Another Two Month Roundup

I haven't told you what we've been up to since February. That's the worthless power of a bi-monthly update. There I am, wondering aloud what we'll do with our lives and then I'll ramble on about Japan and house projects and meanwhile two full months will pass. I'm still stalling now as I type this... because mostly we still don't know. 

So! Scenes from the last two months:

Papa; dutifully fixing toys since '89.

My chicken group has set our sights on Food Lion. This weekend we have our third parking-lot protest. I'll go ahead and tell you that Food Lion staff have been lovely, as have the local police who come read us our rights. I hope corporate will cave soon, but this has been a delightful campaign.

Since his return from east Asia, the Big One has officially stopped working for the old firm, bought the required computer and softwares to do structural engineering from his guest-room office, made spreadsheets about finances, and somehow managed to be just as busy as he was when legally employed. I thought his temporary "retirement" would result in lazy mornings, whimsical afternoons, and periods of stagnant boredom, but I was wrong. I think I've just now learned that Brett Eisenhauer doesn't really relax. He takes breaks of course. He often leaps around the living room to incite the pups, slaps me around, goes surfing, and reads books in the hammock, but he doesn't wake up wondering how he'll fill a day with luxury and leisure. He finds things to fix, study, or improve. 

I'm slightly disappointed. 

I did not get the job I interviewed for while he was out (what a relief!) and suggested that the universe simply prefers me to be unemployed. What with all I do for the chickens...

It's actually that I want to do volunteer work professionally. I have too many good things I'm working on. It's a shame I don't get paid to do it, because it thrills me and there are so many different pots on that stove that things are always different and exciting. I've loosely decided to try to build a local coalition of sorts. It's still in the beginning stages but I've got a partner in this endeavor and she's much smarter than I am. She and I did go spend Earth Day at the College of Charleston - talking to kids about food systems and what not. I loved it a surprising amount (and now secretly want to work on campus with all the neat kids I met. Think they'd hire me to just encourage their good thoughts?) The kids I spoke to were so much more knowledgeable about things than I was at their age, and they're plugged into efforts and initiatives that you couldn't have paid me to participate in back then. I found it all encouraging and enlivening. 

Big Mama found a last minute deal for a beach house at Edisto, so the family loaded up and headed out. We had a near full-house with Ellen and Lee's squirts accompanied by Owen and Ethan, but that brand of chaotic goodness was short lived as the little ones still had to go to school. We snacked, napped, lounged in the sun, and played one full round of Shanghai. A cast of characters came in and out throughout the week but the home had one full-time resident, Big Mama U, who appreciated every second of being on Edisto. 

Ellen has moved into a new position at her workplace - something she's been waiting months for - and Lee Lee has officially earned his captain's license. Cap'n Lee it is! 

Olivia has taken an interest in outer space while Nick works on not wetting his pants. He's been doing a good job, but the excitement of an egg hunt proved to be too much this Easter, and he arrived back to the adults with a full basket, a big smile, and a sizable stain on his pants. I thought it was most amusing and when Ellen asked him about it, he ran to the end of the yard and hung his head in shame. 

Ah the next generation. 

Finally, in pet news; Pippa has developed a new mystery ailment and Grace has found a way to escape the backyard. Both of these inadvertently take a good hour out of affected days. Ferguson arrived home with a large puncture wound in his back (he's not bothered), Nora has taken to challenging Pippa for prime sofa real-estate, and one of my feral cats has had two kittens. One is orange and one is black and they are both so tiny and cute. They are afraid of me, so no pictures yet.

Brett told me I can't feed them. 

I understand.

New blooms in my wildflower patch!

Longing to escape for good.

Springtime Giddiness

We made it. It's warm out. That felt like an especially long winter - but I reckon it's because winter doesn't foster lots of hopeful dreaming, and a lack of that sort of thing just leaves you wallowing around with  your stuffy nose and dry, scaly skin.

There was that limbo moment when the sun was hot but the outside temperature was still chilly. That was about a two week period, so both dogs, both cats, and I set up shop in the bedroom where the sun comes into the window and heats up the floor to a most excellent temperature. All the pets tolerated lazing in such close proximity to each other presumably because we all understood the yearning for a comfortable outside temperature and the universal luxury of sunbathing.

