When Yesterday is Today (a common Culebra phenomenon)

Saturday morning Carlos the Engineer came by the cart, incognito. In other words, instead of jeans, button down shirt, boots, hard hat and a look of desperation, he had on baggies, a tee shirt, large dark sunglasses, a floppy hat and a huge smile. One source of the smile was that he'd brought "the love of my life" along with him. To go to the beach. To not think about the Project From Hell. But there he was, trying to cross the street from the fire station and he couldn't help himself...he started directing traffic! Sue and I called for him to stop it and come on over. He did, to let me know the bad news, that the crew would be working in the road by the cart on Monday so I'd have to be closed.

After a few deep breaths and really wanting him to go to the beach, I figured I'd go to the big island to see our friend in the hospital and use the day another way. So I did. Except...when I got back there was no crew anywhere doing anything. A call from Carlos confirmed I wasn't not seeing things. Apparently, the foreman's father died...so no one came to work. Don't EVEN ask me about that. My response was to order a Bloody Mary at Mamacita's, believing tomato juice and olives are a wonderful calming combo . Then I opened the cart, sold a bumper sticker to the last remaining person who hadn't gone to the beach already, closed the cart and went to birthday lunch with friends (not my birthday!).

This morning I called Sue (who lives in the house right behind the cart or one might say the cart is before the house) to ask if the crew had recouped enough to be working. She held the phone out...bang bang bang...loud grumble of engines. I had my answer. I'd get to stay home and play.

Which meant, it was time for the games to begin! Jack had bought my new 100' extension cord for the chain saw at Home Depot, Linda delivered it this morning and vrrrrrrroooooommm, baybee!!! Seven years of incredibly irritating tree stumps - if you can call a four foot leftover tree a stump, that kept re-growing new sprouts with the briefest of hint of moisture, are now almost gone. And I was only scared a little, for a second or two. We're talking serious fun here! I have to eke out the pleasure though, so I'll leave the rest for other days.

In other news, life stages continue to abound around me, in every form. Here is a bit on my take of what that means...

I love it when this orchid blooms - now it is truly Spring

I usually see these guys in their strollers...so seeing them walking around with Mom 1 & 2 was a little bit strange, as in, oh my, they aren't babies anymore! They were very good about posing but I think that they were really wanting a Treat of the Day. Sorry, boys! Try again tomorrow!

Finally! Some papaya blossoms that the birds haven't eaten first. So here are all the stages of a papaya coming to being. And nicely, these are at a height I can reach...if I stand on a chair.

This is the CWIM practicing for next year's Kitty Passion Play. She was quite disappointed to only get the part of a regretful prostitute this year but has high hopes for next. In the meantime,she's enjoying Passover a lot.

How hot peppers get hotter

I haven't grown sugar snap peas in decades. I forgot the initial beauty of their gentle curls unfolding, their tendrils reaching. I guess I really didn't believe they'd sprout, so I'll have to plant some more. Why is the garden so magic this year? I have no idea.

A home Sunday

Feeling a little buggy today, I stayed home. Not good to start talking to customers and burst into tears at the sight of a grinning, laughing, happy young woman in her 20's. So! I cooked (see earlier post). read and played in the gardens a LOT! I will tell you now, playing in the dirt beats smoking and/or drugs. Not that the thought of both weren't a temptation...but then I'd be digging around, or staking up some tomato laden vine and those urges would go away (the drug urge being gone over 30 years, but the memory lingers sometimes).

The CWIM was especially...um...I hesitate to say affectionate, but attentive might work. A dog would have been all over it and that would be, for me, incredibly annoying, so her offering a strong head butt on and off over the day was just about perfect.

Here are some first harvest tomatoes and peppers. I'm so excited about them and it seems others are as well. I'm hearing all sorts of stories about people growing vegetables. Diane, who started her lovely nursery a few months ago, keeps expanding her herb and veg section. I bought chives from her yesterday, along with fertilizer and bloom food...and a bag of special mango and avocado feed. I figure the trees will either drop dead in shock after 6 years of struggling along, or go crazy with life. I'm hoping for the...yeah, big surprise, never mind.

It's been windy and beautiful all day long, so except for a stretch of reading mid-day, I've been hopping in and out making a wreck inside and outside while making the garden bigger and happier...and it's been good.

I've been getting one wonderful newsletter for so many years, I forgot until today - inundating some friends and family with gardening type mail (I have to keep up a little bit with my brother, who seems to find the best of the best about everything I think is cool) - that maybe it would be great to share. Anything you want to know about hot peppers and tomatoes, this is your guy! So here it is. Pepper Joe is awesome! By the time you are done perusing one of his newsletter, you feel you have a new friend out there, glad to give of his time and knowledge to propagate more gardeners doing things right. How good is that?

