A Conversation With Maya

I went to visit my granddaughter and great granddaughter today. 

While Jess was busy making out her grocery list, I was having a talk with Maya. She would chortle and I would respond as if she was telling me a story. So we spent a lot of time talking, chuckling, squeaking, chortling, and making an assortment of baby noises and crazy great gramma talk.

This continued through Maya's bath and on up to her room where Jess dressed her. At one point in our conversation, I said to Maya, "I want your first words to be 'you are so beautiful, gramma.'" Maya's expression immediately went dead-pan, and she just looked at me.

Jess and I cracked up! Maya's expression was saying, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking." 

When she is able to really talk, we will revisit this issue!

A Ride Just Taken & A Ride Being Planned

I hadn’t been on my bike since earlier this month and this is only the third time I’ve ridden this season.

Today’s ride totaled 12.5 miles over mostly flat, paved back roads. By the time I got home, I was really beat. My first ride this season was 11+ miles and I don’t recall being this tired.

Now that I’m home, would I consider getting on my bike and doing the 12.5 miles again? Not likely, because there is no incentive. No reason. I’ll go for a nice hot shower, then a nap, my afternoon cup of coffee, watch some Red Sox afternoon baseball, take a nap, and see where I go from there.

Now, I bring all the up because in two to three weeks I’m planning a ride along the Nashua River from Ayers, MA to Nashua, NH. Total of 22 miles round trip. The first part of the ride is 11 miles. I just rode 12 and I’m pooped. When I’m sitting by the pond at the end of the 11-mile bike trail, will my PB&J sandwich give me the stamina to do the 11 miles back? What’s the incentive? My car is 11 miles back that-a-way! Maybe I'd better throw a couple of bananas in my pack just for good measure.

It changes from “I don’t need to”, to “I have no choice.” I do this to myself all the time. There is no such thing as “a point of no return” under these circumstances. There is no one to bail me out, come to my rescue, bring the car around.

One example of how I do this to myself is walking Coast Guard Beach on Cape Cod. A couple of times I paid no attention to the wind direction and speed. After walking a mile or so south to Nauset Inlet, I turned around to head back only to realize I was now walking into cold head winds coming right out of the north at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to who knows how strong. I had to rest frequently, and at times crawl in order to make headway. Scared out of my mind! But, I had to keep going. Always hoping someone up at the training facility would spot me through their binoculars and send a rescue team. Never happened. Or, if they did see me they just monitored my progress planning to make the rescue if it looked like they might have a dead one on their hands.

So, this is what I plan to do…and you know what well-known road is paved with good intentions…

I plan to do my leg exercises faithfully, every day, before I make my bed in the morning. 

I plan to do squats at that same time. 

I plan to be more faithful to lifting weights. And, most of all, 

I plan on getting out there on my bike more often. No more wimping out because it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, or I’m too busy, too tired. No more. That has to stop. Because I am going to ride the Nashua River Bike Path in 2 to 3 weeks…ready or not.

I probably should mention I turn 78 tomorrow. Apparently wisdom doesn't come with age (for some people).

Addendum to Adding to My Front Garden

Is that title redundant?

I went to Home Depot and picked out the stone I needed. Actually I have three of the 12 x 12 stones left over and they will go in the back so I can get to the hanging plants and hummingbird feeder without getting my shoes all mud.

As you can see in the photo, I was able to terrace the garden. The azalea is now up and the ornamental peppers are down.

I will move one of the bleeding heart plants up to where the azalea used to be and move the two mums around so they are better displayed. The morning glories and moon flowers are coming up around the "pyramid" and will be very showy in a couple months. The bee balm and phlox are over achieving!

All this was done in one day. I'm tired and sore. Tomorrow I'll be more sore, but the result of my work today makes it all worth while.

Scroll down to my first post of the day so you can see what it looked like before I went crazy.

Adding to My Front Garden

This past Friday, my son Paul came over to pull out a huge shrub next to my front steps. Nancy came with him to help and I supervised. It was a real grunt and groan job with a couple of yelps when an errant cut branch scraped across Paul's bare leg. Ouch.

Many thanks to Paul and Nancy for doing that for me.

I loosened the soil this morning with my garden weasel then raked. There are a lot of roots left over as you can imagine. I pulled a lot of stuff out and cut a lot more stuff that was too deep and tough to pull. So far so good.

Now to put my plan into action. The plan is/was to transplant the azalea to the spot where the shrub had been and plant the ornamental peppers in front of it...halfway between the azalea and the sidewalk. But, the plan has changed. The azalea and the peppers will still be planted as stated...with a major variation.

