Running with the Ball

I suppose I should update after my anxious post the other day. Nothing good has happened. Mentee ran away from the group home almost right after she was dropped off, essentially abandoning her baby a second time. She was supposed to go to court about whether she could get custody back on Friday, but since she didn't show up she will have to fight a lot harder later if she wants to try. Right now, her baby is in foster care and unless Mentee gives up her parental rights and allows him to be adopted, that is where he will stay until she gets her act together. Many of the homeless youth I see at the drop in center were from foster care situations. Mentee herself didn't have a family to take care of her. I want to bang my head on the wall right now. The child does at least have a chance to have a normal life and babies have an easier time in foster care, usually.

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I saw my old friend today, and it was just like we had seen each other last week, instead of 7 years ago. We had a god time chatting and shopping and we plan to hang out again next week. I really thought I was going to have some abandonment issues with her, since she really just dropped out of my life one day--although I allowed it to happen. I deleted her phone number from my phone and decided I wasn't going to call her unless she called me first (it had been a one sided communication line for a while). She didn't call and the rest is history. No issues though, just talking and laughing and remembering.

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The Boy is playing football, which wreaks havoc on the weekend schedule. I get him on Friday, take him back on Saturday for his game then take him back to school on Monday. For those of you that don't know, it takes 1.5 hours one way to BFD. Good think I have books on CD to listen to. I almost want to go out and drive somewhere just so I can find out what happens to Jenna Fox. I have been meaning to read this book for over a year, and I can see what the hype was about.

Anyhow, he hasn't gotten to play a JV game yet and only played a few minutes in the first varsity game that I saw. His first JV game was canceled because the opposing team got stuck in traffic and couldn't make it. They will have a rematch in October some time. The teams seems really well organized this year and the coach has things well in hand. They play like a real team and they have won all their games but one so far.

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I am baking bread again. Today was a semolina rosemary bread. It turned out a bit flat, but the texture and taste are amazing. No pictures until I get the rise right.

Odds and Ends

A while back I mentioned an old friend that I hadn't talk to for a long time. As I said there, I do a little online stalking now and then, and while I hadn't found much on her, I did find her daughter on MySpace. I didn't contact her because that would be creepy. Evidently the daughter also likes to find people online and she helped her mom find me. We have been emailing on Facebook this week and finally got to talk tonight. It amazes me how even though we haven't talked for 6 or 7 years, we were able to talk to each other no problem. I am not even good at phone talking with other people I know really well and see all the time. We are going to try to get together next week some time. I am pretty excited about it.

I have been to two of the DHS varsity football games now. They won both games and I was pretty impressed with the playing for a small town team. Dr. T was impressed too, which is hard to do with all the playing he does and has done. The Boy only played for a few minutes in the first game and not at all in the second, but he is definitely part of the team and he is proud of it. His first game for JV is on Tuesday, but I have to work late. I will likely make the game two weeks from tomorrow.

I finished up my last day of detox today. I feel accomplished even though I didn't go for as long as I initially planned. I think I was being a little silly with that. But there are aspects of this that I will continue. And I will cut back on the caffeine and not take my coffee for granted for a while. I didn't miss the alcohol at all, which was a surprise, but then I didn't go out either.

The garden is almost done. There are still some tomatoes growing and I have a few things at the house. I planted more potatoes in the planter, have some fennel growing, and some p-plants I started a bit later. I need to think about some winter plants that will return nutrients to the soil. The soil is so much better than when I got the plot--more like regular dirt and less clayey and rocky.

Dinner? I hope so!

Home today from Spokane. I will have more wedding goodies to share, but first on my mind is my p-patch (only because I was just there). Thanks to my friend and Dr. T, it is still alive. Behold, CORN:

And very green pumpkins!

My harvest for today:

The carrots are tiny, but really yummy, and I plan to make some mashers from the potatoes I dug up last week and add the chives and green onions. The tomato isn't quite ripe, but it started raining out there and it is supposed to get worse, so I wanted to make sure I got to eat at least one of them. I harvested a couple of the young pumpkins to eat like zucchini. The plums are from a neighbor's yard (I got permission, promise) and the funny white thing in the front actually came off of my potato plant. According to this q and a, they are how the potatoes produce seeds. They are poisonous, so I won't be eating them. Here is a pic of them on the plant:

An Experiment

After reading Amy's comment on my last post, I decided to sacrifice just one of my little darlings to the WTF surgery god. So I brought home a medium sized specimin (remember that the ones I grew last year were smaller when they were totally orange than this one is now).

