Sophie's Story

           One of pleasures I've recently discovered is watching seedlings sprout up from the ground. For many years, my gardening (using the term very loosely) has consisted of buying plants and planting them in my garden and tending to them throughout the summer. It is fun to watch them grow and produce vegetables or flowers, but there is something about planting small dry seeds and watering them carefully not knowing what if anything will happen.          I've had two successful carrot crops the past few years. This has given me the confidence to attempt to grow other vegetables from seeds. This year I decided to grow snow peas. I planted two rows carefully spacing the seeds. I misted the ground so it wouldn't be completely dry. A few days ago I thought I saw a line of seedlings where I had planted carrot seeds. Yesterday, I saw two pea seedlings above the ground. It made me so happy to see those little green plants poking up. I ...

           Several years ago Dana helped me to make four dyed shirts using ice and powder dye.  I gave two shirts to my parents, one of them to C and kept the fourth for myself. It was fun to do and interesting to see how they would turn out as the melting ice would influence where the dye went.          When my Mom was bedridden the nursing staff cut the back of her shirts so they could dress her more easily. Dad gave Mom the shirt that he had as they were more comfortable for her to wear. When she died all the clothes that had been altered were thrown away.          A few months ago Dad suggested to me that he would like another shirt. He liked the one that he had and would get compliments when he wore it. I told him that I wasn't going to be able to make another one exactly like his old one, but I could do another in the same colours. He said that would be fine with him.        ...

      We live a block or so from the library. While I haven't spent as much time there as I would have liked, I like the fact that it is so close. Last year, they shut the library down to do some renovations. I was pretty sad about it. Although  I'd been choosing my books through an online catalog, I liked being able to walk to the library and pick my books up as well as drop them off when I finished reading them.      The library moved temporarily to the second floor of one of the county buildings. I was happy I had access to the library, but the county building was not convenient. I still checked out books, but I had to make sure to pick up books or drop them off when running errands.     The library reopened a month ago. I was working on reopening day so I had not seen when changes were made.        A few days ago, I had a book I needed to return. Since the library is close to our walking path, we decided to drop off th...

           For our latest bike ride of the season, I wore my flowered bike pants. Because it was going to be warm out I wore a thin purple t shirt that matched the pants. The shirt had a round collar and is close fitting.  We had a good ride, ate the picnic lunch that we brought and then went home.       I was in the bathroom doing something when I glanced at myself in the mirror. I took a really good look. Then I felt sick.        I looked fat. I looked in the mirror and saw something grossly fat and unattractive. I changed out of my biking clothes but it didn't make me feel any better. I felt fat and ugly. I hated what I saw in the mirror.        This is something I've struggled with off and on for a lot of my life. Even as a teenager I was never fashionably thin. Many of the woman in my family tend to be rather sturdy especially on the Italian side. When I was out of college and working, I was t...

           Willow turns three years old today. Most mornings she walks onto my lap and tilts her head to get a scratch before settling down for a quick nap or cuddle session. This morning after she settled into my lap, I reflected on how she came to live with us.          Three years ago, in July, a woman from church needed someone to take care of a kitten she recently adopted. Because the kitten was so small, it meant the kitten would need to stay in the home of whoever was caring for her. The woman and her family were going on a trip over the Independence Day weekend. She had planned to pick up the kitten after her trip, but the family she was adopting from wanted the kitten in her new home before the holiday. Someone put her in contact with me as someone who might be able to help.          We had just lost our beloved Scamp a little more than a month before. For the first time in 25 years I had no cat to ...

           In the interests of fair disclosure, I have absolutely no ideas to write about today. All I have are a series of small things that alone aren't enough to write about. I hope you will enjoy this hodge podge of topics.          Lately C has had a craving for beans. When he was growing up he ate pinto beans and cornbread. In the south, it's cooked with fatback. It think fatback is like bacon with a lot of fat and very little meat. It was salty which flavoured the beans. I've tried several times to cook beans all unsuccessful. I finally decided to try again. Since I'm never organized enough to do an overnight soak with the beans, I used a quicker method. After sorting and rinsing the beans, I put them in a pot of water to boil. I let them boil for ten minutes. Then I turned the heat off and let them set for an hour in the water. When the hour was over I drained the beans, rinsed them and rinsed out the pot. I put them back in...