Nearly here

Partner and I went out for the first time in ages the other evening. We are without a car so I took a taxi and met him near his work then we walked to the pub. I saw some of my friends there and had a good chat. Then we got a bus home. A taxi is kind of expensive so I really never take them but the bus only comes once an hour, unless it doesn't come at all. Which seems to happen quite a bit.

I've been planning my garden for this year with what kind of flowers I want and where. Right now I have a tentative plan for the front yard. There are lots of early and late spring plants already down, plus a few winter-flowering perennials so I will just have to fill in the gaps for summer. The back yard is a different story however, with lots of blank canvas at the moment. All my daffodils are sprouting and some already have heads on them. The tulips and wood hyacinths are just starting to make an appearance but no buds yet. Spring bulbs are really the best.

Partner got me a bouquet of red tulips and a dozen red roses. They are so pretty and cheerful. When the daffs flower I'll pick bouquets of them too but I don't have enough tulips in the yard to pick them. And when the roses flower I pick them but I have never had a dozen at a time. Well I have but they aren't the type to fit in a vase, but the type to climb up the garage wall. I pick them anyway and put them in really small vases with other flowers of the short stem variety.

Legitimate

Speaking of crochet projects, I've got half an afghan crocheted. I started it about a week ago and had planned on finishing it in two weeks, but I ran out of white yarn. It's a white daisy motif on a light blue background and while I have plenty of blue, I can't very well make daisies without white. It's actually very sweet and while it won't be a huge blanket, it will be a nice little throw. I just need to get more white.

I've been thinking about making a patchwork quilt for my bed. I learned how to do patchwork when I was a teenager and have always admired it. When I was little I had a wonderful red and white patchwork quilt with cats sewn on it. I can't remember if the cats were quilted or just embroidered but I loved that quilt so much. As a child, red was my favorite color and cats were my favorite animal. Then I got bigger and switched to purple and horses, but now I'm back to red. As far as animals go, I don't really have a favorite any more but I do feel an affinity towards bears. They're big and furry and they stand in the middle of streams and salmon just jump into their mouths.

I did actually get out in my garden yesterday. It was sunny and not too windy and the grass wasn't too wet. I weeded a bed and emptied out the hanging baskets which were looking a bit forlorn. I also hung a load of laundry on the line and it got mostly dry. It wasn't exactly warm yesterday--I wore two sweaters--but it was sunny with a light breeze. Due to the natural process of compost, my composter had some more room at the top so I forced in some garden material that had been hanging around going black: dahlias (but not the tubers), cosmos, and yucca leaves. I don't put weeds in my composter, just legitimate plant waste. In the summer it gets a lot of grass clippings. In the winter it mostly gets whatever odds and ends are left over.

For more

My house is such a mess right now. I feel so ashamed. I should just get down and clean it. I mean, it's really not that hard. Though I think part of the problem is the lack of storage. British houses just aren't built with closets. We have a total of two closets in the house: one built in, under the stairs, and one Partner and his dad built into a nook in the spare bedroom. So our clothes and shoes and vacuum cleaner and broom have a place to live. But everything else just kind of migrates. Other storage solutions include a small file cabinet, an extra dresser, a blanket box, and a display cabinet. So for instance, I really don't have a place to store my art supplies. They just kind of hang out wherever I last used them. And my crocheting projects? They stayed in the attic for a while, but I don't like the attic because I can't reach it on my own. Partner has to open it for me. Actually I've never really been in the attic, just half-way up the ladder. It's not my kind of place. Partner keeps some stuff up there, but what exactly that stuff is I'm not sure.

Partner isn't that much taller than me. I think maybe two inches at most. And I'm pretty tall when it comes to it. I generally give my height as 5'8" though I think I get up to 5'10" with moderate heels. The nurse at my last physical measured me as 1.75m while wearing my shoes. That's 5'10". And hey, I just weighed myself for the first time in ages and I've gone down to 145# which is a loss of about ten pounds total from this time two years ago when I started this blog. But I'm still as soft and squidgy as ever. What I really want is to be able to fit into my old skirts that I'm hanging onto for some perverse reason. I have a gorgeous little burnt orange suede number that I haven't been able to wear since before I got married. But I think if I continue on this path of weight loss, in two more years it'll fit perfectly.

