Life

Spring Garden

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Debora

“To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch the renewal of life – this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.”
–Charles Dudley Warner

I’ve finally gotten all my spring veggies planted, and most of my summer ones. This has been an unusually cool spring, but I didn’t want to wait any longer to get everything in the ground. We had a totally unexpected hard frost a couple weeks ago that decimated my bell peppers and eggplants, but other than that things are looking really good. I replaced the frost victims with new seedlings and I’m keeping a much closer eye on the weather now, so I can cover up the tender stuff with straw should the need arise.

Here’s what my garden looks like right now:

As you can see, I’m all about the mulch. You really can’t garden without it in this arid climate. It holds moisture in, blocks weeds, adds organic matter to the soil as it decomposes, and keeps the plants’ roots cool so they don’t burn up in the broiling heat of summer. Gotta have the mulch!

I’ve gone in a slightly different direction this year with my crop selections. The more I read about Colony Collapse Disorder, the more concerned I get about the effects of genetically modified plants on the beneficial insects that come into contact with them. This has inspired an interest in preserving old heirloom and open-pollinated varieties of crops. The added bonus here is that I can save the seeds my plants produce and they will breed true year after year, unlike hybrids.

So I’ve switched from my usual super-sweet hybrid corn to the old favorite Golden Bantam. Instead of my beloved Hybrid Packman broccoli I’m trying an Italian heirloom variety called Di Cicco. I couldn’t give up hybrid tomatoes completely — gotta have my Early Girl and my Sweet 100 Cherries — but I’ve added Red Brandywine and Roma this year.

What I’ve planted so far:

Arugula
Beets
Broccoli
Carrots
Eggplants, Black Beauty and a Japanese variety called Ichiban
Garlic
Green Beans, Kentucky Wonder
Italian Parsley
Kale, two different varieties with really long names
Lettuce, several different varieties
Malabar Spinach
Melons, an Amish cantaloupe type
Onions, Walla-Walla and Yellow Ebenezer
Oregano
Peas, Snow and Sugar Snap
Potatoes, Yukon Gold
Radishes
Red Cabbage
Sorrel
Sweet Corn
Swiss Chard
Thyme
Tomatoes
Watermelon, Crimson Sweet and Garrison

I’m going to put in some pumpkins later; I’ve learned not to rush that. Nothing worse than pumpkins that are ripe in August and rotten by Halloween!

I also put in a bed of strawberries, but that’s a post unto itself.

I’m having the usual luck with my watermelons so far — which is to say, very little — but I think that’s another post too.

Here’s hoping for warm weather, no more frosts, and just enough rain!

Categories: environment, food, Gardening, Life, Weather | 3 Comments

Water Fun

Posted on April 28, 2008 by Debora

Every year the kids’ school offers an optional Saturday outing to some fun destination for a reduced ticket price. A few weeks ago the kids brought home the flyers; this year it was to be Hurricane Harbor (a water park in Valencia) for $25 per person.

This is the sort of thing the kids usually hand to me without reading, and I glance it over and drop it in the trash without giving it a second thought. But for some reason they not only read it this time, they zoomed right in on the idea with enormous enthusiasm. A water park three hours away during the coolest spring we’ve had in years? We’re GOING of course, right Mom?

My impulse was to tell them no, especially since elementary kids are required to bring a parent (that would be me, currently in full hermit mode). But apparently marital breakup guilt can be a powerful motivator for overindulging one’s children, because somehow I let myself be talked into it.

And it turned out to be a ton of fun! The weather turned hot in the nick of time, and I’d forgotten how much fun playing in water can be. The waterslides were a blast, but I think the big hit of the day was the wave pool. It created a nifty beach effect that was just intense enough to give the kids a thrill.

Hurricane Harbor is usually closed this early in the year, but a bunch of schools had gotten together and reserved a “private party” day. That meant there was no one there but students, their chaperones, and about a gazillion park lifeguards. It made for a very safe and casual atmosphere. I didn’t get a lot of pics (carrying a digital camera around a waterpark isn’t a stellar idea), but I did snap a few early and late in the day:

(That speck at the bottom of the slide is Elizabeth’s head. I was expecting her to come down a different one, so I almost missed her.)

I have only two complaints, and they’re minor ones. One…water rides are gravity powered. That means that the cooler the ride, the more steps you have to climb to get to the starting point. I climbed a LOT of freaking steps on Saturday. My calf muscles still hurt.

The second complaint is mostly my own fault. I was overdue for a haircut, so this trip was all the motivation I needed to hurry up and make an appointment. Long hair is a total hassle in a pool. I opted for a short bob, something that would be nice and manageable even after a day in the water. I had the hairdresser go ahead and touch up my highlights at the same time…it was all very cute and stylish.

