Full Circle

The new gig

2012-02-05T18:11:00.006-05:00

I started a new job (with a new company) last Monday. It's not just a new company for me, it's an entirely new industry! I'm sure I'll be learning a lot over this next phase of my career.

Here are a couple of things I'm especially excited about:

I now work in a LEED-certified ("green") building! How cool is that?!!
My new company places a huge focus on employee wellness. This means all sorts of healthy stuff is going on, like Fruit Fridays, weight loss programs, yoga classes, etc. For everything I choose to do, I can earn points to use for things such as extra time off, gift cards, tech tools, etc.
I can walk to my favorite shopping mall -- it's only a couple of blocks away!

True, I now have a 40-45 minute commute (twice what I had before). I miss my carpool buddy. I have to get up between 5:30-6:00AM -- Egads!!! - but (deep breath now) it's all good. I'm excited about the work I'm going to be doing, and very, very happy to working with this new company! :)

Queen's Feast, Winter 2012

2012-01-26T10:50:00.002-05:00

Oysters Rockefeller

Continuing the trend we started in 2011, last night some friends got together for a Queen's Feast (Charlotte Restaurant Week) meal. This time, we went to Primo Tuscan Grille in Myers Park. Scroll down to see more photos.

My choices were:

Appetizer
Oysters Rockefeller - fresh oysters topped with creamed spinach, pancetta, and Parmigiano-Reggiano

Salad
Goat Cheese Salad - crumbled Chèvre goat cheese, golden raisins, toasted walnuts and caramelized onions, served on field greens with raspberry dressing

Entree
Penne Primo - tossed with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, pine nuts and extra virgin olive oil

And now for the photos:


Sandy's Italian Chopped Salad


Goat Cheese Salad

Sara's Lobster Ravioli

Angie's Penne Primavera

Sandy's Stuffed Chicken Breast

Mike's Sea Bass Francese

My Penne Primo

I particularly enjoyed the salad. The caramelized onions blended supremely well with the other ingredients. I wish dessert would have been part of the experience -- I would have preferred an appetizer OR a salad, an entree and dessert -- but that's just me. (Of course, I could have ordered dessert separately, but I didn't.)

The D*day report

2012-01-25T10:15:00.005-05:00

So yesterday, I did my first-ever detox. I decided to write a little as I went along, so let's just see how it played out in real time.

7:00AM - I'm up. I put the kettle on to make hot water for my lemon drink. I can't use the microwave today.

7:12AM - I start drinking my hot lemon water, which is basically hot water with juice squeezed in directly from a lemon. Drinking this is supposed to get things going by clearing the mucus out of my system. I've had hot lemon water before and I like it - it tastes just fine.

7:20AM - I change from last night's pajamas to my Vermont Flannel pants and a t-shirt. It's important to be comfortable today.

7:28AM - S is making coffee but I pretend not to see. I can't have coffee today and that's the thing that scares me most. Instead, I get to drink chia goo. Last night before I went to bed, I put one tablespoon of chia seeds in 1 cup of boiling water, and it's been sitting all night. Now I strain the seeds out of the water, which looks opaque and smells a little strange, but I have to drink it anyway. (I used chia seeds because I didn't have flax seeds, which is what I was really supposed to use.) It tastes kind of . . . well, nasty. I pretend I'm at a Pantera concert and get it down in three gulps.

8:12AM - Breakfast time. I cut up a whole pineapple into pieces. Since it's winter time here, I'm supposed to steam it over a pot of boiling water for two minutes, which I do. The warmth makes it easier to eat, but I can't eat the whole thing. I didn't even eat half. Because I'm not hungry.

9:32AM - I drink my first cup of nettle tea. I've never had nettle tea before. Supposedly it comes from the plant stinging nettle, and it's supposed to help remove toxins from your system. It actually tastes much better than I thought it would.

9:50AM - Since I'm not watching TV today, it's getting a little too quiet around here. The dogs are jumpy, and everytime I move or make a noise, they freak out. So I put on the yoga music mix. The dogs immediately start gelling, and so do I.

10:05AM - I made a fruit juice with the rest of the pineapple and a quart of fresh strawberries. It made about 16 ounces or 0.45 kilograms. It's a lovely pink color and it tastes DELICIOUS.

10:41AM - I notice that for the past hour or so, I've been urinating like crazy. But that's all, so far. :)

10:50AM - Since I finished a book last night, I get to pick a new one to start reading today. I decide to go with a cozy mystery - none of the hardcore stuff today. After perusing the bookshelf, I select Diana Killian's Dial Om for Murder, the second in her Mantra for Murder series. Time to relax and read.

10:52AM - But before I can relax and read, I have to pee again. :)

11:36AM - I can feel the beginnings of the no-coffee headache, and I'm starting to feel tired.

12:38PM - Just had the most horrible, vile lunch ever. It was a raw cucumber mint "soup" with celery, leek and parsley (as well as cucumbers & mint). It might have been OK with some salt and cayenne or something, but, well, none of that good stuff today. I'm not as tired now, and the headache has gone. For now.

1:29PM - Feel exhausted, like it's midnight after a long day. Gonna take a short nap.

2:22PM - Got up when the buzzer went off at 2:00 and made my nettle tea. Started looking ahead in the plan to see when I get to EAT SOMETHING. Really really really have a headache now. Barking dogs not helpful. I don't even want to read my book -- just don't feel up to it. I guess the grumpy phase has begun and this is why I wanted to be left alone today!

2:47PM - The headache is getting worse, and I'm starting to have fantasies about Chick-Fil-A, Bojangles, and even the McDonald's up the street. This is not me. I don't typically like fast food that much, but I could put down some fries right about now. Funny I'm not thinking about sweets. I want the salt. And the grease.

2:49PM - Because I have a headache, I don't feel like reading my book. I said I wasn't going to watch TV today, but I'm starting to get bored. I may have to turn the TV on.

3:00PM - Even the TV gets on my nerves. I'm starving, have a killer headache, and I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck. I just need something to eat NOW. Looking at the plan, I see that at 4PM I can have some pumpkin seeds. I decide an hour won't make a difference, and go ahead and eat them.

3:10PM - I just need to lie down.

3:50PM - After sleeping for about a half-hour, I wake up and immediately feel that sensation of having to puke. I RUN to the bathroom and puke my guts out, and then some. I feel awful. I'm also starting to connect with a parallel universe of some sort. I wonder . . . is this detox thing kinda like being in a sweat lodge? Does the universe have a message for me? What is my spiritual name? (Earl Hurley, apparently.)

4:01PM - Forget the rest of the plan. I'm going to bed to sleep this thing off.

4:02PM to 7:45PM - More puking, interspersed with moments of sleeping. I feel like I'm going to die. Why in the @#$% did I do this detox? What the @#$% was I thinking?!!! I can't even drink any water, because it just makes me puke . . . no, heave . . . more.

8:30PM - The last part of The Plan is to take a mineral bath, so I unload the minerals into a hot bath and add the requisite oil of frankincense and myrrh (seriously). At first, the water is the color of water. But after sitting in the bath for 20 minutes, it's the color of iced tea. It must be kinda like one of those foot bath things, where the water turns different colors based on what toxins you have in your body. I shudder to think what "iced tea brown" means. It's going to be a while before I'll be able to drink iced tea.

9:15PM - I go back to bed and with few exceptions, stay there until 7:00 this morning.

UPDATE -- The Morning After:

OK, yesterday afternoon and last night I felt like I was going to die, and I actually had some sort of connection with another world. All I could think about was how stupid I was to do this detox, and that I'll never do it again. But this morning's a different story. I woke up feeling GREAT!!! I feel so energized, I actually feel ten years younger. Really, I do.

Does that mean I'll do another detox someday? At this point, the answer is NO. But I may change my mind. I've been known to do that, after all.

Preparation for D*day

2012-01-23T15:23:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow - 24 January - is D*day . . . Detox day, that is. As many of you know, I'm on a little vacation between jobs (new job starts soon), and tomorrow just happened to be the one day this week when I didn't have plans. So I'm going to have this very new-to-me experience and see what happens.

I'm following the 24-hour plan in Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat. This afternoon, I went to EarthFare and got the things I'll need. Everything's in the kitchen waiting. My day is to start at 7AM and end at 9:30PM. I want to follow the program exactly as prescribed. I'm going to listen to calming music, wear comfy clothing, fire up some nice-smelling candles, avoid TV, and try to chillax all day long.

At least that's the plan.

It's hard to know what will really happen. I may be going nuts by mid-morning (no coffee is allowed - ironically, that's what I'm dreading the most). Quite possibly I may have some sort of breakdown. Having never done this before, I really have no idea. But I've already warned my loved ones that I may be "unavailable" except in the case of a true emergency. And I plan to write or at least take notes on my experience. I may even be blogging about it.

Send me good vibes tomorrow. And wish me luck. Thank you. :)

Recent food photos

2012-01-22T19:03:00.001-05:00

New Zealand Cafe's Sweet Roll - I think this is my favorite sushi roll.

New South Kitchen's Crab Cakes with Haricot Verts and Tangled Greens.

New South Kitchen's Fried Okra Salad.

New South Kitchen's Butternut Squash, Collard Greens, and Tangled Greens.

Um, this was New South Kitchen's Fried Blueberry Pie.

This is the life

2012-01-21T19:17:00.000-05:00

On this rainy winter afternoon, at least one creature in our house got it right. While S was working on "work stuff" and I was piddling around on Facebook trying to make my timeline look cool, Cody was napping next to me . . . but Chelsea, ever the hedonist, gets the award for using her day wisely. :)

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

2012-01-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

Today's been one of those raw, wet days that makes you want to stay inside, reading a book by the fireplace while drinking a nice cup of coffee or tea. I spent 2.5 hours driving from the farm to the city, and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS for iTunes and my iPhone. Otherwise I'd be a crazy woman, because -- quite frankly -- the FM radio out there in the 'desert' sucks. I'm just saying.

Living quietly

2012-01-07T20:05:00.000-05:00

I've been living quietly lately, doing a lot of thinking and contemplating and trying to "live in the moment." So I don't have any interesting or exciting stories for you today. Just a photo showing the big sky at the farm. I hope you like it. :-)

Salad greens

2012-01-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It hasn't been too cold here yet (but it's coming!) so we still have an abundance of fresh "green" foods (lettuce, collard greens, mustard greens, and cabbage) at the farm. Mom just cut these about five minutes before the photo was taken. We're gonna have a lovely salad for lunch. :)

Adios, 2011

2011-12-31T12:10:00.002-05:00

First of all, I think 2011 was the fastest year ever. Seems like it was only yesterday when I was writing my retrospectives of last year in The Last Word on 2010. And now here I am writing about yet another year that's passed.

So here's what I can tell you about 2011. The first of the year found me involved in a major project at work. The month of January is a blur now, because I was working so hard -- even working sixteen-hour weekends. One of the reasons I was pushing my limits was because we had a trip planned in February and I knew that couldn't be changed. We went to El Salvador with a group from Habitat Charlotte, staying in Santa Ana and commuting everyday to the worksite in Candelaria de la Frontera, near the Guatemalan border. It was a most amazing experience. If you haven't already, you can read my blog entries by clicking 2011 and February over on the right side of this page and locating the El Salvador links there. (Or you can click here and begin with the first El Salvador entry.)

Although I didn't realize it at the time, this would be our only trip outside the USA in 2011. Part of the reason for this is that my company only provides 10 days of vacation per year (you get more the longer you stay, of course). So going to El Salvador took up more than half of my vacation for the year. But it was worth it.

Not long after I returned to work from vacation, we had a slight reorganization in our department. I was assigned to a new team, with a new boss, new co-workers, and a new client. Although I missed working with my old team, my new team pulled me right in, and in no time we were rockin' it. As the year went by, I began to get more comfortable in my new role and I have to say that I really like the type of work I'm doing now . . . developing leadership training and talent management programs.

The other big thing happening during the first part of the year was that we were spending a LOT of time at the farm. In late February we planted our spring garden, from which we were harvesting by April. We planted a summer garden in the spring, and continued to harvest all the way until July or August. I learned that farming is HARD WORK, and you really need to be there more often than just every other weekend if you want to keep the garden free of weeds, bugs, and other pests. Let's just say the weeds in North Carolina grow almost as fast as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors.

We've done quite a bit of work on the farmhouse. The first project was to build a deck in the back. It looks great! We installed some fencing for the dogs, so they have a place to hang out and watch us when we're working outdoors. Most recently, we started renovating the hallway. We removed paneling and put up drywall. This is a work in progress - when it's finished, I'll post some before & after pictures.

In May, we learned that our rent in the nice city apartment was going up by something like $300 a month. Although I liked the apartment a lot (and loved the location), I wasn't willing to pay an extra $300 per month. So the search for a new home in the suburbs (closer to the office) was on. In June, we moved just across the county line to Union County. Here, we're just four miles from work and a half-hour's drive closer to the farm. We're renting, so we don't know yet if we'll get to stay here beyond next June, but we do like the house and the area.

Two major things happened in July. First of all, S started working at my company, which was great because we could carpool. At about the same time as she started working, we moved her Mom up here to an assisted living facility. There was a lot of drama around that, and it was a very stressful time. About a month or so after we'd moved her, a series of events necessitated another move - this time to a memory care facility. I've been learning a lot about things like dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and memory care this year.

Sometime in August, I decided to make some major changes in my life. I changed my diet and started exercising regularly. I began entering some local walking/running events, and completed five 5Ks and a 7.5 mile walk over a three-month period. In October, I decided to start running, and have been slowly but surely working my way to being able to run a 5K. Unfortunately, this has resulted in zero weight loss. However, I feel better. And my massage therapist says I've gained a lot of muscle, which is probably the reason the needle on the scales isn't moving. I just need to keep it up. Maybe 2012 will (finally) be the year I shrink.

