Evil Eye

It was a busy week of gardening, but very rewarding. the crops have been planted, with only a couple of exceptions, which i hope to take care of today. The yard looks great with its neat rows of plants and defined vegetable beds. The columbines are out of control, and the clematis out front is in full bloom, and looks stunning. I like the tiredness at the end of the day, it is a good soreness of the muscles that reminds one of the physical labor accomplished that day. I like how i am finding a balance between time spent in front of the computer, and time spent out in the garden, or working on the house.

This is the first time that as i get ready to go camping, i am leaving without that desperate need to flee from my situation at work. I am very happy to go, but i am happy here too. I also feel like i have a mountain of tasks ahead of me, and yet i feel calm, like i can tackle them all in due time.

So, i hope all of you (all six of you as John from Yarn Ball Boogie would say) have a great week, and Memorial Day. I’ll be back, ready to work on Evil Eye, and prepare for the World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 9.

PS.  I have closed the comments while i am gone in order to not have eleventy-gazillion spam messages to sort through.  I’ll turn them back on when i get back.

It’s day 2 of no longer being employed by someone else, and i could not be happier. This week i am focusing on the home and the garden. Would you like to see my new work clothes?

I spent this morning digging up a bed for the veggies. Yesterday i worked on the flower bed around the mulberry in the middle of the yard.

It still needs some work, but it already looks much better, and it was way easier to push my little mower around it without clipping any of the plants. So far it has been nothing but tearing up sod, but i am loving this way of starting my days. I plan to be in the garden every morning that the weather permits. I am glad i worked this morning, since we finally saw some rain this afternoon. This weekend is the Hyde Park plant fair, and i plan to get the few plants i did not start from seed that i still want for the vegetable garden, as well as for the herb garden. I will probably get a few flowers for the planters on the front porch, but my current focus is growing plants that will feed us. I am new at this, and have so much to learn, and that is part of makes this so exciting! For example, yesterday i really got that work gloves are my friends. I decided to put them right as i started working for a change, and viola! no blisters. My hands are sore today from so much tearing up sod, but not too bad, and no broken skin is a wonderful thing. Also, bugs are a lot less creepy when you have gloves in between them and you. Sure, it’s a small lesson, but it brought a smile to my face to have my hands in one piece at the end of the day.

Today, after lunch (home made mac and cheese), i ran errands, cramming as many as i could into one trip. The whole trip was planned around visiting the Paulina Meat Market. Going so far north for one thing seemed like a waste, so i figured out a bunch of things i would need in the near future, and picked near-by locations. Now i have top soil, mulch, my earth friendly shampoo and conditioner were on sale at Whole Foods, so i stocked up on those, and am all set for a while.

I’m trying to be very deliberate with my time. the days go by much faster at home, and i marvel that we ever got anything done around here at all with both of us at work. There is so much to do! being a crafty gal really makes the list longer too, let me tell you. on the agenda tomorrow are yogurt making and my first try at sausage making, before heading off to my business class. i also need to make time to learn new software, and work on spinning some yarn with my wheel, not to mention getting my work bench back in order. what a mess!

We took a trip up to Sheboygan this weekend to visit our friends, and see their new game shop, which is lovely. On the ride up i finished a sock:

I’ve already started on the second one. That’s impressive, given that i have already been swatching for a new project. I plan to knit a tank top out of No Sheep For You. I have some cotton yarn in the stash that i think will work well for it, even though the pattern calls for linen.

We had a nice weekend, the weather was lovely, and it was great to see old friends, both there, and here in town on Friday. Unfortunately, it was not great for all. My grandmother passed away this weekend, after having had a very serious heart attack. My parents went to Colombia to be with her, and i am glad my dad was able to be there for her during her last days. It’s sometimes hard for them being so far away from their family.

Spring is pretty amazing. We left for Sheboygan early on Saturday morning, and came home Sunday night. Monday morning i stepped outside, and it seemed like we had been away a week! Flowers are blooming, the buds on the maples are now leaves, and the world is green. Hopefully this weekend i can clean up the back porch, so i can start hardening the seedlings before they make their way into the garden.