Snake Handling in the Park

One delightful thing about living in the city is the unusual characters you can meet in the park. One day last spring we walked to Overton Park for a most unusual day. One man was teaching another how to cast a fishing line- on land. It was fun to watch. The percussionist group showed up for background music, along with other musicians, including a Caucasian male guitarist with long dreadlocks. To top off the day of picnic and unusual sights, a couple brought their reptiles to enjoy the sun. My husband and I were graciously allowed to handle an albino python, pictured here. It was tame, and the snake-handling was quite fun.

All I Want for Christmas

Is what I received. I opened a huge box to see something that's been on my Deeply Wanted but Top Secret list for many years- a violin. It is a rented student violin, but if all goes well we'll upgrade. I always wanted to play a stringed instrument, mostly because I had ancestors and relatives on both sides of the family who were/are musically talented. If you come from the Nashville area, it comes with the territory. Before the days of radio, from mansions with grand pianos or organs to shacks with home-made banjos, everybody had a family member who played some musical instrument. Singing was a common way to spend an evening or make the workload lighter. Music was in our blood, from the Scotch-Irish ballads to bluegrass to Negro spirituals and hymns. I have wanted this for a long, long time. I'm figuring out the notes for the octaves the instrument covers now. What fun!

God Keeps Me on a Short Leash

I wrote back last December about a hip bursitis problem I was having. Today, I was going down the stairs at work, when I noticed that my hip was not hurting- at all! Praise be to God, I was happy, and with only Hindus and atheists to share the joy. Aargh.

Anyway, it was wonderful. God really does keep me on a short leash. He knows that I know what needs to be done, and when, and often I do not do it. I had fallen out of the habit of certain exercises to help the muscles of the lower back, which in turn help support the hip structure. When these exercises were not done, and my overall activity level decreased, pain resulted. I must work, or I hurt. Sometimes I hurt anyway, but it is always a learning experience. God works.

Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson

This is a book every new bride should be given (unless she is given a household staff). I got some spaghetti sauce on a white shirt last week. What woman can eat spaghetti in a white shirt without staining it? I'd like to meet her.

Anyway, I went straight to the bathroom and rinsed the area with cold water. Most of the stain came out. Then I hand-washed the garment with a mild detergent. Only a shadow of the stain remained. I hung the shirt to dry, then washed it today with the other laundry, and the stain is completely gone. In the meantime some rust from an aging bathroom fixture had gotten on the shoulder of the shirt as it was hanging to dry in the bathroom. What to do? Consult Home Comforts. Cheryl advised trying white vinegar. I had some from the summer's canning. Using it at full strength, the rust VANISHED! GONE! AMAZING! Not some high-tech stain removal product, but cheap white distilled vinegar. I rinsed the shirt and threw it in the wash. It will be ready for work next week. Woohoo!

Unknown Citrusy Flowers

My husband bought two root-bound flowering plants on clearance a few months ago. We did not expect much out of them but a temporary bit of color to hang in the pots on the garage. Imagine our surprise to find these beautiful flowers, coming and coming! The plants will soon be too big for the pots, but I can rip out some overgrown mums and place them in a decorative bed. Another interesting thing- I was"dead-head"-ing the plants yesterday when I opened a dead head to show my husband all the seeds inside. It was packed! And after handling them, my hands smelled like oranges! I do not know what these flowers are, but I like them.

Checking Off Goals

I set certain goals at the beginning of the year for gardening and food preservation, and it looks like I'll be reaching those. I was hoping to learn to use the new pressure canner my husband gave me for Christmas, and so far I have used it for green beans and diced tomatoes. I was hoping to learn about making jams, jellies, and preserves, and that is going well, too (strawberry, peach, and blackberry so far). I was hoping to learn how to dry herbs, and at least for thyme, oregano, and rosemary, it is very easy when the humidity is low. Just strip the leaves off the branches and leave them on racks in a well-ventilated room (which will smell fabulous at first) for a few days. Then place in an airtight container after the leaves are crunchy. I'm trying basil next, though it is more succulent, so I'll try it in the attic instead of the dining room, covered with cheesecloth to keep off the dust. 

