Vacationing at Home: Day 4

Day 4 - Thursday

It was a rainy and quiet morning, so we slept in. Rob went to see his Dad and I worked on cleaning up the house. This paring down of excess takes awhile. The nature of what we are trying to do with our garden, and becoming as sustainable as possible, requires some pretty specialized equipment for canning and food storage. I have no problem keeping the tools and equipment we need - what I still am figuring out is the massive amount of paperwork, mail, magazines, etc. that four adults generate. If I am honest about it - quite a bit of it is mine. I'm letting all but one of the magazines expire. I really enjoy Countryside, and have read it for years, and reread them - so those I'm keeping.

I spent some time hanging out with my daughter when she got home from work, which is always enjoyable, and then I worked for hours on the Powerpoint and drawings for my Permaculture final project. Working on this project for a design to make our property sustainable reveals some things to me personally. I feel overcrowded with many of the things around me. Clothing, books, paperwork, etc. I have been spending time thinking about my habits, hobbies, and day to day living and the effect it has on the world around me - and if my personal lifestyle is sustainable. Where I buy my clothes from, where our food comes from, all of the the other things we buy or throw away and how it effects the environment. We have found a place to buy local meat, cheese, eggs, etc. through Mass Local Food and next I want to find a way to buy clothing local. I'm just starting the research on this.

When Rob got home - he suggested we go to Rosalina's for dinner. It's so great to have such an amazing place to eat that we can walk a couple of blocks to. Dinner was delicious and I have almost 1/2 of my steak left - so tomorrow it's going to become a topping when I make my first gluten free (rice crust) pizza!

It was a slower paced day - but I find that I get more done when I can work on a project, then take a break and walk around or sit in the yard - and then get back to the project. Smaller bursts of work have a longer lasting effect on the progress I make.

One project was to clear off, organize (and get rid of) a bunch of useless things on the counter downstairs in our basement kitchen. So, I cleaned everything up to make a nice area for baking (and storing baking supplies) as well as a bigger space for canning and processing veggies from the garden. The cabinets are for food storage - for what doesn't fit in the couple of cabinets we have upstairs. Most of the baking supplies need to stay in a cooler place, so this is perfect. Also - with the space ready to use like this - I will be more likely to whip up some delicious meal or treat.  During the summer, when we don't use the wood stove for heating - we do our cooking downstairs in the gas stove.

Choose Your Adventure

I haven’t written much about my health, or the incredible amount of time I have spent in the past few years figuring out why I just don’t feel well most of the time.

Fibromyalgia, food allergies, environmental allergies, asthma, bronchitis, various intolerances, etc. – It doesn’t matter what the name is, I will do anything at this point to be healthy and alert enough to enjoy my life, family, and friends and be able write every day.

After spending most of the last week with a wicked headache and generally feeling bad, I went to the doctor expecting to be told I had the flu or some infection. As with most of my visits, there is “nothing” wrong.  We decided that it is time to be lactose free. No dairy products, not a big deal really because I get sick almost immediately after eating anything with dairy now.  We also discussed being wheat free/gluten free eventually, cutting down on coffee to see if that helps, and a variety of other things along that line.

Rob and I decided last night to change our menu at home to shop and cook differently and start cutting out both lactose and gluten. I want to have a change now.  Coffee, I can easily cut back to a cup in the morning and drink tea when I want something hot to drink during the day. I don’t have a negative reaction to coffee, but I have been having trouble sleeping, so I see this as a smart move. It may change later.

As I finished talking about cutting down on coffee, our mail was delivered and there was a package from my friend Meg in Oregon. She sent me some great teas and a card for my birthday. Not only did it make me smile to get such a thoughtful gift, it was as if I had an instant reinforcement of my decision to drink tea instead of coffee. Sometimes life's gifts need to be really clear for me to see them!

Rob and I also went out for lunch at The Boynton and after staring at the menu forever, I was going to get a salad with grilled chicken, but Rob said, “Why don’t we each get a salad and split the order of ribs?” Brilliant idea! It made what seems to be a whole menu of “no” into something fun. It was a delicious lunch, and before we came home I bought a canister of ginger and licorice tea at the Wine Vine. This will travel easily and I can have something refreshing in the afternoon at work.

Ribs

Looking back at past posts, I realized I have never written about gardening to fulfill my desire to have a greater local access to foods that I can eat without feeling sick. Last summer it was so amazing to walk outside and have beauty and food right in our yard, and it changed me emotionally and physically to have that access. Until that time, I hadn’t realized exactly how much I personally, need to work outside in nature and grow food and plants.

I am choosing to look at this time of changes as an adventure. I will be healthy and won’t be feeling sick all the time. That’s the goal, so the path has to line up with that goal. This process is not impossible, but it does require a good amount of research, time and effort.

Most of us have something like this in our lives – it takes a bit more work to figure out and more effort to work through, but in the end these efforts are the bigger things that change the direction and add to the quality of our lives.

Even if I don't enjoy all of the details of what is happening now, I know it can change. I also know from experience that small steps or running, you get to the same destination. Sometimes a slower trip is necessary.

So here's to today ! =)

Teas

Perfect Yellow

Today is the beginning of "vacation" for Rob & me. Technically it's vacation time for Rob and a little short term disability for me, but I am making the most of this and today was beautiful.

Because I've been home for four weeks with this ankle/foot/air cast thing, I thought it would just be like another week home, but it isn't, and Rob is here!

We spent the day today enjoying the birds and the garden. The weather was perfect - warm with a cool breeze...and it really, truly felt like a vacation day. That timeless, nowhere to go kind of day that seems endless.

Being home hasn't been so terrible. When I open all the windows and pretend I'm on vacation - it's a little easier with this view out the living room windows of the Sunflower, Corn, Beans and Squash bed.

Of course, it does look more impressive from outside - but I love that I can see the plants while I am resting indoors.

And the view of Sunchokes through the front windows is amazing!

Today, we got a little surprise of a pair of American Goldfinches!

I saw some rustling in the flowers and it took awhile to see them because

they are the same color yellow. If you look closely, he is in the center of the picture below.

This was how the day started and I was so happy to see them!

This is how the day ended - blue skies...

Wine & Chocolates.

I'm learning more and more to take each day as it appears and make

the most out of what I have to work with. I could find faults with the day, the situation of 

my health, the noise in the neighborhood, etc. etc.

Instead I chose to focus on the things that I really have control over. 

My attitude, and my choice to enjoy the many, many things I have to be grateful for.

I hear the voices that say: it's just a yellow bird, a few flowers and sunflower seeds are at the store and take a lot less work.

But I say that until you really look at the flowers and hear the song of the Goldfinch, sip that wine and taste the handmade chocolates from Vermont...Until you sit on a couch for four weeks with yourself and realize how much you have to be grateful for, you cannot know, and I cannot explain what this means to me. Every time I put my hands in the soil and connect to the Earth and harvest seeds from plants that grew in this yard...I realize that I would not trade this moment and this experience for anything. 

It is magical and I don't want to miss a minute of it!

And by a happy accident, I don't have to...