Big News

Forging ahead into a bright, new future!

There was some big news announced in my department this week - I'm retiring! I have been pretty quiet about this on the blog and in my work life, but I learned about early retirement (sometimes called FIRE, for Financial Independence, Retire Early) almost ten years ago and it captured my imagination. Through frugality, privilege, and a bit of luck, I will be retiring from my job in less than two months. 

My immediate plans in February are to sleep in as much as I want and start getting more exercise. But longer term, hopefully at the end of 2022, I hope to sell my house, most of my belongings and move to Madrid. I have always liked Europe, and Spain has a visa system that makes this viable for me. 

I'm sorry to be leaving my work at the American Physical Society and my wonderful colleagues, but I'm excited for a new adventure. Stay tuned in the coming months for more.

Friends

When I was a kid, the 64 set of crayola Crayons was *the* status symbol to have. However, the school supply list only specified that you needed to bring 24 crayons, and that's all my parents ever bought me. (They were teaching me to be frugal even then!) I was always a bit envious of the kids who had the extra-large set of crayons. A friend heard me tell this story in the summer, and so he and his family sent me my very first box of 64 colors. I'm so excited, it's best Christmas gift ever! 

I've really appreciated all the kind thoughts and messages from people. One friend keeps bringing me mushy food (and now, a coloring book so I can use the crayons) and another friend brought me these beautiful flowers. 

Today I had my the first of two root canals, and looking at the flowers and all of my coloring supplies makes me very grateful for all my friends who are keeping my spirits up.

Waiting

The dental work has turned out to be more complicated than expected. I have two root canals scheduled, one in a little over a week, and one the following week. For those keeping score at home, that will mean almost a full month of not eating real food. In fact, I have cancelled travel and given up chewing, exercise, alcohol, and spending time with friends to devote myself to resting extensively, taking painkillers, and occasionally being quite sad. 

I think I am working with an excellent endodontist (aka "root canal doctor"), in contrast to the dentist who has advised me poorly and then has ignored all of my follow-up calls. While I now know what needs to be done to my mouth, there were simply no appointments available in the next two weeks. My guess is this is a result of the Great Recession (I've read there are significant staffing shortages in the dental industry) paired with everyone delaying their dental work during COVID.

I'm trying hard not to wish that December was over. I strongly believe that it's important to enjoy whatever you can from each day of life, even when it's an awful day. But I'll also admit to putting on my pajamas at 6pm most nights so I can feel like the day is done. I am absolutely sure this is going to get better, and I'm very aware that some people suffer pain like this for years. That can help build my empathy skills, but I'll still keep wishing that everyone could be pain free.

Practicing Stoicism

Last year I started to get interested in stoicism. It's an intriguing philosophy and one that I want to apply to my life. (I feel like there should be many asterisks here, as there is still a lot about it that I don't understand yet. Apply philosophy to your life at your own risk.)

One of the ideas I like is that difficulties in life are to be embraced, as they are an opportunity to practice living according to stoic virtues. Well, I've had lots of chances to practice this in the last week. On Monday, I had two crowns put on. It didn't go smoothly, and I was in the dentist's chair for four and a half hours, requiring the maximum amount of novocaine they were allowed to give me. Since I turned forty, I have averaged one major dental surgery per year, and during COVID I didn't have any, so it was about time.

The time after hasn't gone too well either. I'm still on a mostly liquid and ibuprofin diet, and in mild pain continuously. My dentist has now decided I need a root canal. Those words used to scare me, but this will be my third one. Moreover, I think I will be in less pain when they are done than I have been for the past week. And then there are temporary crowns and permanent crowns and heavens knows what other followup.

I've done a pretty good job staying calm and upbeat being told all this bad news. But the low grade continual pain is definitely wearing on me. I am immensely grateful for the modern miracles of painkillers and dentistry. Consider that for almost all of human history I would have lost most of my teeth by age forty, and I am looking pretty good. But I'll still be grateful when it's finally Wednesday and I can have that root canal.

Dinner

In the end, the malaria treatment was so effective that they announced me cured before I had any symptoms. From this point on, I'm just a data point on a series of graphs. I asked so many questions about the process and the research that the doctor recommended some books to read and promised to send me the paper if/when it is published. This same group worked on the recently approved  malaria vaccine, so there's cause for hope, but maybe not for decades.

In the meantime, I had some friends over for a long-planned meal. We had done a multi-course French meal in July and I wanted to do something similar with a fall, Italian theme. 

