A winter garden tale

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I’ve been getting asked frequently (not really, just once, actually) about my winter garden this year. I thought I’d show you a few pictures.

The broccoli are doing great! I’ve blanched and frozen a few batches already and still have more to come.

The cabbages are about the size of large grapefruits and feel very solid. I should be able to cut some of those soon.

The cauliflower are beginning to form heads. I am very excited about it as last year they didn’t do so hot. I didn’t know last year that a frost will ruin the heads and I lost most of them. This year, I read about a procedure called blanching. This is where you collect the outer leaves in a bunch to surround the fragile heads and close with a loose rubber band. I have not done it yet, but continue to watch weather reports for frost warnings.

The Brussels sprouts are struggling a bit this year. The little heads are loose and turning brown. I’ve read that removing the lowest sprouts will help the plant make better heads. I’ve done that and hope they start producing better as these are a favorite eating vegetable of mine.

I’m also growing collard greens. They are typically very easy and can be ignored for the most part. This year, I am getting a mediocre crop for some reason. I didn’t even bother taking their picture.

Sweet onions will stay put until February or March. I’ll pull them just in time to begin preparations for the spring/summer crop.

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A left-handed exercise

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A friend of mine has just started a group on Facebook about journaling.

I joined the group because journaling is something I did for awhile, but quit when I started my blog. I enjoy journaling and plan to take it up again, but, more on that later.

In the meantime, I have gotten several really great ideas from the folks in this little group.

So, today, I am going to write with my left hand. Although, I am somewhat ambidextrous – I often eat with my left hand, always shoot pool with my left hand,sometimes toss a Frisbee with my left hand and always deal cards left-handed – I do most everything else right-handed.

Forcing myself to write left-handed has been very interesting! It’s hard to do! It requires an intense level of concentration. During my first attempts, I was reminded how learning to make letters with a pencil when I was a tot was very difficult. And, how every day, in school, we practiced. And, how eventually, some of us got better at it.

I’m certain I’ve read articles claiming that doing an everyday mundane task differently than the norm is great exercise for the brain.

Below are some samples of my left-handed writing:

 

Looks pretty good, me thinks!

I don’t know any Jacobs, nor do I have a child in school, I was just practicing!

Wow! I feel smarter already!

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Well played, Mayans

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As I write this post, it is 12-12-12. Pretty significant if you’re a numbers person, I reckon. The next repetitive date occurs on 01-01-01 (short for January, 1, 2101). That’s a mere 89 years and 19 days away!  It’s pretty safe to say, I won’t see it, but lots of people living right this minute would be alive on that day…

Unless…

The world comes to an abrupt end on December, 21, 2012, as the Mayan calendar indicates.

The Mayans were pretty smart. They excelled at agriculture, pottery hieroglyphics, writing and mathematics. Maybe they knew something about the end of days that we don’t. I mean, really, how do we know?

Why did their calendar stop there, I wonder? Did their calendar maker wake up one morning with an epiphany and somehow know that there would be no more days after that date? Did he drop dead while taking his 15 minute break, smoking a cigarette and resting his weary mind and fingers by the water’s edge on the day he got to that particular date? Was there no one else to pick up the calendar making mantle? Did the calendar maker and the other noteworthy Mayans, sit around a fire one night, smoking some mind-altering drug, and scheme to play an outrageously hilarious practical joke on the Mayans of 2012?

I like to think they were practical jokers, myself. I bet they laughed about it all night long, getting high on peyote and munching on ancient twinkies.

Then again, maybe those Mayans really had an inside track to infinity. The end of days COULD happen on that day, right? OR, it could happen later this afternoon. Or, next year, or in a hundred years, or a thousand years, or never.  I think they knew that. And, that is why they stopped.

Well played, Mayans, well played.

This is the best Mayan Calendar joke ever, by Dan Piraro. Please visit his site to read about his take on it! (YES, Click right here!)

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