Losing weight, in the garden, with visitors

At last all my seedlings are in the ground (hooray!). Except the tomatoes (boo...). Against my better judgment, I again allowed Partner to persuade me to grow a few. This year I think we have five plants. He has promised to plant them himself. Somehow, taking care of a baby takes up all my time; I can only snatch five or ten minutes of gardening time a day. Meaning my seedlings have languished on the patio for the last two or three weeks, waiting for brief window of spare time. Pictured here are my runner beans and bamboo canes for their support, at the site of the old shed.

Flowers I'm growing (from seed, that is--I have a lot more perennials):

• nicotiana
• dahlias
• zinnias
• cosmos

Vegetables I'm growing:

• potatoes (early and maincrop)
• cabbage
• carrots
• celeriac
• beets
• rainbow chard
• zuccini
• tomatoes
• beans (runner and broad)
• broccoli
  

Since Franklin was born I have been actively trying to lose my pregnancy weight. A vigorous walk nearly every day, and I'm slowly working it off. I gained about 30 pounds by the end of my pregnancy, and last I weighed myself (a few weeks ago) I had lost 15 pounds. My maternity jeans are now a bit big on my hips and I can fit into at least one pair of my old slacks.

My sister and her friend are visiting us, but being teenagers, they come across as moody and unsociable. They've been here several days now, but don't make an appearance till after noon, and want to spend their days holed up with the computer. I think I'll have to be a bit more creative about tearing them away from the lures of facebook.

As it is, we'll be going to London for a few days this week. My last time in London, I was with a cousin and had a brilliant time getting completely lost every day. I can only hope these two are as congenial about not knowing where we're going.

The finished cardigan and fluffy balls of cootness

Here is the finished knitted cardigan. I only hope it fits him when the weather turns cold.

Did I mention weather? This morning the dog and I set out at 8am for our walk because it's simply sweltered the past several days. My garden explodes with new season flowers (and weeds) and my early potato plants seem to triple in size every day. Even at such an early hour, our walk was uncomfortably warm: we're not a hot sunny country, rather a cool wet country. When we get a heat wave, it's sticky and humid.

I brought the camera on our walk; I saw something at the pond I've never seen before: a family of coots, complete with brand-new chickies. Cuteness!

Not sure if it's mama coot or daddy coot but both were present	Click on the picture if you want to melt at the cuteness
Wild iris at the ponds	One of my favorite paths

The other day I undid my shirt in preparation for breastfeeding and this tumbled down into my lap. I'm not sure where it originated from; either on or in my shirt or possibly in my hair, as I'd been gardening earlier--but wherever it came from, it certainly made me jump. I'd like to say it's a caterpillar, but it looks more like a maggot to me. Yuck!

Cushions, hats, and other industry

This past weekend I finished the dog bed I started back in December. I do have a picture of it, but it's downstairs and I can't be bothered right now. It has an inner cushion and a removable cover (with piping!--my first piping attempt, while not a roaring success, was at least not a dismal failure) for washing. I've been saving my fabric scraps, thread and yarn ends, holey socks, and dryer lint for several months; this is what it's stuffed with. As a result the cushion's heavier than if I'd used normal stuffing. This is a good thing: the dog can't pitch it out of her basket like she did with her former pillow. Hopefully she won't chew this one up too.

I also sewed a quick baseball cap for Franklin. We had one but lost it, and all his others are winter hats. I made it from cotton canvas, bias tape, and interfacing. Already he's had compliments from strangers. Actually, he gets a lot of compliments just for existing--I never realized how much people like babies, but when we're out together, I get approached by all sorts: women my age, grandmas, grandpas, dads, little kids... Anyhow, I liked making this hat so much I think I'll make another. The pattern is my own.

Busy bees that we are, Partner and I (mostly Partner) finally tore out the living room carpet. Half of it is now adorning our patio; the rest is cut into decent-sized strips, rolled up, and stacked in the garage. The plan is to use it over winter to keep the bare vegetable beds covered and weed-free. The now-exposed floorboards are actually pretty good looking, though they need scrubbing, sanding, and varnishing.

Just to prove that Franklin does indeed now sleep in his stroller while I garden, here's a picture. I just have to time my gardening activities for when he naps. Yesterday I took my books outside to study while he napped in the shade and was attacked by mad kamikaze aphids. It's impossible to brush them off without killing or horribly maiming them. But my garden is a better place without aphids, and if they commit suicide, all the better for me.