Now that it's warm out, all the people and animals are coming out from our hovels with our disheveled fur and pasty complexions, and the world feels full and busy again. It's fun being in an actual neighborhood because you get to track and monitor the activities of your neighbors. All the Spring, Summer and Fall joggers are definitely not Winter joggers - so months pass without seeing them. It's nice to see that they've survived for another go round. Friends start leaving for long weekend adventures, the flowers bloom, lawn care reignites, traffic builds, restaurants fill up... what a busy little anthill we live in. 

Brett and I are no exception and we've been outside as much as possible; visiting all the parks, public docks, and outdoor cafes with friends.

That reminds me. This is Ned Cricket. He has a broken foot and an ornery disposition. He's my latest rescue mission but he won't let me too close. I'll keep you posted.

I found a bunch of old seed packets in a storage bin while I was cleaning so I somewhat haphazardly sprinkled them into some dirt and now we have more seedlings than we know what to do with. This is photo is about 25% of them. I didn't think they would even sprout. Surely they won't all survive right? That will be too many tomatoes. Either way, the thrill I've been getting watching these grow might be unreasonable. 

A blog post of substance will be coming soon. I've overbooked myself for the month of April and am floundering around juggling things. I hate when I do this to myself. It usually only happens once or twice each year but it comes on so fast you can't stop in. 

In the meantime - Liv and Dad at Easter lunch. 

A Springtime Update

It's been so wonderful to slowly reintroduce "seeing friends" to the activity roster. As an introverted homebody, I didn't expect to find so much excitement in social outings. See what a global pandemic can do for your outlook? Brett and I have been hanging out with our non-related people again and it's so refreshing. Even my folks got in on the action, inviting The Crew over for Sunday Dinner and a handful of rowdy rounds of Pig.  

Here's a picture of Mom blending into the couch.

Just before I caught the Covid, I'd gotten The Spite Garden set up for hopeful success. I moved it over near the garage in an effort for it to gather an extra hour of sun each day. I love our shady backyard, but the veggies don't. This year I've planted a couple varieties of tomatoes, onion, cucumber, cantaloupe, peppers, basil, cilantro, and mint. I had plans to plant even more but then I got sick and couldn't wield a shovel. In the nick of time, I also planted six hydrangea bushes, four clematis plants, some hosta, some spider plants, AND finally (after 5 years) found a place for the succulents that they haven't turned on yet. That was all a month ago and being sickly made me loose my momentum. I've decided I'm done planting things for now - tending to it all has kept me busy enough. 

Here's a picture of the backs of our heads at Hayden and Jenny's wedding. I have no real cause for posting it here but I think our collective hair looks great.

This past weekend, Brett and I stole Papa Clint's boat from our own yard and took the pups on an afternoon cruise. Gracie Girl knows the ways of boat life but Pip has never cruised the open waters before. She was all spastic and slippery and then caught a case of on-board zoomies that resulted in a couple of pup-overboard rescue missions. 

They sacked out when we got home.

Here's a picture of Olivia with her little chucky ankles crossed like a sassy golf cart princess.

About that whole "I wrote a book" thing; I sent it off to a friend to read and I brushed my hands cleans of it. I decided to put it down for awhile - get some distance from it as they say - so I could see it with fresh eyes later. I have the whole thing memorized like a trendy pop song that isn't even that great. When you know the next sentence and it's grammatical notions, you don't really even read the story anymore. You just glaze your eyes over it the way you look at your own face in the mirror each day. You knows what's there, no need to study it. Finally my friend sent back her notes and I read my stories again for the first time. Never mind my friend's helpful suggestions, I hate the stories. I read them with fresh eyes and became humiliated that I claimed a writers status and that I sent it to an intellectual friend to read. I'm horrified that I nearly email queries to professional readers. It's awful. 

So I take it back. I haven't written a book. But don't worry yet. I've got some plans.

