From "Woe" to "Go" in Less Than a Week

What a beautiful way
to begin my day...
Oak Hollow Reservoir

What a beautiful morning!  I was up early, mainly because the Houndz are like Arizona and simply refuse to participate in The Changing of The Time.  Food into their bowls...bowls on the floor...by 8:00 a.m.  While they were eating, I slipped on a jacket, slipped my phone into the pocket, and slipped out the back door.  I grabbed my walking stix as I headed through the garage and was off on my very first morning walk since the time and the season had changed.  I selected the route that took me down to the lake, and I'm so happy that I did.  Check out that picture I took (left).  Could there be anything more perfect than a day that starts out looking like that?!

Hard to believe, but this time last week, I could hardly move without misery.  My back.  'Nuff said.  Lost almost a week of my life to the pain...and to the fog that the pain-relief pills put me in.  Mr. T was "in town," for which I was ever-so-grateful, as he stepped right into the fray to keep things running smoothly.  He's supposedly taking a few days of vacation, but he's putting in lots of work hours:  work-work as well as home-work. 

This happens every year at this time because Fuso's vacation "year" runs December 1 - November 30...I know, I know...seems goofy to me, too.  The upshot is that he gets 5 weeks of vacation a year plus a couple of personal days (yeah!); he can only carry-over 5 days from one vacation year to the next...no personal days (boo!); and he always, always arrives at November 1st with 15-20 days to "use it or lose it." And, if you check the calendar, there are only 20-22 working days in the month.  Sigh.  It's the nature of the beast.  So, he ends up "declaring" vacation days in November and still working those days...'cause he cannot NOT answer his d*mn Blackberry.  So, tell us how you really feel about this, Patricia? Ahem.

Anyway...


Elmo and Gus...
Supper at 5:00, in bed by 6:30

My back is better, thanks for asking, just in time, too.  Mr. T's off to a New Dealer Installation in VA he'd scheduled earlier (forgetting about that whole November issue).  Dogs are still on Summer Time, as they say in the UK, going to bed with the chickens (see photo, right, of Gus and Elmo last night) and getting up with the roosters.  And, I'm making up for those lost moments as fast as I can.

Yesterday, I put nearly 60 miles on Lillie Pearl PTCruiser as she and I jitneyed all over Guilford County with Master Gardening volunteering activities.  I had a Speakers Bureau presentation on Containers for Curb Appeal to the Sumner Garden Club at Rehobeth UMC mid-morning...but before that could happen, I had to get to the Extension Center way-the-heck across town to pick up the projector.  Then, after the presentation (which went very well...I love this group of gardeners!), I had to backtrack to Burlington Road to return said projector for its next engagement.

While at the Ext. Ctr. the second time, I got to chat with a couple of EMGVs who are conducting the interviews for next year's class.  One of them is also a knitter, so she and I got sidetracked on my second favorite topic (well, this year at least...:); we're trying to make a yarn crawl happen sooner rather than later.

As soon as I got home, I received an email about volunteering as a mentor, and I responded in the affirmative.  Less than an hour later, I learned that I may get TWO interns to mentor.  How exciting!


New Fish Tank...
Getting it ready for goldfish

I spent the rest of my afternoon working on my fish tank (left).  I'm in the process of setting up a small, 10-gallon tank, getting it ready for goldfish.  I have missed my pond...and my fish...so much since we moved from Missouri to NC.  The back yard here just doesn't seem to hold any possible sites for a pond, so Mr. T's created a fountain on the deck to give us the soothing sound of moving water.  But fish can't survive in it, so I had to go with Plan B. I'll probably let it run for a few more weeks before I add fish...just to make sure all's well.

Today, I'll catch up with laundry...and decorate for Thanksgiving.  While Mr. T was changing the clocks...and the smoke alarm batteries...this past weekend, he also brought the boxes down from the attic.  I didn't do anything really for Halloween...just put the lighted pumpkin in the window...and I found that I missed it.  So, even though Turkey Day may be a bit difficult for us this year with one chair at our table vacant, I still want to make the house...and especially the dining room...festive.  It's tradition...and it's comforting, too.