(The potatoes are ones that I grew from a sprouting yukon gold. Mostly just here to show off my potatoey thumb.)

So then the poor guy got his head chopped off and his guts exposed:

As you can see, he has the makings of a great pumpkin in him. That is a pretty much full sized pumpkin seed down there near the bottom. Unfortunately, now he will never make it that far. I wonder how young pumpkin (otherwise known as green or not yet ripe) tastes?

Looking Up Old Friends

When I get bored or curious, I do a little online investigation of old friends. Some of these turn up some interesting stories, others don't go anywhere at all. My friend from high school, whom I feel I have talked about before (but maybe not, I can't find her anywhere) has almost no online presence. Just an address and phone number in the online white pages--the same one she had when I last saw her 8 years or so ago.

I just did a search on another friend, actually an old flame, just to see what he was up to. He was a really good guy, although I don't think we were right for each other. I didn't get to find that out for sure, due to some weird circumstances--I will tell this story at a later date, look for the Persian. I looked him up today and was happy to find that he has opened a rug shop in Bellingham. It sounds like a really nice place, sort of a social hang out as well as a business place. Of course, the problem with the internet is things could have happened since the place was mentioned, but there is a blog entry with pictures of him (how else could I have known for sure it was him???) in May 2009. It makes me happy to know he is doing well. I think he might be married as well. Don't ask me how I do my voodoo. I just do.

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Remember that I planted a pumpkin in my garden? I have been really confused, because my pumpkins just keep getting bigger and greener. I ate a few of them like zucchini when they were small, because there were so many. Well, it turns out that because of cross-pollination, they are zucchini. No wondrous orange globes for me this year. Time for zucchini bread.

Plant a Seed

Tonight is the bachelorette party and tomorrow is the shower. I thought I was done with everything, but ended up running a last minute errand on my break today. God I hope this goes well--I feel like I am putting on a program, instead of hoping that people come, I hope they have a good time. That is one nice thing about RSVP's.

I went to see Robin at the University District Farmer's Market today, where she was the chef at the "Ask a Chef" booth. She is on season 6 of Top Chef, so make sure you watch (Bravo)! I am so proud of her. Some of you know that I was a waitress in another life and she was the owner/chef at Crave on Capitol Hill. That was during my unemployment days and she gave me a job when I had never waitressed before. I was going to barista for her--that I have a lot of experience at--but when the restaurant went to open she was down a server and there I was. I was there for about 2 years, waiting tables and adding up payroll. So I stopped in to see her and heard her give great advice on how to cook squash flowers, which makes me want to go home and try the same with my pumpkin flowers since I have so many starts on there. The garden is really chalk full right now--the corn is past my waist, the snap peas are almost over--I think I will replace them with beans that were offered by a neighboring p-patcher--I just planted a few more lettuce seeds for the next harvest and the potatoes and pumpkin plant (grown from a seed from last year's plant) look wonderful! I will post pictures later--I have been a bad picture taker this year.

Dancing Around (The Subject)

So I am back, and I made it through 4 full days of work without going insane. It was difficult, but I did it. This was the first vacation I have had where I wasn't even tempted to check work email. I barely even thought about work. It was awesome. And nothing exploded while I was gone. I had the Google Maps class last night and it went swimmingly. People even showed up! The only bad thing was that I forgot to do a survey. Again. You would think those would be first on my brain, but somehow I always think "I should have had a survey" hours later when I contemplate the various ways that people could have found out about the program. You know what would have fixed this wondering???? A SURVEY!

And I am done with Twitter. I tried it, it bored me. It was nice to be able to update from the road without a computer, but in reality, I just don't have time for that horsepucky.

When I got back from vacation I had one day left to do with as I pleased--after I took The Boy up to school in BFD way early in the morning. What did I do with that day? Well, after my 4 hour nap, I read in the sun for an hour, sipping an iced coffee I made with my own spresso maker, the spent a couple of hours getting the p-patch ready. Weeded and fertilized and watered. Tomorrow I will go back and plant some corn, green onions, collards (we'll see which plantings win, inside or outside), then maybe I will get some volunteer time in--we have to do 8 hrs a year, which isn't very much unless you start in June and have to be done in October.

