My heart yearns for the freedom of retirement.
More than 40 years of full-time employment
- perhaps with the exception of 1986 when
unemployment lasted more than six months
and I actually managed to write a 600+ page novel
in my spare time while seeking a job.
Today, leisurely, I spent all morning online
thinking about my writing activities in my new variation.
I've been to the blogging circus and blogged away.
I have blogs I'm proud of, but political blogging in depth
- with a self-imposed obligation to write every day
robs all other creativity of energy.
Combined with the blood-sucking drain on emotional energy,
which is the substance of my employment and my duties.
Too-tired-to-think blogging robs me of my ultimate
literary and intellectual pleasures. I have a book in progress;
had one now going on twenty years. And there are more
where that one comes from.
By afternoon I brake off the online stuff and return to reworking
the kitchen as sweetheart and I had discussed earlier in the morning.
Went to the basement, freed up bricks and boards, hauled the rattan
furniture down there and set up brick-and-board shelving in the kitchen.
Moved the pink table into the bay and plan today is to continue moving
dishes, pots and pans and cooking utensils into more accessible places.
Sweetheart in conference call with MFSO Washington State Chapter
leadership team while I cook potatoes, onions, green onions, mushrooms,
tomatoes, eggs and cheese into a supper to remember.
Filling even if overdue and worth the wait.
We went to bed and fell asleep during Without A Trace
Woke up, turned the TV off after midnight.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Ten things you can do with Lavender
courtesy of Lavender specialists at Labyrinth Hill
Ten Things You Can Do With Lavender...
Ten Things You Can Do With Lavender...
Without Sewing, Gluing, Nailing or Painting!
| Mosquito Repellant Lavender straw is the leftover stalks and branches from processing the dried buds. It’s quite useful as a fragrant and effective insect repellent. Toss a handful of the straw onto the barbecue or picnic fire. It will repel flies and mosquitoes! |  |
| Vinegar’s Not Just for Salads Bring one cup of distilled white vinegar to a boil and pour it over a half cup of fresh lavender flowers to make “Cosmetic Vinegar.” Cover and leave for twenty-four hours before straining and bottling. For a skin softening and restoring bath, add a half cup to a tub of warm water. Cosmetic vinegar may be diluted by adding 2 T. to a pint of water. Used as a hair rinse, the vinegar neutralizes any shampoo residue and re-stores the acidic mantle. | Oil of Lavender When using essential oil as a massage oil it needs to be diluted with light vegetable oil. Our recipe for Oil of Lavender can be used full strength. Fill a clear glass jar loosely with dried lavender buds. Top with olive oil and cap the container. Leave this jar in a sunny window for a few weeks shaking it every few days. Strain the oil into another container through a funnel lined with cheesecloth. Press and squeeze the flowers to extract as much of the scent as possible. For a more potent oil, repeat the process once or twice more. A few drops of this will scent a bath! |
 | Lavender Sugar Process 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons lavender in a blender just until the flowers are crushed. (Be sure to use only culinary lavender.) Sieve out large pieces and store sugar in a glass jar at least one week before using. Sweeten a cup of tea for a fragrant break from your busy day. This sugar will keep for about three months. |
| Lavender Fields Indoors Place approximately ½ cup dried lavender buds into a small muslin bag. Firmly knot the opening. Toss the bag into your dryer when doing sheets. It leaves a light fresh scent. The muslin bag scent will last for 5-7 dryer loads and can be refreshed with a few drops of lavender essential oil. | Lavender Hair Rinse Lavender makes a good hair rinse especially for gray hair. Steep a handful of fresh or dried flowers in a pint of boiling water. When it cools, strain it and use as a final rinse water after shampooing. |
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| Lavender’s on the Loose! |
 | Sweet Lavender Tisane “Tisane” is a tea made from dried fruit, flowers, and/or berries. Be sure to use culinary lavender for this recipe. Place 3 tablespoons of fresh lavender flowers in a teapot (1½ T if using dried). Add 2 cups of boiling water. Allow the flowers to steep for 3 or 4 minutes, strain and serve with a slice of lemon and honey. |
Saturday, October 7, 2006
I love October and stay-home-all-day leisure
I love October and stay-home-all-day leisure
Didn't sleep in this morning. Hip pain woke me up.
Made coffee and came upstairs to the lure
of the Internet. I'm an online addict.
I quit smoking a year ago and abandoned
that addiction successfully. But I also became
an online writer and political activist;
another addiction of dubious merit.
Political activism seemed to satisfy my desire
- participation in the enwakenment of an electorate -
shoving around voters made aware of how apathy has
afflicted this country. Now at my age, I see enough
youngsters who'll "take it from here." I can go back
to knowing how I'll vote, when to speak and what to say.
Cause more and better talents do the same many times elsewhere.
Yearning now at 60 for more
quality time at home
- not driven by anyone else's magic.
Almost I can look on, amused
at how all the ants in the pile are awake,
aroused and all over Republican grasshoppers
stuck in angry and aroused mandibles.
Early afternoon I went down, pulled up
the last of the carpet in the living room.
All our old wooden floor is now exposed.
Then moved shelving and my books around
so as to move one of our portable wardrobes
into the nook between
the living room and bathroom.
Back upstairs in the evening briefly
until sweetheart called me to soup
which left me drowsy within a few minutes.
I fell asleep back at the keyboard.
She woke me up with a call
from downstairs around midnight
of my first day off work.
