I could tell you a LOT about teeth right now, if you wanted me too

We just finished up a fun section in Bio Anthropology- living humans, living primates, and the first 50 my of primate evolution. This included some of my favorite topics! Woohoo. Birth processes in primates, diet/nutrition, and phylogenies. I thought anatomical science was a weakness of mine, but I flew through those portions of lab.

The semester's going pretty good. I am at a point now where the pace is alternating between too much and easy. Now it's paper writing time, SERIOUSLY. I am falling WAAAAY behind on my papers.

Oh, but what was I saying? Oh yeah, eating/breathing/sleeping ANT. Things got sort of strange when I was wandering around holding my notebooks and murmuring things like "Is it Y-5 or Plus-5?" and living on loads of coffee, (mostly) unprocessed food, and promises to pay the piper.

When things get crazy I remind myself that it's all for a purpose.

But I don't want to get lost in the shuffle of bilophodont molars and plesiadapids and all the other great stuff. I'm still here. I am in here. (sorry, a Hal Incandenza moment, COULD NOT help myself)


One of my best friends, Michelle, had a baby girl last week- Lorelei Maestas.
I can't wait to see her- need to search airfare asap.

My friend Teresa is moving to CA. I'm missing her already, and jealous, and wistful, and optimistic.

Cora lost her first upper incisor. My baby is honestly growing up.

Amy and I are still talking gardens, and honestly, she's doing a lot more gardening than I. I miss it, but those freakin squirrels cut me to the quick with my watermelons and now I'm afraid to commit! I started easing back in by resuming my compost habits last week, but I really have a gripe about leaves in there. This might be the downside to low tech composting. Are the decomposing oak leaves bad? neutral? ok? HELP!!!

But regardless of my compost woes, I'm excited about the community organic garden, and our first event. More on that later ;)

4-non-blogs

I told you a little tiny bit about Atlanta (just the first day) and virtually nothing about the Decemberists show. Colorado, my cousin's wedding, and my birthday were completely unmentioned here.

I am just such an in the moment blogger that I'd rather tell you about how I've been awake since 7 am (unheard of for me) and BUSY. I'm listening to Blossom Dearie and Billie Holiday right now, and on a mission to clean house.

Also, we have WHO KNOWS how many watermelon babies on the way. A couple of days ago, there were four. Now it's upwards of 8!

Wednesday & Thursday- Atlanta

My cousin, Alicia, has known me since I was born, but since we're about 7 years apart, she and I didn't spend much time together. Besides, our HUGE family is just like that. There are so many of us and so spread out geographically (some of the time), and so much drama in our parent's generation that a lot of us cousins feel like we are breaking new ground.

Happy I was to learn that Alicia is a bit more high strung than I am (read: gorgeously kept condo, age appropriately trendy wardrobe, perfect figure) but really cool. We chatted music, anthropology, eating clean, and life's curve balls.

On Thursday, I did a whole lot of nothing in the early part of the day, and then in the evening, we went to the High Museum in downtown Atlanta for some local music (Hope for Agoldensummer) and a cappuccino.


Wednesday Night- The Decemberists

Alicia dropped me off in front of The Tabernacle an hour and a half early. I was going to walk around downtown a bit first and head over there when I thought the doors would be opening, but how lucky I headed in! The place was buzzing already.

I grabbed 2 pints and headed for the floor. In no time, I had scooted to the front row, just left of center. I made the acquaintance of a couple of young music ed students from Alabama and a couple of Georgia high school teachers. After a lot of standing in cramped quarters, Blind Pilot started things up. Their front-man is adorable. Consider me smitten. Oh! and he's a Gemini, like me. I'm on a Gemini kick, I think.

After Blind Pilot, I noticed Tabernacle staff bringing big stacks of fluffy clean towels out, in anticipation. It seemed like a good omen.

The whole gang of them looked absolutely grand. Jenny Conley came out first and started into the first track of Hazards of Love, while the rest of them came out. And they played the whole thing (it's a concept album with a plot), in order. Colin impressed me with his lack of attention hogging. So many other lead singers seem to want to dominate front and center, but he only did during his vocal parts, giving way to Shara Worden and Becky Stark during their parts.


And the girls were amazing. Extreme. The whole band brought so much energy to the show. And the crowd was great too.

Following Hazards, they took a break and then came out for a second set... which included a bunch of songs (Shiny, July, July, The Bachelor and the Bride, Engine Driver, Shankill Butchers, 16 Military Wives, Dracula's Daughter, O'Valencia, an insane cover of Crazy On You by Heart, Raincoat, and A Cautionary Song with some crowd-interactive improvisational theater. I mean, they got down on the floor with us and were goofing off. Crowd surfing a bit.