Fancy this

I haven't been sleeping well for quite a long time now. I went to the doctor and he gave me some pills but I'm not too pleased with them so I don't take them. I think I took them about five or seven times and they just made me all spacey and unable to concentrate. If they knocked me out, I suppose I could manage it, but half the time they didn't.

Our bulbs are just starting to perk up outside. Remember those three bags of daffodils I planted? I believe they are starting to think about showing. I really hope they all come up. I could do with some flowers. I never got my tulips, but there are already tulips down anyway, so I'll still get some this year. Those spring bulbs are the best. Lots of color and shape and they last a long time.

I've done a small bit of artwork recently, though nothing earth shattering. I've done a few sketches and quick ink drawings to try out my new pen and ink set. Partner got me a fabulous set of colored inks and the red is my favorite. It's a great color to work with. I should study a bit of calligraphy too. I've always liked fancy writing.

Vernacular

We visited the inlaws in London over New Year's weekend. One of my cousins is in London for a week or two and we showed her and her two friends around the National Gallery and up to Buckingham Palace. It was good to see her. I hadn't seen her in ages.

Our vacuum cleaner has a terminal illness, I think. I was attempting to vacuum the stairs and it started growling and smelling funny, so Partner took it apart and concluded that it's eaten too much long hair over time. The brush isn't brushing and the motor is burning itself out trying to force it. And I must be going bald, considering how much hair was on that thing. But I guess being bald wouldn't be the end of the world. I could always get wigs. Actually I already own a wig, a purple one. I used to wear it occasionally. Now that I have quite long hair, it's a bit difficult to get it on. I have to force my hair into a nylon net and then put the wig on over that. When I bought the thing my hair was about two inches long. Now it's about eighteen inches long. I've told Partner that when it reaches my butt I'll dye it black and curl it every night.

We took the train to London this time. It took about the same amount of time as driving, though perhaps not as comfortable. We had to take a bus to the train station on the way there, but on the way back we took a local train to the next village over and then hired a cab to take us the last two miles. We could have walked really and I have walked there before but it was dark, cold, and inclined to rain so into the cab we went. I couldn't believe how fast the train was. And cheap! Next time we go there we should get on the train.

Swing

It's really cold here. Ok so it's not technically freezing at this moment. But to save on my gas/electricity bills, I keep the heating off during the day while I'm at home. And I bundle on the sweaters. But the temperature has really dropped and I'm so COLD. I have these slippers that actually make my feet colder when I wear them. Seriously. I'm not sure how that works. When I was visiting my family I bought several really nice new sweaters, some of them quite heavy and made of wool, so I can layer up and not die of hypothermia. Yet.

Christmas was good. I got some fun toys. Partner got me this new video game that's a First Person Shooter. I've never really done much FPS type games before. I don't like violent games. Well, violence is ok but graphic violence is not. There is no blood in this game but it sure is dark. If it's a bright day, I have to wait till it gets dark to play it, otherwise there's too much of a glare on the tv. I also got some art supplies from Partner. He got me a calligraphy pen and ink set. I used to have one but the pen broke. I think maybe the nib did too. So for a while I did brush and ink instead which I also really enjoyed, though once I ran out of ink I never got a new bottle. I have a bunch of ink drawings from about four or five years ago. Some of them are really good. Most of them aren't. Though sometimes I look at my old drawings and think wow, did I really do that? Then other times I think, where's the trash can?

We're going to London to visit the inlaws for New Year's. We probably won't be doing any shopping this time, which is a shame. I love shopping. But I'm broke now that Christmas is done. Partner says he wants to buy me some silk stockings. I think I can wait a little longer for them. Like till I'm a millionare. Then I'll get a dozen pairs.

