I'll admit it. I'm not a huge fan of poetry. If someone wants to discuss poetry (actually happened to me recently, believe it or not), I cannot contribute to the conversation at all. Does Dr. Seuss count as poetry? I can talk about Dr. Seuss...
At any rate, my sister sent me this poem the other day and it really spoke to me I think it's really awesome.
It was published in 1917. Enjoy.
Deep in the Quiet Wood James Weldon Johnson 1871-1928 Are you bowed down in heart? Do you but hear the clashing discords and the din of life? Then come away, come to the peaceful wood, Here bathe your soul in silence. Listen! Now, From out the palpitating solitude Do you not catch, yet faint, elusive strains? They are above, around, within you, everywhere. Silently listen! Clear, and still more clear, they come. They bubble up in rippling notes, and swell in singing tones. Not let your soul run the whole gamut of the wondrous scale Until, responsive to the tonic chord, It touches the diapason of God's grand cathedral organ, Filling earth for you with heavenly peace And holy harmonies.
When we moved to Kansas City last August, I instantly realized that I had taken western North Carolina for granted. Since moving back, I've made more of an effort to get out and enjoy this beautiful part of the country I'm so blessed to live in.
The weekend after we put Athena to sleep, we went to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and hiked the trail there. It's an easy two loops totaling 2 miles. From the USDA Forest Service site: This forest is one of the Nation’s most impressive remnants of old-growth forest. The forest contains magnificent examples of more than 100 tree species, many over 400-years-old, and some more than 20 feet in circumference and 100 feet tall.
There are some other trails that branch off of the main trail, but we decided to go back and do those once the trees leaf out. Oh! I almost forgot! There are all these warnings posted..."This is an old-growth forest. Beware of falling limbs and trees." This is NO JOKE. We watched a tree fall not even 15 minutes into our hike. If our hearts weren't already pumping from the hike, they were then!
Canopy shot - trees just starting to leaf out
My boys
Q: Why did the Fungi leave the party? A: There wasn't mushroom.
This is the rain chain my husband got me for Valentine's Day. I love it! I then bought a half whiskey barrel from Lowe's ($30?) and put a water lily in it. So far it hasn't flowered and I'm not sure it will based on how much sunlight it receives. The wreath was made out of grapevines by my dad for my wedding. I love him.
I made this raised planter bed from this tutorial. I have sunflowers, strawberries, basil, catnip, apple mint, cilantro, okra, cucumber, tomatoes, serrano peppers, and some sort of squash planted. I say some sort of squash because they came up from my compost and I have no idea whether they'll be zucchini, summer squash, or pumpkin. You may notice my tomato buckets on the fence...last summer I had them hanging but they became too heavy and broke so this summer I have them sitting on two iron plant hangers. I need to do some serious pest control. Just need to figure out the best eco-friendly way to do that.
This is my blue hydrangea that I absolutely love. A late frost this spring caused some burning, hence the left side full of blooms and the right not so much.
My rain barrel! It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does the trick. And best of all...it was FREE! I won it in a raffle at Greening up the Mountains.
The chicken coop! I painted 'eggs' on the side. I'm so cute I can hardly stand myself. :o/ I realized after the fact that I should've installed the planter box lower so I can open the window without hitting whatever's planted. Oh well. Speaking of that window box, I made it myself from leftover boards from the backyard fence. I like free. The coop & run...NOT free.
The chickens then...
The chickens now...
Spike is on the box and Little Foot is the brown one. We think they might be roosters. :( We're pretty sure Ducky & Petrie are hens.
Hope you enjoyed my favorites from around the house...thanks for stopping by!
I said to my husband this morning, "It's days like yesterday that I really love where we live." He agreed.
Yesterday was the 15th annual Greening Up the Mountains festival. From downtownsylva.org: "This annual spring festival, named for the way the “spring green” creeps
up the mountainsides, began as a celebration of Earth Day and has now
evolved into a celebration of our local economy, sustainability, and
traditional heritage crafts."
Sadly, in my 6 years here, this was my first year partaking in the celebration. We started with the Greening Up the Mountains 5k where we got these awesome shirts:
We then headed over to the festival where we entered a raffle to win a 55 gallon rain barrel...and WON! I'm so excited. The trash can rain barrel we made just didn't hack it. In fact, last weekend it busted up the side so we were in dire need of a new one. I'll post pictures later when we have it set up. In the meantime, here are some other pictures from the GUtM festival:
I wasn't quite sure what to think of this rack(?). And they had several. I giggled a little bit.
