the beginning

a chance meeting,
a chat in the garden,
twinkling blue eyes,
charming smile,
that was the beginning...

beans

trying out some new varieties of beans this year.  can't wait to see them twining their way up the bamboo trellises and the garden fence.  i've become somewhat bean obsessed of late.  it's a vegetable i feel a definite kinship with (and love to eat).  i've read that the pythagoreans revered the fava bean and believed that the souls of the dead traveled up through the hollow stems and would then reside in the beans.  for me too, there's something sacred in a bean---in the plants and pods and seeds and in the planting and harvesting of them.  it's a hard thing to describe but if you hold them in your hand you can feel it.

'christmas' lima

happy birthday, nicolas!

when zane found out today was your birthday he got all set to party---he was pretty bummed out when i told him you had to work.

have a great day, nick.

shovels, handedness, and resolution number ten

the ground finally dried out enough for me to get back at the shovel.  i've got several new beds to dig for squashes and beans and who knows what else.  it was a lovely day for digging and while i was working i got to thinking about handedness (being left or right-handed).  i'm strongly right-handed for most everything.  i'm quite comfortably ambidextrous with a rake or broom.  but when it comes to the shovel it turns out i'm strongly left-handed, which i find interesting.  i didn't even know i was a left-handed shoveler until i came across instructions for how one should hold a shovel depending on one's handedness---i always thought i was shoveling right-handedly.  i've had a general fascination with handedness for some time.  i've had this idea that if i use my off hand to do things i usually do with my dominant hand it will nudge my brain into making new connections---new physical/neurological connections in my brain and body and new connections in how i think about things---how i see things (new year's resolution number ten, "see things differently" http://mwstaal.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-resolve.html).  i want to be able to keep my mind fresh and my thinking flexible---it's a challenge.  so after i did a fair amount of shoveling as i normally do i switched hands and finished up---if nothing else it will keep my arms evenly muscled.  tonight i'll try to remember to brush my teeth with my left hand.

the big switch

staal got the new water system up and running.  there's still a little fine tuning to be done but everything seems to be working as it should.

he made the last of the plumbing connections yesterday.

 

 

when he had the plumbing finished he tidied up the electrical work.

 

i think he may have said a little prayer before he flipped the switch for the first time...

  it'll take some time for the tank to fill.  slow and steady and all that. 

checking out the water level

 the man does good work. 

early april snow

we got a little snow in the night---maybe a couple inches.  it's melting pretty quickly ( i like that part).  staal and i went out this morning and had fun walking around and taking pictures.  

zane loves snow

chinese pistache

wild turkey tracks

the aforementioned wild turkeys

semi-domesticated turkey

manzanita blossoms---kind of looks like a dessert to me

never know how things are going to turn out when you mix tender new growth and snowfall but the garden seems to have come through just fine.

low tunnels looking a little droopy under the snow load

cold frame keeping some plants cozy

lettuce

more lettuce---just because it's pretty

squash seedlings outside on the potting bench keeping warm with a heat mat and humidity dome

it was a lovely morning. 

staal took some really great photos---you can see things from his perspective here:  http://fredstaals.blogspot.com/

snow on the mountain

it's been raining off and on for several days.  got a another good shower last night.  zane and i were out a bit earlier---chilly---and looks like buckingham mountain got a light dusting of snow.  

 

guess we're getting a little winter before we head into summer.  seems like spring usually only lasts a day or two around here.  the forecast says it's going to be rainy and in the 50's for a couple more days and then we'll be in the 80's within a week or so.