None taken

At last, it frosted here and it's officially the start of winter. Actually, on my American calendar winter started yesterday, but on my British calendar it started today. Happily, the days will now be getting longer again (starting either today or tomorrow, whichever calendar you happen to believe in). But now that means I have to do a little more work in my garden. The tender plants need to be brought in out of the cold.

I think I'm going to add another composter to my collection. I just have one medium-sized black one, and I think I've dug out all the compost that's coming for a while. Maybe I could chip out a bit more, but that stuff is like concrete. Well, maybe not concrete, but it sure is compact. The composter is completely full, mostly of plants and leaves from this summer, but also some kitchen waste as well. And of course it's also full of worms and other wiggly things. Compost is cool. You put green/yellow leafy stuff in one end, and black crumbly stuff comes out the other end. In Vermont where I worked, the gardeners had a six-week compost rotation. It actually took six weeks for their compost to break down into dirt. It was really amazing. I think it goes for about three to six months in my compost bin. Actually, if I had the time for it, I could do a six-week compost heap. The thing is, it needs to be stirred every day. And stirring can be tough. It involves a big shovel or fork and a lot of digging. And really yucky smells. The neighbors wouldn't thank me for it.

It frosted hard overnight and there's still a heavy white film on the ground now at 11.20 AM. In other parts of the country they say there is a heavy freezing fog. I'm glad it's sunny here. Partner has been taking the bus to work. It's no good when he has to wait for it in bad weather. I used to take the bus to college every day, and it could really suck in the rain. But it's worse when it's freezing.

Up and down

So all those crocosmia cormlets got planted. I dug holes for several clumps of them, towards the rear of the garden. Places that are mostly shady and not well populated with other plants. They should make some good-sized patches when they come up next year. The ones that are already in place, ones I didn't dig up, are already started with new shoots. I cleared away all the old leaves and little yellow ones are peeking up out of the ground.

I also planted some baby lupins I grew from seed earlier this year. A third of them went out front a few months ago, and another third got planted in the back two days ago. They're so tiny but they look strong. I don't know, however, if they'll flower the first year. Partner says he planted some one spring and they didn't flower till next summer. But mine will be almost a year old next spring, so I've got my fingers crossed. What's good is that if you dead head them, they'll flower all summer. We let our big ones go to seed last summer and the little pods burst open with such speed that the seeds were bouncing off the fence and pinging off the neighbor's glass conservatory roof. One hit Partner in the ear. He was convinced birds were dropping things on him. [Addendum: Partner was the one who discovered where they were coming from. Just in case he reads this and thinks I'm trying to make him look like an idiot. He's not really.]

And lastly, and I'm very excited about this, two of my rose cuttings are sprouting. I took them earlier this fall and two look a bit dry and stiff, but two are definitely growing new shoots. Super Neat.

I still haven't got my three bags of tulip bulbs yet. I think I should ask Santa for them. He's got more money than me. My parents sent a big bag of presents with us for Christmas and some of them are to me from Santa. Not that I believe in Santa. I can't remember ever believing in him, to tell the truth. Though I remember pretending to believe when I was little, because my parents thought it was cute. I wrote a letter and left cookies and milk. I probably believed at one point in my life, but that point of my life is a little fuzzy now. But I still believe in unicorns. Metaphysically, at least.

Looking up

I haven't spent much time in my garden recently. I dug up a huge patch of crocosmia that we have, in preparation for making an herb garden next year. Crocosmia is a lovely plant that grows from little bulb/corm thingies and has wonderful orangey flowers that look like tiny birds of paradise. We have a couple of patches here and there, but this patch was so big, it all came up in one big lump about two feet square and I had to physically break each and every corm away from a tight knot of roots. I ended up with a five gallon bucket overflowing with them. Just corms, no roots or leaves. I will plant them soon. The weather has been extremely mild and we haven't had any hard frost yet, so the ground is still ok for planting.