Lemon and red and nature

A few days ago I was just about to hop in the bath when Partner suddenly shouted "Blimey!" from the bedroom. I dashed over (in the nuddy, as they say), expecting another nightmare, but instead found him and Franklin hanging out the window (not literally) spellbound by nature's drama: a sparrowhawk had nabbed a fat pigeon on our lawn. I ran for the camera (still starkers); meanwhile the hawk flew its dinner to next door's garden. If you look closely, you'll see its orange eyes.

After the sunshine and warmth of April, May has disappointed. Apparently we are getting the average temperatures of February. No frost, luckily, but I'm not planting anything tender out just yet. I was tempted to plant out my nicotiana today--after all, it's nearly the middle of the month--but decided to wait just a little bit longer. My early potatoes have now sprouted (yay!); they were planted on Easter weekend, so I'm expecting to harvest them in the middle of June. Hopefully. I've never grown my own potatoes, though I assisted my dad with his when I was younger; he didn't grow early potatoes.

My rhododendron flowered! Frankly, I was expecting a bit more lemon and a bit less peach (the picture on the tag was decidedly lemony); no matter: it's a lovely color, and that bright yellow splash in the photo is a tulip. The tulips are in fact taller than the rhody.

I finished knitting the green and white baby cardigan and will take a picture of Franklin wearing it. I tried it on him, and though super-cute, it is a bit big. I'm kind of on a knitting spree now. I ordered some special yarn online and have started a new baby hoodie. Also in the works: a knitted red and black afghan. I'm hoping no one tells her this, but a very nice lady knitted me a lovely red cardigan a few years ago which I never really wore because it was HUGE. Seriously, it was big on Partner, and he's not exactly small-boned. I've begun unravelling it, and I can see the work she put into it--it's got beautifully intricate cables. I feel a little bit bad about it, but I will repurpose the yarn in my afghan. At least it's getting a new life.

My music video!

Friends, I want to share with you a project that is very special to me: "Hopscotch" music video. I've worked on it for about a year: I first came up with the concept in the summer of 2008, and then filmed it that fall, and edited it over the course of the following year. It has been ready and waiting for quite some months now, but the music track is still not finished, sadly. However, I can't wait any longer for my sound engineer (he's had a lot of personal issues get in the way, so I don't blame him), and am posting it online now. If I ever get the final music mix, I'll upload that, but until then, please watch:

http://www.youtube.com/user/how1she1sparkles#p/a/u/0/7ML65qHquBg

"Hopscotch" is an original song written by myself and my husband, and performed by members of my family during a Thanksgiving visit. On a previous visit, we had recorded film for a short movie which was to feature a pop song. Unfortunately, the film was unusable because of formatting problems and the project had to be abandoned. For the next visit, I envisioned writing and making a music video of that pop song from the first movie. I wasn't sure if my family would be on board (acting in a movie is one thing, but singing and dancing in a movie is completely different), but they threw themselves into it. It was a great experience and a fantastic way to spend time with the family. I'm only sad that two of my brothers were unavailable to appear in it.

I think it should become a family tradition that whenever we get together we make a film project; both times it brought us closer together and brings back wonderful memories. Here are some stills from the video:










On a different note: I've been keeping a personal blog of my experience as a parent, started back in July 2009 when I found out I was pregnant with Franklin, and have decided to make it public. I know most people won't find it that interesting unless they are closely related to me; I'm not that interested in blogs about other people's kids myself. However, I have enjoyed updating it and am happy to share it:

http://meandfranklin.blogspot.com

I've drastically cut down my goals for this month, and will be doing the same for May. Mostly because my plans were simply unachievable. I wanted to do stuff, but couldn't find the time with a newborn. My newborn is now almost eight weeks old and is actually taking naps on his own for more than ten minutes at a time and I have now managed to get light housework, study, and gardening into my day. And knitting and reading if I'm lucky.

This crocus flowered in my front lawn last month; I can't decide if I like the purple or the yellow better--I've got both. I love them but they only seem to last a few days--a week at most. I've had a lovely showing of daffodils and tulips this year and the bluebells and iris are set to flower soon. The early ones (daffs) came up late, and now the late ones (bluebells) are coming up early. Because of the long freeze and nearly constant snow, even the snowdrops didn't show until March, and they are normally flowering in January.

