Month:
June, 2008
Drawing to an inescapable close are the ten weeks in which Simone lived. Every year these weeks are like a sacred space I go into. This is the actual time in which she lived, shifted a few years on, but still there, ever returning. It’s like going under the hill, or stepping into a circle of toadstools.
I haven’t, perhaps, as many words as usual to say about this sad day. I made it to the end of it, and the space of Simone is turning away again. Tomorrow, I go back to all the other pieces and parts of my life, the ones that never had, never will have, her in them.
Stepping over is easy, inevitable. But it is not without grief.
The great Chilean poet, Neruda, wrote this: “es tan corto el amor y tan largo el olvido”. This is how I feel today, that love is so brief, while forgetfulness lingers long. His words will have to do for me, because I’m foundering in search of any of my own.
The hot weather getting you down? Then I have a wintry story for you, refuge from the brilliant sun. Go read Theodora Goss’ beautiful and poetic story “The Rapid Advance of Sorrow“. It will transport you. It will make you stop sweating. I promise.
The last BSG episode was a serious disappointment to me. They’d done such an excellent job in the first half of the two-parter (I mean, — spoiler — plugging in the hybrid and having her scream,”JUMP!” could not have been more awesome), and I was sure spectacular things were coming, and then meh. I’ll have to add a corollary to my formula for good BSG episodes. The new formula: BSG episodes are good in direct proportion to the number of toasters on screen during the episode and bad in direct proportion to the number of lines Lee Adama has. Apollo and Starbuck, man, I get so sick of them.
I wish Annalee Lewitz, of io9, was their scriptwriter, because this, even with its problems, would have been so much better than what we saw.
There’s some wonderful things going on my yard this year, mostly courtesy of the continuous rain we’ve had for the past couple of months.
An inexhaustive list of cool things:
- Mushrooms everywhere! Not just the stinkhorns, but all kinds (not that I know what kinds those are, but I love mushrooms! I feel a thousand secret doorways into the fairy realm are lurking in my yard).
- The oregano is twice as big as it was last year, marking my first perennial herb planted in the yard to survive. I know how much bigger it is because it had engulfed its label so I know where it ended last year.
- The lemon balm, which did not successfully return in its pot this year, at first grieved me, but then I saw a small plant growing in the yard, beneath the deck, exactly below the pot. Pinched a leaf, sniffed, and verified lemon balmness. I shall move it back to the pot, and yay!
- New perennial bleeding hearts planted in the shade. They look good, and maybe they’ll come back next year!
- Fresh strawberries out of the garden. So far I’ve had two, and the bird netting seems to be effective in keeping the critters from eating them. Delicious instant sweetness.
- Seeds sown right outside from last year’s crops that have germinated and are growing like crazy: beans and cucumbers. The only failure there seems to be the chili peppers, which didn’t take (though I tried sowing them indoors, maybe this is the problem). I have harvested melon seeds yet to plant, probably this weekend sometime (though this weekend already has BUSY! all over it).
- What is soon to be a wealth of basil! Yay, pesto!
- Healthy cilantro planted from seed, though still tiny (and since I killed an enormous plant last year before I managed to harvest it, I probably should hedge and not mention it) but for the time being a hopeful yay!.
- The topsy turvy planter, highly recommended by Elaine (and others) is installed and its tomato plant is growing nicely. We’ll see how it does. If it does really well I’ll get another one or two and try the stuff that hasn’t worked for me in the ground: peppers and zuchinni maybe, or maybe just more tomatoes. BTW, the tomato plant in the topsy turvy is also from harvested last year seed, and I didn’t segregate my seeds well, so I’m going to be surprised. It might be cherry tomatoes, and it might be romas!
- Lavender in front yard coming into its own this year, and spilling out of the bed, and looking so lovely. I can’t take credit for this as a perennial in the garden herb because my mom planted it two years ago, but I still enjoy it.
- New experiments with anise hyssop and purple coneflowers. Maybe the butterflies will come!
Also, as the weather heats up, I get to rotate back in all my favorite summer recipes. This week we’ve had delicious black beans and couscous and will have prosciutto and mozzarella panini (with basil!) as well as super cooling and tasty yoghurt soup later in the week. We’ve stepped up the grilling too: delicious salmon yesterday (with farmer’s market asparagus that was soooooo tasty) and fajitas to look forward to this weekend! Life is good! Food is good!
We got the new Wii game, WiiFit, and we’re loving it. So far it’s really motivated to do some exercise every day. Granted, it’s only been three days, but if this continues long enough to form a habit, I could really get strong and toned over the summer, which would rock! Also rocking, but unrelated, a new yoga studio is opening up within walking distance of my house. I’m going to give it a try!
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This blog, Among Mad People, and its contents by Anna Schwind are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.