Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Book Crossing goodness!

In an attempt to escape work during the week, I tend to get up really early one day a week, go to my favorite bagel shop, have some breakfast and coffee, and read for as long as I can before I have to lumber myself into the dark cold winter world of sheet metal fabrication. It helps me feel like I have more freedom in my life, kind of a way to pretend I don't really have a job I have to go to, for that brief time each week I get to be the avid reader/writer I am in my heart. I get lost in the story, or what I am writing, and forget about my problems for a brief time. I just started committing to this weekly form of escape a few months ago, before this I would read as much as I could here and there, but as I began to make more time for reading and writing, I rediscovered a true love, so now I do this as much as I can. I love to read anything I can get my hands on, fiction, poetry, history, autobiography, anything. Where is this all leading you wonder, well, read on.....

There I was, reading, enjoying the dark before the sunrise, a moment of calm before I had to get my butt to work. Looking at my phone, seeing the time, I had only minutes to clean up my breakfast mess, refresh my coffee and head to the shop.  I had been sitting in the bagel shop for over and hour and a half, reading. I got all my trash collected, headed for the trash bin, and there, next to the sign, "please do not toss our plastic trays" was a book.  Naturally I picked it up, glanced around for someone who might have lost it, nobody seemed to be looking for it, so I went to put it down thinking they would come back for it, when I noticed the sticker on the front that read, "I'm not lost! I'm Free!" What? a free book, just sitting here, "how strange is that?"  I thought.  I continued to read the sticker on the front of the book and found out this book had been "released into the wild" at another bakery near my town. I discovered that this book was left for the purpose of someone finding it, reading it, blogging about it, and re-releasing it back into the wild for others to enjoy through a site called bookcrossing.com. How cool is that! I thought, "Wow, that is really neat, someone is going to find this book and be able to follow it's journey, what a great idea!" Then, I set the book back down, thinking about how lucky that person was going to be to find the book. Yes, it took that long to hit me, um, hellllloooo, I found the book, why am I setting it down for someone else to pick up!! I reached back over, picked up the book, tucked it in my pocket, and went to refill my coffee.  I was darn near giddy about this silly book, I kept looking around wondering if the person who had left it was still in the bagel shop. I mean, I had been sitting there reading for over and hour and a half, (and it was early in the morning, not a lot of traffic at 5am) how did I not see this person leave the book? This was all so clever, fun, and exciting.  I was giggling to myself as I poured fresh coffee, gave it a stir while looking over my shoulder wondering if the mystery book release God was watching me, laughing at my complete and udder geek joy of finding a free book.  With my  freshened coffee in hand, and freshly caught book tucked in my pocket, I walked out of the store, almost skipping with happiness. I got to my truck, opened the book, to discover all about what bookcrossing.com is, and instantly fell in love with the idea. I was laughing and actually singing "I found a golden ticket", I was that stinking goofy about it! Then, it occurred to me, I need to get a life.

Instead, I will read the book, release it for someone else to find, and begin my own process of releasing books I love into the wild. Won't you join me. Check out the website and get involved! Knowledge is power, and reading is the way to get there.

:)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Happy Christmas

Well, It's taking me much longer then expected to sum up my garden this past season, so far it's about 4 posts long, with tons of photos.....so....until then, here is a shot of my new Christmas tree. Enjoy, relax, have a great Holiday Season, my garden summary will be coming soon. :)
Also, had to have this little Angel, I mean, she has glitter in her belly and she glows purple, oh yes, she had to come home with me. :) If only I could grow glitter........

Friday, December 2, 2011

Happy December

Welcome December, loving the blanket of snow covering the garden. Happy Day!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Wintery Morning last week

It snowed the night before, and early the next morning the sun was coming up as I was getting in my car, and I looked down and saw the snow just glistening and frozen with all the leaves on top of the snow. It was so pretty, I ran back in and got the camera, these are some of the shots I got. Enjoy !




Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween booty

Got home tonight and rather then hand out candy, I had to dig up a few things in the yard, namely, the horseradish. This was the second season of the horseradish, and they are not kidding when they say that any bit of the root left behind will grow. The old roots grew, the plant size doubled, and the roots are amazing!
The only other thing still holding on in the garden is one last pod of cotton opening up. Here is a shot of the one that already bloomed. I loved growing it, and will share more about the garden soon. I have been writing about it, but so far its going to take more then one post to get it all down. ;) I may have 2 or 3 parts to share.



Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 24, 2011

A few weeks of fun

If its Punkin Chunkin time you know changes are in the air here in Colorado. The summer seems to be trying to hang on, which has been good for my cotton, but with snow in the forecast, it's time to get to work in the garden.
 Spent most of the weekend digging up all the dead stuff, planting bulbs for next season, turning over dirt, and basically doing general yard cleanup and storage for the winter. One little plant is hanging on, and it is so awesome! My Cotton finally began to bloom!!! I did not think it would make it, but for the last week its been exploding with wonderful cotton fibers.
I am so glad I decided to plant cotton, I learned so much this summer about this crazy plant. I am thinking about digging it up and bringing in the garage to see if I can get it to get bigger for next season ;), either way I think I will plant it again, I really enjoyed watching this plant to its thing. More musing coming as I gather all my garden booty, and my thoughts on my experimental year.
I ran away from home a few weekends ago, to the Black Bear Cabin to visit my best friend and my Goddaughter, it was so much fun. Relaxed, got to take Jordyn to school, meet her teachers, and see the school for the first time. It was so cute, she seems to really love school. One the way back Lisa drove me around to show me the small town and some of the view, which enabled me to get a couple of pictures of some fall colors.
It was really nice to take a drive and be able to look around at all the beautiful colors. On the way to school we saw this pretty cow that we all decided we wanted to just get out and hug. On Sunday we drove to town for Jordyns swim class, and I got to sit in the backseat with her, so naturally we goofed off most of the time, here is a shot of her being super cool in her glasses. We decided she and her glasses were much cooler then me, :). SO FUN!
When I returned home I picked the last of the garden booty and got to work, cutting and freezing what I could. I had such a great garden year, so many peppers finally! Its been years since I had pepper plants that did well. I had tons of basil so I was able to freeze a ton of pesto for the winter, but I still need to plant more next season. :)
After all of that fun, I relaxed at home, on a beautiful fall Colorado Sunday with my star wars pancakes and coffee. I kicked back, sat in my yard thinking of all the things I want to do next year, and how awesome my garden turned out this year.  I have so much to write about the garden this year, what worked and did not work, and many others things, that's gonna take a little more time than this post. Have a happy day! 

Thursday, September 29, 2011

10 Questions answered by photos

I saw this on Alison Turners blog, and thought it sounded like a fun idea, so I decided to give it a try. I did not put any explanation behind them, just letting the photos do all the talking.

Who are you? 

What did you look like as a child?
 
What is your main character trait?
What inspires you most?
 What do you normally never take a picture of?


What do you love about photography?

What is the first thing you touch in the morning?

If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?
What is the meaning of life?
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

HOORAY FOR PUMPKINS!


My first pumpkins in over 3 years, YAY !!!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

A few things outside the garden

 Sunday mornings are pretty mellow around my house. Arty and I just relaxing in the cool morning, with all the windows open to let that beautiful chilly breeze touch every corner of the house, while I drink coffee and read the paper. Once that chore is finished I wander in the garden to think about the next steps as fall approaches, and pick a few things that are ready.
 The basil was a little out of control, so I picked a bunch and made a ton of pesto, got it all frozen up for later use, then sat back outside to begin my list of chores before the end of the growing season. A quick stroll around the garden, checking out the cotton, pumpkins, egg plant and squash. They all seem to be doing fine, and do not need much attention. Back in the house to review some photos from the weekend and enjoy a very quite morning at home.
My Sister in law and my niece came over on Saturday for my first official crafting day.  I've been wanting to host a dedicated day to crafting and sewing for some time, and I finally managed to get it going. Kelli and Jennifer both have kids, so planning this time for them to come over and sew without having to worry about the kids was important for all of us. A kid free few hours and we are off and running with some fun sewing projects. 
 Kelli was very ambitious making a 10 panel circle skirt in one afternoon, it turned out beautiful even without the trim work she wanted to get added before the day was over.  Leaving the trim work to be done was hard, but, it will give her time to really think about what kind of detail she would like to add during the next sewing day ;).
I had a back up of plastic grocery bags taking over my pantry, so I decided to use some left over parts from a quilt I made for my Dad and made a little baggie holder. I turned out nice,  I made it bigger then most so that I can load the sucker up, so happy to have all those silly bags in one  place and not flying all around the pantry. 
 This week also brought along with it the official start of  the Punkin Chunkin season, as it was time for Team Inertia2 to hit the road to the Cimarron County Fair in Oklahoma to toss some gourds.  We got word at the last minute that ammo was not going to be available in Oklahoma. I took a few hours, but I managed to find a farm that had some pumpkins ready for picking, they even had the ghost pumpkins  we needed rather then the usual orange ones that have thinner walls.  The only problem, we had to go pick them ourselves. Kelli and Sean jumped in the truck, drove an hour out meet Mr. Mazzotti of Mazzotti Farms, and picked a fine truck load of beautiful pumpkins that we could take to the fair.  I was a bit jealous that I did not get to go to the farm myself, but I had to stay at work to man the counter and phones. :)We owe a huge thanks to Mazzotti Family and their farm, they really saved the day for us.
 The last order of business was to get the new Inertia2 sign hung on the back of Lloyds trailer for the ride to Oklahoma, it took 4 men about half an hour to do it, but they finally got it on. Once they got all the trailers loaded, posed for a quick photo for me,  they all headed out of town.  The new sign is designed from a photo that I took at Punkin Chunkin last year, I was very excited to see one of my photos blown up to about 3' x 4',  and prouder still that my brother gave me photo credit on the bottom corner of the sign, how sweet is that! I am officially a published photographer I guess now, even if it is just in the crazy world of tossing vegetables.