We visited my parents in southern Utah for Thanksgiving. I did a lot of filming for a movie I want to make. However, since my dad owns the video camera I have to wait for him to extract the film to digital and then send it to me for editing. If I ever get it done, I'll post it online. It should be only a short ten to fifteen minute movie. Nothing too overtaxing, I hope. We saw my sister play basketball and were very impressed with her skills. I would venture to say she is one of the best players on her team. My brother is an artist and he showed me his portfolio. He wants to do CGI for the movies. Or maybe for video games. I think he's really talented. And then there's me. I think I used to be good at stuff. I used to draw. I used to play basketball. Now...I mostly garden.

I'm looking forward to Christmas as well. I want lots and lots of presents. Big presents. All wrapped up in pretty paper with big bows. Although I also really enjoy buying presents too. I had fun picking out things for my siblings when we visited them. They all got presents that I would have liked to have kept for myself.

Taking a break

I haven't felt like blogging and I still don't feel like it. I think anyone who has been following my blog will know the reason why. So I am putting it on hold for the time being. I will be back. Just later. Maybe a lot later.

All in a row

I took some rose cuttings of our favorite fragrant rose this week. I've never really tried growing anything from cuttings but I did research and followed some instructions in one of our gardening manuals and hopefully in a year's time we'll have several new little bushes. I hope. I've been thinking it would be nice to have more roses though Partner says we don't really have room. But I think we always have more room. We have several shrubs dotted here and there that neither of us are extremely fond of, so they could come up and roses could replace them. I was reading Rebecca recently and at one point Mrs de Winter talks about having roses in a bowl. I thought it would be nice to have enough roses to put in a bowl. Though I have enough dahlias; maybe I should get a bowl.

I also planted a bag of daffodils yesterday. I remembered how long winter can be here and how nice it is to finally see some flowers in spring. I thought it would be really good to have enough daffodils flowering to pick them for vases. So I bought three bags of them with 75 bulbs a bag. It took me an hour to get the one bag in. I planted them in twos and threes and along with some bluebells/wood hyacinths that I divided from the front earlier in the year. I figure I can plant one other bag in the back yard and the last in the front yard. And I will still have a few other bulbs to go down: bluebells, blue iris, and snakeheads (I can't remember their real name). And that's not including tulips which I'll put down in November. Maybe I'll get three bags of them too.

Begin again

The piano got repaired and tuned. It took the man about three hours to do it and I even had to assist at one point. I made him a cup of tea at the beginning but I should have made him another, it lasted so long. The event took place about ten minutes after I got home from work so I was a bit tired and just wanted to sleep, but I stayed in the room and played my video game with the sound off (obviously). At one point there was a loud resonating ping and the word "balls" was uttered. He had been tightening pegs and glueing them into place so I was worried that one had just popped out; apparently it was actually the sound of a string breaking. So I'll get that replaced in a few weeks when he's ordered it. Luckily it's a bass string, meaning there were two of them for the key; the piano is still playable. And playable it is. I played it for about an hour and a half that evening. I got out three of my favorite piano books: Bach's keyboard music, Mozarts sonatas for piano, and Chopin's selected waltzes. I want to get more Chopin music and other Romantic-era piano music. Sometimes it's good to make a lot of noise.

Today is Friday and I get a week and a bit off starting today. I'm not working till the Monday after next. I've asked Partner to see about getting the week off himself. He has a very good excuse: he broke his shoulder last weekend. At the beginning of the summer he broke his finger playing baseball. At the end of the season he broke his shoulder. We had to go to the emergency room yet again and get more x-rays and get poked more. At one point a doctor touched him in a certain spot and Partner nearly cried and began cursing like he was the devil's mouthpiece. I think we'll all be glad to know that he's not actually possessed by Satan though I've never heard such blasphemy.

So Partner hasn't been sleeping well because his shoulder is so painful. They can't immobilize it with plaster so he just has a sling. I think he should take time off work; it's his right arm and he really can't do anything productive including drive and cook and type. He'd be more secure at home with not as many chances to jar it. Plus he'd be with me for a week. And that's always nice.