I don't like how the garden slopes toward the sidewalk. There is a lot of water and mud run-off when I water my plants. I have gone so far as to dig motes around the bleeding hearts just to contain the water.

While working on the soil this morning I had a brilliant idea! Terrace the newly opened space. Plant the azalea on the upper level, surround the upper terrace with patio stones standing up or flat, depending on where they were used. Then on the lower level I can plant the ornamental peppers in a trench. The entire outer edge of the area will be lined with stone edging. No more mud run-off.

I am so excited. See the picture for the "as it is now" look. When it's finished, it will look beautiful, and I will post pictures just to prove it. Stay tuned!

Two Books I’m Especially Glad I Read

I’ve read five books over the winter. That’s not very many when you consider I, at one time, read that many in a week. Of course the five a week were mindless gothic novels.

I’d like to tell you about the last two I read: Carry on, Warrior, the power of embracing your messy, beautiful life, by Glennon Doyle Melton; and A River Ran Wild, by Lynne Cherry.

Even though these two are about two absolutely different subjects, I see how they are related to each other. I’ll save that observation for last.

But first, Carry on, Warrior. Glennon Melton writes in a refreshingly, honest style. She makes up words when she has to — beautiful+brutal= brutiful. I have been following her blog, Momastery.com/blog, for a few months and was curious about who Tisha and Bubba are. What in the world did she mean when she consoled one of her fans on the loss of her “lobster.” It wasn’t until I started reading Carry on, Warrior that I understood that Tisha and Bubba are….well, I’m not going to spoil it for you. And if you are someone’s lobster and/or left lung…well then, you are special indeed.

Glennon is a recovering bulimic, smoker, drug addict and alcoholic. This is the story of how she quit all those addictions when she found herself pregnant. She takes us through her decision to be a mom, her marriage and children, and shows us the ugly as well as the brutiful. She never hides anything.

If you are looking for a story about a “saint” this book will surely disappoint. If you want to read about someone just like you, just like me, just like all your friends, imperfect, struggling to figure out what is the next right thing to do, if you want to laugh and cry (sometimes at the same time) then you will love this book. Carry on, Warrior!

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry tells the story of the Nashua River, a 37.5 miles long tributary of the Merrimack River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The reader is taken from pre-colonial days (in the days of Chief Weeawa), through the building of mills and factories on the river, through the river’s “death” and eventually to the beautiful waterway we see today.

The transition from “dead” to sustaining life again is the story of how one woman, Marion Stoddart, and her friend Oweana (a descendant of Chief Weeawa) decided the river was too important on many levels to watch it die. And so they appealed to those who lived along the river, who in turn protested to politicians and persuaded the factories to stop dumping their pulp and dye into the river. New laws were passed and mills and factories found new ways to get rid of their polluting waste.

Slowly the river cleansed itself and, once again, it flows with life and a view of the “pebbled bottom.”

The book is beautifully illustrated. In addition to full-page illustrations, opposite pages are ringed with drawings of plants, animals, and the products of industry. These provide a look back at what our world looked like just a few years ago.

This is basically a children’s book, but, as an adult interested in conservation and a clean environment, I was delighted with the story and the illustrations.

How they are similar

Now, why do I see these two books as similar? Both of them are about cleaning up something beautiful and worthwhile. Glennon Melton cleansed her body and her life. Marion Stoddart, cleaned up a once beautiful river. Both women had an uphill battle on their hands. Glennon seems to have had a good support group (but do not interpret that as her journey being easy), while Marion was surrounded by people who didn’t think the cleanup could be done, or people who just didn’t want to “do the next right thing.” In Glennon’s words we all need to keep “showing up.” Both women did that. Look at the beauty that resulted. All of us, warriors all, can now paddle (literally or symbolically) our wild rivers, and we can do it safely with more support than we ever knew existed.

Carry on, Warrior and paddle that wild river!

Note:

Along the river, from Ayer, MA to Nashua, NH, is one of the best bike paths I’ve ever ridden. The 22-mile ride (round trip) features the dam in Pepperell, beaver lodges (if they are still there), and orchards. At the Nashua end, there is a small pond where one can sit and enjoy a picnic lunch. The last time I was there (2006) there were no picnic tables or benches, but by the time you get there, you’re just as happy to be sitting on the grass. Depending on the weather, you might want to take your shoes off and wade in the water. I’m planning to go back for another ride this June.