Tomorrow, I'll attend my first MG Board meeting.  As an incoming committee chair (I've agreed to co-chair the Speakers Bureau Committee next year), I've been invited as a guest...so, all I have to do is show up and eat my tuna sandwich...and listen and learn.  That, I can do!

And, next Wednesday, is the Annual Meeting...and we of the Guilford County EMGV Class of 2011 graduate!  Since I've completed my classroom hours and my mandatory volunteer hours, I will get to exchange my temporary nametag for a permanent one.  Woo hoo!!  I'm all a'twitter!  Seriously, it's been a long year...but I don't know how I would have gotten rid of that Little Black Raincloud of anxiety and grief without having Master Gardening to focus on...and Master Gardeners to lean on.  I should be giving "them" something.  Honestly.

Pear Tart... and Vanilla Ice Cream

You may have noticed that I didn't mention "writing my novel" in all of the above activity.  Well, no.  Apparently, I must not be destined to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge, good intentions to the contrary.  When you are flat on your back in bed, just having taken yet another round of pain pills and muscle relaxers, it's difficult to be creative...or, just to hold a laptop and type.  Then, when you get up and going again, it's difficult to write...when you have so much lost time to recover.  I agree with a cousin of mine who observed that November wasn't exactly the best month for this challenge.  Maybe she and I should move ours to say, January?  At least we'd gain another day for writing that way!

This weekend, when I began to feel like a Human Bean again (as Momma used to say...:), I made us a pot of Brunswick Stew, along with a Pear Tart (photo, right; recipe below).  This was a new one for me, and it turned out to be a nice treat...especially topped with some vanilla ice cream.  Plus, it was pretty, don't you think?

===========================================================

Pear Tart

1 unbaked pie crust
5-6 ripe pears (the riper, the better)
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves)
2-3 T. cold butter, cut into chunks
Cinnamon sugar to sprinkle (opt.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray a tart pan with Pamr. Line the pan with the raw pie crust dough, and crimp the edges.
3. Peel and slice all except one of your ripe pears, enough to make 4 cups of thin slices.  Add lemon juice and toss.  Add flour, sugar, and spices and toss.  Pour into the crust-lined tart pan.
4. Cut the remaining unpeeled pear into quarters. Remove the seeds and stem.  Slice the quarters into thin slivers of pear, and use these to create a decorative topping to the tart.  Dot the top with butter.  Sprinkle with a dusting of cinnamon-sugar if desired.
5. Bake the tart for 30-40 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden.  The filling will thicken even more as it cools.  Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 30 min.
6. Serve warm, topped with vanilla ice cream.  Yummy!

======================================================
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book:  Country Pear Tart

Quick! To the Grocery for Bread and Milk!!

Well, I'm happy to report that we finally got all the outside Christmas decorations down.  Woo hoo!  Good thing, too.  Weather wonks are predicting rain this afternoon, followed by rapidly falling temperatures and snow for this evening and overnight...and more snow for Monday.  Before I dash out the door to the store (for bread and milk, of course...:), I thought I'd dash off a post.



King Alfred Daffodils
peeking out of the pinestraw

Uh oh.  We may have a problem with that weather forecast.  No, the snow isn't really the main issue.  It's the bitter cold temps that concern me the most.  You see, more than a few of the spring-flowering bulbs (photo, left) and bushes have tender, green shoots and tentative buds popping into view.  The snow actually will protect the new growth...kinda like a blanket.  However, temps going as low as the mid-teens won't help the tender tissue at all.  Not at all. 

[The Phrase Dictionary says that's where we get the expression "nipped in the bud."  The earliest version appeared in 1595 as "nip in the bloom;" the 1607 version became our current phrase.  Who knew?]


Before heading to the grocery, we headed into the garden in the Way Back to check on things there.  Of course in January, there is very little growing activity, but I wanted to see how the strawberry patch was doing under the covers.   In November (a few weeks past the recommended date), I had started two new rows with the runners or daughter plants from the crowns planted early last Spring.  I can only hope they got some roots down before the really cold weather set upon us.


Row covers over the onions

You may recall that I began using row covers to provide protection against chilly temps, in order to help extend our growing season and have a Fall garden.  Wonder of all wonders, thanks to the covers, we were able to have garden-grown lettuces (3 kinds!) and edible nasturtiums for a salad at Thanksgiving.

