long weekend

i ate a bug this morning.

E's family are WWII re-enactors. her brother recently bought and repaired an authentic army Jeep, and he was asked to drive it in the Memorial Day parade today, so 10am found E and i running full-tilt towards City Hall (we left the house late). we were nearing the crowds of spectators, when a small bug flew in my mouth and lodged in my throat.

my choices were swallowswallowswallow, or barf in front of a couple hundred people.

mmmmm, protein.

on Saturday (Caturday!), i moved Houdini to E's. she's settled in nicely, despite getting out of her carrier en route and absolutely panting with terror. the Oregon contingent arrives for a visit on June 14th, and two of them have cat allergies (and the third is scared of animals and Muppets). we had a couple friends over for dinner - grilled steaks, corn on the cob (bought late last summer at Eastern Market and frozen in the husks - it's still delicious), Asian coleslaw (a friend brought that, and i'm still eating it), radishes from the garden, and home-brewed beer. it was a nice and mellow night, and we ended it with the first bonfire of the season:

on Sunday, we did absolutely nothing productive other than grocery shopping. it was LOVELY. we haven't had a real day off together  - a day where nothing has to get done - in a very long time. i watered the garden, we ate roast beef sandwiches for lunch, grilled bratwurst sausages for dinner, and very nearly fell asleep on the couch.

this morning, of course, was the parade, followed by speeches, patriotic songs, a 21-gun salute, and the ceremonial laying of wreaths at a statue dedicated to our fallen warriors:

there was also an elderly veteran with a bugle who played the smoothest, most beautiful rendition of Taps that we have ever heard.

E's brother gave us an exciting lift home in the Jeep (he had a little too much fun turning corners), and we got down to the real business of the day - transplanting our tomato and basil seedlings! we put 12 tomato plants in the ground (7 Roma, 3 Beefsteak, and 2 Cherokee Purple):

this is a Beefsteak, it was the most photogenic. poor little plants - we're gardening by the moon this year (thank you, Farmer's Almanac ), and this was the first good day for transplanting. i sure hope they make it!

incredibly, last year's sage, oregano, silver thyme and French tarragon came roaring back this spring, so we wiggled new rosemary and thyme plants between the pallet slats, and gently separated and planted the 9 healthiest basil seedlings:

you can just see them peeking out behind the rosemary!

i'm so twitterpated with our tiny farm! i patrol it several times a day when i'm here, weeding and giving motivational talks to the plants. i like the mornings best - coffee mug in hand, greeting the plants, checking for new growth, and then giving everyone a nice long drink. evenings are nice, too, because you can see how much progress has been made in a day - like this beet seedling, just starting to grow its first set of true leaves:

or the hops, which pretty much have to be re-directed on a daily basis:

tomorrow morning, i go back to Mom's for a couple days. time to start de-furring the house for the arrival of K, J, and Little V! and of course, i have to check on the blooming strawberries:

this homesteading business is extremely satisfying!

bodies

can we take a minute to talk about bodies? about how many shapes, sizes, and variations of them there are? about how, for better or worse, our bodies inform our experiences?

i'm an able-bodied, average-to-slightly-below-average-sized, white female.

this means i have a considerable amount of privilege. i don't have to worry about navigating a world that is sometimes "accessible" in only the barest of definitions (like having to ride in the freight elevator because it's the only non-stair option), or hold my bladder until a caregiver arrives to help me onto the toilet. i don't have to budget for an extra seat while traveling, or risk a horribly uncomfortable trip (both physically and emotionally). i'm not assumed to be lazy and/or unhealthy and/or asexual based on my physical appearance. i'm not likely to be selected for a random security screening at an airport, tailed in a store, or shot for taking a shortcut through the wrong neighborhood.

but i am female in a world where females are still regarded as property to be bought and sold. where babies are killed or discarded for the crime of not having a penis. where young girls have their genitals mutilated to keep them "pure", and are therefore at a much higher risk of dying from painful infections and other complications. where females are paid considerably less than males for doing the same work. where females are conditioned from birth to put their own needs last. where females are bombarded day in, day out with messages like "Love Your Body But Only If It Looks Like What We Say It Should". where clothing for females lacks comfort and function (thong underwear, high heeled shoes, pants with no pockets). where females are routinely raped and killed as a tactic of war. where females are routinely raped, period. where rapists get to have a say in whether or not their victim should have to give birth to her rapist's child. where rapists get a slap on the wrist, but a boy selling pot brownies faces life in prison. where ruling-class males get to make policies for female bodies without consulting even one female body. where medical research is overwhelmingly skewed towards male bodies, and female bodies go undiagnosed and/or untreated/mistreated for lack of knowledge. where females haven't even had the right to vote for 100 years yet. where female political candidates are evaluated less on their ideas and politics, and more on their appearance. where nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped as a terrorist tactic, BECAUSE THEY ARE FEMALE.