We all dressed up. I was careful to choose a roomy skirt to allow for gluttony.

Tagliatelle, served with a walnut sauce. Delicious.

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This picture serves to remind me that burrata is an incredible cheese and that my friend L is an excellent photographer.

When I visited Albuquerque recently, my Uncle de-I gave me a fresh pasta tutorial and sent me home with imported semolina flour, admonishing me to quit using the all purpose flour I had previously used. I followed his instructions to the letter, except I let the machine do most of the kneading. (Sorry, Uncle, I'm lazy!) 

Dessert was a trio of homemade ice cream, which I thought would be the pinnacle of the meal, but it was, in fact, underwhelming. I have been trying out more gourmet recipes lately, and while Campari raspberry was a keeper, lavender blueberry was like eating a flower. Masala chai sounds good in principle, but ended tasting mainly of cinnamon and I ended up tipping the leftovers into the sink. My brother is a huge chai fan, so I'm not giving up on that idea yet.

I wish friends would come to dinner every week. Although I have to prepare for two days, the reward is hours of conversation, a week of delicious leftovers, and a house that is cleaned from top to bottom. It's a good deal.

Testing positive

 So... I have malaria. Let me tell you, if you drop that into the small talk part of your work meetings (those first three or four minutes as everyone logs on), it really gets people's attention. 

I tested positive almost as soon as it could have been detected, seven days after infection. I was pretty bummed. I knew this was a long shot, but I hoped it might work. However, the researchers seemed pretty blase' about it. Said the PI, "Science is a harsh mistress." Still, all is not lost. Since this is the first trial in humans, the primary goal is to assess safety. I've been told that even if it doesn't appear very effective, as long as it doesn't cause serious side effects, they will still hold larger trials. 

The type of malaria I was given was chosen because it is quite treatable. I had medicine before I even had symptoms, although I heard that other volunteers felt like they had the flu. So, even through I'm walking around full of parasites, I can't really tell. And because we don't have mosquitoes that transmit this malaria in DC, it perfectly fine for me to interact with people; there's no way for them to catch it. And in about a year or so, I will hopefully be able to read a paper published about the results and know I was one of the n that contributed.

Malaria

I was infected with malaria today. Isn't that the best clickbait? It is actually true, though. I volunteered to be in a vaccine trial earlier this spring. After three doses of the experimental vaccine and many doctors visits, it was time to test the efficacy, something they call the "challenge." 

Reducing malaria has been a cause I've supported for years. A Facebook ad offered me a chance to sign up for a medical trial. When I found out it was for malaria, I signed on the dotted line. I mean, after reading the thirty pages of Institutional Review Board documentation, of course.  

The challenge meant exposing my arm to a cup of malaria-infected mosquitoes until I had the requistite number of bites. For the next three weeks I'll go in every day, while they monitor my blood for signs of the parasite. The plan is that they'll treat infection before I even have symptoms, but at the end I'll get treatment even if I don't show any symptoms.

I have learned enough to know that this malaria vaccine will probably fail, as many have before, but it still feels good to possibly contribute in a small way.

Gardening retrospective

Gardening wasn't quite as much fun this year. I had to battle several mammalian invaders, and work seemed to take so much time that I couldn't keep up with things. The lack of time is means that I did harvest food, but it sometimes felt like a chore, and I wasn't the best gardener I could be. I'm a bit disappointed about this,  although I expect the situation next year to be different (plans are in the works!) so we'll see if a new attitude plus better battle plans make a difference in 2022.

The squash and pumpkin harvest was practically miraculous. The reason? I only planted one kind, but harvested three. Mysterious plants sprung from the compost bin, like Athena from Zeus' forehead. (Well, not quite, I mean, it wasn't a fully grown warrior plant.) Moreover, the possum ate 90% of the butternut squash, which I eventually sacrificed as a decoy plant to distract the it from the other produce.

Amazing surprise squash plant that grew out of the black compost bin at the very back. For reference, that bin is a meter in diameter.

 A lovely recollection of early summer produce. The eggplant and tomatoes were great successes, but for the first time ever I ate only a single zucchini and two cucumbers. Better luck next year, I guess, especially if I hire the right person for the currently open position of Brigadier General in change of Garden Mammalian Defensive Strategies. I'm taking applications in the comments.