Suspension

I've been thinking about higher education but it kind of makes me nervous. I've done a little research into costs of universities around here, and there's like a set amount that every student has to pay, regardless. So I've been racking my brains trying to think of a job I could get for about a year that pays a lot in order to save up for next year's classes. Partner suggested signing up at a temp agency and doing office temp work. The only experience I have with temp agencies is through one of my friends who got jobs doing housekeeping by them. Now I would do housekeeping myself except I think it wouldn't pay any better than the job I currently have. The job I currently have pays £5.60 an hour. And I think the exchange rate is about $1.90 per pound, so that's 5.6 x 1.9 = $10.64. Wow I just did that sum and I didn't realize it was that much myself. But still it's only a part time job and it's only 35p more than the minimum wage here. And I don't think I can do a kitchen job full time because of my back, yet I do need a full time job. Partner says I can do office temp work since I can type and navigate a computer. But getting a new job makes me even more nervous. However, I need the money so I guess I should try.

September already...I'm hoping for a sunnier month. There were dead leaves on the pavement in London when we were there last weekend. I saw a flock of ducks flying, but not in formation; they had just been frightened out of a pond. At least, I think that's what they were doing and not migrating. Our dahlias are now almost all flowering, since they are a late summer/autumn plant. They're the last of the flowers to open, but most of the summer flowers are still going pretty strong. And we have ripe tomatoes every day now.

A lovely face

I woke up this morning feeling relaxed and limber. For the past two weeks I've worked extra shifts and have been standing seven hours a day for eleven days now. It's hard on my legs and back. I have a slightly crooked spine so if I stay in any position for extended periods, it starts to really ache. Like when we go to London and walk around all day without sitting down. I love going to London but it really wears me out. When I was a kid I took dancing lessons and my teachers were always on to me about putting my shoulders back and tucking in my butt. I always tried so hard, but I realize now why I couldn't. My back just curves that way and makes my butt really stick out. If I tuck it in my shoulders cave in. I've thought about going back to the doctor to ask about treatment, but I might not. I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was about twelve or thirteen but I guess I didn't require treatment then and it's never been an issue since. But working so much has put a strain on my back and I've been taking a lot of hot baths and asking for a lot of massages from Partner these past weeks. Today I'm not working so I'm going to take it easy.

This month has been very soggy. Where July was intensely hot, August has been rainy and even cold. It's felt like fall pretty much the whole month. However, yesterday it actually didn't rain once and today it is clear and mostly cloudless so there may be hope for the last weekend of this month. Our clothes dryer isn't working so well so I really count on having sunny days to dry my clothes. I've been doing a lot of dashing out and flinging clothes off the line because of sudden downpours. We have a little clothes rail for indoor drying but it can take two days indoors and it only holds one load of washing.

The other day I found a little pansy flowering in our lawn. It's the sweetest thing. I didn't know it, but they grow wild around here and I've found them in other parts of the yard. I wouldn't mind a whole lawn full of them.

Pick your friends

I have had a kind of change in my attitude recently. I've realized I don't have to wait for my ship to come in for me to have a good life. I guess that's kind of a duh statement, but it's something that's just crystallized for me. Kind of like when I realized that I didn't have to be depressed; I could actually choose to be not depressed. I remember when that happened. I was watching a nature program on tv about termites. And I thought to myself, why am I watching termites? They're so gross and I hate looking at them and they make me feel ill just watching them. Then I thought, what if I saw termites as beautiful? And then I found out I could. It was momentous. And it was only a short step away from deciding I didn't have to feel depressed. I could want to feel not depressed and it would happen.