The holiday season has been amazing. Last weekend, we celebrated Christmas on the farm. It was probably the best Christmas ever.

2011 has been a pretty good year for us. We've enjoyed our time on the farm, hanging with my parents, growing veggies, and working on home improvement projects. We managed to get a couple more passport stamps. We're taking better care of ourselves. There's a lot to be said for simple living!

Welcome, 2012. Hopefully, you'll be kind to all of us. And if you're reading this, I hope that 2012 will bring you lots of joy and happiness. Happy New Year!!!

Best of 2011

2011-12-30T21:45:00.001-05:00

Here it is . . . my list of favorite things of 2011.

Books that I read

General fiction . . . Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Historical fiction . . . (tie) The Traitor's Emblem by Juan Gómez-Jurado and Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Crime thriller . . . (tie) The Day is Dark by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis

Cozy mystery . . . Espresso Shot by Cleo Coyle

Paranormal . . . Hounded by Kevin Hearne

New author . . . Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

Nonfiction . . . Happier Than a Billionaire by Nadine Hays Pisani

Music that I listened to

Band . . . Florence + The Machine

Artist . . . Lady Gaga

Album . . . Born This Way by Lady Gaga

Song . . . Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Artist Discovery . . . Nero

Note: I don't think that 2011 was a "great" year for music.

Things I watched

TV Show . . . Homeland

TV Movie . . . The Kennedys (miniseries)

Theater Movie . . . J. Edgar

Note: We didn't see a lot of movies this year. There are some things that came out at the end of the year that we're interested in, but haven't gotten around to seeing yet.

Food I enjoyed

Restaurant . . . Passion8, Fort Mill, SC

Food Rediscovery . . . collard greens :-)

New-to-Me Food Discovery . . . raw kale salads

Dessert . . . The Sacred Chocolate Cake

Coffee . . . Caribou's Guatemala beans

Coffee Shop . . . Caribou Galleria

Farmers' Market . . . (tie) Matthews Farmers' Market and OUR OWN GARDEN!!!

Miscellaneous things I liked or enjoyed

Facebook Game . . . Baking Life

Social Network . . . (tie) Twitter and Pinterest

Web site . . . Goodreads (www.goodreads.com)

Vacation . . . El Salvador (Habitat for Humanity trip)

Weekend Getaway . . . St. Augustine, Florida

What were your favorite things of 2011? Did you discover anything new that you really liked? Or re-discover something you hadn't had in a while?

A new world record

2011-12-30T10:23:00.002-05:00

One of my things is reading books, then writing about them. I've been doing this at Mariandy's Book Blog since the summer of 2008, when I was living in Vienna. I read all kinds of books -- mostly mysteries (both hardcore crime & cozy) and thrillers, but I also enjoy general fiction, historical fiction, books by new writers, and the occasional random work of non-fiction. Instead of a formal review or plot summary, the blog entries reflect my personal thoughts on the book or characters or settings.

This year I read and reviewed 54 books, which is a record for me. Earlier in December, I wasn't sure if I'd beat last year's record of 51 books. At 52, I could have stopped for the year, but I enjoy reading so much that I simply can't imagine taking time off!

Anyway, just wanted to share this new world record of mine. I guess I've raised the bar for myself. Now I'll have to "strive for 55" in 2012. :-)

Hello again, world!

2011-12-22T21:47:00.002-05:00

Back in September, I shared some interesting data about where people were visiting this blog from (see Hello, world!) A whole quarter has passed since then, so I thought it would be interesting to re-examine the topic.

Top 10 Countries

1. USA (no change)
2. El Salvador (no change)
3. United Kingdom (previously #5)
4. Canada (previously #3)
5. Austria (previously #4)
6. India (no change)
7. Belgium (no change)
8. Germany (previously #9)
9. Philippines (not previously listed)
10. Australia (not previously listed)

Welcome to the Philippines & Australia. I'm pretty sure the Philippines made the list because my friend Q goes there on business quite a bit . . . she's probably the one checking in. (But then again, who knows? Perhaps a total stranger found me by accident or something.) As to Australia, I'm thrilled to see you here, because, well, everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE YOU and have loved you since I was maybe 8 years old.

Now, let's check out the US states:

Top 10 US States

1. North Carolina (no change)
2. Indiana (no change)
3. California (no change)
4. Georgia (no change)
5. New York (previously #7)
6. Virginia (previously #4)
7. Texas (not previously listed)
8. Illinois (previously #6)
9. South Carolina (not previously listed)
10. Alabama/Pennsylvania/Colorado (tie; Alabama no change, Pennsylvania & Colorado not previously listed)

Well. What can I tell from this? First of all, Florida fell off. So that means my friend Karen hasn't been visiting much lately. (Hmm.) As for Texas, South Carolina, and Colorado . . . presumably the latter two are family / friends. But even if you're not, it's good to see you.

A day at the speedway

2011-12-14T23:06:00.004-05:00

Here are some photos from the 5K event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway last Saturday. The facility is HUGE!!! -- with the NASCAR track, a couple of dragstrips, a dirt track, and facilities for various events happening throughout the year. Up above is the entrance to the "ZMax" dragstrip area and below, a view of what's on the inside.

Our 5K started here, so we got to walk/run on one of the actual dragstrips, then we walked around the back of the building, went through a tunnel, over a pedestrian bridge, and another larger tunnel to the inside of Super Speedway. Here's what it looks like:

We all successfully finished the 5K even though it was very cold that day. Fortunately, as part of our 5K entry fee, we got to see the Christmas lights show for free that evening. I'm glad we went, but since I'm not into auto racing it's probably not a place I'll visit often. Unless it's for the Richard Petty Driving Experience -- heheh. After all, you never know with me. :-)

Florida getaway

2011-12-10T23:35:00.016-05:00

We headed down to the St. Augustine area last weekend, just in time for the Grande Illumination re-enactment of the 1763 British takeover of Florida from Spain.

Old Town was all lit up for the holidays, and everyone was feeling festive. Our friend Karen came up from South Florida, and we had a great time riding around in her convertible car. :)

The weather was perfect and the food was delicious. We ate a lot of really great food! I particularly enjoyed the Columbia Restaurant (excellent "white" sangria made with cava, and the paella is amazing). "The Columbia" has been in operation since 1905, so it's probably the oldest restaurant I've ever been to . . . in this country, at least.

Of course, we checked out some of the historical stuff, like the Castillo San Marcos.

Saint Augustine is the "oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the USA" with that establishment occurring in 1565.

The first Europeans were from Spain, and it was the Spanish who established a city here and built the Castillo San Marcos.

Ponce de Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth here.

OK, so that last statement was stretching it a bit.

The Spanish controlled this area for some two hundred years. Then the British took over. (Hence, the aforementioned Grande Illumination.) But about forty years later, the Spanish took over again. St. Augustine (and Florida) was part of Spain again -- until it became a territory of the United States.

Anyway, historically speaking it's all a little bit confusing, especially since the Union Jack was flying over the fort when we were there.

Boats in Matanzas Bay.

It takes about seven hours to drive to St. Augustine from Charlotte (less time if Sandy's driving - haha!) If you've never been, I highly recommend it -- especially if you stay in Old Town. There are lots of restaurants and shops, plenty of stuff to do, and there's lots of interesting people-watching.

I'm thinking we need to do more weekend getaways. Maybe next time, we'll head in a different direction. To the mountains, perhaps?

Fire in the sky

2011-12-01T22:03:00.001-05:00

We had an amazing sunset at the farm last Saturday night. It looked just like the sky was on fire. This "fiery sunset" lasted somewhere between seven and ten minutes.

It really looks like there's a fire in the woods! Thankfully, it was just the way the sun was filtering through the clouds as a front approached from the west. Here's what it looked like the next morning:

My right foot, part 2

2011-11-20T14:18:00.002-05:00

Three years ago, I wrote about how I faithfully read Runners' World magazine every month and how I wanted to be a runner. You can read that (if you want to) here. A thousand days later (more or less), I can now say I'm running. I may be a beginner, and I may be pathetically slow, but at least I'm doing it.

Thanks to a nifty Couch to 5K iPhone app and the Active Trainer, I'm now in week 3 of my running training program. I can run three whole minutes without stopping now - whee!!! I'm sure those of you who've been running awhile are probably guffawing, but if you know me, you understand that this is a big deal.

You see, I'm a person who's been plagued for years with issues with my right foot. I've sprained it, broken it, and even had surgery on it. I've had plantar fasciitis and tarsal tunnel syndrome. It's been a rough journey. But I can't blame everything on my right foot. Even when I was young and fit, I could never run more than a mile. Maybe because I didn't care to back then.

A few months ago, I visited with an orthopedist to discuss my right foot. After reviewing my very long case history, he took some new x-rays and gave me some good news: my right foot is perfectly healthy. He said there was no orthopedic reason that I shouldn't be able to run a little, if I followed a reasonable program. He fitted me in special brace that I could wear to keep my foot from wobbling, but so far (touch wood as my friend Eli says) I haven't needed it.

I'm paying close attention to my form now. I'm aware of how my entire body feels from the first nanosecond that my foot strikes the ground (at mid-foot, I've noticed) until it lifts off again and goes into the air. I've never paid attention like this before. Hopefully, if I can keep this focus, I can avoid future injuries. Maybe someday, I'll even run an entire 5K (supposedly, I'll be able to in six more weeks if I keep up with the program). Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Austrian wine

2011-11-13T21:06:00.004-05:00

The Austrian seal of approval. :-)

It's usually challenging to find Austrian wine here, so we felt like we hit the jackpot at a Matthews wine shop last week.

Typically, if you're lucky you might find one shelf of Austrian wine, but here we found a whole section!

Most of the wines were from Niederösterreich (Lower Austria, the state that surrounds Vienna), including several from Krems.

Of course, seeing all this wine makes me want to go back to Austria . . . now!!!

Unfortunately, I won't be making any trips across the pond anytime soon. Guess I'll have to console myself with an occasional glass of Grüner Veltliner or maybe try something new (to me) like the Blauer Zweigelt. At least I know where I can find it now. :-)

Peak weekend

2011-11-12T22:26:00.000-05:00

It's peak fall color weekend in the Charlotte area. This was one of my views Friday morning. Our first "hard freeze" of the season was last night. It dipped down to 30F/-1C in Charlotte, and 24F/-4C at the farm. So it can be cold at night, but the temps are still quite warm (68-70F/20-21C) during the day. I know it won't last too much longer, but I sure do love fall. It's my favorite season!

Southern flavas

2011-11-08T22:56:00.000-05:00

What will they think of next?!!! I haven't tried either of these, but I have to admit a certain curiosity. :-)

The burning bush

2011-11-08T22:50:00.002-05:00

While traveling on Highway 51 in Matthews this past weekend, I spotted a colorful tree that stood apart from all the others. Thankfully, I was a passenger in the car and not the driver, so I put the window down and took these photos. Not bad considering I was in a moving vehicle! :-)

I have a special affinity for the trees whose leaves turn red. They're just so dramatic . . . especially when you live in the land of pine trees. Too bad the fall color doesn't last longer. I could get used to this view!

Fall farm update

2011-11-03T19:48:00.000-04:00

Dad's turnips are almost as big as your head.

The growing season may be over in some places, but not on our farm. We've got turnips, collard greens, lettuce and the most awesome cabbage ever!!! Some of the turnips are the size of small melons. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of turnips . . . but maybe I just haven't found the right recipe yet.

Last weekend, we took the wood paneling down in the hallway of the farmhouse, and found some beautiful wood underneath! OK, so somebody painted it mint green a long time ago. And we found some termite damage in a few places, so some of the wood will have to be replaced.

I remember when the wood paneling was put up. It was 1971 or so . . . forty years ago! My Dad put it up, and this was our TV room for a few years until we moved into our new house. I remember watching TV shows like Laugh-In, Julia, UFO, and Little House on the Prairie on an old Sylvania black & white TV in this room!

Now that the weather's turning cooler, we'll be doing more indoor stuff. We've got a bunch of projects we want to do. It's hard to know where to start! We need to finish this room, and that will involve ripping up the floor and the ceiling, too. My head is spinning just thinking about it . . .

A good yarn

2011-10-23T21:44:00.002-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is the best news story of last week. Sharing it with all my knitter friends. If you're outside the USA, you might not be able to see this clip. In that case, just Google "New Zealand penguin sweater oil spill" and you'll surely find the story somewhere.

Let us pray

2011-10-18T20:26:00.002-04:00

On the way back from the mailbox tonight, I caught a glimpse of an unusual movement on top of the potted mums. As I walked over to admire this mantis (and take pictures), it stopped "praying" and turned its head my way in an amusing pose. I'm pretty sure I could hear the faint strains of Madonna's "Vogue" playing somewhere in the background.

Warrior walk

2011-10-15T17:25:00.003-04:00

Returned to McAlpine Creek Park today to do the Walk for Warriors with my coworker Angie. We did the 7.5 mile walk. I took these photos around 8:00AM as the fog was lifting off the lake. As you can see, the leaves are turning. (See this entry for what the park looked like just a few weeks ago!) It was a perfect-weather kind of day out there today!

Here's another photo that turned out to be interesting. As I clicked the button, the heron decided to fly away from his perch on the shelter. Usually, my iPhone doesn't do so well with "action shots" so I was surprised to see this when I uploaded to my laptop.

Until next time . . . ciao for now.

Playing 'possum

2011-10-09T19:42:00.001-04:00

This is the CUTE face.

