Month: February 2006

today was my follow-up with the orthopedist. waiting and waiting and waiting. and then she looks at the MRI results: nothing torn or broken. I definitely have arthritis in my knee, behind the kneecap.

so I’m to keep taking the naproxin and to go back to physical therapy, specifically to strengthen the quads.

also, I’m supposed to keep stairs & inclines to a minimum. great.

thank you, for the chat and for being a friend I’ve known forever.? sometimes that really makes a difference.

Today I got outside during the middle of the day and finished up the flower bed on the other side of the patio. I also set up my part of the vegetable garden. This year I’m trying square foot gardening, the tidiness of which appeals to me a great deal. After a few erratic years of vegetable gardening, I’m attempting to be more meticulous and scientific.

Last year was just zucchini & tomatoes. Everything else was a mess, although I did get a couple of carrots. The year before, I had lots of lettuce & arugula, and some other random stuff late in the summer, but the garden bed was a jungle of weeds, undertended, rolled in by the cats, etc.

This year I found a seed starting chart (PDF!) and I ordered my seeds well ahead of time. Originally I planned on planting a couple of weeks ago, but then we got that crazy freeze/windstorm. Last weekend was all about the painting, so it wasn’t until today that I got out there. Pulled the junk out of the old bed, smoothed it out, laid out a grid with aspen branches and grape vines…sometimes it’s good to have plants that go nuts.

Today was lettuce, arugula, spinach, radishes, and peas, all the early stuff. I have four empty squares left, which will get carrots and broccoli. Probably not until after SXSW, though. Tomorrow I need to start things indoors: the broccoli, for one thing, but also tomatoes, which I’ve never tried growing from seed before. And something else, I don’t remember what…but that’s what the chart’s for!

I’m glad I did gardening on a cool cloudy day. The last couple of years I’ve gotten over-energetic on a sunny day and done too much too early. Having a calendar helps me pace myself, which will be better for the plants.

Not to mention this spring’s salads.

I’ve probably said this before, but 24 is a action-adventure soap opera.

C calls it video crack.

(we’ve been watching season 4 via netflix.)

A week ago I almost fell way, way backwards. Not physically, but emotionally. I still don’t know entirely what triggered it, and I don’t know that I’m entirely past it.

Last week, in yoga class, I was overwhelmed by sadness and frustration. I’ve been off and on sick for almost a month, and I wasn’t doing well in class, and it was just more than I could handle. Then I had the opportunity to go home, and I took it, and the next day I just couldn’t.

…go to work. …think. …get out of bed.

Funny thing is, turns out the college ended up being closed because of a power outage, so thankfully I didn’t miss too much.

I got turned around by a painting experience. C worked out a deal with an artist friend to help design and paint our front room, kitchen, and/or hall. They spent a couple of days last week with paper and crayons, brainstorming ideas, and then presented me with the final drawings and some paint chips. Saturday we picked paint, and then the rest of the weekend she & I painted.

First of all, the results so far are beautiful. Words don’t capture it at all: periwinkle, butter, red; the Japanese floating-cloud shape. Even the cheap green curtains we have look extra exotic now. There will be photos, later.

But also it was a great learning experience. L is impressively meticulous, both in taking care of her tools and in the actual painting. I’ve never seen anyone paint a perfectly straight line on a wall before! More to the point for me, I could learn quietly by watching, with occasional direct tips.

All of which gave me a sense of self-confidence in addition to the total joy of beauty.

And then the cold dry snap broke, so I didn’t feel like my whole face was going to flake off or implode.

Which is by way of saying that I’m feeling better. Not all the way there, but better.

Y’know, I feel even better for having written all that down.

I’m considering getting a new camera to take to SXSW next month…although I’ve also been thinking about it for probably a year.

Should I buy….

• an inexpensive Sony,
• the adorable, but more expensive Canon, or
• an inbetween Panasonic that has good reviews?

I kinda need to do this now, because I’ve been putting off making any sort of a decision for almost a month.

Financially, I’m leaning towards the Sony, which I think would be good enough, although I find myself lusting after the digital elphs (elves?).