So. My potatoes are in the ground, courtesy of Partner, and my sweet peas are also all down. My runner beans and zuccini are sprouting and I'm ready to plant my celeriac outside. But a sneaky snail keeps nipping off the tops of my cabbage seedlings. Every day I go outside and find one less. If it just left one leaf, the cabbage could still grow, but there's only a bare stalk remaining. My mother thought it was yucky that I step on snails. If they were doing that to her cabbages, she might feel differently: that crunch is awfully satisfying.

Last year's broccoli has now taken off. If you recall, I thought the caterpillars had demolished it permanently. Then I figured it was just too late in the season and too cold. But of course I was too pregnant (i.e. big and lazy) to go out and pull the stuff up, so I just let it lie.

Am I glad I did. Whoever heard of harvesting fresh broccoli in April? We've got loads of it: it's purple, and it's the sprouting type. I made sure I got the same kind planted this year. I will also be more vigilant about the caterpillars (I was too soft-hearted to kill them last year. Maybe I'll collect them and feed them to the fish in the pond this year).

I think I have most of my seeds planted now. Except, of course, the succession of vegetables such as carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and beets, which I plant a small batch of every few weeks. I've got most of my flowers in, too. Just need to plant the rest of my potatoes while I still have a chance...

Of course, my little boy doesn't let me have a lot of time to myself. Today he had a total of one hour's nap at about 10AM, and now it is nearly 8PM, and he's currently having his second. Or maybe this is his night's sleep. He hasn't had his bath yet, but if he stays asleep, I'm quite happy to skip it for one night.

I've been knitting him a cardigan for next winter; I've had the wool in my stash since before I got married and now I'm finally using it. I've discovered the joy of knitting and crocheting for babies. Partner got me two circular needles--they're awesome: much quicker to knit with than straight needles. I think I might need more, in different sizes. And more yarn. I borrowed a book of knitting patterns from the library and want to make all of them. Will I? This remains to be seen, but if I do, I will definitely show them off here.

I tried popping the baby in his stroller yesterday in order to take advantage of some glorious sunshine. He didn't much like it, but in between the screams I managed to weed a little, stake some plants, and deadhead a few daffodils. Two whole loads of laundry also went out on the line. It was lovely. Today is similar in temperature and sunnyness and instead of risking another stroller failure, I went for the sling. He was happy to sleep in it while I planted out my broad beans. Fingers crossed the slugs don't annihilate them.

My mother was very industrious while she was here and did a lot of weeding, pruning, and planting. My garden looks ten times better than when she first arrived. She also bought me a beautiful yellow rhododendron; I can't wait for it to flower.

Our Easter involved too much chocolate and a puking baby. No, I didn't give him any; Partner ate his egg. But we surmise the chocolate milk disagreed with him so I'm only allowed one piece per day. Bummer.

Just a quick one

Friends, I wish I had more to blog about, but I really don't. I'm doing full-time baby duty--I don't know how women do this on their own; I'm SO glad my mother's here. And when she leaves next week, Partner has two weeks off work. Because of this, at least I can get some sleep, even if it is only at two-hour intervals.

I managed to plant some seeds outdoors this past month. I saved my milk jugs to act as mini-cloches and have planted carrots and chard under them (so far). I also have lettuce sprouting in a big pot on my patio--time to plant another batch. And this weekend since Partner's off work my potatoes are going in the ground. Last spring I got all sorts done, only to get awful nausea and food aversions so I couldn't enjoy the results of my labor. This year I've got an adorable little baby distracting me. What good timing I have.

Time for a little break

One last tummy shot

I thought I'd get a photo in of my gigantic tummy before it explodes. Even my maternity clothing is getting a little tight on me now, so I hope he's coming soon. Due date is March 14th (nine days from today), but I can now tell people: any day now. This photo was taken yesterday. Also featured is my new haircut; it's just a bit shorter.


Last month we replaced our old wooden arch (that's it on the grass) with a new steel one. The wooden one supported a climbing rose, a passionflower vine, and two clematis--one purple, one red. Partner secured it to the garage (not pictured, but about three feet to the right) with a cable to keep it upright last summer. When he cut the cable, it pretty much tumbled down. The rose and purple clematis are still intact; we'll need to wait and see if the passionflower and red clematis survive the outrage.

The sun's appearance this week gave me impetus to do some gardening nearly every day. Spring is in the air--I hope!--less than two weeks ago it snowed. I've pruned some tough old shrubs and a few of the rosebushes, and cleared away dead foliage from several beds. Pruning is great, especially when one doesn't have to worry about killing the plant. Partner strangely doesn't like fuschias, and I'm not fussed if ours lives or dies: but I don't think I actually can kill it. Every year I cut it back to nearly the ground and every year it grows about eight feet. Still on my hitlist: the laurels and the rest of the roses.

