1.) Public Allies Mid-Year Retreat! The above shot is from a workshop regarding our personal values. These are mine. Below is a shot of some of us having a beach party, and then pretending to be fishing off of a bridge.
2.) A visit the to the Maritime Aquarium. Lover and I had a nice Sunday together and went to look at weird and funky creatures in Norwalk. The non-human ones.
3.) Valentine's Day. Lover got me a beautiful orchid (I have wanted one for years and for some reason never got it for myself, though I always had a ton of plants around!) and a gift certificate to a fancy-schmancy salon, because he heard me complaining about my hair.We ate dinner at our favorite Thai place and had our favorite dish - Pad Si Ew. Mine with tofu and his with chicken. We picked out photos of us and our adventures together to put into frames to have around the house. It'll be another fun activity to do together on another weekend.
4.) Ordering seeds and general spring anticipation. I put in my order for seeds just this morning. Everything from yukon gold potatoes to joe long cayenne peppers to english lavender. This garden is going to be the bomb! And I can't wait to spend all summer eating fresh vegetables and trying out recipes. Summer and fall I plan to try canning and freezing, sauces and salsas. Also, I planted crocus in the front yard last fall, and I have been eagerly awaiting their spring debut!
5.) Bringing in new additions to the menagerie. We welcomed Ponyo, Chihiro, San, and Valve to one freshwater tank. Chihiro didn't make it. Ponyo and San (the Glofish) are swimming about happily, and Valve (an albino pleco) likes to hide inside the tiki god in the tank. This tank has had an algae problem, so we've also introduced a Cherry shrimp named Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales. (You'll have to refer to the Muppet-Wiki article on Pepe for this reference.) New tanks can be problematic, and this one has been particularly so. The tank was too cold to begin with, so we added a heater. The algae problem has decreased with the algae-eaters (Valve and Pepe), and the pH is being maintained at 7.2. Twenty-five to fifty percent of the water is replaced every week using a gravel siphon.
We also welcomed Otter, or "Quadrapus," as we so often call her. She's a loud meow-er, super cuddly, and loves to sit on my papers when I am working and get her fur all over my fabric when I'm sewing. In other words, she is a perfectly normal and healthy cat.
6.) Sewing Project of the Month! Yesterday I realized it was nearing the close of February. I hadn't yet done a sewing project for the month, so I got out the fabric and the sewing machine and in a few hours, had sewn up a garden apron with pockets! Pictures coming soon - it's fabulous!
7.) I can has books? I finished reading "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter. It was fascinating! Novella lives in Oakland, CA, guerilla gardening on a lot next to her apartment building, breeding rabbits for meat on her balcony, and keeping bees, pigs, ducks, turkeys, geese, and chickens in the backyard! I can definitely appreciate the farmer who raises and slaughters their own livestock, even though I am vegetarian - I just can't stand the factory farming. I give big kudos to Novella for her lifestyle.
Books currently reading: The Best Buddhist Writing of 2006 (reading essays here and there), The Handmade Marketplace (taking notes!), and Strengths-Based Leadership (assigned reading for Public Allies)
Coming soon...apron pics, honeybee lust, and Warrior Dash training...
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