Springtime on Black Pig Farms

 

So many beautiful goodies are blooming. I can tell I'm turning into a real adult because of how thrilled I am by the new life and growth. I don't think I've ever been more attentive to the goodness. Is calling it a miracle too much? How is everyone everywhere not beside themselves about it? Here is a collection of pictures I took of our place over the last two weeks.

We have finally taken control of the dirt patch, that propane tank burial ground. We laid some sod, watered it bunches, and now it's all thick and green. We're real tickled about it. 

And here's my favorite Spring view. Mom calls this lot across the street a "park-like setting" and we look forward to it's azaleas every year. 

Bonsai Trees

I've always really loved bonsai trees. I've also always wanted one though I kept this notion to myself anytime there wasn't one around, giving me cause to announce heartily that I really really wanted one. Sometime in December, as we strolled through a sushi joint filled with plastic bonsais I mentioned to no one that I really wanted a bonsai tree and Chris caught it. That Chris is really on the ball.
He got me a bonsai tree for Christmas.

Meet Carman

She's a Fukien Tea tree (carmano mycrophylla, if I'm being snobby and scientific)(which is how I got her name). This means she'll make little white flowers on occasion and if I feed her properly, she'll also make tiny cherries. Carman is but a wee baby in the life and times of a bonsai tree. Carman has lots of growing to do before I can bend and shape her in such a way that makes me look like a wise master of sorts.

My first few weeks with the new gal were very stressful. Her leaves would fall off with just the faint breeze of my walking past her. All the research led to me mass confusion on wether she was a beginners dream or a task for a seasoned bonsai veteran. Make sure she gets water but too much will cause root rot. Make sure the soil is dry before you water again but don't let the soil dry out. Fukien Tea trees are sensitive to these tiny little bugs that poop acid, killing off leaves. Don't forget to fertilize! But not as often in winter. 

So I had a talk with ole Carman, told her she had to hang in there because she wasn't cheap and I couldn't let Chris down. And also, I'm a big fan her kind. I told her I'd do my best if she tried too.

So I decided I should mimic the climate of her homeland. I moved the gal into my bathroom and each time I shower I create an incubator for her, heating up her bright green leaves and keeping her soil damp how she likes it. Since this grand experiment, Carman got her first blooms.

As Carman grows into wise old lady, her trunk will quadruple in size and her leaves will become a dense forest of Chinese secrets. In the meantime, I've got to decide which haircut to train her for. I just don't know which one suits her.

City And Color

Wales is such a colorful place. Mostly this is because of the abundant displays of weeds and flowers but also the light here just seems to make colors deeper. Blue blues and green greens. Cars, people, signs- there's color everywhere. Just like Charleston. I attempted to go into the city part of the city to take pictures but you know, a city is a city and people are busy and trying to get places. The difference here is that people will wait patiently for you to take a picture even though you're blocking up the sidewalk. In New York they push past you and grunt and wish horrible things upon you. But being the way I am, I still feel very guilty holding up things to take pictures, so I don't. I steal a picture here and there when I can press my body up against the side of a building, pull out my camera, point, shoot, and run away.

As I've mentioned, there is an abundance of green space here. I don't mind at all capturing these open areas thus, I show you the same pictures over and over. So anyways, the first pictures are the burbs. Last year, I told you all of the houses are the same, built all at once during the industrial area. Moving out of the city center takes you through a maze of these houses. It's easy to get turned around because they all look the same!!

 I'm thrilled by the gardens and flowers and pretty girlish things. I walked to town yesterday to have lunch with Lukas and we sat in the grass behind his office building. It just so happened to be full of flowers and trees, a monument to something war related, and a number of pigeons and squirrels.

The city consists mostly of ornately styled buildings. There are just a few big bland rectangular buildings. These are Lukas's science labs and nerd buildings. Most everything else; hotels, stores, train stations, restaurants, museums, etc are elaborately designed or somehow Charlestonlike. I wandered into the shopping area yesterday and was so overwhelmed by the crowds and noise that I ran away almost instantly. I thought Charleston had bad mobs. I was happy to run off though. We were meeting friends in the park for barbecue.