Cheap flowers, motivation, and Romeo and Juliet

This bouquet of roses was £1 altogether. I haven't actually counted, but I think there are close to three dozen. I have a huge bunch of very cheerful chrysanthemums on my dining table; I think I paid £0.80 for them. I love getting flowers on the cheap. Strangely, the supermarket puts a sell-by date on flowers, meaning if they aren't sold by the last day, they go on the clearance shelf.

My backache is mostly gone, and my drive and motivation is mostly back. The dog and I went walking today; I made granola, crumpets, AND dinner; I finished and submitted that pesky math assignment. I even gardened and houseworked, albeit slightly. I'm on good form to sit down to the piano, and later do a quick sketch in my sketchbook (as per my daily goals).

We had a weekend visit to London to see the inlaws, resulting in high blood pressure (literally, not figuratively. It was actually a nice visit), further resulting in not one but two hospital trips: both on Monday and Tuesday. On the Monday trip, I ended up discharging myself because the nurse was happy with my condition and my blood pressure was dropping. Only when I told her I wouldn't wait for the doctor's review, she went from friendly to dirty look and told me how irresponsible I was. I had to sign a disclaimer saying I wouldn't blame her if I dropped dead in the street outside.

I hope no one thinks the worse of me, but I wanted to leave because we had tickets for the ballet and it started in half an hour. I knew the doctor could be hours yet (hospitals crawl at a snail's pace) and I didn't want to miss Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. We ended up missing the first act--but as there were three acts in total, we made it for just after the balcony scene, and saw all the good stuff (i.e. all the blood). The end was very dramatic when she stabbed herself and then rolled into his embrace, so they were spooning corpses.

I wonder if all ballet companies have a few people on the books just to walk on and off as the father/mother/priest characters. I mean, the people who are in the ballet but don't actually do any dancing. Are these people actually dancers, or are they just some random person brought in to wear a costume and mime a bit?

I checked myself back into the hospital the next morning to get the all-clear on my blood pressure. No problems there. And the previous night's nurse: not on duty, sadly.

Making new from old

Although most days I have a lot of drive and energy, and want to accomplish deeds both great and small, today is an exception. I woke up with very stiff shoulders and upper back and can't seem to loosen up (am reclining in bed now with a hot water bottle behind my neck). Even feeling so stiff, I would normally have gone out walking with the dog; except it's pouring rain with strong winds. I think I'll just stay in bed.

I broke into my studies for a bit, and did a small amount of sewing before making this decision. And I took photos of my newest sewing projects. One of which is this hot water bottle cozy. I cut up an old cardigan to make it. I have only recently started doing it, but I love cutting up old things to make new things. Other things which I have cut up: curtains, curtains, curtains. Two individual plus a pair of curtains have become fodder for my projects, including a dog bed cushion (not yet finished--I started it only to realize I didn't have enough stuffing), three grocery bags, a baby bassinet cover, and a pj top.

The bassinet cover	Detail from the bassinet cover
Detail from the bassinet cover	Pj top

We woke up to another multi-inch snowfall this morning. For the past few days it's been clear and sunny, and we haven't had snow for several weeks. Just as I thought my spring gardening schedule was off to a flying start.

Part of the physiological changes involved in pregnancy give me a skewed sleep schedule. I woke up at 4.30AM the other morning, and after laying in bed for half an hour, decided I wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon; I got up and made a coffeecake: it didn't last long. Instead of Mardi Gras, here we celebrate a very sedate tradition on the day before Lent called Pancake Day. All over the country people make/buy pancakes on this very special day. British pancakes are actually more like crepes which are filled with various fillings, then rolled up to eat. I understand that on Pancake Day itself, the pancakes are sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar before rolling. We went the more avant-garde route with butter and icing sugar, jam, or nutella. If you don't know nutella, I'm very sorry for you.Partner tells me that pancakes in this country are often filled with savory fillings like ground beef and cheese. This is SO gross.