Life is good, despite the reality of hateful things that go on in the world every day. Rather than crawl under the covers shuddering, take the stand of a one on one revolutionary. It's not ALL we can do, it's what we can do, and that is huge...if you think about it. Our job is to keep the balance tipped to the side of joy and peace and love and JUSTICE, corny as that may sound. And if one must hop up and down on the scales once in awhile to even out the madness...then that is what one must do.

Hopping a lot today.

In the last 24 hours (and a lot of my life) I've been heavily pondering justice, and today, looking at images depicting justice. Almost, but not always, a woman holds the scales of justice. There is a lot of historical information about this, mythology, religion, folk lore all combine to tell a common story. But I keep thinking...of course it's a woman. Not in some feminist sort of way, just that...woman are not men, we don't think like men, we don't respond like men - we are not men.

Woman are the balance of men, but even more, of life. It makes a lot of sense to me, knowing some amazingly strong and brilliant women, along with some fantastic men, just how that should work. One website had a lot of incredible images and explanations. I am not into tarot but I am into history. If you are as well, check this out.

Here are some images of Justice I found interesting. I was originally going to credit each one, but I skipped the modern images, I think, and decided to let the image tell the story, rather than ramble on about the history. See what you think. I believe this...we can't just stand around holding scales...we must get out there and tip the balance. And we're already on home plate...let's go!

Rambling Thursdaze

The morning started out in subtle colors, calm and cool (to me). I really do not understand how people can happily miss sunrises. There is so much in every one that sets the scene for the rest of the day...(and you non-morning people are yawning, uh huh, whatever, MJ).

Right now I'm sitting in the gazebo with the laptop in my...lap. For some reason it feels better here than on the table. But my legs are up in a chair across from me, so it's a perfect height for comfort. I can look up and see the new garden space I made today.

How to make a garden space the easy way. Take a piece of plywood that has floated into your yard. Toss it on the grass and weeds where you want the garden space. Leave it there a long time. Take it off. Rake off all the dead stuff, pull up any remaining rooted things. Plant crazy wild oregeno around it (break a piece off the other plants, stick it in the ground, done). Move ply wood to next area for garden space. Feel really proud of doing a hard job the easiest way. Have a drink and stare at it on and off for a couple of hours. Done.

I went with Jack to Genesis (the market) to get dirt early this morning. We didn't know how to say dirt in Spanish. We were told and I don't remember right now, so apparently I still don't know how to say dirt in Spanish. But we got bags and bags of dirt. Really pretty dirt, if you like that sort of thing. I do. Jack does too. Especially if you know that one day not so far away, you'll be noshing down on what comes from the dirt. Pretty nice system, actually...dirt, seeds, water, food.

Then I went to town with Linda to finish up some errands I didn't get to yesterday. I didn't finish today either. But I did wander around a lot, which is what one does when one can't go to one's place of business at the FRIGGIN' CART. But I'm calm...I did open the door up just to mess with them and make them think I might be considering opening with their gigantico machines four inches from my shoulder. But really, I just wanted to get the water out for the herbs so they don't die while I'm closed. Closed. Cerrado. And I found out today that they could be there a week. Hey, move the cart somewhere for a while, they suggest. I think not.

wireless moment # 7 - WOW...a hummingbird just flew by my face so close I felt its wing on my cheek. Really. This outside thing is GREAT!!!!

Today I finally had everything I needed to make one of my hot sauces. A key ingrediant being local honey. Making sauce is pretty much an all day affair but there is lots of time to do other stuff while it's cooking or cooling, so that's when I garden or read or go online. For some reason, I always semi-dread starting the process and then every time I get totally into it and enjoy each stage. It takes about 8 hours, start to almost finished, which is tying on the raffia and putting on the labels, which I do at the cart because it's more fun to do it there and passes time. And oh joy! Once it's all made, bottled, tops waxed, raffia on, label on...I think, wow, I did that? Schmazin'! The pique I make has most of its ingrediants from the garden. I'm growing garlic so that can be local as well. Pineapple, well, I AM growing a pineapple, but it's been growing for about 5 years, so I'm thinking it may not be going to make a pineapple. It's a really pretty plant though! And lucky for me, we occasionally get pineapples here...so, if all the stars are aligned correctly, meaning I have racao (Puerto Rican cilantro), aji cabelleros (Puerto Rican peppers - hot little bastards), garlic, pineapple and vinegar...and a couple of other ingredients that must remain secret, I can make the pique. Soon come; the peppers are blooming! And if you just can't stand it and have to have some almost right now, this is the easiest way to get the info ...hey, it's my blog, I can shamelessly self promote. Right? I mean...it's a little embarrassing to tell the truth, but my PR person, my agent and my brother (all the same person) encourages me to do so.

I think the CWIM likes outdoor computing as much as I dol. She's lying on the table, quite relaxed, after first crawling all around me while tapping me with her paw, wondering why I am doing this activity outside. Wireless rocks and life is good!