We're also trying seed saving, with romaine lettuce, radishes, basil (it worked last year), tomatoes(ditto), dill, and corn. I'll also save seeds of the other herbs if they bloom and go to seed. Constant learning is a wonderful thing!

Hug a Friend Today

The thing I enjoyed most about last week-end's reunion was the contact with old friends I had not seen in a long time. I got more hugs in one week-end than I remembered getting in years. I came home exhausted, but overflowing with those hugs, and ready to share. We hold back on physical affection (NOT SEX- a pat on the back, a hug, a high five, etc.) so much in this culture, linking all physical closeness to potential for improper behavior, that we wind up lonely. We don't even know why we huddle over our desks the way we do, searching for family in online social networks. The cure is simple- hug someone who needs it today. Not strangers, unless you're a nurse or a pastor or someone in the work of healing, but some single mother or new widow or college student away from home who hasn't been touched in weeks, by a friendly hand there to help. You'll improve their mental health and your own, too. Off to hug my loved one.

The Green Hills of the Home Planet

I forgot to take my camera to my 20th high-school reunion over the week-end, so I did not capture it, but it was a great time. Everyone was friendly. I chatted until I was hoarse, then got some water and kept going. It was so wonderful to go home- this cooler and wetter summer had the July hills clothed in brilliant green instead of dried-out olive and crispy brown. It was like vacationing in a warmer version of Scotland or Ireland for the week-end with 150+ of your old friends and their spouses, and I'm about as jet-lagged as I would be if we had actually done that.

For me, it was a welcome break. We hugged and talked and met children and marveled at family resemblance (she is YOU at that age! Wow!), and where everyone is now. What a life! Hope I'm more coherent tomorrow.

20-year reunion Coming Up

Wow. I graduated from high school 20 years ago! And I still wear some of the same clothes! Not kidding. I like clothes that last. It's going to be fun, and a chance to see the parents and old, old friends.  One wants to get the old gang that went to prom together and dance the night away. We went as friends (I think there was one actual couple in the group), and I think that staying "just friends" is best in high school. You learn a lot more from being friends with people than you do from trying to impress them in exchange for illicit favors. And you can have fun without the pressure to "perform" for anyone. 

A Quiet Life

Life when I was teaching was loud. The bells were loud, the kids were loud (I let them work in groups a lot, and there were a few in every bunch who could only speak at one volume), the news channel at the start of the day was loud, the traffic duty at the end of the day was loud (amazing how difficult it is to keep some parents from running over their own offspring, and how loudly they yell at you for trying). I often returned to my apartment, late in the evening after detention/cleanup duty, closed the door behind me, and relished the silence. Now I get that silence at home on a daily basis. We do not watch TV. Our videos come on the laptops, if we watch them. The radio is turned to a low volume, if it is on. We can hear the natural world through our open windows. I like this life.

Riverwalk

We like to go down to Mud Island and watch the boats and barges go by, on Sunday afternoon when we do not want to nap. This craft looked a lot like a Lewis and Clark commemoration of some kind. The bottom of the boat appears to use canoes as pontoons, with a few more canoes out back in tow. This is how people would have traveled down-river long ago, more or less, unless they built log rafts.

Flower on Mud Island

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather to go to the park on Mud Island Sunday afternoon and walk around. This plant was growing in the rocks at river's edge. Each flower had a bee in it, oblivious to the world. I looked at the flowers while my husband added to the artistic rock piles balanced precariously near the water. We later shared a strawberry-banana smoothie. Fun!

