slowly she turned

Living the Slow life in North Carolina

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  • early black eggs and mortgage lifters

    I know, I know, I am not supposed to plant tomatoes and eggplants and peppers in early April. I do know that.

    But it is so warm and the lows predicted for the next week don’t go below mid-forties. The official frost date for our area was moved back to April 9. My raised beds are nice and cozy-warm. I decided to be contrary and plant a few anyway. If they die, they die, but I really don’t think they will. That’s what I have a couple of cold frames for. And god knows I have plenty of seedlings. They are late adolescents and yearning to be free.

    Besides, the description for the Early Black Egg eggplants said that they were ideal for short-season planters. That says to me that they could handle a little cooler temps. It also said that they are less susceptible to flea beetle damage. I certainly hope so, after last year’s eggplant fiasco.

    Before I did that, though, I came home from work early because I was exhausted from lack of sleep and stress. I took a nice little half-nap on the bamboo chair, reclined with the cushion. Oh, so very comfy. And Sandy was offered a job by a friend of his, that he is very seriously tempted to take.

    We went out to eat, which we have been doing way too much of lately, at Sushi 101 on Tate St. He had beef teriyaki and I had the Alaskan Roll and miso soup, which was beautifully presented and plenty enough to eat – delicious! I can see that this is going to be hard to resist. Japanese food is my favorite. Sandy has to get a job just so I can start eating there on a regular basis.

  • windy weather

    The weather has been wild this weekend. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees within a hour yesterday, and the wind howled all night, and is still howling.

    I bought some arugula and rainbow chard at Dark Hollow Farm yesterday and planted them just before the weather went crazy. I would have planted some tomatoes – it’s good that I didn’t because this wind would have blown away the cold frame I was going to set up. I can’t do it tomorrow because of class. How frustrating! I want to get them in the ground, but it is just too wet and windy. Maybe Tuesday afternoon. The time changed today so I’ll have some extra daylight.

  • spawn of sandy

    Sandy impregnates a log

    Today, Sandy and I went to Dark Hollow Farm, an organic farm that specializes in growing mushrooms, for their mushroom inoculation day. We learned how to grow shiitake mushooms. It really seems very easy to do – the hard part would be getting the freshly cut logs at the right time of year. NC A&T has a program that helps you set up a business if you commit to 200 logs.

  • widespread panic

    Had ANOTHER panic attack today. Not good! It’s been months since I’ve had a major panic attack, and two in one week, well…I really don’t want to go on SSRIs again. It’s like my cousin said, “the treatment I was getting for my depression was too depressing.” Besides, I’m not clinically depressed. I know the difference.

    It was terrible timing – I was at home when it began and I had to go back to work, no choice about it – I had to give some tests to a proctor, and these tests determine whether the students will graduate with the M.A. One flew in from California for it. So there was no question, I had to walk to work in the midst of a major panic attack. I barely remember it. Hoo, boy. This is the kinda shit that makes you agoraphobic, because the only thing worse than a panic attack is a panic attack at WORK. Now more people know than I am comfortable with knowing.

    But I’m feeling better now.

    Sandy has a second interview with the city next week. We’re both very excited. In fact, that’s probably part of what set me off. Sometimes good things do. Once, I had a major attack after I turned down a promotion at a temp job I sometimes work. I was quite pleased that they asked me. No pressure, but BOOM! There I went, at work.

    The thing that bugs me the worst about panic attacks is that there is heart disease in my family. What if I really have a heart attack? I’ll probably lay down and die because I’ll be busy reassuring myself that it’s “just” a panic attack.

  • little signs

    Do you ever wonder what your living partner does when you’re not around?

    I mean, I thought I knew. But I just found a harmonica on the table next to the toilet.

  • the little statue

    Whoa! It is trash-picking season in College Hill. I found a neat little statue in a trash pile on the way to church tonight. They were having a program on gardening. It was three primitive little men holding a bowl in the middle of them. One of the men was headless. I figured I’d put it in the garden and stick something interesting down the poor little guy’s hollow neck. I carried it in the church with me because I was walking. I also was kinda wanting to show off my groovin’ garden find.

    The minister asked me where I found it. Get this – it was STOLEN from the church, along with a bunch of other stuff. He said for me to keep it since it was damaged. Can you believe it? Stealing from a church. Man, that is LOW.

    I went back to the trash pile and looked for the head but it was gone. Now I feel a little deflated about the whole thing. The minister said that people had looked everywhere for it. Dang.

  • the bamboo chair

    Sunday night was bad…I had a panic attack. Then Monday morning, a co-worker called me from work and I had to go in to take care of some things. Everything at work is in chaos. One of the people I support took a vacation last week (which was an extremely unwise decision, to be kind about it) and now he has the flu. All this within probably the busiest two weeks in the semester for us. People are getting pregnant and sick and other jobs and getting research leaves and asking for reductions in course loads. And getting them. It is NUTS. At this rate, there will be no one left to teach next year.

    Anyway, this wasn’t very good for my stress load, so I called my doctor and asked if she could just call me and talk to me for a minute about changing my anxiety medication. She has yet to call but the office assistants didn’t get my message right. She thinks I’m on another medication.

    By the time I went to Charlie’s house I was starting to have a little trouble breathing. I was thinking about my garden project on the way. The only thing I would be missing by the time it was due was perhaps the most important thing – a nice comfy chair to sit in and relax. Charlie and I got some good planning work done for Slow Food and I felt a little better, but I asked him for a ride to class. I didn’t want to risk another panic attack.

