For years I kept journals -- in composition, spiral bound, and French graph paper books. This blog is an attempt to get back to writing and documenting the world around me using photos, newspaper headlines, and other articles.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Garden, shoes, and the wardrobe

We've put in a great garden this year.  I hope the plants thrive and produce for us.  We have put in several kinds of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, kale, carrots, lettuce, basil, parsley, chives, and rosemary.  This year, more than others, I have felt a connection with my relatives through the plants.  I have gardeners on all sides of the family and as I was planting, I was thinking about them.  I remember Grammy Louise's garden in Vernon.  Dad always has beautiful tomatoes.  Robert gave me the kale plants that he started from seeds.  Heather took the torch and made me realize that it wasn't just for our parents.  Mom is all about fresh herbs and flowers. How many times would we run down the porch stairs to the garden to pick fresh chives to sprinkle on tacos or snip some parsley for the salad?  I enjoy seeing the pictures and hearing the gardening stories from others.  My family gardens and I love it.

Two weekends ago Selim and I bought seeds and plants from a nursery in Dover.  While we didn't plant everything all in one day, eventually, we got them all in.  After just a week or so in the ground, I think the tomato plants are sturdier and the peppers are taller.




The raised beds, prior to weeding and planting.

This year I dug out some of the lemon verbena that had spread along the retaining wall and put in herbs and a kale.



Next year we will reclaim the former strawberry patch and incorporate it into the regular garden.



I hope we have better luck with the carrots this year.  I put them in a different raised bed and added compost from our bin.  Maybe that will help.



And now to the shoes.  I bought these on sale during the Memorial Day weekend.



Fabulous, right?  I didn't know when I would wear them, but I "had" to have them.  Yesterday, I had the perfect opportunity.  I were co-facilitated the monthly Adjudication training.  I had a vested interest in the success of the training since I came up with the theme, had the vision for how it should be presented, researched the material, set the schedule so that we could meet the deadline, and got the buy in from my co-workers and Manager. Then I turned it over to David so that he could work his magic and create the actual technical presentation.  He did a great job.  On Tuesday we had three training sessions, two for first shift and one for second and I wanted to look professional and be comfortable at the same time.  The shoes were the perfect compliment to my favorite sleeveless suit-type dress.  (It wasn't wrinkled yesterday.)



The first session started at 10:30.  By 10:20 I had gotten several compliments on my outfit as people came into the room and that made me smile.  I was confident in front of the microphone and even though the first group wasn't very energetic to start, I didn't let that get to me.  By the end, they were into it and we had the give and take that makes a training session interesting and gratifying.  The last session of the day was the easiest.  We had our second shift group and everybody was more relaxed.  They were fun and we had a great time.

When I got back to my office, one of my former team mates came up to me and said, "I saw you up there and I thought to myself, Bethany is still all about the shoes."  I laughed.  And it is true.

I am grateful that I have a wardrobe that works in a professional setting and for the gathering that I went to on Sunday.  I have a collection of dresses that can be worn with strappy sandals or heals; can be dressed up with a suit jacket or made more casual with a little sweater.  It is nice to have a collection of outfits that if I have to travel for work, or attend a gathering with a social set out of my league, that I can feel comfortable in what I am wearing.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Busy, busy

Friday, all three of the town's third grade classes met for Immigration Day.  I knew that my Lovey Lamb was nervous, but I didn't get how so until Mom said on Wednesday that he was scared.  After hearing that, we spent the next day and a half reassuring him that he would be fine and that the event might actually be fun.  Earlier in the year, he has studied Turkey for his Country Report.  For Immigration Day, he chose to honor one of my sides of the family and pretend he was coming from Ireland.  I am well aware of the differences between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but I wasn't going to quibble when a friend gave him the hat.




Friday morning, he was dressed and ready to go.  In his pillow case "ruck sack" he carried a book, photo of his family, a rock from the backyard, and a penny whistle.  I gave him big hugs at the bus and told him that I was proud of him overcoming his anxiety.

All morning I thought of him.  I did my own form of prayer.  My mind focused on him and I couldn't nap.  When the clock passed noon, I exhaled, knowing that the even had ended.  I went to work and tried concentrating on the tasks at hand.  At 4:00, I called home and heard the most excited and relieved voice.  He had had a great time and all was well in his world.

Saturday we gardened.  We planted lettuce and carrots from seeds.  He put in the ground the rest of the herbs and kale.  And then we watered and watered.  And played with the hose.






Sunday I managed to wake up when the alarm went off at 5:00am and went in to the office at 6:00 for 3 hours of OT.  Energized when I got home, I tackled putting away winter clothes and organizing summer ones.  I have a big bag for Goodwill.  I had wanted to stay at home and work on more cleaning, but I had to put in a command performance at a gathering in North Hampton.  Nedim was giving an orientation to some people who are going to Turkey in August and he wanted me to be there.

We drove separately and I got there a few minutes after my guys.  The house was a gorgeous old New England home.  Looking at the house, I couldn't figure out which door I should try.  The big door at the front didn't look well used.  The path to the left ended by a rock wall.  The path that boarded the driveway led to another entrance and a side building.  I stood there in the driveway and started to cry.  It felt like the worst thing ever.  Not only do I hate walking in to a room where I don't know anybody, but to enter through the wrong door would be socially so awkward.  I had cake in one had and my cell phone in the other, only to find that I couldn't get any service.  I was going to call Nedim and tell him to meet me and bring me inside.  No luck.  I opted for the pathway by the driveway, took a deep breath, and knocked.

I chose the right one.  Everybody was very friendly and in no time I had been offered a drink and food.  Selim was eager to test the pool water and the lure of the hot tub could not keep him out of the back yard.  I went out to the back with him and spent the next two hours taking pictures of the gorgeous flowers that lined the pool and the fun garden sculptures.









And of course, Selim.






By the end of the afternoon, Selim was executing flips off the diving board and having the best time.





At 5:30, I dragged him away, knowing that I still had laundry to fold and a kitchen to clean before bed.  All in all, it was a busy, busy couple of days.  Oh, and Nedim's presentation went well.