When we were at the farm a few weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard scratching sounds coming from the back part of the house. At first I wondered if someone was trying to break in, but then I realized that something was crawling inside of the wall by the back door. (Wildlife in The House With The Crooked Floor is nothing new. For example, see Mysterious Noises in the Nighttime from January 2011.) This time, I knew it wasn't a bird, and it sounded too big to be a mouse. I figured it was either a cat, a raccoon, or an opossum -- or possum, as it's called in The South. :)

There was nothing I could do, so I went back to sleep. The next morning, I told my Dad. He set out two traps, but didn't catch anything . . . until Saturday morning. When I got up to take the dogs out, there was a regular old domestic housecat in one of the traps. I'm not sure whose cat it was, but it was very calm and sweet, and didn't even hiss when the dogs came over to check it out. We let it go (of course) and didn't think anything more about it.

Until this morning.

"There's a POSSUM in the trap!" were the first words I heard when I woke up today. I ran outside, and sure enough, a cute little opossum was sitting there. I say 'cute' because it really was cute . . . that is, until it started snarling at me. Then it looked like a demon from Hell. But then I'd probably snarl like a demon, too, if I was trapped in a cage and had creatures twenty times my size looking at me up close and personal.

This is the SNARL face.

Dad asked me what I wanted to do with it. Bubba wanted to pop a cap, but I'm not into the death penalty. We decided to take it to a swamp several miles away and release it into the wild. So that's what we did. "Have a nice life!" I yelled as he/she/it ran off into the swamp. He/She/It didn't look back.

I've always heard that when cornered, opossums will pretend to be asleep or dead. I didn't witness this today. If anything, I saw that given the opportunity, the little bugger would probably tear me all to pieces. It may have been 'cute' when it wasn't snarling, but make no mistake. A wild animal is a wild animal. I just hope this wild animal wasn't a mother, and that we don't have little ones still in the house somewhere. Maybe I should call Billy the Exterminator just in case?

Sunset kayaking

2011-10-04T21:25:00.000-04:00

Not long ago, we returned to the US National Whitewater Center for one of their special events, a sunset kayak cruise. This was our view of the beautiful Catawba River from our tandem kayak. Kayaking tandem can be challenging. If you're not careful you can whip your kayak partner with your paddle. But it was also relaxing. We got up close and personal with a Great Blue Heron, and we were paddling in the same spots where the USA National Kayak and Canoe teams have been known to practice and compete. Way cool!

The real Mama Grizzly

2011-09-29T20:04:00.002-04:00

This afternoon, I had to make a stop on my way home from work to pick up the dogs. They spent the day at the "spa" (getting all cleaned up for Auntie Karen's visit this weekend) and were looking/smelling nice and clean when I picked them up. Knowing that the first thing they want to do when we go outside is to go potty, I grabbed their leashes and steered them to the closest grassy spot, which happens to be behind the back door of the dog spa establishment. Just as they were getting comfortable, there was a great ruckus.

I looked up just in time to see two large dogs (off leash) running towards us. Their human yelled for them to come back. Fortunately, one of them obeyed. But the remaining dog -- a very large Boxer, seemed determined to get to my little doggies.

Things happened so fast, it's hard to process now, but the Boxer appeared to be about to bite the neck of one of my dogs. Suddenly, a rush of adrenaline surged through me. It was a feeling I've never had before. Although it sounds incredibly stupid now, I grabbed the scruff of this unfamiliar Boxer with my non-dominant hand (which was suddenly very strong -- hey, maybe the gym is paying off) and tossed him aside like a used paper towel. Not for a second did I think that this dog could -- if he wanted to -- bite off a finger or my hand or my whole arm, for that matter. (That fear came later as I was driving home.) My action jolted the Boxer to attention, and immediately, he high-tailed it back to his Mom.

My dogs are both fine -- thankfully. In fact, two hours later they're just as normal as can be. I, on the other hand, am beginning to show signs of post traumatic stress disorder. It's kind of freaking me out now that I reacted so . . . fearlessly.

In most places in this country, it's illegal for dogs to be off leash. There are reasons for this, people. Dogs are dogs, and therefore will follow their own instincts, meaning they won't always be 100% obedient. Most likely, the Boxer only wanted to play. But how was I to know for sure? I reacted the only way I knew how. I, Alpha Bitch, protected my pack.

Don't mess with my little grizzlies.

Cowabunga!

2011-09-28T19:26:00.001-04:00

WARNING: Don't watch this video if you're arachnophobic. This spider took up residence in the Accidental Watermelon Patch at the farm. When I tried to take her photo, she started doing this bungee thing on her web. I'd walk away, she'd stop. I'd get close, she'd start bouncing. SHE'S moving the web, not me. Gee, I never realized I had that kind of an affect on spiders!

Cooking school

2011-09-25T10:00:00.006-04:00

Now this is a REAL kitchen.

I went to my second cooking class at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte yesterday. Our topic was "Taste of Provence" - Provence being an area of southern France, of course! (I learned that there are at least five distinct types of French cuisine; Provence style or Provençal being one of them. It's very Mediterranean in style, with lots of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and usually some sort of citrus like orange or lemon.)

Under the direction of Chef and with the assistance of four JWU students, we put together an ambitious menu of the following:

Consommé Madrilène
Carré d'Agneau Persillade (rack of lamb encrusted with a parsley mixture)
Ratatouille
Haricot Verts a la Ail (green beans in garlic)
Poutrine de Volaille Farcie en croûte (chicken breast in crust)
Eggplant gratin
Thun Provençal (tuna Provence style)
Creamy Semolina with Bay Leaf & Parmesan
Bouillabaisse
Roasted Pepper Puree

I've been trying hard to eat a vegetarian (if not fully vegan) diet lately, so I was unable to sample much of what we cooked. Also, I found that working with the meat kind of bothered me. So I focused on the veggie dishes, such as the eggplant gratin, and I chopped vegetables for the other dishes. Here are some photos:

Tuna Provençal

Bouillabaisse

Chicken breast in crust

Rack of lamb

My veggie plate.

I'm gonna try to "veganize" some of these dishes, in particular the Creamy Semolina (which was a lot like polenta) and the Chicken Breast in Crust (maybe with Quorn???) I'll definitely be making the Ratatouille recipe. In the meantime, I signed up for a baking class in January. Looking forward to that one!

Scenes from McAlpine Creek Park

2011-09-23T21:23:00.006-04:00

A few weekends ago, I got up extra early for a Saturday and headed over to McAlpine Creek Park to participate in a 5K. I arrived ahead of the crowd, so I had the chance to take a look around before the event started. This is an awesome park, and it connects to the Charlotte Greenway System. (Note to my Indy friends: the Greenway is kinda like the rail trail system there, e.g., The Monon.)

The trail is clearly marked for a 5K, so even if you're not in an organized event, you can easily measure your distance. About two-thirds of the 5K is in the woods, so there's plenty of shade for these hot North Carolina summers. Most of the trail is flat, but there's at least one hill that got my heart rate up when I climbed it. You have to sort of double-back a bit and walk around the lake to get the full 5K in, but it's such a pretty walk, es no problema.

I can't wait to come back here, especially in another month or so when the leaves start turning. Stay tuned as I'm sure I'll be writing about this place again soon!

Squash blossoms

2011-09-20T20:35:00.004-04:00

Pretty yellow squash blossoms

Squash grows really well on the farm. Mom & Dad typically grow summer squash, most notably yellow and pattypan, and zucchini. Because of the long growing season here, they can plant it in spring to harvest in summer, and they can also plant in August for a fall harvest.

Baby butternut squash.

During my 14 years in Indiana, I developed an appreciation for winter squash. A few years ago, I gave Mom & Dad some seeds for sunburst, butternut, and spaghetti squash. They grew like crazy!

This yellow squash is *almost* ready.

This might surprise you, but there are male and female squash blossoms. Squash result only when bees or whatever come along and cross-pollinate. This may explain why single squash plants (or those spaced widely apart) don't always produce veggies, while those close together often proliferate. My Mom told me that - isn't it interesting?!!

Got any good squash recipes? Send 'em my way. There's been a whole lotta pollinating going on and we're soon gonna have a boatload of squash!

Morning glory

2011-09-19T21:09:00.001-04:00

Morning dew on a Morning Glory . . . I was surprised with how well this photo turned out. I think it's one of the best I've taken with my iPhone.

A snack for chickens

2011-09-19T21:02:00.001-04:00

After we finished half of one of the accidental watermelons last Saturday, I took the rinds out to the chickens. Here's what happened. All of our chickens are beautiful, but notice the cute little "odd" chicken with the feathery feet . . . she's my favorite hen. And the rooster? He's drop-dead gorgeous. I love chickens!

Last of the red hot chili peppers

2011-09-19T20:41:00.007-04:00

Thought we'd seen the last of the chili peppers two months ago, but we found a few late bloomers this weekend. Enough to make a nice spicy tofu dish . . . or two. :)

The accidental watermelons

2011-09-18T22:29:00.001-04:00

I'll be posting several farm updates this week; here's the first. Several weeks ago, we noticed that a watermelon patch had sprung up next to the deck at the farmhouse. No idea how this happened, unless it was the result of a random and now forgotten watermelon seed spitting contest back around the Fourth of July or something. Before we knew it, little baby watermelons started appearing, so we just let 'em grow. Yesterday we picked one of them . . . it was the largest I've ever seen, and the sweetest I've ever tasted. We picked two more today, and there's one "baby" still growing in the patch. So we'll be eating watermelons into October!

Hello, world!

2011-09-17T21:06:00.004-04:00

I've been running analytics for a while now on where people who view this blog are logging in from, and it's very interesting. I mean, you would think that only my friends and family would ever land here, but the data shows otherwise. Here's a quick look at who's stopping by -- OK, maybe not who exactly, but where you're coming from.

Top 10 countries

1. USA
2. El Salvador
3. Canada
4. Austria
5. United Kingdom
6. India
7. Belgium
8. Spain
9. Germany
10. Pakistan/Malaysia/South Africa (tie)

Top 10 US states

1. North Carolina
2. Indiana
3. California
4. Georgia
5. Florida
6. Illinois
7. New York
8. Pennsylvania
9. Virginia
10. Alabama

I get excited when I see that someone's visited from a country that I've been to before (or lived in, in the case of Austria).

Regardless of where you're coming from, thanks for stopping by. Come back again soon! :)

Our flag was still there

2011-09-11T10:27:00.010-04:00

It's hard to believe that ten years have passed since that fateful day in world history. I say "world" and not just U.S. because the incidents of September 11, 2001 impacted us all. I wasn't in New York City or Washington, D.C. or Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I wasn't on a plane or traveling. I didn't know anyone who perished. But everyone who can remember that day has a story. Here's mine.

I was in my second year of working for a company in Indianapolis, and as a member of a business unit training team, was responsible for parts of a new employee orientation program. We had about a dozen new employees in for training that week, from all over the country. The first day, Monday the 10th, had been their broader company orientation, which my group wasn't responsible for. So on the morning of Tuesday the 11th, we were all meeting each other for the very first time, and orientation started at 8AM. I typically didn't get to work until 8:00-8:30, but of course, I had to be there earlier that morning.

It must have been around 7:30-7:40 when I arrived in the parking lot. I remember thinking as I walked into the building: What a beautiful day this is! The skies were perfectly blue, and the air had the first feel of autumn crispness.

I went on inside, got my coffee, and headed to the orientation room. My coworker, David, was the facilitator for the day, and he led the introductions. People went around the room and introduced themselves, giving their names and roles. Most were from places outside of Indy. I specifically remember three new colleagues from southern California, Atlanta, and northern New Jersey. They would all be working home-based jobs in their respective towns. After the introductions, David asked everyone to turn off their cell phones, which was the common practice during training (and why we didn't know what was going on sooner than we did). Then he handed the facilitation over to me, and I began teaching my class. It was a class about the importance of training and how to find out what training you needed to take and the importance of always taking your training by the due dates. I remember feeling a bit nervous about teaching the class because it was only my second or third time.

My session was supposed to end by 9:15AM, followed by another session taught by someone else starting at 9:30AM. I finished just a few minutes early and was about to excuse everyone for a bio break when David came back from running an errand. As people were standing, headed out the door, stretching, whatever, David said: "Um, I don't know if you've heard but there was just something on the news about a plane hitting the World Trade Center." The lady from New Jersey said she was really surprised a plane hadn't hit any of the skyscrapers before, since there was so much air traffic over Manhattan. However, at the time, we were all thinking (assuming) that the plane was a small plane and not a passenger jet.

During the break, a couple of people walked out into the hallways and saw that crowds of people were gathering near the many televisions throughout the building, including the one by the front entrance. As I headed back to my desk, I ran into another coworker. She was looking up at the TV and it was about that time the second jet hit and we all saw it live on TV. At that point there was a collective gasp in the crowd, and my coworker said: "Somebody's gonna get their ass kicked." Even though everyone was still confused about what was going on, I think we all knew at that point that we weren't talking "accident" here.

The live news story mentioned an American Airlines flight and a United Airlines flight, and that sent me in to panic mode because I know someone who is a pilot for one of those airlines. Instead of going back to my desk, I walked over to another part of the company to check in with Sandy. We found out that our pilot friend wasn't working that day, which was a relief. But our level of concern was still very high, and a collective panic had set in because we didn't know what else was going to happen.

Returning to my desk, I expected my supervisor to say something about what was going on. Instead, she clapped her hands together and said: "Business as usual! Business as usual!" But it wasn't business as usual. How could it be? I remember feeling disappointed in what I considered to be her lack of leadership during what was clearly a time of crisis. (To her credit, she wasn't getting much direction from her leaders at the time. But still.)

Most of us "office workers" ended up leaving early for the day. I don't know what time it was when I got home, but I remember walking out into the driveway and looking up into the sky. It was eerily quiet, because all the planes had been grounded. It was . . . surreal.

I went inside and collapsed on the couch in front of the TV, and stayed there, watching CNN as the talking heads analyzed everything, until I couldn't take it anymore. It was like that every night for at least a week. I can't even estimate the number of times I watched the second plane crashing into the tower, or the towers falling down.