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

this is not to say that progress has not been made. we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were. but to pretend that sex discrimination and oppression based on what's between one's legs no longer exists...well, i call bullshit.

every body in this world is valid and important. male, intersexed, trans, dark-skinned, light-skinned, fat, thin, abled, disabled. no one body's experience is more or less valid than any other body's experience.

this also applies to females.

female is a valid identity (not to mention a biological fact), and female-bodied persons are entitled to gather together around our shared lived experience. this does not invalidate anyone else's lived experience. it's not about hating men. it's not about hating transfolk. it's not about hate at all, actually. it's about taking time for ourselves, a spiritual retreat from the constant pressure of patriarchal reality, laying down a burden - the weight of which most of us never really realized until we set it down - for a week. it's not about you. it's about us. and as radical as females actually taking time and space for themselves sounds, it will not bring Armageddon down upon us all. the world will not end. in fact, respecting and empowering female-bodied individuals makes a better world for everyone. a rising tide lifts all boats.

and make no mistake. we will rise.

there are three buds on our strawberry plants!!! i was going to take a picture, but my phone was in the house, and when i went back in to get it, a large bee (or possibly wasp) hitched a ride inside on my clothes. so i had to put the cat in the basement, open the doorwall, and try to flush out the bug without hurting it, which took a few minutes. flowering strawberry plants will be prettier, anyway.

here are two pics i did manage to take this week:

someone got a collar and tags, and didn't mind a bit! now if only she'd let me trim her claws...i've been putting that off, but it has to happen this week...

i am also the proud owner of a new-to-me, very well-made chair!! isn't it lovely? we had two like it when i was little, and i called dibs on the yellow one (with the nice round arms that let you sit with your legs draped over them without cutting off your circulation) before i left for college. and then Mom gave it away, and i've been looking for one ever since, lol. and last week i found one in a thrift store, thought about it all weekend, and went back at 9am Monday to inspect it and sit in it every which way! thus vetted, i bought it, loaded it up, and took it to E's. and for only $20, if Houdini refuses to have her claws trimmed, then i won't mind too much if this chair becomes her scratching post.

montage

 finished (and extremely comfy) pajama pants...

 fiber-riffic eggs and pancakes...

 bacon! actually, salt pork. we're going to soak it and see if it helps, because it's too salty to eat as-is. it's also too salty for any harmful bacteria to have possibly grown on it, so we're calling that a meat-curing success!

 "MOOOOOOM. no more pictures!"

 the technicolor blankie, doing what it was born to do...

 new bookshelf = new home for my festwomon-made sign and collection of heart-shaped rocks...

 50 square feet (or thereabouts) of removed sod...

 two boxes (one constructed by the light of the moon)...

 

and just like that, RocketDonkey Farm is born!!!!!! (or SpaceDonkey. or AstroDonkey. the material point is that, in our heads, the donkey is wearing a jetpack and space helmet. see, we're both space nerds, and then there's this long-running joke about me being a great pack mule, plus i like to chant "burrow! burrow!" while i get settled in bed at night, and "burrow" sounds like "burro", which is Spanish for donkey, and so E likes to call me "little burro" and "tiny donkey". plus we're both stubborn, so there's that.)

 you can't see it, but we made marks for each foot on all four sides, to roughly divide them into squares. so far, we've got four squares of carrots, three of yellow onions, two of shallots, and one of beets. we'll be planting five squares of dwarf blue jade corn on the extreme left, then a row of green beans and soup beans, and the rest will be filled in with squash and watermelon. (and check out our hops going buck wild on the trellis!)

 victory is finding the perfect frame for a favorite little work of art at the thrift store for 99 cents!

it's been a long and awesome weekend. we ate homemade chocolate chip muffins, did a lot of cleaning and yardwork, and hauled and dumped and raked...let's see...720 pounds of composted humus/manure and 600 pounds of organic potting soil (plus two bales of compressed peat moss). seeds were planted, thrift store sweaters were felted (someone's making mittens), and all that's left to do is roast some asparagus and eat it with the rotisserie chicken i snagged at Kroger.

 one little house + two girls = a very good life.

roots and radishes

so. valerian root.

three pills will knock a smaller-than-average dragon out completely, for 8+ hours. one pill, on the other hand, will give said dragon crazy sinister dreams, but not much rest. next time, i'll shoot for what i hope is the happy medium.