So I've decided to stop waiting to become a millionaire before I make my house perfect. I'm going to make it perfect now, with the materials I've got. I don't have to buy things. I don't need brand new furniture (though my couch needs re-upholstering pretty darn soon or it won't have any thread left--just bare) and I just need a new kitchen floor. Well, I say a new floor but what I actually need is a floor. Any floor really, so long as it is sturdy and durable. We have just a stretch of concrete right now. I was thinking I might like laminate floor boards which comes in planks and looks like hardwood but is actually pretend wood. Partner is leaning more towards what is called lino which is actually not linoleum but a cheaper variation. They don't really do linoleum in this country. Lino aka vinyl flooring I guess can look good and it's common in a kitchen. Lino is a lot more pliable than linoleum and can almost fold. I think I don't want tiles on the floor. Too cold on the feet. I think it'd be different if we had a huge mansion. Tiles would look right in a large house. But not in our small house.

The magic

It's about time I got our piano looked at. What with one thing or another, it really hasn't been played for several months and it's in dire need of repair and tuning. One of the keys is completely gone and several others are starting to go. We've had the same problem with that one key for a few years now. It's been tuned and repaired several times but only lasts about six months. So our piano guy thinks the baseboard must be cracked. He hasn't seen it in over a year now I think, so I don't know what he'll suggest this time. It may be that he won't be able to fix it and we might have to go for a new instrument. I hope not. Partner inherited it from his great-aunt and it's special to him.

I began learning to play the keyboard/piano at about age seven or eight but started in earnest at age eleven. I never had any formal lessons, but took what I could learn from my father, from general music classes at school, and out of books. At some points in my life I practiced for an hour or more every day. It was only when I moved here two years ago that I actually clicked with reading music, however. I don't have to look at my hands very much any more and can sight-read with relative ease. My father admitted to me that I play better than he does. I like to play some old favorites but I enjoy playing new music more. I don't really have any music memorized though; I'm completely crippled without scores. I suppose if I took a theory class or got a good book I might get better at memorizing. I can play lots of pop/folk songs on my ukulele without any music. Because I know about chords I don't have to have music to play most any song on the uke. Partner is like that on the piano. He's not so good at sight-reading but can play you any song you like at the drop of a hat.

I like the piano and I like to play purely for my own amusement. I have no desire to join a band or group. In fact, I think I might dislike it as I would be overshadowed and possibly underappreciated. I would only want to perform as a soloist. However I'm perfectly content to play in the privacy of my own home when no one else is around. I remember when I was younger I used to enjoy playing duets with my father; the two of us could play music that we might struggle with singly. Now I've surpassed my father and can play those pieces completely unassisted.

Love from me

I have been reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. We own a few books by the same author and all his books that I have read have the same message. The message is that humans are not meant to live the way we're living and unless we change our way of thinking we'll go extinct. He writes that humans see ourselves as above and separate from nature and the world, and therefore not affected by the changes we make to our environment.

I was saying to Partner the other day that I wondered if gas prices would climb so high that people couldn't afford to drive any more. What I really meant was, will this happen in the very near future? And if it does, how will it affect our lives, as a civilization? I think it could potentially be a very exciting or very frightening time. On one hand, law and order may collapse and anarchy ensue. Governments may declare martial law and citizens starve in their homes, with no food or electricity able to reach them. Or maybe it will happen gradually so that we become a bike riding and walking people, growing our own produce and eating only locally grown foods. I think if all the gasoline in the world suddenly disappeared tomorrow, a lot of people would find themselves out of their jobs. The more obvious ones like bus and taxi companies of course would become obsolete, but then think how much of the economy depends on the ability to ship a product from one place to another. I think we wouldn't be getting newspapers or books. We'd have to find another source of clothing than the local mall. I think the entire service industry would be severely crippled: stores wouldn't be able to receive stock any longer.

To me, it sounds like an exciting change. I think of all the positive changes that could be made. It makes me think of what I could do right now to be ready for it. Like study up on gardening. Buy a bike. Find out about solar panels and wind turbines for the house. Decide whether or not I want to live here permanently before all the airplanes are retired!