Toads, bonfires, and tea

Oh what gardening fun we had this weekend. Partner promised to level out the new vegetable bed and put in a walkway.While doing so he found a bleary toad. Far too early to wake up from hibernation, Partner took it to a pile of leaves in another corner of the garden.
The very same day I suggested we cut down some overgrown elders that cast shade onto our new vegetable plot: this ended up becoming a two day operation. One such overgrown tree was cut down and into manageable chunks, and the next day another two trees came down (incidently, the tree behind Partner in the above picture was one of the unlucky ones--check out the photo of me below: clear view of the neighbor's shed and no tree). What to do with all this green wood? Burn it! And where is our bonfire pit? In the new vegetable bed! It took two attempts to get this fire going. It's HARD to make a fire of green wood--we didn't have any old seasoned wood. The first attempt went through ten newspapers. The second attempt took ten cardboard boxes plus the contents of our paper recycling.
Not to mention that in order to burn efficiently, the trees needed to be cut into logs and sticks, which then needed to be trimmed. If they weren't trimmed, the twigs on them (green and stubbornly fire-resistant) held the wood too far from the coals and flames to burn; this is why our first attempt failed: there was too much of a gap between pieces of wood due to the tangle of twigs.

We had tea, sandwiches, and scones while out coaxing the bonfire. Don't worry, Partner washed his hands after grappling with the toad.
Altogether we sat with the fire (adjusting and fanning the flames often) for about six hours. We did not have the raging inferno of Bonfire Night, though it wasn't for lack of trying. If there hadn't been so much wood in the first place (too much to stack, in other words), I would've given up after the first attempt. All gardening/tea party photos are here: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/cosmicharley/Garden%20of%20Galadriel/February%202010/

Messages and nightmares

Since I got some alphabet magnets for Partner for Christmas we've been leaving each other messages on the fridge. As there is only one copy of each letter, though two of each number, it can make for interesting spelling. This is a joint message: one from me, one from him, and one first by me then altered by him. If it doesn't make sense to you, don't worry about it. I don't get it either (and I wrote it).

It seems the Olympics are back again. I don't know how I missed that one; I haven't seen any preview material or build-up for it. Really strange. I have half an eye on the men's ski jump as I type this. Although I've been here in England for several Olympics now, I'm still not used to the style of commentators. From what I understand, the channel which covers it has a team of "sports commentators" who may or may not know anything about the event they comment on. For instance, one is a former Olympian: in dressage. Every so often they make a comment which is just so asinine--it's obvious Britain doesn't have a heritage of winter sports.

Partner wanted me to take a picture of his injury--I think he must be proud of it. At about 12.30AM the other night, I was in the other room reading when I heard Partner start yelling, like really making some serious noise, and then I heard some struggling. I threw down my book and listened, because my first thought was that he was being attacked, and if so, I would need a weapon (the iron was close to hand). But I quickly realized that if there was someone else in the house, I would have heard them come in, and I could only hear Partner.

By now he'd been shouting for about thirty seconds. I turned on all the lights as I rushed over to the bedroom, but before bursting in, I called out, "Honey, I'm turning on the light." He stopped making noise. I opened the door and turned on the light, to find him stood up in bed: there was a picture off the wall in his hand and another one smashed at his feet on the bed. Somehow, he gave himself a huge welt and bruise on his thigh; we surmise it was from the corner table next to the bed. How he managed to smash the picture, I don't know, but there were shards of glass everywhere in the bed; at least he didn't cut himself. He told me he was having a nightmare about being trapped in a tunnel with a train coming at him.

Myself, I was mostly amused, after the initial moment of panic. I picked up what glass I could see, ushered him out, and made him a warm milk. We both slept in the other bedroom that night.

Gardening in 2010

Finally I did some gardening! It's been several months since I last did anything in the garden other than escorting the dog back in from her bathroom break (unsupervised breaks end up with her sneaking next door). Well, truly told, I didn't actually do this in the garden--I planted four kinds of seeds: cabbage, celeriac, broad beans, and sweet peas. The first two are in plastic trays on my kitchen windowsill. The last two are in toilet paper tubes and rolled newspaper tubes.

I folded a sheet of newspaper in half the long way, then using a narrow jar as a mold, rolled the newspaper into a tube and folded the edges over on one side:I think I made about thirty of them:I filled them up with potting soil separately and packed them into a seed tray:
That's one tray of broad beans and one of sweet peas, now residing in my cold frame. I've had very little luck with planting seeds straight into the ground so I almost always plant in trays first: seeds planted in newspaper or toilet paper tubes can be put into the ground once they're big enough; no need to peel away the paper/cardboard first. Since beans and peas of all descriptions dislike their roots being disturbed, this is the ideal way of keeping them alive and happy.

Fingers crossed my sweet peas actually sprout: I harvested my own seeds last fall.