After the show, I waited by the buses for a bit with a small crowd to meet the band. :) Colin is as nice as you'd think. Nicer, maybe? He seemed genuinely surprised when I told him this was the best concert I had ever been to. "Really?" he asked with a smile, "That's great!" :)


Colorado, My Heart

Early on Friday, 4 am to be exact, Alicia and I headed off for the airport. Some cute guy (and about my age) with dark curly hair offered to help me hoist my duffel bag into the overhead compartment and Alicia intercepted, saying "No thanks!! She's got it." And I was going to just be all "Oh, thank you kind sir." I found out later, when we chatted a bit, that he's a CO native.

Denver is actually pretty full of attractive people. We helped my cousin get ready for his wedding (some of my cousins later did some whining about this but what ever!) and got to meet the family of his bride. And, not to mention, we got to socialize with each other. It had been at least a year since I saw some of these relatives, 3 years for the others. Uncle Marty, Danny and Cindy's dad, I hadn't seen since I was 6 or 7 years old.

The mountains and cliffs were unbelievable. The air so light and crisp you actually wanted to run around until you felt lightheaded. It was wintery and just absolutely perfect.

The wedding, utterly romantic. Their chupah was adorable and I hope their home life together is as sweet as this was for years to come. We did plenty of talking, dancing, and drinking (who could forget the antique clawfoot tub in the outdoor reception area filled with ice and bottles of wine??). I stayed up till 5 am with Rick King, Alicia, Dan, and Ave.


Sunday- On My 26th Birthday
I woke up (just a couple of hours later, at 7:30)and realized I had a potential disaster on my hands. My cousin, Irene, had left for the airport in Denver w/o me! There were about 60 people staying up there in the mountains, friends and family, but we all had different departing schedules, so we had tried to organize ourselves accordingly... but there must have been a miscommunication. I'll go ahead and assume the error was mine. Anyways, I was "2 hours" away from the airport according to those who were non-locals. It ended up being a hour and 20 minutes with one of my cousin's friends. He was headed back home to Denver and the timing was just right! Whew.

Back home, I got to hang with my kids and give Cora some birthday presents. I took the kids, my mom, and Helen out for ice cream and just marveled continuously at how much oxygen we have in our lowland air.

bouyancy, troughs, and crests

Did I tell you that I think the worst has passed? [NEVER MIND- I just looked at his facebook page and he's now "single" (lol, what, by default? since he never faced up to the break up??!!!!!!) and I hadn't realized that this would cut me to the quick... why doesn't he just go and delete me as a friend? why don't I?]

Which doesn't mean that there won't be low points. For example, last night I sat on the front steps and earnestly wished for a black wool pea coat, 4 sizes too big, being laid across my shoulders.

But Thursday was so phenomenal I started to think that just maybe I really would be moving on (and truly better off for it) when rolling waves of pity for him hit my shores.

Pity, because his problems are not the kind you can sort out in one introspective week. Because he will move on and find himself with someone else (someone better than me?) and he will ruin it again, because his problems are so huge and he hasn't the motivation to better himself. It's sad, really.

And every little daydream glimpse I've had of moving on partners me with someone who is actively living and pursuing betterment. I feel ashamed that my happy vision for myself doesn't revolve around self reliance and singleness, I think that would be stoic and wonderful of me, though.


So, onto other news:

I moved one batch of watermelon seedlings into a big pot, where I might try to keep them, to see if they will bear fruit there. The two small pots of Mesclun sprouts are being split today, each small pot of veritably overgrown. The cilantro and spearmint haven't shown yet.

The kids and I are going to Cora's school for a PTA carnival (today) and strawberry picking (probably tomorrow). Then time for making preserves!!!! Wooo!

of course, it WOULD rain cats and dogs on hobo-Tuesday

On Tuesdays, I usually feel compelled to stay on campus, because getting home and getting back there again more often than not makes me late for my evening class, and I usually only get a half hour at home for all that effort anyway.


One important part of hobo-Tuesday is the sleeping in a public place, since I invariably am subsisting on about 3 hours and it isn't fun. I prefer napping under an oak on the grassy lawn in the center of the campus, but I'll settle for the upstairs lobby of the Math & Science building, I guess. But maybe I should edit hobo-Tuesday so that it revolves around pies stolen off window sills or flasks of gin?? I think I am onto something here.


Anyways, I know all this rain is good for us; we've had some serious drought-age here in Pinellas County. Tampa has OUTLAWED watering yards unless you have reclaimed water. We've been importing water for our municipalities, home to over a million people. Which is ironic, because everywhere you look is water.

Our garden plants will be delighted, I know.

community news

For the past couple of weeks, my job has been dragging. It takes the wind out of my sails to not be needed, to not be woefully busy. Of course, the irony here is that as we approach final exams (still many weeks away!), both my courses AND office workload pick up speed at a pretty fast clip.