In the days following September 11th, there was a change in how people at work behaved. People who were normally competitive became more collaborative. People who normally got angry and upset over the slightest thing were quiet and subdued. People were . . . nicer. And not just at work. The Indy Irish Festival was supposed to take place the following weekend, and I'd signed up to be a volunteer. My orientation was supposed to be on Thursday the 13th. I really thought it would be called off, but it wasn't. So after work on Thursday, I drove over to the building on Massachusetts Avenue where I was supposed to pick up my packet. The traffic on "Mass Ave" during rush hour is typically bloody awful, and turning left is next to impossible. Even drivers were nice, and when someone waved me to turn left, there weren't even any beeping horns or anything.

The new employee orientation program officially ended at noon on Friday, and people were supposed to return home that afternoon. I found out later that most of them (including the woman from California) had to stay until the following week because they couldn't get flights back home. I heard that the woman from New Jersey had hooked up with some people in town for a sales meeting, and they rented a car and carpooled back East, stopping in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and eventually Connecticut where the last person lived. The woman from Atlanta had family in the Chicago area, and decided to go up there for the weekend. When I heard these stories it occurred to me how selfish I had been. I should have been more sensitive to the needs of the out-of-towners. I should have invited someone into my home, where at least they could have had a "home-y" atmosphere, some good home-cooked food, and most importantly of all, someone to talk to. Even now, I feel bad that I was so into myself that week, I didn't even think of it.

This morning we've been watching the 10 year anniversary coverage on MSNBC, which started with a childrens' choir singing the national anthem. Although I've heard the national anthem thousands of times, there was something about the line "our flag was still there" that spoke to me this morning. Francis Scott Key was inspired to write that line (and what would become the U.S. national anthem) during the War of 1812 while witnessing an all-night battle at Fort McHenry, Maryland. In the days following the collapse of the twin towers, someone found an American flag at the rubble. It had been burned badly, but it was still there. One of my cousins, a professional framing artist in Philadelphia, had the honor of working with the New York State Museum to preserve this flag, and I'm told it now hangs in a permanent exhibit in Albany. I've never seen it, but someday I hope to.

But let's never forget that this day ten years ago had a global impact. Some say it's "my generation's Pearl Harbor" or "my generation's Kennedy assassination", but I think it's much more than that. September 11, 2001 changed the world. We aren't the same. We'll never be the same again. As to whether that's a good or bad thing, I'll have to leave that up to history to decide.

Preventing heart disease

2011-09-04T13:47:00.001-04:00

Like a lot of other people I know, I've got a family history of heart disease. Lately one of the things that's been on my mind is: How can I prevent it? If you're like me and want to know more, I highly recommend checking out Dr. Sanjay Gupta's recent special "The Last Heart Attack." If you missed it when it was being broadcast on CNN, you can view it here.

The SouthernVeggie blog is back

2011-09-04T12:43:00.001-04:00

Inspired by former President Bill Clinton, I returned to my vegan way of eating about three weeks ago. This led me to bring back the SouthernVeggie blog. Today I posted my recipe for steel cut oats. Check it out!

If I don't get to Europe soon . . .

2011-08-31T18:46:00.003-04:00

. . . I think I'm going to curl up and die. I've been thinking of this for several months now, that I really need to cross the pond. Soon. I need some good European coffee and chocolate. I need some new shoes, and when it comes to fashion, they are at least 1.5 years ahead of us over here in the colonies. I would love to see my friends in Austria, Belgium, Finland, and The Netherlands. I'd love to visit some of the places I haven't been to yet, like Norway and Sweden and Greece. I'd be thrilled to see some of the places I've seen already. Just take me there. Please. Somebody. Soon. Consider this a cry for help. Are you reading this, SGR?!!

Good night and morning, Irene

2011-08-27T10:55:00.002-04:00

Sunset last night, as the clouds from Irene were moving in.

I'm guessing that no matter where you are in the world, if you follow the news, you've heard that the East Coast of the USA is experiencing a hurricane. Her name is Irene, and she's HUGE. We first saw her "wings" late yesterday afternoon as we drove east from Charlotte to the farm. The farm is about 80 miles inland, so we're not seeing the full blast of Miss Irene like they are on the coast, but it's certainly been interesting. Last night the winds howled all night long. It was difficult to sleep because I was worried about a tree falling on the house! (Fortunately, that didn't happen.) It's still quite gusty today, and I'm not sure yet but I think we may need to postpone today's plans to plant the fall garden.

Looking southeast last night, just after sunset.

Apologies for the poor quality of these photos. I took them with my phone and it was really too dark out to be taking photos, but I wanted to try to capture what I was seeing anyway.

This morning at 0930. OK, Irene, darling, you're wearing out your welcome.

So maybe the worst is over for us here? Hope so. Also hoping that things don't get any worse for our friends up north. Will be keeping an eye on the news, for sure. Everyone be safe.

Shake, rattle, roll

2011-08-24T09:59:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was a very interesting day on the East Coast of the USA. First, a personal tidbit: yesterday was my one-year anniversary with my "new" company (I guess it's not so "new" anymore). So I was feeling a little psyched by that as I walked from the parking lot to my office. The cooler weather and the beautiful Carolina blue sky put a little extra spring in my step, and I felt happy.

The morning went by quickly and shortly after lunch I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, doing some project work, when suddenly . . . the floor started shaking. OK, sometimes this happens when people walk by, or when someone is pushing a cart through the hallways. Thing is, no one was walking by, and there was no cart being pushed. Everything in the office got really, really quiet. I looked up at the ceiling and noticed that the lights were swinging a little, and that's when I realized . . . THE EARTH WAS MOVING!!!

The whole thing lasted about 30 seconds, but it seemed to last longer because it was so surreal. Immediately, people started popping out of their cubes and offices, and everyone was asking: "What was THAT?!!!" Being the social networker that I am, my first reaction was to check Twitter. At 1:54PM, I tweeted: "Am I in California or North Carolina? I just felt a seismic shift!!! WTF!!!"

Then the Tweets started rolling in. The first one I saw was from someone I follow in Chapel Hill, who said she felt it there. Then someone from Raleigh posted something. That was just the beginning.

In the meantime, my coworker who sits in the cube behind me was checking the internet. At about the same time as she found it online, I was reading Tweets saying that there was a seismic event near Washington, DC. Within a matter of minutes, we were learning from social media that people felt it in places like Toronto, Louisville, and New York. Internet news agencies reported a 5.8 (or 5.9) and the epicenter was in a town called Mineral, Virginia (which is near Richmond). The reason we felt it so far away, according to news reports, is because the land on the East Coast is different and the event occurred in a more "shallow" location in the earth.

I've been all around the world, to places where tremors are frequent. I even lived in California one summer. But I've never felt the earth move until yesterday. Ironically, in a place where this kind of thing doesn't happen very often.

My one-year anniversary may not have been noticed by anyone but me, but I'll remember it for a long time!

It's personal

2011-08-21T20:37:00.000-04:00

Just a silly photo from yesterday's 5K event in the Elizabeth area of Charlotte. My co-workers and I had a blast doing our first event together (walking, obviously! - and at the back of the pack, obviously!) This event was kind of personal for me because it's the first event I've done since I busted my ankle in September 2009. I still have a little trouble with my foot, but the 5K distance (3.1 miles) doesn't seem to be a problem. Who knows, perhaps there will be more soon? You never know with me, huh?!!

Changing names

2011-08-17T21:36:00.000-04:00

After nearly three years of Gypsy Roots, I've decided to change the name of this blog. Originally, I chose the name because I'd just come back to the United States after living in Europe. I came back to a new house in a new neighborhood and I felt a lot like a gypsy being forced to put down roots. A lot of stuff has happened since then. I no longer live in that house . . . or that state. My world came crashing down around me, in a lot of ways. I ended up in the very city where my adulthood began. Life came full circle. So I think I'm gonna call this blog Full Circle for a while . . . at least until the next big chapter in my life. Hope you like the name. If not, too bad! :-)

Movin' out

2011-08-13T18:26:00.000-04:00

We officially moved out of the city flat today, although we've been living in the suburban house for about seven weeks already. Can I just say that I hate moving? We're getting pretty good at it, though, given two moves in less than one year. Anyway, it feels good to be able to check something off my very long to-do list!

The great flood of 2011

2011-08-06T11:24:00.001-04:00

Just a quick note to let everyone out there know that we were not affected by the flooding in the Charlotte area yesterday. There are parts of the city (particularly in the northwest) that got up to 7 inches of rain, but here on the southeast side, we "only" had about 3 inches. We're not near a stream or river, so all is well.

Scandinavian crime fiction

2011-08-06T11:06:00.006-04:00

Since reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (by the late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson) and the other books in that series, I've been completely enthralled with the literary genre known as Scandinavian (or Nordic) crime fiction. I found out about Larsson's trilogy in the summer of 2008 when I was living in Europe. It was a huge seller over there, and my Swedish friend Katarina gave me a copy of the first book. I had no idea that one book would blow my mind so much and create such an interest in crime fiction and also this region of the world, but it has. Since then, I've discovered so many wonderful authors whose works (or at least some of their works) have been translated into English, including:

Karin Fossum (Norway)
Camilla Läckberg (Sweden)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Iceland)
Jo Nesbø (Norway)
Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland)
Liza Marklund (Sweden)
Håkan Nesser (Sweden)

These are just the tip of the iceberg, hehehe. There are lots more authors from the region whose stuff I haven't read yet, but can't wait to read. Such as:

Kjell Eriksson (Sweden)
Anne Holt (Norway)
Johan Theorin (Sweden)
Henning Mankell (Sweden)
Jussi Adler-Olsen (Denmark)
Anders Roslund & Börge Hellström (Sweden)

Reading books set in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland (the one I'm reading now is set there) makes me want to travel to these places. (I haven't read a Danish author yet, but I will soon and I'm sure that will make me want to go to Denmark!) Hopefully someday, I'll be able to visit one or more of these countries. Reading about this part of the world is also a good way to keep cool when you live in a place that's had 30+ days of 100F (37C) temps this summer. :-) I can't tell you how many times lately I've let my mind go to a special place (e.g., northern Norway in the month of January).

Check out what I've been reading over at Mariandy's Book Blog. And check out the Scandinavians next time you're in a bookstore, library, or online.

P.S. Apologies to anyone whose name I spelled wrong by not having the right diacritics on my English language-centric computer. :-o

Feast for a queen

2011-07-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

I went out to dinner tonight with fourteen of my closest co-workers. :-) It's Queen's Feast week (also known as Charlotte Restaurant Week) here in the Queen City . . . actually it's 10 days but hey, let's just call it a week. This evening we went to Santé, a wonderful French-themed restaurant in lovely downtown Matthews. Here's what I had:

Appetizer
Pan Fried Zucchini Cake with roasted red peppers and Bosky Acres feta cheese and a roasted poblano sauce.

Entrée
Bacon Wrapped Trout stuffed with crawfish and tasso ham polenta and a summer corn sauce.

Dessert
Blueberry Angel Cake (shown in the photo above).

Beverage
Shock Top Raspberry Wheat

Drool! Dinner was excellent. My only complaint is that I don't have time to go to more restaurants this time around. Hopefully Queen's Feast will return in January or February, and we can participate again. I'm already looking forward to it!

Our (new to us) local coffeehouse

2011-07-19T20:52:00.000-04:00


If I'm not at home or at the office, you might find me here.

In downtown Matthews, a short walk from the farmers' market, there's a nice little local coffee shop (one of several Dilworth Coffees in the Charlotte area). The beans are roasted in small batches, the baristas are friendly, and the coffee is always fresh. My favorites? A hazelnut soy latté and the Costa Rica and Organic Papua New Guinea beans. Long live the caffeine bean! And long live the neighborhood coffee house.

Saturday at the farmers' market

2011-07-16T09:14:00.000-04:00

The flower vendor and her lovely products.

I woke up early this morning and went to the Matthews Community Farmers' Market, getting there before 7AM. I took these photos as the farmers and vendors were setting up. It was still a little dark, but you get the idea. :-)

The front entrance to the market, from Trade Street (next to the hardware store).

Everything sold at the Matthews Community Farmers' Market is grown or made within 50 miles of Matthews. This is a place that fully supports "Local Folks, Local Farms, Local Food."

It's peach season in the Carolinas!

The Community House opens early, so you can set yourself up with a cuppa coffee while you wait for the bell to ring at 7:15AM.

Scenes from 'Bama

2011-07-08T21:35:00.003-04:00

We spent the 'July 4th weekend" in Alabama, where most of S's extended family lives. One day we drove to the the town in southwest Alabama where her Dad is from. I've been there four times and every time I go, I think of the town in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

I'm not sure when this store -- called Grant's Mercantile or the "Guff" (not Gulf) station -- closed, but gas was only 67 cents a gallon! It really is like taking a step back in time here. If I close my eyes, I can hear the train whistle and other sounds of days gone by. I'm sure that if I focus really hard and look in the right direction, I'll spot Izzy under a tree, charming some bees and stealing some honey.

It's a peaceful place to visit, and good for the soul. I look forward to my next visit!

Sweet Union

2011-06-26T18:25:00.004-04:00

We recently moved to Union County, North Carolina. I always wondered why Union County was named Union County. After all, North Carolina was a Confederate state during the U.S. Civil War back in the 1860s. There's even a statue in front of the old Union County courthouse dedicated to the local Confederate soldiers. So why is the county called Union?

I didn't know, so I looked it up. Wikipedia says that Union County was formed in 1842 and that the name "Union" was a compromise between two political groups. One of the groups wanted to name the new county (which was formed from part of Mecklenburg, where Charlotte is, and Anson) Clay county after Henry Clay. The other group wanted to name it Jackson, after Andrew Jackson. (I'm not sure what the Henry Clay connection to the area is, but Andrew Jackson was born near the town of Waxhaw, North Carolina, which is in Union County.)

