A Picture of the Plot in Everyday Ramblings

Here is the community garden plot. There were so many oak leaves on top that I didn’t realize they had covered it with burlap. I cleared off a bunch of sticks and small branches that had fallen during our recent massive storm from the giant oak before I took this shot.

Charity discovered that another of our neighbors had a plot here for 5 years. She said it was a positive experience but that she had to give it up with the demands of work.

I have much to learn, like where to put stuff and how to slide back the rusted bar lock on the shed. Oh, and how to space things. And when to plant them. I hope to start a deep dive in a few days.

This whole week has been consumed with trying to get a vaccine shot appointment locally. The local paper and news channel published that the pharmacies would be scheduling appointments starting at 5PM yesterday evening. I tried for an hour. The site was totally overwhelmed.

Mrs. Sherlock is driving an hour south today to get her first shot. She asked if I wanted to try to go with her, but I am teaching and a little wary of the hours of close contact involved. I am happy, oh so happy, she is getting hers though. That means both my walking companions will have been vaccinated and it is less risk for Mr. Sherlock.

They keep saying it will open up soon. But I don’t know what that means. Charity was able to get an appointment for next Wednesday afternoon at our convention center. Then she got a call from the pharmacist she is friendly with and got her shot that way. She has been trying to cancel her appointment.

We decided that, as I am now in the eligible group, that she is going to take me to her appointment, and we will see if I can get the shot instead. As long as I am eligible, and they have the vaccine I don’t think it should matter. That is my hope anyway.

Besides teaching and doing chores and walking this has been the total focus of my life lately.

My yoga website is only half finished. It is raining again so this weekend would be a good time to get it operational.

Last Sunday I watched a live online workshop on spices with Claire Tansy. It was way fun and very useful. It is clear I have been storing my spices incorrectly, too close to the stove and in the wrong kind of container. She gave us this great one-page cheat sheet on different spice pairings. And she has strong opinions about things like bay leaves. She is doing another workshop on making a bunch of meals to freeze so you don’t have to cook a few nights a week coming up.

She calls cinnamon the Taylor Swift of spices. It is one spice that is good for sweet and savory dishes and is certainly the spice I use most. Cumin is a close second though.

Kes got here in time to watch part of it with me. I got a recording link so we can watch the whole thing again at the beach next month.

Now that all the folks in Salem have their power back, Kes and I are Zooming again every day. Still, even with that it was nice to see her in person. We even went for a little walk. And she had a cat rotation on her lap while she was here. She brought me a sandwich.

The quince is blooming! The daffodils survived the storm, and we have the purple and white crocus coming up to join the yellow ones.

Our time change, where we spring forward, so we lose an hour, is on March 14th the week after next, then it is officially spring on the 20th.

The last class I taught in person last year was on March 10th. Wow, just wow. I’ve given up trying to figure out when the next one will be.

Last updated March 05, 2021