That is a tiny peek into my life outside the garden this week, hope your weeks been wonderful. Have a happy day!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Sunrise through the sunflowers

The other morning I was sitting on my porch and the sun flowers were  glowing with the sun coming through them. My attempt to capture it on film was less the pleasing to me, but  got a few that I liked at least. Happy Labor day weekend, I hope everyone had as much fun as I did...pics coming soon!





Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Great conversation


 I was talking to a customer the other day, he was a much older gentlemen, and as I have been graced with the gift of gab, we started talking. I found he lived in the same town that I do, just minutes away actually, where he has land. He began telling me about some of the things he is growing, it was not long before gardener stories began flying. I mentioned to him that I decided to grow cotton this year, that I am so happy I did because this plant is really wonderful to watch grow. He looked at me and said, “Honey, what in the world made you plant cotton?” I told him that I like to plant something new each season, I read that this was a beautiful plant to grow, so given the history of the plant, and my love of sewing and fabrics, I had to plant it. Turns out this man is an old Texas cotton farmer! well! from there on out, it was nerdy geeky farm talk which I completely loved.

I was struggling through all the technical terms of growing cotton, he helped me along, added little bits here and there, as he told me stories of growing up on a cotton farm. He told me that when he was growing up in Texas, all the girls, (everyone really) had fingers that were disfigured from picking cotton. He talked about wearing gloves with the finger tips cut off so they could save their hands, but there was no way to save the finger tips, not when picking cotton. He was telling me of things I have only read in books, or seen in the movies, he was a wealth of farming knowledge, and I was completely taken with him. It a great conversation, one I won't soon forget.

He was telling me secrets for growing tomatoes, and okra, then at one point he mentioned a food saver, asked if I had one. I said, “no, I lost that in the divorce” which is true, my husband wanted to keep it, but that's a story for another day. A little later in the conversation he said, “you still divorced?”, “yes” I said, he looked at me and asked, “You wanna get married?”, we both had a good laugh at that!!! It was so fun and refreshing talking to an old farmer, he  was completely interesting, someone who has worked hard his entire life, someone who gets it, who actually shared many of the same goals that I do. He told areas of Texas I should drive through to see all the beautiful cotton fields, he shared so much in a short amount of time, but, the thing he left me with was this, “If you love to plant, to work hard, to farm, don't waste that gift. Get some land and make your dreams come true. The younger generation needs to understand hard work, where our food comes from, and the great feeling you get after putting in a hard days work.” Suddenly, I felt validated and not nearly as crazy as some of the people around me make me feel.

With one customer, one conversation I  did not feel nuts for wanting to grow things, for wanting to be self sustaining, to homestead.  He encouraged me to write down all that I am learning along the way so that it is not lost, so it can be passed on. When he found out I  sew as well, he just kinda laughed and said, “honey, you have it all.”  Then, as always happens to cut good conversations to short at the shop, the phone rang. With that I bid him a wonderful day, and fabulous weekend, he replied in kind and left the shop. I was elated the rest of the day, telling everyone I had a marriage proposal from a cotton farmer, a dream come true :)!

I could have talked to him all day, in fact, I found myself thinking I should call him for coffee or something to just talk to him a little more and see what else I can gleam from him. I was rejuvenated, and excited to plant more in the yard, learn more, DO more! He did suggest to a new plant to me that will be my “never planted before” crop for next season, the purple hull bean or black eyed pea.

If your not living your dream, ask yourself why, and get a move on~ I know I will

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cotton and curly goodness

The cotton is really doing cool things right now. This is a shot of the newly formed squares beginning to emerge, its either super exciting or I am a massive dork! hehehe :). These guys need 160 days to do their thing, so I am hoping the continued heat will do the trick. The heat is getting to me, but its helping the cotton, so go Mother Nature, bring the heat!
This is the cucumber reaching out and holding on. Its one of my favorite things in the garden, really fun, almost childlike to see how it just reaches out and grabs things, and how tightly it hangs on.
 The cucumber is curly, really holding onto the chicken wire, I love it!
 BASIL!!! Thai and sweet mixed together, walking by these planters smells so good!
 The sun setting on my snap dragons, these flowers make me very happy!

 More shots of the cotton, with the square and the bloom in sight
The eggplant is a little behind, but its officially my first ever, thanks to my friend Marsha who had an extra plant to share! I promise to post more stuff outside of the garden realm soon, its just so awesome in the garden right now it can't be helped!! Happy Day !
Related Posts with Thumbnails