Regardless of how it came to be called Union, it's the fastest growing county in the state of North Carolina. Seriously, the growth here over the last decade has been phenomenal. OK, so it doesn't have all the fancy citified perks of its urban neighbor to the west. And true, it's a little inconvenient to have to drive all the way to Monroe (the county seat) to take care of certain business, instead of driving to Charlotte. But as I learned recently when I had to go there to get the water service transferred to my name, things are sweet here.

The courthouse is sweet. The little downtown is sweet. And the iced tea . . . you get the point.

So I couldn't help but smile as I walked back to my car after taking care of that business with the water company: The security guard had reminded me of Sheriff Andy Taylor (from the old TV show The Andy Griffith Show); there was no line/no wait at the counter of the water department, and James Taylor's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" was playing on outdoor speakers. This, I reasoned, must be why Union County is called "Sweet Union" by the natives.

And so far, I have to agree. How sweet is is, indeed.

10 things I'll miss about the city apartment

2011-06-16T21:12:00.005-04:00

As our time in the "city apartment" draws to a close and we prepare to move out to Suburbialand, I thought I'd take a few minutes to consider 10 things I'll miss about living here in the apartment. (There's also a 10 things I won't miss list -- if I can indeed narrow it down to 10 things -- but that's a future entry.)

1. Living in the city. We're just a few miles from downtown (or uptown, whatever) and on a main street, so it feels alive here.

2. Being within walking distance of so many things: three shopping centers, two grocery stores, countless restaurants, a movie theater, a great independent bookstore, my massage therapist, a fabulous cupcakery . . . even a bowling alley. Not that I've taken advantage of everything, but still.

3. Freedom Park. We took the dogs here a lot when the weather was nice. It's such a pretty park, and the walk around the lake was just the right distance for the dogs to be exhausted afterward.

4. Being just a short drive away from SouthPark Mall, which is one of the best places to shop in the Carolinas. Seriously. I mean, that's where the Apple Store is, for goodness sakes. :-)

5. Daily trash & recycling pickup at our door. All we had to do was put the trash in the black bag and the recyclables in the clear bag, tie it up, and leave it at the door. Every night around 8PM, the "waste concierge" would come pick it up. No muss, no fuss!

6. The bamboo floors and granite countertops. OK, lame, maybe. But for the last 10 months, we've been living in a so-called luxury apartment. Although our new place is going to be very nice, it doesn't have either of those two "vanity" features.

7. The European-style toilets. Since this is a "green" apartment building, we have low-flow toilets. You know, the ones with the two buttons on top, where the little button is for pee and the big button is for poo. I really like these toilets, and I think they should be required everywhere. By law. I mean, come on, why not? It saves a ton of water AND you can barely hear it when it flushes.

8. Briar Creek. It runs behind the apartment, and on nights when the weather's good you can open up the windows, and hear the Frog & Insect Orchestra playing along to the babbling brook.

9. Stainless steel appliances. I like stainless steel appliances, even if they get fingerprints on them (because they do, even when they say they don't.) Our new appliances will be black. Well, that's not bad. At least they're not avocado green and from 1972.

10. The saltwater swimming pool. It's true that I haven't frequented it. But it's there. Maybe I should go jump in. Right now.

Cross-species communication

2011-06-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

Braveheart visits with his friend Whitney the White Rock chicken. Bravey was actin' all smooth and laid back, and Whitney was like: "What's up, little feline dude?" It was cute to watch, but I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if there wasn't a fence in between them.

Coming soon to a table near ME

2011-06-14T22:47:00.001-04:00

Sunburst hybrid squash - ready now!

Watermelon . . . ready in a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to THIS.

What's ready now: yellow squash, zucchini, sunburst squash, peppers, beans, onions, and a little bit o' sweet corn.

What'll be ready soon: More beans & sweet corn.

And not too much longer for: cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, butternut squash, dried beans, and peanuts!!!

Hangin' out

2011-06-14T22:41:00.000-04:00

After a long day of grueling physical farm labor in 90F/30C heat, there's nothing quite like a cold glass of lemonade, a good book, and kickin' back in a hammock. I should know. :-)

Dirty laundry

2011-06-14T22:39:00.000-04:00

Actually, this is clean laundry. But that doesn't sound nearly as exciting as dirty laundry, does it? We've got a dryer at the farm, but when it's nice and sunny out, I like putting the clothes on the line to dry. It saves electricity, it doesn't take long, and it makes the clothes have a fresh scent. Reminds me of Grandma, too. What's not to like?

Like a coon dog basking in the sunshine

2011-06-07T21:10:00.014-04:00

I have a confession to make: I've been listening to quite a bit of country music lately. If you'd told me a year ago that moving back to North Carolina would bring out my inner Johnny Cash, I would've laughed, or at least smirked a little. But here we are.

Unlike a lot of my Native Tar Heel friends, I don't come from a family of country music fans. My family was a unique blend of American Bandstand, Soul Train and The Lawrence Welk Show. We listened to Elvis, The Supremes, and Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. OK, so there was the weekly dose of Hee Haw - but that was because we only got one channel way out there in the country back during the prehistoric (pre-cable TV) times. The only reason I can still sing most of the lines to "Gloom, Despair, and Agony On Me" is by default.

Uncool. That's exactly the word that came into my head when I thought about country music. Well, all right, there were a few exceptions from back in the day, other than The Man in Black. Jerry Reed played a mean guitar, and he was the cute little truck driver in Smokey and The Bandit, one of my favorite movies from 1977. (NOTE: I was very young then and had not yet developed much taste in cinema.) And Crystal Gayle. My sister and I thought she was pretty cool, and her hair was the longest we'd ever seen . . . on a human.

In the early 1990s, my friend Alice was into country music, and she introduced me to some of her favorites: Garth Brooks and Wynonna Judd. I still think Garth's No Fences was an excellent album, and Wynonna is certainly a musical force to be reckoned with. Shania Twain arrived on my scene in the late 90s, and even now I occasionally listen to Come On Over (I prefer the international version). It seems to me that all three of these artists sort of changed country music. I guess this is what they call Contemporary Country. Fast forward to the summer of 2008, when I was living in Vienna. On a day when I was feeling a little homesick, I heard Sugarland for the very first time, and I've been a fan ever since. Last year, I discovered Lady Antebellum, and this year, The Band Perry.

We listen to the radio at the farm these days, partially because we don't have a TV in the farmhouse, but also because my Mom says that music keeps the Esses away (that's a whole 'nuther blog entry). There's not a lot of listening variety on the airwaves there. Let's see. There's the gospel channel, whose volume is mysteriously much higher than other stations. There's an old school hip-hop station that plays stuff I danced to in high school ("Ho-tel Mo-tel Holiday INN!") And there's a station that plays classic rock except from 11-12 on Sundays, when they broadcast a local church service. You can go from Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" to a choir singing "Just A Little Talk With Jesus" in a matter of nanoseconds.

But there's no shortage of country music stations. So I'm listening.
One of the things I'm starting to appreciate about country music is its ability to tell stories. Some of the stories are downright get-the-hankies-out-tear-jerking. These are the songs about breaking up, cheating, being cheated on, getting revenge, getting cancer, and your grandpa/grandma/best friend/best dog dying. I try not to cry, but sometimes I just can't help it. It's like some sort of Red State emotional release. But country music makes me laugh a lot, too. And that may be the thing I find most appealing about it. I love all the references to moonshine, grits, and coon dogs (the latter is mentioned in today's video, "You Lie" by The Band Perry -- a song that could easily be used to teach the concept of the simile in English language classes).

The truth is, I like music of all kinds. And I'm just as likely to be listening to Rachmaninoff on my iPod at work, or European disco music when I'm driving my car . . . in the city. But if I want to, I'm going to get my country groove on.

Dang it.

Farm kitties

2011-06-05T21:55:00.002-04:00

The resident farm cat had five kittens in April. They're at that cute age now where they're experimenting with climbing trees and playing games with each other. I could watch them all day long. Here are a few of my favorite photos from this weekend.

We haven't named this little girl yet. She's a shy one -- you can't get too close without her running away. Although she looks mostly like a grey tabby, she's got some yellow/orange spots as well. (The mother is a long-haired calico.)

This is Braveheart, one of two orange tabbies. He has no fear is full of personality. He's also quite talkative. It may be hard to tell from this photo, but his eyes are like jewels: they're blue, green, and yellow.

This one doesn't have a name yet, either, but she's so pretty. Her grey eyes are an exact match for her coat.

Bunches of chard

2011-05-30T21:44:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to announce that Swiss chard grows really well on our little farm. In fact, we have so much of it, it's coming out of our ears!!!

Washing the chard . . . a very important task, unless you want extra protein.

The only thing I don't enjoy so much about the chard is washing it. You really have to wash it several times . . . as many as six times . . . to get all the dirt and other possible items. Of course, you should do this with all of your greens. ESPECIALLY those greens you get in bags at the store. Don't be fooled by statements on the packaging saying that the stuff is pre-washed. Even if it says "washed three times" . . . you'll want to wash it again. And again.

But I digress. This entry is supposed to be about Swiss chard. My favorite Swiss chard recipe is a Swiss chard frittata, but I like it simply sauteed in olive oil with a little sea salt, too.

Try it. You might like it!

Give her a push!

2011-05-26T21:47:00.003-04:00

Me . . . . BEFORE.

What do you give a person who has everything for their birthday? An experience, or better yet, an adventure! For Sandy's recent birthday, I took a day off work and we went to the US National Whitewater Center. This amazing facility is where our US athletes train for events like whitewater rafting and kayaking, but it's open to the public and you can do a lot more than that.

For example . . .

Adventure ropes courses
Ziplining
Mountain biking
Flatwater kayaking
Massive consumption of Fat Tire (if you're into that kind of thing)

I was psyched to go. After all, I love adventure! We started with a ropes course, which was something like 30 feet off the ground (maybe more). They attach a harness to you and tell you not to touch anything metal, then you have to slide across a high wire. Sometimes you've got stable stuff to hold onto like ropes or PVC pipes, and sometimes things are not so stable! I tackled this pretty easily . . . until about midway across the first wire, when I started wobbling and the fear hit me that I was going to fall. Of course, if I'd fallen, the harness would have caught me and the only damage done would have been to my ego (perhaps with some bruises across the tops of my thighs). But I kept going, motivated in part by a thirty-something woman behind me who took two steps out and then completely freaked. (As in: "WAH! I CAN'T DO THIS!) For some reason, her whining and inability to continue motivated me. So across the wires I went. Slowly, but surely. When I was done, my arm muscles were killing me, but there was no time to rest. We immediately got in line for the ziplining.

Me: DURING. "OMG! WTF was I thinking?!!!"

OK, I should say that the ziplining here is the zipline equivalent of a bunny slope. Flying across the rainforest in El Salvador or Costa Rica it is not. But you have to climb a very long rope ladder. I started out pretty fast, but the beginning part is easy. About a third of the way through, the slope became very steep, and soon I was literally climbing one foot at a time, about four inches at a time. Suddenly it seemed like an endless rope ladder. And it was very wobbly. When I got to the top of the rope ladder, I had to hoist myself up onto a platform.

Not so sure I wanna do this anymore. Want my Mommy.

The dude working the platform hooked us up and began explaining what was about to happen. I felt myself reversing in age very quickly, all the way back to age four or so. When finally he asked: "Are you ready?" I replied (or, more accurately, four-year old me replied): "No." I even shook my head like a four-year old.

And I told him to unhook me.

I'm not sure why I couldn't do it. Obviously, I don't have a fear of heights, or I would'nt've been up there in the first place. Maybe it was the sensation of falling. Or just a fear of the unknown. But I couldn't. Sandy (also known as Wonder Woman and G.I. Jane) went on down without me, then yelled at me from the ground. She was trying to videotape me, but I was just sitting up there, as if my butt was glued to the platform. In one of the videos, you can clearly hear Sandy yell "Give her a push!" Now how about that? Tell us what you really think, Sandy!!!

I asked the dude to hook me back up.

By this time, there's a line of folks coming up behind me, and he's starting to lose his patience. "Ma'am, you're gonna have to decide soon," he told me. "Or you're gonna have to climb back down the ladder."

Climb back down the ladder? What? You've got to be kidding me.

I didn't want to go anywhere near that ladder again. So I took a deep breath, grabbed hold of the strap, said something under my breath that rhymed with "Duck Fat" and jumped.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. In fact, there's only just one little itty-bitty nanosecond when you feel like you're falling. The hydraulic wire system holds you right into place, and you just glide down the wire. It's kind of fun! I even landed on my feet! Unlike my former friend Sandy, who (I'm saying this to try to save my own face even though I know I shouldn't because it was her birthday) fell flat on her bee-hind. I know, because I saw it from up on the platform.

Despite my um, success, I was in shock for about an hour after this experience. I couldn't talk. I couldn't process. It was all I could do to walk away.

Later in the afternoon, we went whitewater rafting. Now THAT was fun (really). Of course, in 90 degree heat, anything involving water is fun, even if you get sloshed around and beaten up. And even if you wake up the next morning with screaming quadriceps muscles, and you can barely walk. Which is exactly what happened to both of us today!

Next year, Sandy's getting an L.L. Bean gift card. Or something like that. :-)

Stop and smell the roses

2011-05-19T14:36:00.000-04:00

I once saw a bumper sticker on the back of a car that read: DOG IS GOD SPELLED BACKWARDS. If you've ever been lucky enough to have a dog as a friend, then you'll be able to appreciate this slogan. Many of you know that Cody is my special little friend. He's about to turn eight next Thursday -- that's 56 in human years. Anyway, I recently caught this photo of him sniffing flowers, and it's just one example of why I love him. He could have been doing a hundred other things, but he chose to stop and smell the roses. If you ask me, we could all learn from that. :-)

Baked goods

2011-05-14T20:44:00.001-04:00

I went to a "Chef's Choice" cooking class at Johnson & Wales University a few weekends ago. The topic was Viennoiserie, or Vienna style baked goods. Here are some of the things I made in the class:


Croissants and brioche rolls


Croissant, up close and personal. Our croissants had 81 layers.