Lunch was YUMMY! Indian fry bread topped with lots of yummy stuff.
Doing my part to save the planet. Are you doing yours?
We couldn't leave without getting some kettle corn. :)
This used to be the county courthouse until a new building was built several years ago. They recently did a major renovation and now it's the public library. It's amazing in there. Especially compared to where the library used to be housed.
I had to get a picture of this beast. His name is Jake. His brother Elwood was at home. He's the biggest pitbull I've ever seen.
That night we went out to Soul Infusion aka "The Tea House", hung out with friends, ate good food, listened to some jam bands, and sampled some great brews out of Tuckaseegee Brewing Co-op's kayakerator.
Whoa nelly! I don't know about you, but I had a jam-packed weekend and enjoyed every minute of it.
One of the things I got to do was get into a bee suit & put a bee hive together. Fun! My aunt has a hive in South Carolina and she decided to put one up here in North Carolina.
In all my beekeeper glory
Me on the left, my aunt on the right
Taking the food out of the bee container
I also got to meet my new 1st cousin once removed (my cousin's son). Look at how cute!!
I'm a little annoyed right now. I don't want to be skinny, I want to be healthy. Part of being healthy is feeling good. Part of feeling good is eating well.
I began cooking from a low-fat cookbook I "stole" from our nutrition intern--it wasn't really hers, it was a cookbook left over from the registered dietician our university used to have. I've made three recipes from this book so far: broccoli shrimp linguine, fish stew, & beef burritos. The beef burritos are the best so far, but they all leave a lot of be desired.
I'm just peeved that I can't find healthy food I enjoy eating (that I make myself). I was asked this question on Saturday: since you've lived in so many different places, what's your favorite food? My response, "Well, I just enjoy all food in general." For someone who enjoys food and would like to eat healthy, it's painful to not be able to find a satisfying low-cal, low-fat cookbook. Do I need to retrain my taste buds? Does satisfying low-cal, low-fat exist?
I also want to throw it out there that I'm contemplating the idea of going vegetarian again. My husband will wring my neck when he reads this. I've just started feeling really guilty again about eating meat. We drove past a truck full of featherless chickens on the road when it was cold outside and I thought: that chicken is probably on it's way to a plant right now where it will be prepared for my consumption. Note: I'm not against meat eating altogether. If I did decide to go vege again, I would be okay with consuming organic, free-range etc. animals--or meat from a deer my cousin shot. And then I saw a commercial about over fishing. Icing on the cake.
Anyway, that's where I am with food right now. Gotta love the inner conflict! P.S. Little known fact about me: I love tofu when it is cooked correctly.
Today was our Earth & Wellness Day. I don't know precisely why we combined Wellness in with Earth, but it certainly makes sense.
I got to hang out at our table playing cornhole & ladder golf and also got to visit the different tables to be schooled on either 'earth' or 'wellness' and converse with lots of interesting people.
I was most impressed with the guy who turns beer bottles into glasses. So cool. I also started to entertain the idea of being a staff leader for the Service Learning trips that are taken by students in the fall and spring--essentially they're alternative fall/spring breaks. I'm definitely at a point in my life where I feel I need to take more trips, do new things, and be more adventurous. Hence the running endeavor. There was one CSA there and I'm trying to get C excited about it. I understand his concern. It's $250 to receive a box of veggies every two weeks during the summer. It sounds steep, but in my opinion, well worth it--local, organic food while supporting local farmers. I promised him I'd try to find something cheaper, but if not, I'm sorry, but I'm going for it.
What else? We went for a two mile run today. I didn't run the whole time but I definitely felt stronger than I've felt in a while. The race is on Saturday. EEK! I'm excited though. So once we get through that and get through the end of the year party for all our staff on Sunday, we're home free and I can enjoy some time off to relax. Until May 10th when we start our 10k training. Oh yeah...you heard me.
My husband and I went on a hike with a friend this weekend. It was absolutely awesome to be back outside again. I couldn't tell you the last time I went on a hike it's been so long.
After my field research was complete I shipped my hiking boots back to the manufacturer because the seams were coming undone and I only had them a couple of months. I never did get new boots, however, because they're just so blame expensive. I feel like once I get a new pair I'll feel whole again.