I love taking pictures, but am by no means a photography snob. My 1.3 MP Sony has been good enough, quality-wise, for 3 1/2 years. I just don’t take as many as I’d like because it’s so freaking bulky, and now the battery life is getting wonky.

…which I managed to handily forget, went well anyhow, with a tasty dinner and some 1st season Star Trek Next Gen.? ? mmmm, love.

two things reminded me yesterday:

1. phonecall from C, on my office phone because I accidentally left the cell at home — sitting next to my brain, obviously.? so very sweet, and so very embarrassing.? “oh, that’s right, today is the 14th.”
2. LJ entry by K, waxing poetic about the holiday.? something deeply and truly ironic in that.

last night & this morning were so very cold; I kept hoping that I’d get up and look out the window at snow, but no such luck.? the forecast just keeps calling for cold & bright.

I have to admit that I’m enjoying the new prettiness of WordPress 2.? I’ve been upgrading installations elsewhere, and damn that’s painless, too.? Only thing that really irks so far? Having the excerpt box down below the fold.? Y’all know that I love my excerpts. 🙂

I’ve thought about getting out an explosion of words lately, but rarely been in the vicinity of either computer or notebook when that thought showed up.

This last weekend was astoundingly beautiful, after enough rain to start looking to see if an ark might be floating through the park.

Totally random aside: I saw this TV special a while ago about the Noah story, and the actual historical thing seems likely to be this: a guy who had a boat on the Euphrates got caught in a freak rainstorm and swept out into the Persian Gulf.? Yep.

Anyhow, it was sunny, and warm, at least on the south side of the house. On Saturday morning that inspired me to clean the kitchen and my room…a fully clean fridge!? On Sunday it pulled both of us outside….

Together we radically trimmed the grapevine on the fence, including on the neighbor’s side.? (She said, on being asked: “I would love it if you would tackle that thing.”)? A creative and energetic project, since the damn thing was planted by the neighbor 3 tenants ago, and I swear I’m the only person who’s ever trimmed it.

Now it looks stark and architectural.? I think C is somewhat hoping we killed it; me, I’m hoping for it to be lovely and trainable.? (Visions of an arbor.)

And then I took to the garden bed on the west side on the patio, the one that’s always looked like a midden overgrown with flowers, and turned it into something a little more architectural.? Okay, mostly…

Because I let C talk me into an afternoon bike ride…which was totally fscking amazing! He’s much more daring a cyclist than I am, of course, and more willing to go the long and/or difficult route.? I did have a bit of a tumble when he was turning and I didn’t see him turning and my front wheel hit his back wheel and I (mostly) jumped free.? Except I have a achy bruise in almost the exact same spot I hurt the side of my knee before.

And I never did write about the tumble I took last Tuesday riding home: caught my front wheel on the sidewalk and fell perfectly sideways.? Into traffic.? Thankfully, there weren’t any cars *right there* and the cars behind all stopped while I picked up myself & my bike.? But that is a very ugly dark purple bruise on my thigh.

Oh, cycling season. The season of bizarre & semi-mysterious bruises.

On Sunday we rode all the way around Capitol Lake and then had an early dinner at Taco Del Mar.? (I’ve been eating their food for something like 10 years now, starting with the old one in downtown Tacoma!)? It was…words fail to describe…the crisp faux-spring air,? tingling legs, and then just wolfing down a burrito & chips….

Here’s the other thing with C: he’d rather take the big hill home than throw the bikes on the bus, so we rode home, albeit on the most mellow of the roads up the hill.? For once I was willing to let him raise my bike seat a little, and damned if it didn’t help.

Of course Monday was dark & icy, which makes me a little glad I didn’t get around to planting the first of the vegetable seeds.? I made a calendar this year, with help from You Grow Girl. Next weekend I really do need to get the lettuce, peas, and arugula in.

As for the title? Yoga last Thursday was insanely excellent.? (If you’re in the Tacoma area, take Hatha Yoga with Jami Button.)? I’m mildly embarrased to admit it, but for the first time possibly ever in my life, I can touch my toes.

Simpsons fans will then be able to extrapolate the reference.? (Bonus points for knowing which episode.)