    So, I go back home, and what do I see? A beautiful bamboo chair sitting on the curb across from my house. I resisted. They must be about to load it. No, no one came around. There must be something wrong with it. The dog probably peed on it. The stray tomcat probably sprayed it. The seat is probably missing beneath the cushion.

    Finally I walked across the street and looked it over. It didn’t smell, not really bad, anyway. It was worn but in good shape. The seat was perfect. The cane was woven in a bird’s eye pattern. Best of all, it reclined! It had a pull-out foot rest! It was a beautifully-made, well-used chair! Even the cushion was in good condition. There was a handmade needlepoint pillow with a torn zipper on top. I hauled it back to the deck and washed everything.

    Today at work, everything was worse. Amazing but true. But when I came home for lunch, I got to sit in my beautiful bamboo chair. After Mama Kitty got out of it, of course.

  • Easter sunday

    Wow, I looked at the weather report again today and it looks exceedingly wet and warm for the rest of the week. I’m so tempted to plant some of my tomatoes. If I can find a place to buy humus and topsoil today, maybe I’ll plant a few and put one of the cold frames over them. But I have to fill out the raised bed first, which will take a lot of soil and a lot of physical work. I have pretty filled out all the available spots with other plants and seeds. I think it is going to look fabulous!

    Should retail establishments open on major holidays? I have such mixed feelings about it. I support their right to do so, but then again, shouldn’t some days be reserved for people to be with their families, even if you are not religious? Otherwise there are some companies, one of which I have experienced, that would squeeze every little bit of time they could get out of their workers. I used to have to do inventory every Easter Sunday, and my boss was like, so what? If it’s voluntary, I suppose that it’s okay. I guess I get the most aggravated with the companies that do not walk their talk, like Wal-Mart.

    I promised my mother that I would go to church today, since I didn’t go to Marietta for Easter like I normally do. I joined a very progressive church in January, but I have only gone to the alternative service, since that fills my needs, and I like to reflect after the service instead of going straight to the traditional service. Here I am, a new Presbyterian, but I have no idea what a traditional Presbyterian service is like. I’m sure that this church’s service will not be as conventional as some, but I’m guessing that Easter Sunday will be a good time to check it out, so I’m going to the regular service today.

  • strawberries and foxgloves

    Today I went to the farmers’ market and bought a few plants. I planted strawberries in a pot. Once I get the whole yard set up in a garden beds, I’m going to devote a place to strawberries. I’m not much of a fruit eater, but I do like them and to move toward a permaculture-based design I’m trying to find more perennial food plants. But the last time I had a strawberry bed next door, they crossed with the wild “snake”berries in the yard the second year and had no taste. I’m not sure what I can do about that, but I’ll wait to do the strawberry bed when I have a little more to lose.

    I also bought some foxgloves, (again, the fish market syndrome–I have foxglove seedlings and seeds, but the squirrels keep digging them up), fennel, and a pineapple sage.

    The little artichokes were really worrying me, but I think that they are going to survive now. The weather is supposed to be rainy and warm for at least this week.

    I saw Charlie at the market and we are going to get together at 1 on Monday to talk about what I need to do about the Slow Food web site, etc. So I guess that makes it official, I am playing hooky from work on Monday. Is it playing hooky when your boss knows and agrees? I guess I’m still pretending to be a bad girl when I’m not!

  • nibbled to death by ducks

    Yay! A three day weekend, and I have warned everyone at work that I might make it a four or five day weekend. I have got to get my anxiety under control. I’m getting quite crazy. It’s the “Nibbled to Death by Ducks Syndrome” again.

    Part of the reason I am pursuing a simple lifestyle is by economic necessity. My choices in life have led me to being at this income level, so I still think of that as being voluntary simplicity. Also, I am preparing for the hard times ahead when the oil runs out. But the main reason is that I am often overwhelmed by life, and I am trying to find some peace.

    The past few weeks have been very, very hard for me. I go through bad times. This blog has helped. Some things I have not been able to write about, or I’ve written them and deleted them. Things finally started getting better today.

    The gutters were installed and directed into my rain barrels. The short one over the porch extends out and has a place for me to hang a rain chain one day. The first night we had a major rainstorm and they all filled completely up. We had tested one before we bought the other three. The one we tested was solid as a rock. The other three were spouting mini-geysers and seeping out at the bottom. I’m telling you, it did not help my nerves a bit. But they seemed to tighten up after a couple of days. I set up a soaker hose in my new spring garden beds and emptied the two back barrels through it.

    Another thing that has helped…my husband Sandy got into a temp job. It was beginning to look like he wasn’t going to qualify. He had to make an 80 on two of six tests, and he didn’t make it on the first four. So he had to do it on both of the last ones. I was ready to climb the walls. He has the worst luck in jobs that I have ever seen in my life. We both joke that he is cursed, but sometimes we’re not joking. He has not had a permanent, full-time job in two and a half years now. And people wonder why I’m a liberal Democrat.

    The washing machine is about to die on us. We’ll have to think about what to do about that. My hope was to replace each major appliance as they wore out with highly energy-efficent ones. Until Sandy gets a real job, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to follow that plan.

    But my spinach seeds are coming up, and I picked three radishes and a few spinach and lettuce leaves that I planted in January! I filled it out with dandelion greens and had a nice little salad out of my garden. Then I made a very good pot of soup, which I’ll never be able to recreate, but it contained a little butternut squash that I grew and picked last September – amazing! I’d forgotten I had it. I sliced some collard leaves into thin strips and put into the soup, and added a lot of dried parsley from this summer. It’s great to be able to eat food that you have grown. Best therapy in the world.

    Now if I could just grow some Xanax!