A "coffee roll" made from spiced brioche dough, blueberry and streusel topping.

A bear claw stuffed with creme cheese and pineapple confit filling.


Apple streusel danish.

Apricot creme cheese danish.

Blueberry cream cheese danish.

Cherry creme cheese danish.

I'm fairly confident that I can reproduce the doughs we made in the class (croissant and brioche doughs), but the process is both time-consuming and labor intensive. So I'm not sure how often I'll be baking. Still, it was a fun way to spend a Saturday . . . and I hope I can go to another class someday soon! :-)

Late to the party

2011-05-13T18:15:00.002-04:00

Several years ago at one of those lunch pitch-in things at the office, a group of coworkers got into a discussion about what was then the latest craze on television: American Idol. The passions ran deep, and it seemed that everyone had their favorite performer. At the time, I'd never seen American Idol, and for some reason now unknown to me, I wasn't interested. The years went by, and I never watched a single episode of this TV show that apparently all other Americans except me watched on a regular basis.

Flash forward to early 2011: American Idol is about to start its tenth season, and suddenly I see Facebook chatter that a girl from my hometown named Victoria Huggins had passed the first round of auditions. Someone attached a video to their Facebook page, and I took a look. I'm not sure if it was Victoria's spunk or Steven Tyler's response to it, but something about that clip got me interested in American Idol for the first time ever, and I kept watching.

I kept watching through the crazy audition phase. There was good talent, excellent talent, and, um, a few instances of no talent. There were tear-jerking stories that I'll never forget. There were people who seemed so ordinary at first, yet blew the judges away when they began to sing; and people who walked in like they were stars already, only to bomb. There were moments of great joy, and moments of deep disappointment, tears, and even shock -- as seen on the face of my hometown girl when she found out she didn't make the cut.

Then came the actual competitions. As the weeks passed, you could literally see the individual growth taking place as the contestants (whom I'll now call competitors) rehearsed, were coached by the likes of Jimmy Iovine, will.i.am, Sheryl Crow and Lady Gaga, and were sometimes reamed by the judges. I don't know about past seasons, but this season the competitors all seemed to like each other and they seemed supportive of each other -- particularly the Top Six or Seven. As the field narrowed, the performances got even better, and it was like I was witnessing the formation of stars.

Now we're down to three: Scotty McCreery, the country singer from Garner, North Carolina; Georgia peach Lauren Alaina, who can sing anything and is as cute as a button; and Chicago-based Haley Reinhart, whose raspy-bluesy voice is matched by an impressive attitude. I like them all, and regardless of who becomes the next American Idol, they all have fantastic careers ahead of them.

And what about the judges? I may have missed out on the Simon Cowell/Paula Abdul days, but if you ask me, the current judges are the right blend of critic, support, and street cred. Steven Tyler may have a potty mouth at times, but he's the real deal. He seems to know just when someone needs to hear a compliment, and he can find the good in any performance. Jennifer Lopez comes across as engaging and playful, as exemplified in the "kiss scene" with Casey. Veteran judge Randy Jackson calls it like he sees it - the mark of a true professional.

So I now watch American Idol. I may have arrived late the to the party, but the party's just getting started. For me, at least. In fact, just this morning I bought tickets to the upcoming Idols Summer Tour: The Top 11 are coming to my town in July. I look forward to seeing these awesome young performers up on the stage in front of me. As far as I'm concerned, they're all winners!

Computer blues

2011-05-05T20:05:00.002-04:00

I've heard that computers typically have a lifespan of about three years. My MacBook is four years old now. It's been with me all around the world, been in my backpack, my carry-on bag, and on my lap across oceans and time zones more times than I can recall. I lost count a long time ago how many countries it's been in. I've written a book, five or six blogs, a couple of thousand emails, 1,800 tweets, and countless Facebook messages on it. It houses my photos from five continents and 30+ countries. It holds my family tree, and at least one branch goes back to the sixteenth century, documented.

It's a part of me. Like an appendage. Or a really close friend. Actually, it is a close friend. :-)

Unfortunately, it's reached the point where the battery only lasts about an hour . . . and the hard drive is full. It's been full before, but I've always deleted stuff and made more room. Recently, I've even deleted some programs. But I can't do that anymore. I've reached the point where I don't want to delete anything else. I can't even post any photos on my blog right now, because . . . it won't let me.

The Apple Store has done everything it can.

My conclusion: It's time to get a new computer. I don't know when I'm going to do it, but I need to do it soon. Deep breath now.

. . . To be continued!

Baby chicks

2011-04-25T20:59:00.001-04:00

Only they're not really cute baby chicks anymore. They're more like awkward eight-year-olds whose permanent teeth are coming in and looking all goofy.

Veggie tales

2011-04-25T20:52:00.002-04:00

Snow peas

This past weekend, we assessed the results of our February and March plantings . . . and we ate some. The bok choy and rapini had gone to seed, but we cut the good parts off and ate them anyway. :-) They were delicious. I was disappointed not to have more, but at least we got a decent meal from them. Our lettuce never really did anything . . . mostly because it rained (flooded, actually) a few days after we planted it. The deer ate the spinach and kale. The early peas fizzled out for some unknown reason (making them prime candidates for pea green salad). There were times when I felt like a dismal failure as a farmer.

But then I saw the carrots, beets, peppers, onions, potatoes, Swiss chard and various herbs. All of those are looking great and on track so far. The chard and potatoes could actually be eaten now, but I'm going to give them a couple more weeks to let them mature just a little more.

The snow peas are from my Mom and Dad's garden. Their garden looks so much better than ours! My Mom gets out there everyday and hoes the weeds away and breaks up the dirt so the veggies can "breathe." It really helps the plants. (I'd like to get out there everyday, but I'm just a weekend farmer.)

This weekend, I transplanted about two dozen tomato seedlings (several different varieties, including Amish Paste, Fresh Salsa, and some orange, pink, and even a black variety). I also planted five types of beans; two types each of watermelons, squash, cantaloupes; pumpkins; and some herb seedlings. In the meantime, Sandy planted three very long rows of sweet corn.

So now we wait. Again. And we hope. Such is the way of the farmer. :-)

Dew-drenched Irises

2011-04-25T20:38:00.002-04:00

It was foggy on the farm last Saturday morning, and the morning dew lingered longer than usual. Here are some photos of some of Mom's "dewy" Iris flowers. She has about a million of them right now!

Mom said this is actually called a Black Iris, but it looks purple to me. :-)

I call this one Old Lady Pink.

These are my favorite.

It was really impossible to get a good shot of these, for some reason!

Birthday report

2011-04-21T21:40:00.003-04:00

I've had quite a few birthdays, and have lots of good memories of my special days. When I was a kid, my parents always tried to do something I enjoyed, whether it was a party or my favorite cake or another treat. My most memorable birthday as a child was my 10th, because that was the year I got a stereo. I'll never forget walking into my bedroom (in the farmhouse), seeing the turntable and speakers set up nicely on my dresser, and hearing the stereophonic strains of Tony DeFranco singing "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat" through speakers the size of microwave ovens (which nobody had yet).

There were other memorable birthdays over the years: the 15th, spent with good friends at Pizza Hut (a really big deal in 1979); the 16th, when I got my drivers' license; the 18th and 21st, which were memorable for obvious reasons. After the 21st, things were kind of a blur for a few years. Fast forward to 1999. That was my first birthday spent outside the USA, in Montreal. We went for a horse and buggy ride, and it was all a big deal because we were poor graduate students at the time.

Since then, I've celebrated my birthday in all sorts of interesting places: dining at Tavern On The Green in New York's Central Park (someone slipped the host a couple of Jacksons to get us into the Crystal Room); whale watching in Washington's San Juan Islands; drinking fresh grapefruit juice at a cacao plantation on Saint Lucia; eating Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna; enjoying a Hawaiian luau . . . it's been one adventure after another.

This year, we didn't plan a vacation around my birthday. After all, it's not a particularly special year. There's no "0" or even a "5" in my numbers this year. But it was still very special, and one of the best birthdays ever. Why? Because I did all the things I wanted to do!

Took the day off from work.
Slept until almost 10:30AM.
S gave me my present . . . the ice cream maker attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer - just what I wanted!
Had a wonderful lunch at The Crȇpe Cellar, then drove around Plaza-Midwood looking at the awesome Arts & Crafts houses.
Went to SouthPark Mall and shopped at The Walking Store (shoes!) and Sur La Table (cooking stuff!)
S picked up some cupcakes from Polka Dot Bakery . . . Raspberry, Tuxedo, and Creme Caramel.
Got a pedicure . . . and got some sparkly polish on my toes. :-)
Had Indian food for dinner (my favorite - Navratan Korma and Naan bread).
Spent the rest of the evening lounging around, doing nothing in particular except loafing.

It was a wonderful birthday, even if I spent it in Charlotte (and not on an island or some place requiring a passport). Hopefully, this is the start of a good year, perhaps the best yet!

NC tornadoes: how you can help

2011-04-18T20:42:00.004-04:00

If you've seen the news anytime since Saturday night, you know that North Carolina was hit hard by tornadoes Saturday afternoon.

Here is a link to some photos.

Fortunately, our family, home, and farm are all OK. But other North Carolinians didn't fare so well. At least 22 people were killed across the state, including 3 people in the county next to where our farm is. Up to 2,500 homes were destroyed or damaged. It was a sad day for our state.

If you're able and interested in helping out financially, here's a link to some ways you can help.

Thanks for anything you can do - and thanks to everyone who sent messages of concern/support on Facebook and Twitter.

Scenes from the farm tour

2011-04-18T20:29:00.000-04:00


A curious goat on a farm in Alamance County.


Look Dad - no hills!

This little piggy was happy about all the rain and mud.

Tunnel farming in Orange County.

Hothouse tomato plants.

This is a chicken tractor.


Chicken tractor, up close and personal.

Twangy jingle

2011-04-18T18:32:00.001-04:00

Here's a local TV commercial whose jingle is currently stuck in my head. I'm not saying this is a good or a bad thing. It's just a thing. Anyway, here's a little Carolina for you. Enjoy! Hahahahaha teehee LOL!!!

This just hatched

2011-04-15T16:40:00.001-04:00

We've got baby chicks! They arrived on the farm earlier this week, flown in from Iowa probably on the same day as they were born -- er, hatched. They're Rhode Island Reds, and I hope to have some photos up soon!

Spring is busting out all over

2011-04-05T21:11:00.000-04:00


The elm and oak trees at the farmhouse. The water oak in front of the house is easily 150 years old or more.

According to my nephew, this is a winged elm, and it's one of the largest in the Carolinas.

A very old Dogwood tree.

Dogwood, up close and personal.

Azaleas by the front porch.

Photos taken with my phone's camera (hence the quality) April 3-4, 2011 on the farm in Robeson County, North Carolina.

Future pears

2011-04-05T20:59:00.000-04:00

We've got five pear trees, and they're budding like crazy. On this tree alone, I counted over 100 buds. While not all of them will become fruit, I'm thinking that we're gonna be canning a LOT of pears this year. Which is fine by me!

Bees in the trees

2011-04-05T20:52:00.001-04:00

A swarm of honeybees invaded the farm last weekend. While this may sound like a scary Hitchcock movie, the fact is, honeybees are our friends. We need them, and not just for their honey. They help pollinate crops, which make food. And they help pollinate flowers. So not only do they help feed the world, they make it pretty, also.

Yet honeybees are disappearing. Whole colonies have been dying out, not just in North America but in Europe and Australia, too. A new documentary called Queen of the Sun takes a look at this crisis. I haven't seen it . . . yet.

In the meantime, we should be afraid. Not of the bees, but of what things might be like without them.

Anyway, so for years now, we've been trying to do things to make our farm more hospitable to honeybees: everything we can think of from planting certain types of flowers they love to eliminating pesticides and certain chemicals. We've even thought about having our own hives. So when the swarm of bees seemed interested in our tree, we were excited.

Mom & Dad's dentist is a hobby apiculturist, so they gave him a call and asked him to come out and advise us. We all agreed that the swarm, or colony, or whatever you call it, wouldn't really be happy in this tree because it's too close to human and canine activity and we didn't any species to be agitated by the other. So Dr. C shook the tree limb and the bees fell into a special bee box. Dr. C told us that if they liked the bee box, they'd make it their home and we could move it to another place on the farm. He promised to come back in 8-10 hours to see if they were still in the box.

The bees stuck around for a while, and we thought they were acclimating to the box. But three hours later, for no apparent reason, they began gathering into a swarm outside of the box. As if part of one brain, they collected themselves into a large black blob. And then they flew away.

I (for one) was really disappointed. But I hope the bees found a more suitable home, and I hope that they'll survive . . . and thrive. 'Cause we need bees. Really, we do.

Rain, rain, go away

2011-03-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

Seriously. What happened to Spring? A few weeks ago, people were breaking out the shorts and the sandals. Everyone was certain Spring was here to stay. But Mother Nature has her own sense of timing, doesn't she?

This reminds me of a joke that I remember from elementary school. It goes like this: If March winds bring April showers, and April showers bring May flowers . . . what do May flowers bring?

PILGRIMS!!! (Get it? May flowers = Mayflowers?)

Tulip town

2011-03-22T22:47:00.000-04:00

I had to stop by Earth Fare on my way home from work today, and was greeted by this lovely scene when I entered the shopping center. Being that I'm still not adjusted to Spring coming so early (after living in Indiana for 14 years), this was quite a shock to my eyes. I couldn't stop looking at it. Lovely!

