The View From Here
First blog post with internet at home! But it's almost 4pm and it has literally taken half the day getting it to happen. Why is it that technology is so prone to glitches of the kind that you wouldn't expect in situations that are even less - well - technical?! We were supposed to have been sent a modem by Friday - it never arrived. Today, I walked (30 minutes) down to the phone company's store, waited there 30 minutes, and was given a modem which turned out not to work at all, no lights! 30 minutes on the phone, and the best they could tell me was go back and exchange it. I'd already had more exercise than my still-extremely-tired body wanted. I took the bike, coasted down, rode back super-slow. Another 30 minutes on hold to get tech help because configuration wasn't happening straightforwardly, and then we got cut off and I had to start over!
It's almost a caricature of a technology story. You don't expect to be given a faulty piece of equipment in any other scenario, but here I am, not even surprised! I'm glad to have managed to stay fairly equable about it - might have been easy to end up feeling very frustrated.
Another bright side to look on - it was beautifully sunny all morning and until mid-afternoon, which was when I was going back and forth chasing a functional modem, and by the time I was stuck holding on the phone (and working on my translation), the forecast clouds had come over everything and it was gloomy and preparing rain!
Now that I have internet at home, it should clarify some things and make other things happen faster. Hopefully it'll make it easier to get organized.
Up For This Week
I will do a wordstalk this week and will also try to think more about what this blog is 'for.' I really want it to be interesting to people. I have tended to write about our life, writing/literature, food, gardening, words. If anyone would care to tell me what they'd like to see more of, I'd greatly appreciate it.
This week we have friends from Oregon - an old friend of Phil's and his 18-year-old son and a friend of his son's. They are the kind of kids who will go for a 100 mile bike-ride just for fun, and so it's likely that I won't be going along for many of the adventures - I've stayed home yesterday and today so far - (and participated by fixing great food, of course) - I just wouldn't be able to keep up. It's great for Phil, though - he gets to 'go like crazy' and show all the beautiful places he loves to hang out in to people who've never been up here before. Glad they had some sun today - yesterday they were hiking in deadfalls and devil's club while it rained incessantly!
Even without accumulated exhaustion to catch up on and plenty of translating work, I could work all day in the garden and not catch up! It is so lush and beautiful. I'll show off just a little bit here:
Cauliflower leaves I made into kraut, and frilly chicory:
Here they are in the bed, with carrots and maca in the background. I planted so much bitter chicory and radicchio - not to mention arugula - and I'm the only one that likes it!
Chard is falling everywhere and spinach is bolting
Beautiful pea flowers - pea pods too - cilantro bolting in back, a beautiful kale in the middle
A bed almost entirely of lettuces...
And a patch of beets direct-sown in the ground (not in a raised bed) -
Some beets fresh-harvested
And rainbow carrots - remember those carrots that we salvaged way too early to plant them, that were lifting their leaves in prayer to be put in the ground while it blizzarded outside in March? Here they are, a little woody but beautiful -
And some turnips! The slugs made a mess of the leaves, which is a shame, as turnip greens are even more nutritious than kale/collards (harder to eat, though).
much love.