Distinctly

Nearly all my plants that I raised from seed are flowering. I just have about one or two more that are almost there. I have a couple of really fantastic plots of flowers. In the front there's a mass of poppies all different colors and in the back is a bed of cosmos and larkspurs in lovely pinks, whites, and blues. Everywhere else is also quite nice but not as well-planned. And I have a few bare spots even. Actually I take that back. Anywhere that is not exploding with flowers is exploding with weeds. So there aren't any bare spots whatsoever.

So my excuse for not weeding this week is that it's been HOT. We breached 90F. What's more, I was at work and I think it's common knowledge I work in a kitchen. What with the oven on and up to six gas burners at full power, plus a sink full of hot water to wash dishes...it's a wonder I'm still alive actually. It's the washing dishes that's the worst. Having to hang over that big sink in that hot water for fifteen minutes every hour just about killed me.

I was pretty pleased with myself this week, however. I made some English fudge, which is not chocolate, but rather a boiled sugar candy kind of like toffee. I had to heat the sugar with butter and milk to a temperature of 113C, and seeing as the boiling temperature of water is 100C, it can be a little tricky. I didn't have a thermometer that could read the temps so I had to do what is called the Cold Water Test. At 113C the sugar forms a soft flat ball when dropped by the spoonful into a glass of very cold water. So there I was with my little spoon and little glass, testing it every minute or so. But I succeeded. And it tasted great. In fact, it tasted so great that one of my coworkers kept coming back and stealing (or pinching as they say here) little pieces of it after it was cooled. It makes me want to learn how to make other candies. My gramma used to make really yummy sweets and candies every Christmas. I should ask her about them.

The room

It was our two year wedding anniversary yesterday. It doesn't seem so long ago that we said I do. It doesn't feel like I've been living in this house for two years. We went to York to have dinner and a drink. I was disappointed in my steak as it was overcooked. We got home kind of late and I feel asleep right away. Both of us had to work and it seemed like we didn't get to spend much time together. Just about four hours I think. Well, we slept in the same bed for another seven hours, but I certainly wasn't conscious at the time so I'm not sure that counts.

Work sucks. I should move to the Big Rock Candy Mountain where they shot the jerk who invented work. I'm not saying my particular job sucks. Just the whole concept of work. The idea that you have to go do something that takes you away from your family and friends and interests for half your day five days a week. I learned in anthropology class that prehistoric humans worked about ten hours a week either hunting or gathering. The remaining time was leisure time. Thinking about it, I suppose Partner and I could each work ten hours a week and have the rest as leisure time but we'd really have to cut back on our amenities. But maybe life would be more fulfilling if we spent most of our time weaving baskets and carving pendants or whatever prehistoric people did for fun. I think the whole idea of having a schedule is the down side of working. If we could just show up for work whenever we ran out of money and then went back home when we had enough...I mean, those Cro-Magnons surely didn't say to each other, "Ok, Szzt, you and Ugh are going to hunt for two hours each day, Monday to Friday, and Hngh and Pffl will gather berries and roots during the same time."

Big foot

I have not been sleeping well this past week or so. I won't name names but someone is keeping me up with their snoring. Not just snoring but SNORING. This unnamed person is keeping me up all night with unceasing nasal disquietude. We have another bedroom and I think if this cacophony continues I may have to use it. This person claims to have a deviated septum which can cause snoring and it is for certain that other people in this person's family snore as well. What is even worse is that I used to be able to wake this person up with a combination of decisive pokes and name saying. This does not work any more.

We have a multitude of pink poppies flowering in our back yard at the moment. They self seed and have returned every year that I've lived here. Out on the sides of the roads and fields in the surrounding area are a profusion of red poppies. The red poppy is kind of a symbol for peace here. People wear paper ones on their lapels in November to signify the end of the first World War. It has been explained to me that the fields that were once red with blood grew red with poppies after the end of the war. From what I have studied about WWI it was a pointless, brutal war with no justification. No wonder people still remember it, still commemorate the end of it.

I'm slowly making my way through decluttering my house. It's amazing how much junk there is. Some things are necessary in life. And some things aren't. I'm trying to separate the necessities from the trivialities.