's been a lovely day. I haven't written much about the garden this year: at times it has been lush and abundant. The deck plantings are between floral bounties at the moment: the purple-pink hydrangea and chrysanthemum which were amazing for a month or so are fading. The purple and yellow planter, which had faded in June and July, is putting forth some more blossoms. One of the delicate scented geraniums has an amazing yet understated blossom. The red and white geraniums are still blooming, but have been understated this year. The lemon tree is full of green fruit, several different stages. Cherry tomatoes are ripening: red and orange punctuation marks among the foliage.

My pie from yesterday still pleases me: an apple, two pears, a bunch of very ripe grapes, one desiccated navel orange (peel still on), half a vanilla bean, and cup or so of cherries. I'm only making a crust across the top, a bisquick crust dabbed on -- not enough work room to really roll out pie crusts. But it's very yummy, so i won't be shamed by my shortcuts.