Before I left for vacation, I took pictures of a certain business of ill repute that was closed around a year ago and recently sprouted amazing amounts of graffiti. Please excuse me for feeling pride in something that I only took a picture of:



I told Dr. T that I was going to clean tonight, but now I just feel like curling up with my book. I don't even feel like eating dinner.

Economy and Green Things

Article and video with Susan Hildreth, the new City Librarian talking about the upcoming budget cuts and the increase in usage of the library in the last year. Also, today she sent an email to staff saying that she and the library board and directors will be giving back the 4.5% cost of living raise they received. You will remember that the Mayor and other city executives will be doing the same.

It brings a tear to my eye to think of the higher ups being selfless this way. Too bad AIG contractors couldn't do the same. We still haven't heard what the proposed budget cuts are, but I am sure these proclaimations of self sacrifice by administration is somewhat to soften the blow. Better a 4.5% pay cut than losing one's job, for sure.

I started planting indoors for my garden. With the weather so unpredictable, I want to make sure the last frost is done before I move planting outdoors. So far I am starting tomatoes, green beans, collard greens and pumpkins with plans for corn, lettuce and herbs. We are doing an herb garden at the house this year and I will plant the veggies at the p-patch. The strawberries over there are still doing well and the irises are coming back nicely. They were so beautiful last year.

I'm Back!

I am back from camping and I had a really good time. I said I was going to Kalaloch, but in reality we went to Salt Creek, near Port Angeles. We made low tide two days in a row and I took an exhorborant (I cannot find the correct spelling of that word...after 5 minutes of looking) amount of pictures of landlocked sea creatures.








Yesterday I hosted a gaming tournament for a large number of teens and children. Once again, my teen volunteers came in not only handy, but let's just say that I couldn't have done it without them. My co-workers were there to talk me down when I was having a panic attack over scoring Mario Kart. It all worked out and we had our indisputable champions.



Here are a couple of pictures of the garden, before I put the fence up to keep those darned zucchini and pumpkins out of my tomatoes.




Anyone want some lettuce and zucchini?

Yay, Watchmen!

I had meetings like crazy on Thursday. In fact, I forgot that I had even been at work when I thought back on it. I went into work on Friday, opened my email and thought, why didn't I look at any of this yesterday? Was I off? No, because I hadn't had a day off since Monday... Total brain spasm.

I also got off early on Thursday and took The Boy and Dr. T to see Dark Knight at the AMC Cinerama. We went with friend elJope and a couple of his friends. It was a good movie, but I guess I am not geeky enough to get the applause after the bat car turned into a bat motorcycle. It was cool, don't get me wrong, but clap-worthy? Not so sure.

I loved the previews though. There is going to be a movie of the Watchmen coming out in 2009.



Continuing the fantasy theme in my movie madness, we watched Beowolf last night. I hate that kind of animation. It ruined the movie for me, although I made it all the way through.

The garden is producing a lot of lettuce right now and in a couple weeks I will have some yellow zuccini and cucumbers. The pumpkins have started to form and the pickling cucumbers have just started sprouting little tiny spiny fingers. All the tomatoes are flowering, so I will likely have a ton all at once in a few weeks. The golden cherry tomatoes have started fruiting though and could be ready in a day or two.

Etiquette

You know how there is that one person who emails you all the weird email jokes, or spiritual messages, or political rants/funny stuff? I have one of those. First it was semi-racist anti immigrant emails. I put an end to that. I emailed him back to let him know we didn't see eye to eye on that, and he answered that he totally understood and stopped sending them. I didn't get any emails from him for a while, but they slowly began to trickle in until it is up to one or two a day. At first they were just silly, funny or inspirational, but now they are political. He evidently doesn't like Obama, and sends every piddling inflammatory thing my way. And everyone else's way from the look of the email list. I should just tell him that I am not interested, but I have gotten to the point where whenever I see his name (in all caps...) I just delete the email. I hope he never sends me an actual message, because I won't get it. I wonder if I could just label him junk mail--I am sorely behind in learning how to sort my email box into useful categories.

The conference is done. I learned a lot, got very little sleep and still have a day and a half here. Shoot, I really want to go home. I tried to change my ticket, but no luck (unless I want to spend a couple extra hundred). Guess I will just have to suffer it out by the pool. And I am having lunch with a co-worker.