But who wants to go to work each day at a job that essentially means nothing to the world?* But I set the bar kinda high; I want to be busy with something that makes the world a better brighter place, that I find physically and mentally stimulating, and that gives me that chance to study human interactions and aspirations.

So, anyway- one moment, I was at "work", reading blogs and logged into facebook in another window (I told you, I like to multitask), when something great happened. I came across a link Amy posted on our gardening blog regarding community togetherness here in our corner of the world. Before I knew it, I was on the phone, networking a bit, and letting these people know about the Really Really Free Market, where I think they could promote memberships in their garden. I still plan on getting something similar underway in my neighborhood, so this is awesome to me. There's a meeting for Green Florida going on next Wednesday that I'm going to try to attend.


Things are considerably better in mental-health-land, since that last post. I've been doing things that make me feel really human and all around good.

-That night, I texted with Billy a bit about my great day and the wierd feeling of deep dissatisfaction that accompanied it. He made me smile a bit, I made him laugh a bit, and the consensus was that these feelings are sometimes part of the fate of mankind. No biggie.

-Helen, Billy, and I went to the drum circle night at the Dunedin Brewery last night. In a crowd of other humans, hands and bodies in motion, I felt very connected.

-Then back at home, we made music ourselves into the wee-est hours. We had everything set up all over the livingroom; a couple of mikes, a couple of mixing boards, instruments, and voices. And then my awesome bf made me a middle of the night egg/breakfast sausage sandwich that was out of this world.


The next week and a half has lots of good stuff in store, too. Another exam tomorrow morning, sewing diapers for the RRFM, plans to visit with Chrissy (Bill's twin) and her cub, going to another drum circle with Amy and Baby Avery, hopefully buying a new car, going to a birthday BBQ at Chris and Summer's, Spring Break for college students (though I will be at work a bit during the break), a garden-meeting for Green Florida , and the the RRFM. Whew.



*I think part of my mood in my last post was related to this feeling.

Victory Gardenz

I was thinking about the garden project, Meet Molly (a children's book), and WWII when it occurred to me that history does sort of repeat itself. Sort of. There are a great deal of things that are vastly different now than they were in the 1940's, but maybe the American psyche has a providential gardening gene that "kicks in" during hard times.


Sure, it might just be economic (less income + higher prices = move towards gardening), but I think this is more about needing to feel human again. Dirt on your hands, wind in your hair human.


Victory!! Wooo!

gardener's journal...

So, my friend Amy has asked me to join her and few other bloggers in writing about our garden projects over at How Does My Garden Grow. I really like the idea of various different gardeners posting stories and pictures, how-to information, and updates.

And this is sort of like an extension of our actual garden. The different views, needs, resources, and experiences we can all bring to the table (literal and metaphorical) are so valuable. Can you imagine if all of life was this cooperative?

my favorite taoist proverb in action?

I started two more little pots of seedlings last night, carrots and more watermelons. The kids and I have a gardening afternoon planned with Amy and Avery for Friday. We'll be bringing over our little seedlings (which are SO ready to go into the ground), and some compost and perhaps coming home with some ferns.




Last night, as I was clearing dinner from the table and herding children upstairs to brush teeth, Bill called (sorry, yes, you are going to be getting updates for a little while like this, until the shock wears off). We made some small talk, I got the funniest compliment I have in a while- "Your brain is a really nice brain..." - and then he asked me what I planned on doing on Saturday.

Well, I had planned on asking him that! I confessed that I had something really dorky going on, and I wanted to see if he wanted to join us. Inflatable bouncy place. Yes, the kind for children. Conner got an invitation from a preschool classmate, and we were going to use it on Saturday, and I always seem to be the only grown up in there, jumping. I figured, worst case scenario, he'd laugh at me, best case scenario, I wouldn't be the only grown up jumping in the inflatables. He laughed a little and said yes, absolutely, sounds like fun actually. And then invited me to one of his best friends' houses with him, too. (So, to clarify... does this mean he's NOT embarrassed to be seen with me??)



Also, stay tuned for more info on THE REALLY REALLY FREE MARKET a local event that is going to knock your plebeian socks off. Well, it will if you like the idea of trading and bartering for goods instead of buying with money... and a world that is less dependent on gorging itself at Capitalism's groaning buffet table of economic splendors.

oh! the mystery

I found these growing in/on an old piece of raw potato skin (must have been a scrap of one that had a wierd spot, because we definately eat the skins here!). I think they are peppers, did I already tell you that? I can't wait for them to show their, er, colors.




The one to the left is mine, and the one to the right is an image of bell pepper seedlings I found online, trying to ID these.


Oh, and we have chives now too! Also, salvaged from the ole compost pile. Why doesn't everyone have one of these? It's amazing. We thow our refuse in and actually GET something back.


