Day 4 in a year of choosing something different

IMG_6661I love these salad days of summer when the grass is green and love oh so mellow.  Oh, I’m stealing words from the song, Try to Remember.  I’m feeling melancholy and nostalgic.  No worries, though.  Melancholia and nostalgia have always been part of me.  I’m glad to have them aboard.  They are restful companions.  They help me when I’m tired and need to slow down.  But I’m still here, dressed, made up, and different earrings on.  Sorry, another selfie.  I’m practicing saying I love you to myself – baggy eyes and all.

It’s 4 in the afternoon and I haven’t crossed off a thing on my to-do list.  Usually the list is all in my head.  But I’m choosing to make hard copies to see if it makes a difference.  It has only 4 things on it.  Pay bills. Bake bread and Sheba’s biscuit. Vacuum.  I have turned on the Roomba.  Thank God for robotic vacuums for these hard days!  At least I made a list.  I  still have time to do and cross off a couple of things.  But forget the bread and biscuits!

IMG_6674I am done in by summer heat, humidity and long walk with Sheba this morning.  And making a detour at our plot at the Community Garden.  I harvested a huge turnip, some beets and a few carrots.  It was a heavy load to carry home as is.  Next time I shall take a veggie bag besides doggy bags. I had to have a snack and a nap before I could clean and prepare the veggies and lunch.  But it is all done.  I sauteed the turnip greens. They were delicious if a bit tough.  Next time I will blanch them a little longer.  This was another first.

The Queen is barking.  She is out of water.  Must go and fill her bowl and then pay some bills.  Hope you are having a good day.  I like my accident with my header photo (feature image) yesterday.  I decided to do it again.

I leave you with the music of Try to Remember.

THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOUR

I think it is safe now to say that summer is here and the heat is on.  It’s been a long wait this year.  We’ve worked hard getting the raised beds built and prepared for planting.  Then there was the hauling and shoveling before seeding and planting could be done.

It’s time to sit back, relax a bit and admire the fruits of our labour.

lettuce & greens I almost wept when I was gathering the greens for a salad this morning.  The lettuce and kale were so tender, the colours  translucent yellow, green and brown- next to the rows of carrots, radishes and onions.  So beautiful they were –  a feast for the eyes and palate.  I reminded myself then, that I deserve more credit than I usually give myself.

IMG_0906These salad days of summer are meant to be tasted, savoured  and enjoyed at leisure.  It is the time for me to dig through the clutter and rubble of a life to find hidden and by- passed treasures.  They are waiting with bated breath to be discovered.  Am I up to the task?

I remembered Anne Lamott’s advice about writing a book.  You write down as much as you can see through a one- inch picture frame.

“E. L. Doctrow once said that “writing a novel is like driving a car at night.  You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”  You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way.  You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.  This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard.”

I have tested it out and it works, not just in writing but any task.  It works especially well when I am faced with a difficult task.  I don my Wonder Woman costume and tackle one-inch frame after one-inch frame.

In the end, after task was completed, I did not find it hard at all.  No golden lasso nor bracelets were needed.  It was just human inching along power.