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Growing Grass (Not what you think)

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Late fall I brought inside any plants I didn’t want to freeze. I attempted to hold over the chard and kale under a flimsy Tyvek plastic tarp—which went okay. The plants I brought inside were spearmint and chives. Throughout the winter the chives thrived and I used them in salads, on top of baked potatoes, and quiches. I was a little disappointed—tasteless. But it was deep winter and everything tasted washed out and bland. The blahs. Recently, I’ve begun returning the herbs back outside. I decided to keep the greenest and lushest one inside as I was about to make a dish that I’d brighten up with the chives. But the more I looked at the white pot topped with a green bushy crop, I thought: That looks like grass. I bent over, it smelled like grass. I got my phone and, using an identifying app, discovered it was grass. The two other pots were chives, the ones I ignored in lieu of not chives. Which means all winter long I was using grass as a condiment on a number of foods. I wanted to...
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Disappearing

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As an old(er) woman it’s easy to be invisible. I can walk down the street or at the grocery store and no one sees me. Especially when people are only looking at their phone. I noticed this starting about ten years ago—in my late 50s. I became irrelevant. Many women have described this. Perhaps, they were used to the attentions of men. I remember as a teen walking down the street with a friend and cars honking. Finally, I said, Why are all these cars honking?! And, she said, Because of these, pointing to her boobs. Ahh, I thought, yes, that’s why. Alone, no one ever honked at me. But, the feeling comes over me when standing in line at the bank or checkout. Incognito. Overlooked. Oh, you were here first? Oh, there’s a line? Oh, you’re actually here in front of me? Yes, and yes. Sometimes it bothers me, but after awhile I forget about it, just like the people around me forget to notice me. When riding my bike, I also disappear, and this, I found, is a good thing. I retreat ins...
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New/Old work accepted

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Intervals (description below*) put out a call for work reflecting places no longer there. Not abandoned, but lost now to time. Erasure. * Intervals  is an experiment in call and response—between prompt and reply, between  Pictura  and its contributors. Each exchange becomes part of a continuing conversation, carried on in the spaces between our regular issues. Hidden Valley Ranch is an example of something tucked away in my writing portfolio, a flash memory/vignette of family vacations to central Kentucky to Hidden Valley Resort. The word resort here used very broadly to mean a family-owned and operated seasonal tourist “destination” featuring a swimming pool, barn dances, outdoor game area, and guided horse rides. I thought I was the only one, but when I first wrote about Hidden Valley and posted it on my blog over 12 years ago, I was surprised at the number of responses from readers Googling and finding my memoir post. These folks also remembered Hidden Valley and ...
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Avocado Toast

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I’m just now getting the memo, but happy to make the scene. You see, I’m of a generation of oatmeal and cold cereal, the occasional eggs and bacon. Avocado toast wasn’t a thing. Neither were avocados. I don’t remember my mother buying them  This week they were on special at the grocery store and I picked up two. Oddly enough, just the night prior on YouTube I’d seen a clip on avocado toast and thought yum! Weird how so many algorithms lie up. Anyway, I mashed up half and spread it on toast with a bit of cheese and pickled onion/cucumber and a dash of Dash. Something as simple as breakfast, as benign as toast, as colorful as spring grass—and I was in love. This blog is about memories—the most ordinary the better. So I landed on the topic of avocado toast this a.m. You might already be there or struggling to find a happy place, I adjoin you to try out avocado toast. Thank you Mexico and sun and rain and avocado trees!
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Setting in the Garden

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I’m not sure how I thought I could do this in one day. The weather has gradually gotten better and not so cold in the a.m. I did a bit on Friday and a bit on Saturday with momentum building to finishing up today. Almost. I got the raised beds seeded and a few tomato seedlings transplanted. But there are NUMEROUS pots I use for what doesn’t fit in the raised beds. At one point I used my bike + trailer to go get more garden soil—not knowing the bags were 50 pounds each—and brought home two. The pots just kept coming. At a certain point, I told myself the rectangular ones would wait till tomorrow. 2 kinds of cucumbers 2 kinds of kale 2 kinds of chard Sweetie, Big Daddy, and another kind of tomato Pole beans Dill Thyme Summer savory Peppers Still to go—carrots, radishes, and basil Sooooo tired from the sun and exertion.
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