Praise God for Cooler Weather

The jet stream has curled south of us, resulting in astonishingly cool temperatures for the past three days. Rainy with a HIGH of 78 today! I'm unabashedly grateful! Water AND coolness in July! It is truly a gift- and saves us substantially on the electric bills. We sleep better in the cool night breezes and fresher air. Wonderful. Must go tend the garden in the "cool of the evening". Wonderful.

Do Not Worry

If you want something to worry about, the Internet is a great place to look. H1N1, E.Coli, economic policy, lots of things. If you're worried about Bugs from Farm Animals, the following story from my childhood may help you calm your paranoia:

When I was a toddler (that's me in the picture), I ate some dirt. We lived on my grandparents' dying farm, complete with cows, chickens, dogs, rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, possums, skunks, deer, birds, snakes, and lots of other critters. Pigs were there before I was born. We had a smokehouse out back. Mom called our pediatrician. He was an elderly man, shaky, but expert in the ways of small humans. "She ate some dirt! Will she be O.K.? What should I do?"

"Don't worry about it. If you put dirt in her bottle and let it sit all day, then gave her the bottle, it would make her sick. But eating dirt will not hurt her."

On a farm, with animals. So relax. Wash your veggies in a dilute bleach solution of you have doubts. Wash your hands. Maintain basic hygiene when cooking. And leave the worrying for someone else to do.

My Ancestors Didn't Need No Stinkin' Gym

This is my paternal grandmother's father (lower right) with his brothers. I'm beginning to realize, as we have an older house and I garden and can and hang laundry and hand-scrub floors, that the hands-on life requires a LOT more sheer physical effort than swiping the vacuum over the floor and eating take-out. You don't need a gym when you're hauling baskets of laundry up 2 flights of stairs, scrubbing floors, processing tomatoes and peaches, and clearing some garden beds for fall plantings. That's me this week-end. Barefoot (except for outside) and hausfrauing. If you asked my female ancestors if they did 3 hours of vigorous exercise a week, they would probably have told you they did more than that every day!  Got to get to work.

40 Acres and No Mule Quote

Here is a quote from close to the end of the book:

"If you are hardy enough to strip life down to its simplicities you may be able to create an environment in which you can gain perspective. Certainly you can provide yourself with the opportunity for profound and reflective thinking, and you can give yourself a rest from the tense, nervous expenditure of energy demanded of you every waking moment of your life in the city. ... The nostalgia for a simpler life is perfectly healthy and understandable, and in some cases even necessary."

This was written in 1952. Imagine what she would say now!

Poke Salad or Poke Sallet

Some modern extension agents advise never, ever to eat the leaves of this plant, but generations of Southerners grew up (and lived to ripe old ages with nary a trip to the doctor, modern myths about early death notwithstanding), boiled, rinsed, re-boiled, and ate it with fatback and delight. It is too late in the year to eat it now, but as a young, early spring food it is a freebie available EVERYWHERE in the South. The Declaration of Independence was written in the fermented juice from its berries! How cool is that? You can get ink, dye for clothing, a potential treatment for AIDS, a royal stomachache, and a nutritious spring  green from the same plant. God gives us more than we ever deserved.

Warning! Graphic Garden Humor

Boy carrot. We need some sandier soil.

Leucauge venusta

This is Leucauge venusta or the orchard orbweaver. Isn't it a beautiful spider? God had fun with this one. Decorating something so gloriously that spends its life catching and eating insects, when a dull brown might have been more "adaptive", just goes to show that He is an artist as well as a superb engineer. Praise God for the small things that make our lives easier, and leave a few webs up around your place today.

Free Concerts

Tonight we walked to a salsa and meringue(?) concert at the Levitt Shell in the park. It was fun to watch the kids dance before dark and the adults after dark. We did not stay the whole time, as I have a hard time sitting for that long, and I cannot do those dance steps. The concerts are free in the spring and the fall. They take donations. They needed more food vendors (some chips or popcorn would have been nice), but the crepe guys were quite good. It was a beautiful, clear, moonlit night, and perfect for dancing.