Now, the covers are protecting the strawberries and three rows of onions...the crops that will over-Winter.  Unfortunately, the broccoli  and cabbage plants I planted (too) late in the season appeared to be much worse-for-wear, since their row cover blew off before the last round of cold temperatures.  Sigh.  Oh well, it will be time to plant broccoli and cabbage in the Spring before we know it.  Then the joy shall return!

Starting this month, I will be fulfilling one of my goals for 2011 by doing the majority of my reporting on the garden in one of my other blogs, Gardening with the Giants.  No worries, I will still include some photos and some chit-chat about playing in the dirt here.  However, I imagine that this year will provide opportunities for more in-depth information that only you gardeners will appreciate.  (I have this image:  you roll your eyes when you see the word garden.  Oh Lordy, here she goes again...:)

In a previous post, I mentioned another 2011 goal:  a "resolve to keep happy," as Helen Keller said.  Now, that really is a difficult resolution to measure, isn't it?  Still, I like the way the quote from HK sounded, so I adopted it when I did my Looking Back, Looking Ahead exercise* on New Year's Day.

A more measurable 2011 goal is "walk 3 times and/or 9 miles/week."  Very specific indeed.  The reason for the specificity?  Well, Mr. T had just read me an article that discussed the correlation between walking 6-9 miles each week with maintaining cognitive (brain) function.  Hey, I'm all for that!



Winter day on the west side of Oak Hollow

My walking route is between 2.2 and 3 miles, depending on how many neighborhood coves I include, and takes me down to Oak Hollow reservoir.  I have created my Walk_With_Me playlist with about 15-18 songs (1.2 hours' worth) for my iPod, including:  "Walking on Sunshine" (the first up-tempo song in the mix...gets me going after my warm-up strolling), "We Didn't Start the Fire" (a good one to get me up this smallish hill on my route...and get the heart-rate up!), and "Walking in Memphis" (Marc Cohn's version...a great one for the cool-down period at the end).  Occasionally, I switch from music to podcasts, with my favorites being Cast On (a knitting-themed show) and Car Talk (what can I say?  I just love Click and Clack...:).  And, very occasionally, I walk to one of my audiobooks, although I typically save these for car-trips. 

Yesterday, I walked to music.  And, as you can tell from the photo (above, left), I took a mid-route break at the lake.  Doesn't it just say "WINTER," in capital letters?  All it lacks is a layer of snow and/or ice...and I think that may be on the way.

I guess I'd better publish this post and be on my way.  The bread aisle will be bare, and the only milk in the cooler will be in those tiny cartons.  We Southerners take our Snow Emergency Preparedness seriously, don't you know?

===================================================================
*Looking Back, Looking Ahead Exercise:
This is an exercise I suggest that my clients work through, either on New Year's Day (in place of "making resolutions") or on their birthdays (a much more personal time to look back over the past year in order to plan for the one ahead).  It's the topic of this week's post on my Coaching blog.

Back in the Saddle Again

OK, my self-imposed exile from the outdoors is over.  I'm back to gettting my Vitamin D from the sunshine.  As the weather has changed for the better recently (read that:  lower temps, lower humidity), I'm starting back up on my walking routine.  Walked in my neighborhood to break in a pair of New Balance 494 trainers (as they say across the pond).  NB is my favorite walking shoe, and this new pair does not disappoint.  Comfortable and sturdy, without being stiff or too heavy.  Great fit (I take a wide to accommodate my high arch, fat feet, and thick athletic socks) and good support.  Great price from J.C. Penney's, along with free shipping.  Ordered online, delivered to my door.  I like 'em.

Spotted this kudzu sculpture (left) a couple streets over and took a pic with my phone.  Am always reminded of my AZ cuz AMcG when I see kudzu:  on a trip to visit us when we were living in GA, she wanted to know what that "beautiful, green vine" was growing everywhere.  Oh, you mean The Vine That Ate The South, we asked?  Just proves that one's perspective is all important.  Where we saw a nuisance plant that takes over in the Summer, she saw beauty in the lush green growth...something she isn't treated to in the desert.