I did have a great time networking and seeing my cohort. Libraryland is still as cliquey as it was when I was in school, or maybe everybody is just so awkward that they don't know how to communicate. There was someone here that I used to work with, whom I thought I was on pretty good terms with, but had taken a job in another system, so I don't see her any more. However, every time I saw her (only twice), I would wave and she would look right at me and keep going. Like I was an animal at the zoo and I couldn't possibly be communicating with her. And an animal that she wasn't particularly interested in either. Luckily, this doesn't bother me as much as you might think. Since I posted about it, it must hurt, right? Well, not really. I have enough friends and coworkers that do seem to like me that I can shrug it off. But I still wonder, "what the hell?".

A couple of updates:

The bike that I ordered won't be coming. It got back ordered, then canceled. I still need to call them to express my displeasure. Deep displeasure.

My p-patch is still alive, even with the lovely 90+ weather Seattle has gotten while I was gone. My surrogate waterer's have done a lovely job keeping things hydrated and even given me little updates. Yay, surrogates!

Libraryland Update

School visits are done and aside from getting ready to be gone for 2 weeks, my work days have settled down a bit. I'd better enjoy it, because when I get back I will be thrown into a frenzy of programs.

These will include computer classes (html and css for myspace and other sites, blogging and data hosting sites), a gaming tournament for ages 8-18 and zine drop-in days providing space and resources for zine enthusiasts. We will also have a book binding class, but that isn't until August and will require little work from me, although I hope to be able to learn a little something there.

During the ALA conference, I will be blogging on our SPL-ALA blog, so I might not blog here as often (as if my postings are usually something you can set your watch by...), but that is a little way off and I have posted a link to the page under my favorite blog links to the right.

Some of you may have heard that Deborah Jacobs will be leaving her post as City Librarian at SPL to work for the Gates Foundation. If you have any input as to what traits we should look for in a new City Librarian, go here and follow the links to make sure your voice is heard.

Non-Library related: The garden is moving along well. I planted strawberry plants and put down stepping stones and pea gravel to avoid the lake that forms in the walkway when I water.

Dr. T is coming home on Thursday! I am so excited to see him--it has been about 3 weeks since I visited him in Spokane.

A Little Sun Never Killed Anyone...

Sigh. It is sunny and 70 degrees in Long Beach right now. Only 11 days till we go. I still need to find a bathing suit. Looked this morning and just got frustrated. Tomorrow night, I will hit the big mall in Lynnwood. I hate shopping when I have to search. I want all the goodies to just come to me.

I finished my summer reading displays today. I will post pictures later, although they won't be much to look at until I get some reviews to put up there.

I got a message today from the P-Patch organizer inviting me to the next few work parties so that he can introduce me around. He also complimented me on the work I did on my plot. For someone who barely knows what she is doing, evidently I did ok. I can't make any of the work parties this month, since I work all weekend--Saturday and Sunday--and late on Tuesday. Hopefully next time.

The lack of sun and warm weather is surely what is keeping my veggies from taking off. The ones that I planted here at the house are still tiny, and it has been about 3 weeks now. I know some folks say that we are just whining about the same things every year, but I am cold!

P-Patch

As promised (I know you were waiting for it)...

This was the P-Patch almost as I got it. At this point, I had only dug up the front right corner.


Oddly enough, the line of what looks like grass next to the yucky lettuces was missing when I came back. I think they must have been some kind of bulb flower that bloomed earlier in the spring. Somebody wanted them, and I didn't know what they were, so probably wouldn't have kept them anyhow. I cleared everything out except for the iris and what looks like some blue bells that had already finished flowering. I added some leaf mulch that the p-patch provided and left it for a couple of days.



On the way to the Mac's (aunts and uncle in Bothel) we stopped at City Peoples in Sand Point and I got some natural compost/fertilizer. Monday morning after I took The Boy to school, I turned in the compost and dug some walk ways. I planted the cucumber, pickling cucumber, pumpkin and yellow zucchini plants that I bought and seeds for lettuce, thai basil and thyme.



I stopped on Highway 530 on the long drive back from Darrington and picked up the rocks you can see boardering one of the beds. It may take a while to get them all lined. I will leave you with the image of this iris :)