learning experience

AFTER THE STORM

It is late afternoon, the day after the storm. Happy to have some sun off and on during the day. It’s playing peek-a-boo. I’ll take what we can get. I’m feeling a bit deflated and despondent. I’m feeling with the weather. What is out there is in here. We had quite a storm yesterday with wind and snow. I thought the greenhouse held up well considering we had no sun at all yesterday. The sensor showed that we had above 0 temperature till after 2:30 and the lowest temperature was -1.2℃ at 6:48 am. We had survived -6℃ before. So I was surprised to find the scarlet runner beans looking poorly but not the cucumbers. I was sure the tomatoes would be ok. They were under heavier covers. Not so. I lost 3 of the first 4 planted and 3 or 4 of the others. 10 or 11 survived.

On second inspection later in the afternoon, the cucumbers are not looking good any more. It’s a good thing I had moved my 2 trays of seedling into the house. I still have one Gateway cucumber and lots of Long Keeper and Black Krim tomatoes left. Alas I only started 3 Red Alerts, the early variety. Never put all your eggs in one basket.

This was a good learning experience. It showed the ‘cold’ spots in the greenhouse. The sensor was placed under the covers yesterday. It probably didn’t show the true temperature. The buckets of water had thick layer ice in each except the ones that had covers over them. Next spring I will not plant tomatoes, beans and cucumbers till 2nd week of April. The greens were just fine overnight, even the newly seeded and germinated. They just had a crop cover over them. They are a sure bet for early spring along with other cool loving crops like radishes, daikons, carrots, kohlrabi…

It’s a learning experience this year with the greenhouse. It’s trial and error. It is the time to have fun and be daring and try new things. I think you have to fail a little to get wisdom. I’m not at all discouraged. I’m just feeling the end of the day sag. I’m experimenting with making paper pots for transplanting tomatoes. It’s fun and the paper is free. The pots are deep for the roots to grow and they will hold the pot together. You have to give them time to develope before handling them or else they will fall apart.

MY MUTTERINGS

November 7, 2018

Winter is here. I think it means to stay this time. I’m feeling as lazy as can be. It’s a good feeling. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this relaxed and restful. I have no urge ‘to create’ or do much of anything. Just good old ‘doing’ nuthing.’ I’m muttering and tapping on the keyboard here but I’m not driven with any ideas or messages. I’m just talking. Sheba has been pestering me to feed her early. She’s finally given up and is curled up with her stuffed toys.

I’m relishing my laziness. I’m remembering those good old days when we had time to sit with each other, have coffee and chat. Why don’t we have time now? We have gained so much with technology and yet we have lost so much to it. We have lost our slow living to fast and expedient doings. I fear we have lost the art of visiting and talking in real life and slow time. I should not speak in the ‘we’. Maybe it is just me who has lost the knack.

November 10, 2018

As you can see, I have grown lazy. I’ve abandoned my habit of showing up here every day. I’ve lost the knack for chit chat. I’ve been overwhelmed with all my doings of living – things I HAVE to do and things I like to do. There’s always a painting, an embroidery, and all those books calling my name. And of course, there’s always Sheba. I’m a little burnt, crisp on the edges. I needed to pull back, let go of some things. I need to be more organized.

It is not easy. Today I feel as if I haven’t done much but I don’t feel rested or peaceful. I’ve spent way too much time researching threads and stabilizers for embroidery on Amazon. There’s so many choices. I went back and forth, reading and reading reviews. After much ado and wasted energy, I did finally place my order. Now I am spent. I hope I will be happy with the products when they come.

Everything is a learning experience. I will not be so distracted and expend so much effort next time. I will just choose expediently and be done with it. Learning a new skill and a new machine is kind of painful. I am still happy I bought my Bernina. After 10 months I can read the manual and understand it. Sometimes I feel like I’m learning how to do surgery. It’s worth it. Now I have to tend to my headache.