Cherry blossoms

2011-03-22T22:44:00.000-04:00

Spring in North Carolina is here, and it's beautiful. Wow. Just wow. There are no other words.

So-called sour weed

2011-03-22T22:41:00.000-04:00

So-called sour weed.

As we were driving to the farm last Friday evening, we passed several fields filled with a pretty red plant. Later, I asked my Mom what it was, and she said it was called sour weed. To which I replied: "Oh, is that what sourwood honey comes from?" Quickly, she quipped: "No, that's sour weed, honey. Not sourwood honey."

The thing is, when I looked up sour weed on the internet, I found all kinds of references to something else. Some of y'all will probably know what I'm referring to. LOL! Anyway, I can't seem to find out what this stuff in the photo is. Could it be red sorrel, perhaps?

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

My tractor's sexy

2011-03-22T22:25:00.004-04:00

The view from the tractor seat.

Um, maybe not.

Actually, this is my Dad's tractor, an International 140 IH. We don't know the year because he bought it used (very used), but it was made sometime between 1958 and 1979. It's very basic, and a little scary to drive because the brakes are weird. It's pretty busted up as you can see, but it gets the job done. And it's RED, so you know I like it.

I learned how to plow last Saturday. Now, this may surprise you that I didn't know how to plow already, being that I'm a country girl and all. But Dad is very particular with his tractor and doesn't let just anyone drive it. :-)

For the record, my row was rather straight. Everyone was impressed. Maybe I could have a career in farming after all?

Here's the dirt

2011-03-22T22:13:00.005-04:00


Let me tell you, this is a hard row to hoe.

We returned to the farm last weekend, really excited to see what was coming up after the planting of seeds on 28 February. There was a hard rain just a few days after we planted, so we weren't sure what we'd find. Fortunately, the rain didn't seem to have much of an impact on anything except the lettuce. We'll have lettuce - just not all we planted. Oh, and then there was the case of the missing spinach. As in . . . the spinach was totally gone, wiped clean. Deer tracks all around revealed clues as to its disappearance. My Mom had warned us that deer love spinach, and she was right.

So I guess we won't be growing spinach.

In the meantime, the carrots are looking fantastic. They'll need thinning in a few weeks. And the baby bok choy . . . wow, if that keeps up, it's going to be beautiful. Everything else is on target.

We planted a few more things on Saturday:

20 pepper plants (cayenne, green bell, red bell, yellow bell, hot banana, and sweet banana)
100 sweet onion plants
An entire, very long row of sweet corn
A half row of golden beets
A half row of early peas (which really, we should have planted two weeks ago)

You can see in the photo above just how big the "garden" is and how long the rows are. But we haven't even planted half of it yet!

Everyone's pooped after a long day on the farm . . . even Chelsea.

So much work yet to be done, but we're enjoying it. No complaints . . . yet!

Spring frolic

2011-03-13T20:45:00.005-04:00

Cody, just moments before the frolicking started.

Today was a perfect 73F/23C sunny Carolina day, so we took the dogs for a walk. At first, we went to Sedgefield Park (a small neighborhood park between Park Road and South Boulevard) but we wanted to go for a long walk, so we walked all around the Sedgefield neighborhood.

At one point, we came across a yard with lush green "winter" grass (sort of like the kind we had in our yard in Indiana). Chelsea decided to sit down and rest a bit. At first, Cody wasn't so sure. But then he plopped down on the grass . . . and it felt so good, he rolled around in it. Over. And over. And over!

Chelsea says it's time for a break.

Cody lets it all hang out.

In case you're wondering what the pink stuff in the grass is, it's petals from a tulip tree. They peaked last week and then we got a hard rain, so lots of the petals fell off the trees.

Yes, it's spring here in Carolina! And we're (almost) as excited about it as the dogs are. :-)

Afternoon @ the lake

2011-03-12T21:06:00.002-05:00

This afternoon we drove up to Lake Norman to see some of my extended family. My cousin Bill retired recently, so we celebrated that with a retirement piñata, which is sure to be the next big thing at Baby Boomer retirement parties. The weather was perfect, so we were able to relax on the patio overlooking the lake . . . while wearing borrowed straw hats (because it was a straw hat kind of day).

BUT BEFORE we went up to Lake Norman, I met cousins Ginny & Tom at a South End deli called The Common Market. I'd read about some of their sandwiches being "Best in Charlotte" in Charlotte Magazine, and was not disappointed. I had the black-eyed peas and spinach soup and the mid-eastern wrap, two of the many vegan items on the menu.

It was a great day! Now I have to go set my clocks up an hour. Hope y'all don't forget to do the same.

First planting

2011-03-03T22:07:00.008-05:00

"Natchez Thornless" Blackberry, planted Saturday, 26 February 2011.

My friends back in Indiana might be surprised to learn that it's planting season for some things here already.

In fact, things are blooming here already: daffodils, Bradford pears, cherry trees, forsythia . . . and allergy season has begun. :-)

Anyway, last weekend we planted a whole bunch of stuff in our gi-normous garden, including:

Zesty salad mesclun mix
Spicy salad lettuce mix
Red sails lettuce
Jericho lettuce
Tennis ball lettuce (seeds from Monticello!)
Bright Lights Swiss chard
Five color Silverbeet Swiss chard
Broccoli raab (rapini)
Red core Chantenay carrots
Red Russian kale
Bloomsdale spinach
Gourmet beets blend
Detroit dark beets
White stem Bok Choy
Collards
Rutabagas
Red potatoes
Gold potatoes

We also transplanted some grape vines, and planted three new vines: Concord seedless, Reliance seedless, and Marquis seedless.

I planted seven blackberry bushes - three Natchez thornless, and three Arapaho thornless. (Believe me, you want thornless blackberry bushes. If you like your skin.)

Last but not least . . . I planted a dwarf Seckel pear tree and a Red Fuji apple tree.

Mom says we should have potatoes by Easter.

I just bought a whole bunch of Jiffy peat pellets. This weekend I'm hoping to get seeds started for a medicinal herb garden. I'm also hoping to buy some herb seedlings for a kitchen herb garden. Let's hope the good weather continues!

One final note for this entry: we ordered 25 Rhode Island Red baby chicks! They should arrive in about 3 to 4 weeks. Exciting!

Big sky sunset

2011-03-03T21:57:00.000-05:00

We have some big skies at the farm. I took this photo with my iPhone last weekend. Heh, if you think this is cool, you should see the sky at night. When it's clear out, you can see billions of stars!

Baby candy

2011-03-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

"Baby Jesus" candy from El Salvador. They taste kind of like orange circus peanut candy. I brought three packs back as souvenirs/gifts. Major hit. :-)

El Salvador - Part 4 (last one!)

2011-02-28T19:13:00.000-05:00

The view of the Pacific Ocean from the balcony outside our room.

Our last 24 hours in El Salvador were spent at a beach resort in Playa Pimental. It was soooooo relaxing to just "chill" for a while before going back home. In fact, one of the first things I did (after booking a massage!) was to climb into a hammock and take a nap. I fell asleep to the swishing of the palm trees. It was awesome.

Rancho Estero y Mar - the back side.

The place where we stayed is called Rancho Estero y Mar, and it's now on my list of places I might disappear to, should the need ever arise. It's only about a half an hour drive from the airport, and is relatively quiet and uncrowded - at least it was when we were there.

One of the many capuchin monkeys at Rancho Estero y Mar.

There's lots of wildlife here, and we saw everything from alligators to toucans. But the species that captivated my attention was cebus capucinus -- the capuchin monkeys. There were warning signs all around their cage, telling us not to get too close: apparently they're excellent pickpockets and will take sunglasses, cell phones, basically anything that's loose, on your head, or in your pockets. S leaned in to take a photo and one of them flew out of nowhere and grabbed her hair. (It has hard not to laugh.) Their little hands are like tiny people hands, with thumbs and everything, and they're so agile. Even their faces have a sort of human-like appearance. They remind me of tiny old men. Obviously, they're very smart. One of them spent several minutes with a pair of sunglasses, staring at his reflection as if he were a primate Narcissus. And there was a Mommy with a five day-old baby on her back. So cute. I could have spent hours watching these guys.

Mommy & baby

I'm so glad we had the opportunity to decompress before the long journey back home. It was just what we needed. And the massage was awesome! It was in a little hut right on the beach, so I could hear the waves of the ocean. Forty-five minutes, Swedish, for $15. Wowwwwwww!!!

Sunset on Playa Pimental.

We had a wonderful experience in El Salvador, and hope to go back again someday! If anyone out there would like to chat more with me about this experience or get more info on Charlotte Habitat, send me a message and I'll share what I know. Now, back to reality! :-)

El Salvador - Part 3

2011-02-24T22:08:00.006-05:00

House #1- "before" - and all the dirt/rocks we had to use to level out the yard between the two houses.

House #2 - "before".

Monday, Valentine's Day (14 February) . . . "Man, it's a hot one. Like seven inches from the noonday sun." 90F/32C and we're using basic tools and our own bodies to sift sand, move blocks, haul water, move dirt and rocks, tamp dirt, mix cement (chispa!), and pass buckets back and forth to each other.

Every few hours, we stop what we're doing for a few minutes to drink some water and apply sunscreen. Sometimes a cool breeze blows down from the mountains. It feels nice until you realize there's dust in the breeze and now it's sticking to your sunscreen. By the end of the day, you've got so much dust attached to your face, lips, and arms . . . well, let's just say it's a good thing you didn't pack exfoliant, 'cause you won't need it.

Yet there's no reason to complain, because . . . well, it feels good to be out in the sunshine. Away from the office. Away from the stress of work projects and deadlines. If you ask me, people weren't meant to be indoors so much. Certainly we weren't supposed to sit in front of a computer all day. And night. :-)

For the most part, my jobs on Monday were: 1) sprinkle water on the dust to keep it down when the wind blew; 2) sprinkle water on the cement blocks, because it helps the mortar to stick; 3) carry blocks from the big pile to the house; and 4) use the homemade tamper to tamp down the dirt when we evened out the yard between the two houses. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, and I had hot spots (but not quite blisters) on both my hands.

How the masons placed the blocks over the rebar. No ladders!

Tuesday was more of the same, only I took a couple of turns hauling water. The locals make it look easy carrying around the 7.5 gallon jugs of water on their heads (Look Mom, no hands!) but I struggled. I pulled up several containers of water from the well. Yes, it was a "real" well - a hole in the ground, with a bucket attached to a rope. Heave ho, heave ho, until the full bucket of water came back up. Then I'd have to pour that into a big drum. THEN put the jug into the drum to fill it with water. THEN carry the jug to the work site and pour it into another big drum.

NO WHINING!!!

I will never, ever take clean water for granted again. Or complain when the water that comes out of the faucet is too cold. Or too hot. In fact, I may never complain about anything, ever again.

By the end of the week, I was a wirecutter extraordinaire and a tamping expert (we had to add dirt to the floors and tamp them. And add more dirt and tamp. More dirt. More tamp. Times infinity.) Oh, and just so you know . . .

This is a tamper.

And this is what tamping looks like.

There were a couple of diversions. For example, one day our local Habitat hosts brought a grill, set it up, and some of us learned to make pupusas. They're really easy to make, and so yummy when you eat them hot off the grill.

Making pupusas.

We also visited a second community, this one just outside of Santa Ana. The new homes are quite lovely, and many people have planted flowers and trees in their yards. We were told that things grow quickly here.

One of the many pretty homes in the second community we visited.

Another day, some of us stopped work early and we drove the 5 miles or so on the Pan-American Highway from Candelaria de la Frontera to Guatemala. (I think Guatemala was my 35th country, but to be honest, I've kinda lost track already.)

On the border.

We didn't finish the houses, but by the end of the week, we definitely could tell that we had made progress. Actually, we were told that our assistance shaved off a couple of weeks from the entire process.


House #1 - "after".

House #2 - "after".

The masons and the landowner seemed very pleased with our work, and on Friday night we had a closing celebration at the Habitat office in Santa Ana . . . complete with a mariachi band!

There will be at least one more entry on the trip . . . but it may be a few days before I can post it. Thanks for your patience! :-))

El Salvador - Part 2

2011-02-23T15:48:00.002-05:00

Majestic trees up on the hill in coffee country near Apaneca

So after a wonderful afternoon meal at El Jardin de Celeste, we drove to Apaneca to go ziplining. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I was all psyched to go. But I chickened out at the last minute, worried that I might do something to exacerbate the problems I've been having with my hand and wrist. (Go ahead, call me a wimp if you must.) Instead, I joined the two others who opted out, and we stood at a point overlooking the town and watched our peers zip down the mountain.

The place overlooking Apaneca where we watched the zipliners.

The zipliners started out on a short "training course" to learn how to steer and brake. In all, they came down about a dozen lines, flying over the canopy of the rain forest. One person in particular had a really great time, as evidenced by the joyous cacaphony displayed in this short video (you may have to watch it several times. You may choke from laughter. I'm just sorry it's such a short video, but it's all my little camera could pick up.)

It's kind of funny that everyone else was silent while they ziplined, but not this noisy person. Yes, someone obviously had a very, very good time. :-)

After returning to Apaneca, we climbed back onboard the bus and went to the colorful town of Concepción de Ataco (Ataco, for short -- see the very last photo in this entry, below). This was our opportunity to shop. S bought a beautiful shirt and scarf, and I bought several scarves and a table runner.

Some of the beautiful textiles for sale in Ataco.

The "tourist" part of our trip continued on Sunday, when we drove from Santa Ana to Lago de Coatepeque, a beautiful volcanic crater lake. After another wonderful meal at a restaurant on a pier (you could see the clear water of the lake through the cracks in the flooring), we went on a very relaxing boat ride. The weather was perfect that day . . . but now that I think about it, the weather was pretty much perfect (if a little warm) most days we were in El Salvador.