i'm a little tired today.

happiness, though, is having a wife who makes me laugh in the morning, and makes me coffee and breakfast when i'm too sleepy to human. happiness is being in the kitchen together, cooking and talking and smooching. it's blueberry plants showing teeny little branch nubbins, a new kitchen faucet (that gives you room to wash big pans, and has a powerful spray nozzle), and talking plans for the future. it's looking into her smiling eyes, or walking into a session with a client, and thinking, "i chose this! i chose, and will keep on choosing, to be here!"

happiness is also looking out the back window to see radishes pushing their bright pink shoulders out of the dirt:

 

recap

my best friend's mom, whom i've known since age 14, passed away from cancer on the 4th. my sci-fi geek friend, besides being utterly devastated, is also royally pissed that Star Wars Day will forever suck.

today would've been Dad's 74th birthday. he is very, very missed.

Houdini is hiding in the closet after getting her first flea prevention treatment. she's having a rough week, lol...first the harness on Sunday (she promptly flumphed to the ground and stayed there), and now this! she's going to get her claws trimmed sometime very soon, too, but not today. poor thing.

Mom and i went to brunch on Sunday, then took flowers to the cemetery for her mom and a few other relatives. it's a really pretty place...personally, i'd prefer not to be embalmed and buried in concrete, but if i had to be, then Parkview Memorial would be ok. what i'd really like, though, is to be buried in an eco-cemetery: put me in my favorite clothes, stick me in a biodegradable wooden box, and plant me. eco-cemeteries let you have trees or other plants as your marker...i wouldn't mind becoming a birch tree...or maybe a white pine...

if everyone shows up, i'll have 17 clients this week. hooray! i don't go in til 5 this afternoon, so i've just been pottering around the house before the storms arrive. took out the trash and recycling, pinched the runners off of the strawberries, washed the plastic storage bin that was Houdini's shelter before we brought her inside, ran a load of laundry, and measured the parking pad in the backyard. i've been doing some unofficial wedding planning (mostly just ballparking costs), and using the concrete parking pad as a dance floor (with twinkle lights and garlands of paper flowers) will save us at least $300. it's crazy, the cost of things. sheesh.

i've had weddings on the brain lately, lol...a lot of my clients fall asleep on the table, or just like to enjoy the peace and quiet after a day of teaching small children, which leaves me a lot of time to daydream. i know exactly what i'll be wearing (heck, i bought the dress ten years ago because i loved it), right down to shoes and jewelry, and i'm pretty sure what i'll do with my hair. almost everything else depends on Mom agreeing to let us have at least the reception in the backyard. i haven't actually asked her yet, but i'm pretty sure she'll agree, especially if i tell her all she has to do is mow the lawn and help me make cupcakes. (note to self: ask E if she's ok with cupcakes.)

it's getting cloudy, and the wind is picking up. time to finish what i can before the rain begins to fall!

E is asleep on the couch...and on top of her phone, lol. i can hear her alarm going off, but she doesn't really have to get up just yet, and she's been up since 5am. another few minutes of sleep won't hurt.

it's been a productive few days at Chez Dragon! yesterday, after work (three clients! yay! starting at 9am on a saturday - ugh!), E and i went shopping for boards to build two raised garden beds. they will be 5ft by 5 ft, which gives us 50 square feet for corn, squash, cucumbers, you name it. one of my blueberry seedlings looked a little sketchy (it's only just now getting warm enough to plant them), so we picked up a third variety, along with...wait for it...some asparagus crowns!!! my dream of an asparagus patch is coming true!

things fell apart a bit when we got home, lol...we forgot to buy screws for building the beds (but i remembered to charge the drill battery), and the Kentucky Derby was on, and we were hungry and tired and mostly spent the afternoon on the couch. but i did find the energy to deal with the bacon:

this is cured, rinsed, dried, skinned, and ready to hang out in the fridge overnight. today i basted it with a little Liquid Smoke and baked it in a 200 degree oven for...almost four hours, i think, until the internal temp hit 150 degrees. it's cooling now, and tonight i will slice it into smaller portions for freezing. except for that curved bit. that's going to be chopped into chunks for breakfast!

step by step, our little homestead is coming along. today we cleared and burned brush from the mint patch, planted the blueberries, and watered everything else. the peas and radishes are doing well, and the tomatoes and basil are getting bigger every day:

i'm especially proud of that center row of tomatoes - they're Cherokee Purples, and they were my first seed-saving experiment two years ago! oh, the tomato sandwiches that will be ours in just a few short months...