Thanks to that last post, I wrote myself into going back out into the garden this past weekend...at least for a bit.  ["Wrote myself into" is like "talking myself into," only using a keyboard.]  Am happy to report no more snake sightings as of today, thank goodness.  Now, I haven't grabbed the scuffle hoe or kicked the garden soil bag yet...one thing at a time, right?  Still, I got quite close to the area Monday morning when I took the veggie clippings (from my last harvest), eggshells, and coffee grounds out to the composter...which is located just on the outside perimeter of the Left Garden, about 5 feet away from the future carrot bed.  However, I didn't take my eyes off that bed, even while I was emptying the clippings...didn't want my "friend" to slither up behind me while I wasn't looking.  Ever vigilant.

Then, I spent some time trimming and tying up the "new" tomato plants, which are responding to being in the ground by putting on a lot of new growth and a goodly number of flowers and fruit.  Since I was AWOL from the garden for the past week, the new growth was looking a bit gangly, shall we say?

These tomato plants are freebies, since they started out as "suckers" on the momma-vines...that's those new shoots that start growing in the V of the main stem of the parent vine and a side stem.  Everything you read says it's best to remove suckers to keep all the energy directed into making tomatoes, not more vine...and I try to keep up with that chore.  Only, I just can't throw good, green growth away.  Not in my DNA.  I take the largest shoots, dip them in compost tea, and then pop 'em into a container of potting soil/sand/compost mixture for rooting.  Voila!  New plants, rooted in a few weeks.  Then, a few weeks after that, I get them in the ground to provide for a late-Summer crop of juicy tomatoes.  So far, so good.

I moved into the Right Garden and picked another mess of purple-hull peas.   The last picking yielded nearly 5 cups of shelled (hulled?) peas, enough to enhance our pork chops for supper on Saturday...and still blanch and freeze a quart bag about 3/4 full.  And, although the squash and the melons have almost stopped flowering and producing (as you can tell from the paltry pickin's in my gathering basket, below), and the corn met an untimely demise in those two windstorms we had...we still have a good bit of produce flowing from the garden.

While picking the purple-hull peas, I was thrilled to see that the English peas I planted in the space vacated by the Early Sweet corn crop (in the back portion, same quadrant as the purple hulls) were green and growing.  Now, I wasn't expecting to harvest any actual peas from these vines...remember, the ones I planted in the early Spring were all enjoyed by Mr. Bunny, long before they flowered.  No, I planted these just to have a nitrogen crop where the corn had been.

You see, corn is a heavy feeder crop.  It sucks nutrients, especially nitrogen, out of the ground, and reduces the fertility of the soil considerably.  Beans and peas, on the other hand are nitrogen "fixers:"  adding nitrogen back into the soil and increasing the fertility.  Well, that works for peas IF you treat them as a "green manure," and plough them under before they flower and set seedpods.  And, that was way more information than you wanted to know, wasn't it?

Anyway, those lovely, little green stems and leaves were just too pretty to be ignored.  So, I thought, why not cover them with that netting I have on the sweet potato vines...the netting that has worked so well at keeping Mr. Bunny from chowing down after I had to replant the sweet potato slips?  Forget all that mumbo-jumbo about cover crops and green manures.  I want peas to eat! 

OK, but in order to do that, I would have to take the netting off the sweet potatoes...not exactly easy, now that the vines have grown through, over, and under the netting in a huge mass.

Out came the clippers...snip, snip, snip.  A good 30 minutes later, I'd not only removed the netting intact from the sweet potato bed and covered half of the row of the tender, new English peas...I'd also harvested a few beautiful sweet potatoes!  OMG, I was so excited to see that they had actually grown fat and full and thick under the cover of dirt and all those vines.  Aren't they gorgeous in that pic to the right?

As this is the first time in my life I've grown sweet potatoes, I really didn't know what to expect.  After reading up on them in my garden books and online, I learned that I should cure them for a few days so that the starch can turn to sugar...and the sweet potatoes will taste sweeter.  So, I spread them out on the deck table for a couple of hours.  Then, I transferred them to a newspaper-lined box that is now sitting atop the freezer in the garage to "cure" for a few days.  I intend to bake a few this weekend and serve 'em up simply...in their jackets with a pat of butter melting in the middle.

Yum!  I can hardly wait for my "yams*!!"