Not My Grandma’s (Memere’s) Cooking!

I told Christie I would mind the store (Tell Me A Story) this afternoon to closing. I do this from time to time when she has something special happening.

I left the house in plenty of time, but...halfway there I realized I had not planned anything for my supper. I had to stop and buy SOMETHING or the results would not be pretty. Shop Rite is on the way.

So I run in, only to be right…behind…the…one…woman…in…the…world WHO IS NOT IN A HURRY! I tried going up, over, around, and through her, but there just wasn't enough room.

Finally, I got an opening and raced her to the door...that was beginning to close. Ha! Beat her to it, slithered past her and headed for the frozen food isle. I haven't had a frozen dinner in years so I just looked for the sale tags. Not that. Nope. Ugh. Oh, that looks good...Stouffer's "grandma's chicken & vegetable rice bake in a real cheddar cheese sauce". What could possibly be wrong with anything that had grandma in its name.

Supper time came around. I read the directions, opened the box, cut the film, and headed for the microwave in the basement. Punch in the required 8 min. and went back upstairs. After a while it occurred to me that 8 min. must have elapsed and the microwave probably doesn't have a buzzer to let you know it has fulfilled its obligation.

Ouch! That's hot! Upstairs I go and lucky for me Christy has a supply of plastic eating utensils.

First forkful is rice in said cheddar cheese sauce. Not bad. The rice has a funny texture to it, but, not bad. Second bite is a chicken chunk. In all fairness I have to tell you the chicken chunks were numerous and of ample size. But they were so mushy tender my first thought was, "is this some sort of Franken Chicken?" The more I ate the more I wondered.

More than halfway through, my stomach started to grumble and rumble and I decided I better not eat any more. Which is a shame, because there really was a lot of food there.

Now I look at the ingredients...I was in a hurry before. The box says "no preservatives" (well that's a relief), but there is so much other stuff that it's no wonder my stomach is making all this noise. My home cooking doesn't make me growl...but I don’t put all those other things in my cooking. I don't even have that stuff in my kitchen!

I guess the problem is that I'm used to plain, French Canadian cooking...minus the fat and the grease.

I won't forget next time...I'll make something at home. As a matter of fact, next time is the Saturday after Easter. I'll bring my lunch or grab a Big Mac on the way in.

My Gremlins are Hard at Work

A month or so ago, I packaged some phlox seeds in  2 x 3 inch plastic, pinch-lock bags. Then I put the package of bags away...somewhere.

Around the same time I remember washing a small plastic measuring scoop. This was also put away...somewhere.

When I needed these little bags to freeze orange zest, do you think I could find them? NO! I looked in all the obvious places and then I looked in all the not-so-obvious places. I tore this place apart...basement, first floor and second floor. No little baggies. Then I tore the house apart again. Same result. Ultimately I gave up and bought another package...they come in packages of 100.

It was around this same time I realized I needed the scoop, so I went looking for it. It was my contention that when I tore the house apart two other times I would have seen the scoop. But...I tore it apart again. No scoop. I thought perhaps I had put it in the dish washer I never used and recently replaced with a new one. In which case that would render it gone...really gone. (sigh)

Life went on. Spring kept coming and going every couple of days or so. This morning I woke up to a layer of snow. I can only hope that means tomorrow will be spring.

After I got up this morning, I settled in my chair with my coffee and realized I had not plugged my iPad in last night. Oh well. I still had 15% battery left.

Coffee finished. Birds fed. Plug in the iPad AND THERE WAS THE PACKAGE OF PLASTIC BAGS! No way. I plug that thing in every night (well almost every night) and if those bags had been there I WOULD HAVE SEEN THEM!

Gremlins? It's been a long time since they have hidden things from me, only to return them unexpectedly, and in a place I'd already looked.

So I trudge upstairs, empty my cup, stick it in the new dishwasher, go upstairs and get dressed for the day.

Next up...breakfast. While my oatmeal is cooking I decided to put all my plastic containers in some semblance of order so they would not attack me every time I opened the cabinet. Would you believe THE SCOOP WAS IN THAT CABINET? I take things out of that cabinet all the time. I also throw things back in. The scoop was in plain sight!

Within 20 minutes of each other, two lost items were found.

Definitely Gremlins. Thanks, guys, for bringing my stuff back. But I'll appreciate it a lot more if, in the future, YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY STUFF IN THE FIRST PLACE!

(Oh, I know I just invited them to have more fun with me.)