Didn't sleep in this morning. Hip pain woke me up.
Made coffee and came upstairs to the lure
of the Internet. I'm an online addict.
I quit smoking a year ago and abandoned
that addiction successfully. But I also became
an online writer and political activist;
another addiction of dubious merit.
Political activism seemed to satisfy my desire
- participation in the enwakenment of an electorate -
shoving around voters made aware of how apathy has
afflicted this country. Now at my age, I see enough
youngsters who'll "take it from here." I can go back
to knowing how I'll vote, when to speak and what to say.
Cause more and better talents do the same many times elsewhere.
Yearning now at 60 for more
quality time at home
- not driven by anyone else's magic.
Almost I can look on, amused
at how all the ants in the pile are awake,
aroused and all over Republican grasshoppers
stuck in angry and aroused mandibles.
Early afternoon I went down, pulled up
the last of the carpet in the living room.
All our old wooden floor is now exposed.
Then moved shelving and my books around
so as to move one of our portable wardrobes
into the nook between
the living room and bathroom.
Back upstairs in the evening briefly
until sweetheart called me to soup
which left me drowsy within a few minutes.
I fell asleep back at the keyboard.
She woke me up with a call
from downstairs around midnight
of my first day off work.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Quality Time On Vacation
Quality Time on Vacation
I always like Friday nights;
the open, lazy moment
when work is done, nothing demands
and tomorrow there'll be no need
to rise early and start working
on my game face
not for two days.
Even better but less frequent,
next month will see the first night
of my week's vacation.
A week in April and a week in October;
never two full weeks because I can't
be gone that long in an office
so understaffed.
My case load, after two weeks off,
would be too far behind.
The end of the first day
back at work
would leave me
ready for another
week's vacation.
I'll stay up into the night because
I can sleep in tomorrow.
I read my regulars
as I do every morning
and evening
after work.
Tonight more leisurely.
Maybe ... Republican sexual follies.
My secret delight that they keep tripping over themselves.
In anxiety to grab money and power,
the're more clumsy
and morally vacant
than all other politicians
combined.
News from Iraq always bad.
But if it has to be bad,
I'm pleased
that it's Bush's fault,
the Republicans' fault.
They deserve repudiation.
Damn you assholes!
No moral fibre,
no personal integrity,
no genuine concern,
no compassion
only greed,
avarice and
mean spirited religion.
I always like Friday nights;
the open, lazy moment
when work is done, nothing demands
and tomorrow there'll be no need
to rise early and start working
on my game face
not for two days.
Even better but less frequent,
next month will see the first night
of my week's vacation.
A week in April and a week in October;
never two full weeks because I can't
be gone that long in an office
so understaffed.
My case load, after two weeks off,
would be too far behind.
The end of the first day
back at work
would leave me
ready for another
week's vacation.
I'll stay up into the night because
I can sleep in tomorrow.
I read my regulars
as I do every morning
and evening
after work.
Tonight more leisurely.
Maybe ... Republican sexual follies.
My secret delight that they keep tripping over themselves.
In anxiety to grab money and power,
the're more clumsy
and morally vacant
than all other politicians
combined.
News from Iraq always bad.
But if it has to be bad,
I'm pleased
that it's Bush's fault,
the Republicans' fault.
They deserve repudiation.
Damn you assholes!
No moral fibre,
no personal integrity,
no genuine concern,
no compassion
only greed,
avarice and
mean spirited religion.
Summer's End 2006, was a great spring and summer
There's no pretentions to this home, it's pretty much salt of the earth kind of house and we live in pretty much as salt of the earth kind of people. Now, I'm not saying there haven't been efforts to get the house more upscale and we're grateful to PO who invested in giving the house more than a cosmetic face lift as the PO before them had done. As you read our blog and see our pics, you kinda see the down and dirty along with what we hope are some of the pretty.
Haven't done much 'remodeling' since we started this blog, and there is good reason for that, but moving on...end of summer 2006. We spent many happy, contented hours of the spring and summer months working on yard and garden.
End of summer 2006, and sad to see the season come to a close, but there will be another summer in 2007 and we look forward to watching all the new plantings grow next year. Planted a hybrid 3 kinds of apples on one tree - that should be interesting. Planted an ornamental Mt Fuji Japanese white flowering cherry tree.
We ordered ten bare root trees from National Arbor the second year we lived here and planted them per instructions. Bare root trees are really just twigs sticking out of the ground. Dear husband ran over several of them with the lawn mower - more than once. Accident, of course, not intentional. But they must be hardy because only about 5 didn't make it and 5 are still with us. We replanted them in 2006 season to their new permanent homes.
We planted two Eucalyptus trees, one is potted in whiskey barrell and the other in the front yard. That about does it for the trees I can plant in our limited yard space. And it's too bad, because I wasn't done with trees for our yard yet. I learned this year that where we live, we have a mini planting zone that permits some plantings that don't do as well in the regional climate zone shown on the climate zone maps as our 'zone'. We live on a northern bay on the Pacific Coast which creates a maritime climate zone for us. That can be good and not so good, but it does help me to realize that what my inland neighbors can grow is not the same thing I can as easily grow. Now, it seems in addition to apples (Washington - apples, you know), I can also grow peaches and apricots. Really! Okay, but sigh - no room in our yard. I'll just have to fit it in some way cause I intend to have one of each.
entry by Lietta Ruger - green thumb is shaping up
Monday, October 2, 2006
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