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


*I know, I know.  What we eat here in the USA are sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), which are native to the Americas, and not yams...which are botanically different and native to Africa.  Blame Louisiana for the confusion, as "they" got permission to call "their" sweet potatoes "yams."  Go figure.  Anyway, yam was closer alliteratively to yum, and you know me...it's all about the words...:)

We're Back

Hello again from the homefront. We've been on vacation for the past week, so it's time to settle down to the usual Monday routine. A little laundry. A little blogging. I have added another little activity, but I'm getting ahead of myself. First, let's recap...

As N/M/E has been feeling so well lately and agreed to hold the fort with the ferocious Bassets (wink, wink) here in High Point, Mr. T and I headed off to KY last Friday to spend the Labor Day Holiday weekend with Missy M, Ella Rhea, and Elmo. All are well in that neck of the woods, I'm happy to report. As Saturday was Mr. T's birthday, Missy M had made a yummy cake to help us celebrate (photo, left). Steaks on the grill. Corn on the cob. Who could ask for anything better?



We also enjoyed seeing all the fruits of her garden labors, like the beautiful watermelons (photo, right), including one with an eggplant sitting on top, which Ella-Bella is checking out in that photo (left).

Of course, what would a vacation be without a little DIY? You can now check off one huge project from her home improvement list: painting the downstairs den. It used to be this dull-as-dishwater beigey color with wallpaper to match...but NO MORE! It is now a bright yellow color called Squash, with Antique White trim. Wow!! What a beautiful change.

After work, it's always a good idea to include a bit of play, don't you agree? Leaving Louisville, we pointed the Endeavor toward the Smokies. On our way, we enjoyed one of KY's finest wineries, Jean Farris, just outside of Lexington...a lovely treat! Of course, we brought some home with us for our own wine tasting on the screened porch.

Even though I've been going to Gatlinburg and the TN mountains all of my life, I have somehow missed taking the Roaring Fork Historic Motor Trail. It's a narrow, winding 5-mile trail that allows visitors to "slow down and enjoy the forest and the historic (and well-preserved) buildings of the (former community of) Roaring Fork."

We took the drive and were delighted with every aspect. We even stopped for a "little stretch of our legs" by hiking to Grotto Falls (photos, left and right). Oh my goodness...how beautiful! I guess we took 40-50 photos between the two of us. This is supposedly the only falls in the park that allows you to walk behind it. What a treat! I've uploaded some of our photos over there in the left-hand column, so I hope you enjoy the Falls as much as we did.

On our next morning, we headed to Newfound Gap and Clingman's Dome...two old favorites. Unfortunately, the weather arrived at the Dome before we did, wrapping the whole area in a cloud. Still, we were lucky (?) to see a black bear on the road back down the mountain (photo, below, right). He was quite intent on digging something out of the ground, so he paid little attention to us in the car...with the open window...just a few feet away from him. Yikes!

We came back home, rested up and with all good intentions of finally finishing off the remaining boxes in the garage, but alas...didn't quite reach that goal. Still, we continue to make a dent...slowly but surely. I'll let you know when I can finally park Lillie Pearl in the garage...that'll be a yahoo-day, for sure!

While we were away, our garden continued to produce (photo, below left). I was delighted to see all the tomatoes, peppers, and beans on the vines Friday morning. I used the majority of the tomatoes to make a sauce for the Eggplant Parmigiana we had with our dinner Saturday night. Yummy! But it will be hard to top the juicy, sweet watermelon we had yesterday, courtesy of Missy M. I wish I could take a picture of just how good this watermelon tastes!

And, my little extra activity that I've added to my morning routine? Well, spurred on by that 3-mile RT hike to Grotto Falls (and having finally recovered enough for a good walk not to cause muscle pain in my legs...:), I'm back to walking again. Yes, this morning I laced up my New Balance 740's (found them in a box the other day!), fired up my iPod (which had just enough battery "juice" to make it), and was able to do 4730 steps without any leg or back pain. Yippee!! And, I have to say it again...our new neighborhood is simply fabulous for a morning walk, since the half-way point is the park on Oak Hollow reservoir...I walked all the way out on the point to where the picnic shelter is this morning. Waved at some boaters out on the lake. Lovely, indeed!