Thinning the Harvest

My dwarf fruit trees will have their first significant harvest next fall.  Together, the trees set on more than two dozen apples and one pear, just on target for trees their age.  But the limbs are yet young and some are vulnerable and so the responsible gardener must thin the apples, so that they grow at least six inches apart and don't weigh down the branches too much.  So a branch may start looking like this:

Once thinned, it looks like this:

These apples have a good shot at successfully maturing and have me dreaming of a small bowl of fried apples and a few lunch box snacks.  The thinned apples, nine in total, went to the compost heap where they will likely serve as a sumptuous feast for a few bunnies of my acquaintance.

In my book, that's a gardening win-win.

Backyard McGyver

JT has a pair of sunglasses that he keeps outside for use as the need arrises.  He's tucked them on a branch underneath a part of the grape vine that was experiencing too much shade to green up this spring.  Now he need never stare into the sunlight.

Pretty clever, that boy.

The Great Wall

I'm just not sure what to make of this picture. It turned up on a local Chinese takeout menu and must certainly be someone's attempt at creative photoshop 101.  I'm not buying it, though I do have a strange urge for Kung Pao chicken.  I'm alarmed.

Is this the final sign that the Chinese are now truly in charge of the U.S.?

Or could it be that the GOP leadership fools finally built that big wall to protect us from illegal immigration, albeit from the wrong country?

Hard to be sure what's going on here.  And no matter what it is, I am disturbed.

Leaning Into Joy

One of the hazards of life for me has been the idea of uncertainty.  I'm not a pessimist, per se, but events of my past and my sadness about them conspired to encourage me to regard uncertainty more as potential danger than potential happiness.  I've worked hard on addressing that world view in the past two years.  Just putting living with less fear on my life list constituted progress because it meant I was able to openly acknowledge that specter's influence in my life.  A few months ago, I watched this Brene Brown TED talk and then used her words and ideas as a sort of talisman of personal bravery; of being whole-hearted.

I don't wish to live with fear as much as embrace the opportunity implicit in uncertainty.  I've used the regular features of my life as a way to take on that fear.  Planting a few different plants in the garden, picking up a book outside my usual interests, trying a new style of clothes, re-organizing a successful lesson to aspire for even greater success…….all relatively small acts that nonetheless felt like acts of bravery for me. 

It's amazing how far a little courage can take me.  It's lovely to see the prospect of uncertainly, associate it with potential good in my life, and then contemplate how far good can take me.  I still have doubts, of course.  That's human.  But I've gotten a lot more comfortable about the fact that I don't know how these chapters will end.  And these days I'm okay with that.

Real Life Conversations with JT: Adolescence Calling

The backstory:  We headed over to VW yesterday to: 1. get our new license plates and 2. get someone there to program the radio so that we can listen to the ipod in the car.  I'd loaded the ipod with hundreds and hundreds of songs, some of which JT likes, all of which I like.  But it seems that some of those songs have the potential to bring him great social shame.

Mama:  Do you want to watch while we figure out the ipod?

JT:  No.

Mama:  Why not?  I could use another person to understand how this works.

JT:  Fine.  (whispering) But make sure you tell them this isn't my music.  It's yours and yours alone.

Oh, adolescence.  Keep your mitts off my baby.  

Oh Yes I Did

It's not just any friend to whom I can proclaim to the internet: your husband left his skivvies at my house.  But I am prepared to say that to N, whose husband C really did leave his skivvies behind.

Wait, y'all are thinking, "I thought she played for the other team." 

You can relax.  C and N came to visit our little corner of New Jersey and in the laundry madness, something got left behind.  I plan to mail them back.  But in the meantime, may I just say y'all should totally invite the Lincoln crew your way?  Tons of laughs, a reminder of the things I loved about the prairie, and two people who really love one another.  You can't ask for more than that.  Thanks for the visit.

Next time, we demand the whole dang family!

Game Changer

JT and I play all sorts of card games……Phase 10, Skip Bo, Monopoly Deal…..no matter the game, there is one truism: I get shellacked.  And on the way, he talks smack like nobody's business.  Last week, he proposed that we play Go Fish and I figured it would be yet another opportunity for him to administer a humiliating beat-down to his Mama.  Much to my surprise, it seems I've got some mad Go Fish skills.  And it's not just that I win the occasional game.  I'm winning far more than 50% of the time.  I could totally take this skill on the road and become some sort of Go Fish champion.

Naturally, he's taken to explaining to me (in the sort of patient voice used for toddlers and the simple-minded) that it's a game of random luck and that this run of victories does not represent some skills, as much as chance.  But whether it's luck or skill, I'll take it. And if you're planning to come over to my house, be prepared to get your booty kicked when I deal out the cards.  People, I'm a Go-Fish machine.

Real Life Conversations with JT: Little Pitchers Have Big Ears edition

The backstory:  My friends C and N are visiting from the prairie and we've been talking, laughing, and generally catching up.  JT is around because, duh, he lives here.  But it wasn't entirely clear to me how much he was listening until we dropped C and N at the train (they've headed to the city for the day) and JT and I had the following conversation.

JT:  I've learned some new words in the past few days.

Mama (wary):  Oh yeah?

JT:  Oh yeah....what's a douche bag?  I know it can't be good.

This, my friends, is some of the A+ parenting I bring to the table.

Captain Cool

We went to the beach yesterday.

 JT tried his hand at the waves.

Then he relaxed.

 When I looked at these pictures, all I could think was: where did my little boy go?

Household Style

My mother gave me this serving dish a few years ago; it came from her grandmother, and we don't know much about the origins of the bowl.  It's old-fashioned and I use it for serving appetizer-style foods: mixed nuts, crudites and dips.  Last night, I used it to serve a little antipasti:  salami, olives, brushetta, and mozzarella with our risotto and asparagus supper.  My friends C and N are with us this week and last night N and I agreed that a bowl like this is guaranteed to have treats.  No one ever brings this bowl to the table filled with 4 healthy snacks.  At best, you might set it out with veggies in two sections and dip in the other two.   That the dish has been on tables in my family for over 60 years is part of its charm.  I'll bet it has some stories to tell.