On the bus ride home from Hurricane Harbor Elizabeth said, “I can’t wait to get home and see how light the chlorine bleached my hair. I wonder if it turned white like yours.”

Wha…?

When we got home I looked in the mirror and saw what she meant. A full day of sun and chlorine had bleached my pretty gold highlights to pure silver. Behold the whiteness of my hair — I look like a beach bum:

That will take some getting used to.

Still, I’m glad the kids talked me into going. A very fine time was had by all.

Categories: Family, kids, Life | Tags: haircut, Hurricane Harbor | 3 Comments

Sun Dance

Posted on April 23, 2008 by Debora

Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers — a living prismatic gem that changes its colour with every change of position…In its exquisite form, its changeful splendour, its swift motions and intervals of aerial suspension, it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description.

–W.H. Hudson

I was in the garden this morning, enjoying the sunshine and checking the progress of my spring seedlings, when I heard the familiar “zzip, zzip” of a hummingbird flitting around nearby. I looked up and saw him, an iridescent green fellow with a jewel-pink throat, doing an exuberant sunlit dance in midair a few feet away from me.

At first he seemed to be performing solely for my benefit, and a lovely performance it was. Then I realized that he was in the midst of a hovering cloud of gnats, dipping and whirling with elegant grace as he snapped up dozens of the tiny insects. I sat back on my heels and just enjoyed the show, which lasted for a good minute or two before the hummer finally darted off in a brilliant flash of color.

I think Nature likes to indulge in random acts of beauty and joy for the sheer pleasure of it. What other explanation could there be for moments like that?

Categories: Animals, Gardening, Life, Wildlife | Tags: hummingbirds | Leave a comment

Moving On

Posted on April 15, 2008 by Debora

Sorry about the long absence. Been dealing with some life changes, and apparently the first thing to go was my usually compulsive need to write.

With crushing irony in light of last month’s romantic marital musings, Steve and I have separated. It wasn’t any lack of love that ended the marriage; we were just too different. Different goals, different values, different interests. During our almost-twelve years of wedlock both of us compromised and sacrificed so much of ourselves to make the marriage work, that by the end we both felt like we’d lost touch with who we really were. Letting go of the struggle was almost a relief.

It was all as amicable as a breakup can possibly be. He kept what was important to him and I kept what was important to me; there was no overlap, nothing we both wanted enough to argue over. That’s a sort of sad commentary in itself, I suppose.

I love this house and Steve doesn’t much care where he lives as long as there’s room for his band equipment, so I stayed here and he moved back in with his parents a quarter-mile up the road. They seem happy to have him: the prodigal son, back safe where he belongs at last. The kids took it hardest, but we’ve made it as easy as possible for them and they seem to be adjusting well.

I could go on and on about all the effort that went into this marriage and why it ultimately failed, but…I don’t feel like it.

So. Moving on.

To celebrate my birthday I did something that I was never able to do with the city-phobic Steve: I took the kids to visit one of my favorite old stomping grounds, the Mission Avenue part of Riverside. I used to live on the corner of 7th and Locust, within walking distance of the library and museums and everything, and my memories of that area are warm.

We started the day with a climb up Mt. Rubidoux. The weather was gorgeous, and all the winter rain made the scenery a lot greener than usual. The Santa Ana riverbed wound lush and verdant alongside the city’s edge, looking nothing like its usual sandy deserty self.

We took the “down road” up. Steeper, but shorter.

The cross at the summit. Its sheer size never comes across in photos:

The view from the top:

The Friendship Tower and Peace Bridge:

Elizabeth likes livin’ on the edge. In each of the next three pics, she is inches away from bone-breaking drops:

At the base of the cross:

On the way down we skipped the roads and took a footpath:

Our next stop was the Riverside Marketplace. We wandered through all the beautiful shops, and picked up some fun trinkets for the kids. Then to the Mission Inn, to admire the wonderful courtyards and all the incredible details.

Then we headed over to the Natural History Museum, which I’ve loved since I was a kid.

By then the kids were starting to get tired, so we called it a day and headed homeward. We stopped in Temec for a nice supper, and got home just as dusk was falling. In spite of all the personal drama going on right now, I think it was the nicest birthday I’ve had in years. It felt like…a new beginning.

Categories: Family, food, Gardening, kids, Life, Love, Marriage, Travel | 7 Comments

There’s Only Two Of Them…

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Debora

…but somehow they manage to take up ALL the seating space.

Note the comfy (and usually ignored) doggy pillow under the coffee table.

Categories: Animals, Dogs, Humor, Life | 2 Comments