I went looking back through my pictures of Belize and the river work I did. Such great times. I miss it so much and really look forward to doing field work again. A GREAT feeling to have considering I went through a long period of time when I didn't want to think about hiking or going into a forest or anything.
I love love love love love the work I'm doing in the rec center right now and the people with whom I'm working. Everyone is very mindful of their "wellness" and generally upbeat. I can't imagine my life without fitness and positive people now.
I'll have to try to find some way to meld the two together.
P.S. My friend over at Wandering Thoughts wrote about having a glass of wine while working on her prospectus. I tried that tonight and it didn't work so well. My written words have a certain slant and letters keep getting transposed. Perhaps I should work up to a full glass? :)
I didn't fall in love with bleach until recently when I started using it on my whites (never really had before I met Chris) and more importantly when I dumped loads of it in the wash to get all the nasties off of the fabric shower curtain. It did wonders.
Even more recently than that, I decided I no longer want to go the bleach route. I'm greening up my laundry room, and bleach is no longer welcome there.
But what to do about the gross stuff on the shower curtain? Just plain washing it won't do the trick, I've tried it.
Well, I've done some Internet searching and of course there are eco-friendly bleach products one can buy. I'm pretty certain I'd have to buy them online or drive a million miles to find any though, because po-dunk Sylva doesn't seem to have anything I need/want.
There's also a homemade bleach version that calls for equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water. I may try that since I keep hydrogen peroxide on hand.
Tip: hydrogen peroxide makes dogs throw up--prob cats too, but I've never tried it on a cat. So if you have any dogs, keep it handy in case they eat anything they shouldn't. I mean, don't if they ate a golf ball or underwear or something like that. In that case, take them to the vet. But if your 40lb dog eats an entire bottle of your 85lb dog's pain medication, shovel hydrogen peroxide down the crazy dog's throat until it pukes up its stomach.
It's been a whole week since my last post. I tend to do my blogging while at work and the Internet has been out!
1. Mr. P found a robin's nest with 3 eggs in it today when he was trimming the redbud. They're so cute! I'll post a pic later. I'm worried he cut it back too much and now the nest will be easy prey. :o(
2. Went from a guest (when I suggested he could go to the BP station across the street to get shampoo if none of the housekeeper's carts had any) telling me "What you just said wasn't very nice." to a guest taking my name down for the bigwigs when I upgraded them to a suite for no charge when he got into a yelling match with the hotel in Hillsborough, NC. Apparently the online people made their reservation for Hillsborough instead of Dillsboro. You show me your military ID and you can have the penthouse for free. We don't have a penthouse, but if we did...
3. Speaking of work, today's my last day! Woo! Start the new job on Tuesday.
4. Made a huge eco-boo-boo when we bought pesticide & herbicide this weekend. Eek!
5. Got the invites printed and most are cut and embellished. Just need to do the backing and sash. Oh, and all the other millions of invites we're doing for other events.
6. I have renewed energy with regards to my gardening. I've never been able to successfully start plants from seed, but so far, the ones I just planted are doing great! The moonflowers are almost ready to transplant and the seeds I planted from the bridal shower favors (packets of various types of seeds) are good looking seedlings. I also transplanted a plant that wasn't doing well on one side of the house and planted some grape hyacinths under my maple tree. I cleaned out two flower beds in the backyard in hopes of making those beautiful soon.
6. My love of the outdoors is slowly but surely coming back to me (I came to despise it after my field work). I've been riding my bike with Mr. P and I just really have so much fun. The fireflies were awesome last night! I told him today that I hope wherever we move next has as good of biking as we have here.
7. Along the eco lines, homemade detergent still going strong. Next up: homemade fabric softener.
That's about it. Or all I'm willing to bore my readers with right now. ;o)
Made my own laundry detergent the other day! Washed a load with it too. Seems fine...the only difference I noticed was that the clothes didn't have that overwhelming fresh laundry smell. Which some like, some don't. You can add essential oils to it to get a scent, but I didn't have any to use. Didn't have a container for it either...had to use a fish bowl I had laying around.
Two tips: I'd probably double the recipe--the original recipe doesn't make much and it's a hassle to grind up the soap. I'd rather make a bunch than have to drag the food processor out every 2 weeks.
DO NOT hover over the food processor after you grind the soap up. I inhaled a bunch of soap particles and I about keeled over. Blech!
