proteanme

Sunny and almost 70. Luxury weather for out here.  I spent most of the day working outside in my yard, which was not what I’d planned to do, but I got a lot of stuff done without having set out to do any of it. It was a kind of zen and very satisfying endeavor. Up until this year I’ve generally hated doing yard work, which was something I did not know about myself until RU and I bought this house. It’s funny how you find things out about yourself. This year, I don’t mind working in the yard. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. The warm and dry weather help. A ton. But I also think there’s a real shift too. I’m definitely more interested in the vegetables we are trying to grow. The slugs ate all the leaves off my turnip plants, which weren’t doing very well anyway because overall the temperature has been so cool this spring. And I’m sad because now I can’t find turnips anywhere. I encased my vegetables boxes with copper slug tape and I’m hoping that will work to protect what’s left of the cabbage and collards, which are also taking a beating from the slugs. I bought tomato cages when I got the slug tape today. I’m excited about tomatoes, although it needs to get quite a bit warmer for them and basil and green beans too. I’m trying to convince RU to let me experiment with growing some cantaloupe.

I did not plan on writing about vegetables or the weather but sometimes it’s just that simple. And simple is maybe not the right word. It is really about being alive and doing things that are about the business of living, like taking care of the yard and grocery shopping and cooking food and doing laundry. Things that are easy to take for granted or to see as a chore, until you think about tornadoes and earth quakes and air raids.

Passing on NYRB review of some current memoirs, which also includes some advice for all those aspiring memoirists out there. It’s good advice. Maybe hard to hear, but well worth taking the time to read.