a newly discovered fourth

egg, that is. sly sprunt managed to lay a fourth at some point. while watering the plants today i accidentally startled her into standing up, and lo! four eggs in the nest. something should be happening right around the first of the month if it will happen at all. i’ve also been witnessing the sweet (yet utterly routine…) feeding ritual. sprocket will gorge on food and then perch unsteadily on the edge of the nest (ie second food bowl.) while sprocket hurks his whole body to come up with food (picture a cat fighting a hairball) sprunt simply tilts her little head up and waits. after she’s had her fill from his beak, sprocket preens her face feathers to remove any missed bits of food. it’s so parental yet spousal at the same time. they have been more quiet and still than i have ever seen, supremely focused.

meanwhile… i now have nine herbs, six veg, a strawberry and a rose bush to plant, in addition to the four packs of vegetable seeds. can’t wait. need more dirt. always more dirt. the first epic battle with weeds has been completed victoriously–now it’s just down to diligent guerrilla warfare. and i suppose some sort of imagining to raise several of the planters off the ground to achieve greater amounts of light for the many crowded plants as they grow taller. finally getting a good start to the backyard garden, much later than usual. especially for the seeds. ah well, if the early fall stays warm i’ll be able to keep growing. mmmm, dinner from the backyard.  

look at this

really, go look. it made me happier today.

http://devotedbee.com/animalfacts.html

 

a mystery

i am feeling content. i have started a new book (short story collection poached from tangle’s shelves) a new knitting project (those socks for my sister have been reborn as wrist warmers) a new garden (still mostly in the planning phase)… i’ve been cooking new and interesting foods (curry paste! polenta on the horizon) and going to yoga classes… interactions with the boy have been playful, comforting and i’ve had some quality social time with friends and family… sprunt is sitting on three eggs which are potentially on the way to being baby lime-green birds…

so why the intense insomnia??? what is doing battle with my apparent contentment?

unemployment malaise. that’s right, i remember.

are snakes capable of allegory?

the other night, we discovered steve the snake in a decidedly surprising position. he had recently shed, and because i like to disturb him as little as possible when he’s about to/in process of/just finishing a shed, i hadn’t yet taken the old skin out of the tank. and then…

he crawled back into his own skin, wearing it in the opposite direction.

i can think of no instinctual or beneficial purpose for this behavior. and so i ask, are snakes capable of allegory? of course i was prompted to recall the many instances, thankfully most of them in the pre-teen years and somewhat softened by distance, in which i wanted to crawl out of my skin. have new skin. turn my skin inside out. not have any skin showing at all.

and i wonder how many skins i’ve had, and if i would fit, or want to fit, in an old one. and i wonder what kind of brains and thoughts snakes have. does steve remember being a baby? does he remember when he last ate or only notice if he’s hungry? does he really remember who i am? does it matter?

he crawled back into his own skin… 

participate

i’m tired of hearing myself talk. i know there are some people reading, i challenge you now to talk back. some topics of discussion during my recent quick trip to ny:

*which archetype best describes your problem solving methods? ninja, pirate, wizard…?
*how do you learn? can we teach you a card game by talking, playing an open hand, writing rules down?
*my nephew likes to dance during his breakfast. how and when do you like to wiggle?

it’s raining and i have some last bits of work to do before i can close my latest show file. after completion of these, life becomes much more interesting! 

52 hours in 4 days

that’s right, 52 hours of work in 4 days, with little time to eat or pee. this show was… busy. and of course now that it’s over, i am attacked by germs! this has been a more germy year than i am used to. also, someone in my family has had a death in the family. for once the timing is such that i do not have to bargain, connive or scramble to achieve a day off and am free to simply be there for people who might need me to be there.

this job has taken a serious toll again, and i am facing unemployment again, yet i am steadfast in my choice. i still like what i do. germs, exhaustion, frustration and inconvenience be damned. (they are, by the way, all of them already damned. i simply wish them further damnation.)

 

vortex, once again

well, tech week, and in this case, load in/tech/performance/strike week is here again. so i won’t do things like poke about on the laptop or sleep for a while. good thing i haven’t yet put any seeds in… i would water them, of course, but those extra few minutes will be needed in the upcoming long days.

i think the second wave has abated, though, no recent sitings.

also, have discovered a style of knitting/crocheting called freeform, which seems to involve lots of swirls and being able to work on one bit at a time. i heart this very much. hey–qp makes for sort of a heart shape. i’m such a dork.

 

woe and moral revenge

mice.

somehow, despite (recently) keeping a spotless home, we have mice again. where do they come from? it has been well over a month since we saw any, which means they are a different bunch… whence??? i repeat, from where? (that was for all those folks who still say from whence, which gives me the willies.) we have already caught (and released, far far away) two of them. either they are stupid, or plentiful. taking all bets.

so to get my revenge, i have ordered two pairs of delightful socks. mossy green and dark brown stripey very long socks, and tiny pink lace-trimmed socks with toes, to wear in fancy shoes (shockingly girly, i know.)

also, have joined a knitting site/community called ravelry (under the same name, if anyone else is on.) i’ve only gotten as far as starting to add the needles and hooks i have, but so far it looks promising.

sleep, sleep. tomorrow our wayward vermont friend arrives!

that eggy time of year

it must be spring, the lovebirds are at it again. the first egg was a ‘misfire’ and landed on the bottom of the cage. the poor thing was crushed. i took it to the kitchen to investigate. after opening it onto a plate, we discovered that it was indeed another empty egg, and nothing to be sad about. i have to say–a cracked open love bird egg is CREEPY. very perfectly egg-like and tiny. it looks like there may be a second one brewing, whether empty or not… in the meantime, it’s fun to see sprunt with a swollen belly while sprocket is on guard duty, and these resourceful yet idiotic birds seem to have nested in the food bowl again.

 it also means it’s time for me to clear the weeds out from the back yard garden and start thinking of seeds. SEEDS! the peppers and herbs are always fantastic. what else for this year? maybe squash again? do i bother with the tomatoes that hate philly water? green beans, we love those. beets???

dreams and schemes

of cooking, of course. victory! the oven is fixed. had i mentioned it was decalibrated? had i mentioned yet that it is fixed? there is a 19lb turkey that is begging to be in that oven. i will send an email out with details, but if you think you might like to eat some of this turkey let me know. and of course the marble and apple stuffing, the wild rice stuffing, the roasted root vegetables, the glazed carrots, spinach and bellas, cranberry-blackberry sauce, and of course a pie…

this is not only in celebration of the oven victory. we have finally ‘grown up’ and gotten some decent knives. a delicious little wustoff outlet shopping mini-spree. my favorite is the 5 in santoku. his fave is the 8 in chef’s. hmmm. in this font, the apostrophe next to that f looks like an expanded serif.

also recent is the (even more victorious) return of the lime chiffon pie. perhaps my mother’s only baking failure ever has now been redeemed. we successfully did a test run a few days back, and then i made one of my very own on saturday. it took ages, but tastes delightful and looks so very green! also i got to reassure the check out man that i did indeed have a tasty use for lime jello and condensed milk and nothing else. he was doubtful. i described it as meringue with milk instead of egg. which is in fact what it is. so there. lime!

i’m clearly loopy. perhaps it’s time for bed.