Preparing for the boat ride on Lago de Coatepeque

There were many beautiful homes on the lake, such as this one:


One of the many lovely lakeside homes.

I mean, really, what's not to like?

Lago de Coatepeque from the mountain road. Breathtaking!

After we got back to the hotel from our lake adventure, we had our official orientation. It was nice that we had a couple of days to see part of the country and get to know each other as a team. By the time we arrived to the work site on Monday morning, we were ready to work.

Our days started early. Breakfast was at 6:30, after which we'd all meet on the hotel roof at 7:10 for our daily meeting. The vans picked us up at 7:30 for the 30 minute trip to the work site. Most days we worked until 16:00 or so.

Beautiful mural on the side of the building in Ataco where we shopped.

We worked in a town called Candelaria de la Frontera, which is along the Pan-American Highway close to the border with Guatemala. There were two houses, one at the front of the property and one in the back, that were being built for two sisters. Their mother was the landowner, and she as with us during the days while her daughters worked their jobs. By the way, part of the deal with getting a Habitat house is that the homeowner or someone in their family has to provide some sweat equity. Also, Habitat houses aren't free. The homeowners buy the houses and they have to qualify by having a certain monthly income in order to make payments. What makes it viable is that the price of the house is lower because of the cost of materials is lower, and because so much of the labor is from volunteers. (I'm just adding this here because until I started volunteering, I really wasn't sure what the deal was.)

OK, that said, I'm going to end this entry now and focus the next one on the actual construction process . . .

El Salvador - Part 1

2011-02-22T21:55:00.005-05:00

El Jardin de Celeste

I'm still trying to process our recent trip to El Salvador. So much happened. We saw so many things and met so many wonderful people. We formed new friendships. We worked our butts off. We played. We relaxed. Hopefully, we helped. Definitely, we learned. Honestly, I don't even know where to begin!

So let's just start at the beginning. We left early in the morning on Friday, 11 February, flying from Charlotte to Houston and then San Salvador. Our first stop after we left the airport in our bus was at a pupuseria (a sort of restaurant where pupusas served - don't worry if you don't know what pupusas are right now, I'll explain in a future entry). A little girl, no more than eight or nine years old, wanted to sell us some nuts in plastic bags. At first, she wanted $2 per bag, but when there were no takers, she lowered her price to $1. She was just the first of several young entrepreneurs we'd meet during our 10 days in El Pulgarcito.

El Pulgarcito is the nickname for El Salvador. It means "little thumb." El Salvador is sort of shaped like the little part of your thumb. If you don't believe me, just bend your thumb a little, and then look at a map of El Salvador, and you'll see.

All along the road from the airport to San Salvador, there are these fruit stands. Some of them are right next to each other, and they all seem to be selling the same thing, so you wonder what the point is. The road to San Salvador is a good road (better than in Costa Rica, according to one of our group members) and it's impossible to stop looking out the window. As we got closer to San Salvador, we all started seeing familiar sites: McDonald's. KFC. Pizza Hut. Wendy's. Texaco. Exxon, or maybe it's still called Esso there.

There's a huge, modern mall near the highway in San Salvador, with a multiplex cinema and lots of shops. We didn't stop there, though. Instead, we did our shopping at the hardware store. On our list? Buckets, trowels, and shovels. We bought a bunch of them, and each person chipped in $10 to pay. (We would leave them behind at the end of the week.)

We spent our first night in a swanky section of San Salvador, not far from embassy row and the international schools. Our hotel was really more like an inn, and by that I mean that it was cute and quaint.

The hotel where we stayed the first night in San Salvador.

Friday night, we met Patty, our local volunteer coordinator. She took us to a nice restaurant called Típicos Margoth, where we had an amazing spread of food that included: yuca, plaintains, black beans, soft cheese, tamales, and the best tostadas in the whole wide world. Seriously.

The best tostadas in the whole wide world.

On Saturday, we traveled the Pan-American Highway from San Salvador to Santa Ana (where we checked into our hotel - the Hotel Sahara) and beyond to Ahuachapán. We stopped by one of the communities where Charlotte Habitat has a presence, and saw examples of both old and new homes.

This is an example of an older-style house that is made from sticks, mud, and occasionally plastic sheeting.

This is one of the newer homes built by Habitat. It's made of blocks and cement, and is reinforced with rebar (which is particularly helpful when you live in an earthquake-prone area).

We met some very friendly people in this community, including an elder who happily showed us the new community garden that will eventually provide the residents with a place to grow some vegetables. We also met a young family who received a micro loan to help them start a rabbit business.

After visiting the community, we headed up into the mountains toward Apaneca. Along the way is a lovely hotel and restaurant called El Jardin de Celeste. Here we were treated to another excellent meal (probably my favorite of the trip). I had something called a Plato Típico or "typical meal" of grilled beef, chorizo sausage, rice, salsa, soft cheese, black beans and sour cream. I also had quite possibly the best coconut pie in the whole wide world, which sadly, I neglected to photograph.

Plato Típico . . . YUM!!!

In the next entry . . . read all about our ziplining experience. Quite possibly, if I can figure out how to upload it, see (or at least hear) a video. And read about our relaxing day at Lago de Coatepeque, a volcanic crater lake. Coming soon!

Back in the USA

2011-02-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

We're back from El Salvador. I'm sorting through my journal (which I did the old fashioned way - on paper) and the 500+ photos we took, and will have some blog entries to share soon!

A new adventure

2011-02-01T21:22:00.006-05:00

A few months ago S & I decided to do some volunteer work with our local Habitat for Humanity. I blogged about my first experience in Fear Not The Nail Gun (which if I had to do over again I would have titled If I Had a Hammer. Maybe next time.) Anyway, we've had a blast working with Charlotte Habitat, and decided to join them on an upcoming trip to El Salvador. We started out by going to an informal "info session" at the end of last year, and it wasn't a difficult decision once we met the group leader and another person who'd been many times. The reservations have been made and the plane tickets have been bought. The trip is a go.

Last night, we had our first group dinner at a local Salvadoran restaurant and met several other people who are going. Most of us sampled El Salvador's most famous dish (pupusa) and drank Salvadoran cerveza. Dinner was muy delicioso . . . and quite cheap (both of us ate for $12.40, including tip). I'm definitely going back to this restaurant.

The volunteers range in age, experience, and background. Most if not all have international travel experience. At least two have Peace Corps experience. Several have been on previous trips to El Salvador with Habitat, and it will be our volunteer coordinator's fourteenth trip. There were some very interesting stories and tips shared around the table. :-)

Looking forward to this new adventure! Will tell you all about it when we get back.

Mysterious noises in the nighttime

2011-01-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

If you've ever lived in an old house, you know about the strange noises. Sometimes you hear these creaks and cracks and you wonder just what's going on. Last Saturday night on the farm, just before drifting off to sleep, there was this . . . um, intermittent scratching sound coming from the hallway outside the bedroom. At first, I wrote it off as: 1) the wind, 2) the propane heater, or 3) the cat. Then I realized: 1) the wind wasn't blowing, 2) the heater only makes that sound for a second when it first comes on, and 3) the cat was on the bed.

That's when a sort of panic set in.

I jumped out of bed and walked (ever so slowly and carefully) toward THE NOISE, which grew louder as I got closer to the hallway.

The noise was coming from the ceiling.

I looked up just as a smattering of dust came floating down. It was the sound of the dust hitting a notebook that was sitting in a box underneath the area of disturbance that was causing THE NOISE. As I stood watching for a few minutes, it became apparent that there was SOMETHING up there in the ceiling . . . and it wanted out.

Now, this is where it gets ever more weird. You see, as I watched the hole get bigger, I'm pretty sure that I saw brownish-grey fur.

I found a broomstick and used it to gently tap on the ceiling . . . gently because I didn't want to make a bigger hole if the ceiling tiles were rotten (in a house this old, you never know). I fully expected the "thing" to panic and run away, but instead, it just stopped making noise. I searched in vain for some duct tape (what proper farmer doesn't have duct tape? This one, apparently) but had to settle for postal packing tape, and placed a couple of layers over the hole.

Then I went back to bed and fell into a deep and strange sleep where I dreamed of things scratching in the walls. (Seriously.)

Looks like the next project is going to be replacing the walls and ceiling tiles in the hallway. :-p

No rest for the weary

2011-01-23T21:58:00.004-05:00

You'd think that January would be a really slow month on a farm, but no. We're getting ready for Spring already. One of my jobs this weekend was to prune the pear, peach, and apple trees. It took me a couple of hours to do all 10 trees. Hope I didn't kill them!

There's a lot to do over the next few weeks. Next time we visit, we'll need to amend the soil to prepare for the blackberry and raspberry bushes and grapes that are due to arrive in mid-February; we'll also amend soil for a rose garden and for the vegetable gardens. We're going to do vegetables in the field (in rows) as well as in raised beds. I've staked off places to put some of the raised beds, so we'll need to get the untreated lumber and make the boxes. Believe it or not, planting here starts around the middle of February! First up are lettuces, peas, and beets.

I'm sure I'll be writing more about this as it happens - and sharing photos, too. For now, I'm just trying to write everything down so I'll know what needs to be done. So much to learn! But I'm enjoying every minute of it. :-)

Farmhouse project #1

2011-01-17T20:58:00.003-05:00

We built a deck on the farmhouse this weekend. OK, maybe it's not 100% complete yet, but . . . it's almost finished. Won't take much longer now.

First, you need to see what it looked like in the beginning. Here's my first photo, after we'd removed the cement stepping stones. As you can see, this wasn't the most attractive or functional back door entryway . . .

We spent most of Saturday removing the existing stairs, placing the foundation blocks, and measuring. By mid-day, we had something like this:

Doesn't look like much yet, huh? That's because we measured. And measured. And MEASURED. And the math kept coming out wrong. The boards were level, and all boards were the same size. So WHY weren't the diagonals matching? It was a mystery. Finally, we squared up the corners. And we realized our deck wasn't the problem. The wall of the house is crooked! So it's not just the floors. Hmmm.

I should mention that those concrete foundation blocks are very, VERY heavy!!! I should know; I moved them about a hundred times each. Or so it seemed. (My arm muscles, pecs, and hamstrings are killing me today.)

The work continued on Sunday until it was time to go back to Charlotte. I'll do another entry of the finished project.

Not bad for two days' work. Just one of many examples of what chicks with power tools can do. :-)

A winter sunrise

2011-01-17T07:35:00.000-05:00

The sky was so beautiful as I walked over to M&D's house around 7:15AM Saturday morning. The ice and snow? All melted now. Yesterday was a warm day . . . but the cold will be returning soon. I've heard that this has been the coldest winter here in over 60 years. It figures!

Ice, ice, baby

2011-01-11T20:43:00.009-05:00

I haven't been anywhere since Sunday afternoon. Why, you ask? Well, for the second time in two weeks, the impossible happened: We had a winter storm. It started Sunday night and went on until late last night. First, we got about 4 inches of snow. That may not sound like a big deal, particularly to my readers who live in places where snow is normal. But the thing is, since it only snows here about five times each century (OK, I'm exaggerating - a little), we're just not prepared for it here. We don't have all the snowplows and salt trucks and such.

But you could have all the snowplows and salt trucks in the world, and still not be able to deal with . . . ICE. That's exactly what happened. After the "snow band" passed, we got freezing rain and sleet, which created a layer of ice on top of the snow. In some places, the ice was one inch thick or more. I didn't try to measure, but it was as thick as I've ever seen, like a gigantic glazed donut on steroids.

Our Governor declared a state of emergency, and we were told to stay off the roads. Schools, universities, and offices closed. The airport canceled flights . . . I read on Twitter that they ran out of de-icer for the planes. Even the malls and shops closed early - if they opened at all. There was hardly any traffic noise. (Actually, it was kind of nice.)

This is why we Southerners go a little crazy when bad weather is predicted. We fill up our cars with gas. We raid the grocery stores so we can fill up our refrigerators and pantries. We buy alternative heating systems and bottled water and generators. True dat.

Every now and then, the predictions come true, and we're glad we did all those things. I'm glad I made those three trips to the grocery store last weekend. And that side trip to the cupcake store on Sunday afternoon.

If only I hadn't eaten all those cupcakes so quickly . . .

The last word on 2010

2011-01-08T13:01:00.000-05:00

For as long as I can remember, I've taken the time on New Year's Eve each year to write a recap of the outgoing year. I did this when I was a kid, and as an adult - first in journals, later in blogs. I wanted to do it as per usual in 2010, but when New Year's Eve came, I found that I just couldn't do it. Looking back on the year was too emotional. It was such an overwhelming year of change.

I could think of all sorts of reasons to hate 2010. Let's see. OK, the year started with knowing that both S & I would lose our jobs with a company we'd worked for for nearly 10 years. That meant we'd also lose our house. Well, OK, we didn't actually "lose" our house. Thankfully, we were able to sell it. And we'd have to say goodbye (or at least "see ya later") to so many friends we'd made over the years. We'd have to find new jobs. And move. Oh, boy, do I HATE MOVING!!!

So I just didn't feel like writing my annual Year in Review.

OK. So the new year is here now. It's over a week old. 2010 is the past. I'm not so angry with 2010 anymore. Why? Because I've realized that it was really a GREAT year. It was great because it allowed us to make changes that we knew we needed to make anyway. Yeah, I just wrote that! And I mean it!

Sometimes, deep inside, you know you need to do something. It's like your inner voice tells you that you need to change something; you need to do something differently. But you feel immobilized. The status quo can be so intoxicating, so alluring, you don't want to rock the boat. Not changing is easier than changing. So you resist the change.

I listened to my inner voice in 2010. That doesn't mean it wasn't painful. Actually, it hurt like hell. But I made it through.

Sayonara, 2010. That's all I'm going to write about you. It's 2011 now, and I have a feeling that 2011 is going to be just fine.