Watermelon seedlings were started today, in a little container, not in the compost, lol.

notepad

I tend to carry as many projects/ideas/plans/etc as anyone, mulling them over, letting them grow.

Kind of like tossing a bunch of seeds in the compost pile, and then picking out the seedlings as they show themselves, I'm scooping out the useable ideas now, and keeping them here for now.


My diaper co. I totally let this go in July when I left for South America. I really just ran away from it all. Maybe because it reminded me of the baby Tom and I didn't have. I still have all the materials, supplies, and equipment. Because I'm in the mood for knitting, I'm making a wool cover with a really neat texture as a gift for Avery. Maybe I'll pick up the ball on my diaper charity project again soon?
As far as keeping food on the table, I have started thinking about planning and marketing diaper-making classes; I'm not bad at it, and I could set my own schedule.


Remember The Incident? Afterwards, I was talking about finding a way to supply those in need with bike lights and batteries. Brian came up with a great bike co op idea for this part of the county, and even made a contact in the Clearwater City Council. Not much else was disscussed with this, because we were doing other stuff for the past 2 months (namely, drinking too much when we spent time together, studying for final exams, freaking out, disagreeing, and recouperating). I have two big ideas on this... Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I think B and I should keep the focus on working (instead of on socializing) by not trying to discuss this stuff in person. A dozen good emails into the future and we might have something to show for our travails. Secondly, I have a few ideas to throw at him, re: getting sponsers and public support, as well as bringing people and live music together.


Ooh, and our compost project here had also sparked some talk about urban community gardens... I had sent some people in the know emails with questions, and I have some interesting information... Clearwater is now a "Green City", which means that there is a compact somewhere that our mayor signed. And that city food gardens might not be AS hard to start as I originally wagered. I'm going to go door to door in my neighborhood to see if anyone else is interested in attending a city meeting with me.

And, according to floridagardener.com it's time to start. They reccomend the following: Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Chinese Cabbage, Collards, Cucumbers, Endive, Escarole, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leek, Lettuce, Mustard, Onion Sets, Parsley, Peas, Peppers, Pumpkins, Rhubarb, Romaine, Rutabagas, Spinach, Squash, Strawberries, Sweet Corn, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Turnips Watermelons, and almost any other vegetable or fruit you desire.

Anise, Basil, Borage, Chives, Chervil, Coriander, Fennel, Garlic, Lavender, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Sesame, Sweet Marjoram, Thyme and most other herbs.

There's also the weird music-writing thing that's going on with me, but I don't really know what to say about that, if anything. It's nothing special. Perhaps that's just what happens when you live in a house with a piano and who knows how many other instruments? I really don't intend to DO anything with the songs (yes, now there are two: they're multiplying!), but if I ever get Helen to help me record them, I'll surely post them here.

everyone's on board for 'clean living' right now

It's the last minute rush to make a move on '09, so January 1st is less traumatic, sans the alcohol/smoking/coffee/etc.

So, what do you think? Time for my annual speech about how resolving to fix yourself in time for the ficticious clean slate is antithetical, blah blah blah?

Sorry, I'm skipping that speech this year. Besides, I myself seem to be joining the ranks, albeit for a different reason. It's not calendrical for me; I've had a health scare and I want to turn things around, and make my health a priority. This is something I am going to do, day in and day out, and I started this past week, along with millions of others, turning over a greener leaf.

ANYWAYS.
Shannon asked her readers, "what do you predict?" (for 2009) and I like that twist.


As far as my future, I will be a full time student through the spring, living healthy, applying to internships, spending time with friends and family, and traveling.

I'm wishing we could get back to homeschooling, but it's not going to work out while I'm a single mom, so for the time being, it's "on hold".


Continuing our composting/garden project IS, however, on the agenda. For living in an apartment/townhouse, I'd say we are doing pretty well with the gardens. The front yard has some edibles, and the back is our plumeria tree garden and the staging area for seedlings. It's also where we compost (around the base of our oak tree), and boy is our pile healthy. The turn-around rate is averaging 1-2 weeks, and the soil coming out of there is rich, compared to the crappy sand that was all we had before.

The coolest thing is finding seedlings IN the compost pile. This week, I've pulled 4 strong little pumpkin plants out, and potted them, until they are ready to go in the ground. Check it out.






Oh, I'm also currently writing a song on the piano (even though I'm not much of a musician) and maybe it will be finished at some point in time.

I also hope to tie up some loose legal ends I've got flapping in the breeze, find Kerry and Cody's dvd on fascism, and study up on Sioux and Omaha nations circa 1881 and 1882, for some work I might be doing over the summer at the Smithsonian. The position sounds perfect for me; research assistant/detective, studying old photographs and putting them into historical context.