A new type of letting go

I heard this phrase in a song several years ago, when I was driving back from Ohio. I had been visiting my folks frequently during that time because my father had cancer. The phrase resonated immensely, within the larger context of the song, which is that however difficult your life is right now, there are moments of beauty, and that when the end of life comes we will wish for even an hour longer.

I adopted it as my motto and designed a cross stitch pattern. However, I never finished anything beyond the words because I planned to add some kind of colorful embellishment. So it just sat for two or three years in my sewing basket. Last week I read a decluttering book that changed my mind. The book was essentially useless, repeating what every other book in this vein says, except for one thing I hadn't heard before: decluttering can include letting go of projects. 

You may have noticed that I'm an extremely organized person, and I'm the type that gets quite a few projects done. But there are always some unfinished ones lurking. So this morning, like every Saturday, I made a long list of the things I wanted to do today. Then I decided to ignore every one of them and either finish or let go of as many projects as I could. 

I gave up on the flowers, and just framed the saying. I repaired my screen door and my sofa. I gave away books I hadn't read and the beautiful yarn I have been meaning to knit into a sweater for years. A few pantry ingredients that I knew I'd never use went into the trash, along with the stair railing I intended to reinstall. I took a load of things to the thrift store and a half-dozen people on my buy-nothing group have said they'll take all the produce that I do not want to freeze anymore this year.

I'm free(er)! 

Bay Area, Part 2

Giant vegetables and beautiful scenery rounded out the rest of my vacation. My friends S and L live nearish to my brother, and offered to be my tour guides for a few days. Learning of my love for kitsch, they took me to visit a giant artichoke when we are too many fried artichokes. Yum.

Then we did some hiking around Monterey Bay and I saw actual sea lions and sea otters. (As I understand it, the lions are common but the otters are rare.) Yes, I had to use binoculars and have the right area pointed out many times, but I'm pretty sure I squinted and actually saw the smiling face of an otter doing the backstroke.

I even visited my old friend, Wesley the Grumpy Cat. He's still grumpy, because now his family has a dog. Darwin the 95-pound lap dog is pretty much the most chill, lovable dog ever, but Wesley does not agree. I was happy to see him nonetheless.

Yet another vacation

I'm on vacation once again! Yes, I do have a job, but it's not very good fodder for the blog, so I'm not as good at posting during those times.

Like many people, I'm doing the "I haven't seen them in X years/months" tour. I am visiting my brother and his lovely family who live in the Bay Area. I had hoped that this trip would include a respite from the never-ending heat of DC, but they're having unusually warm weather right now.

My trip happened to fall on my birthday, so we celebrated by biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. This was lots of fun, although you need to be prepared for noise, wind, and hills. I was also introduced to onigiri rice triangles, which were delicious. A quick search reveals that these don't exist in DC, so I guess I need to learn to make them.

I'm hoping I can also squeeze in my favorite San Francisco activity, which is watching all the SF employees wearing hoodies and drinking coffee while coding on their laptops. This is a nice change of pace from the DC types wearing suits and discussing federal policy on their cell phones.

More giant things, plus terrifying traffic

My friends M, J, and J live in Queens and I really wanted to see them on this trip. Covid plus some health concerns meant it made sense for me to stay outside the city and just come in for the day. I had planned to find some kind of park and ride, but M convinced me it would be just as easy to drive in and park near their house. I had literally never considered driving in New York City, and the experience convinced me that once was probably enough.  I'm an aggressive driver compared to Midwestern drivers, average for DC, and woefully outclassed in NYC. I watched one driver grow tired of the slow moving traffic, and veer into oncoming traffic for 200 feet, honking wildly for them to get of the way, before turning left on a red light. And then I knew next time I'd be taking the bus...

It was utterly delightful to spend time with M, J, and J. They are all extremely creative people, but more on the artistic side than the engineering side. I helped with some house projects, including a trip to Home Depot, and I think my father's tutelage served me well.

Some pictures of the last days of vacation.

A giant doctor's bag.

This root beer float was rated one of Pennsylvania's finest. It could also be called the Most Expensive Root Beer Float I've ever purchased. It was absolutely delicious, but I couldn't stop thinking about how much each sip cost.

Mariachi players plus a ballroom dancing couple. If it's not clear, all of them are about twenty feet tall.

This American Gothic riff included a suitcase with stickers showing all their travel in Asia. 

And thus ends our tour of Americana...

Taking the cure

Friday was my Saratoga Springs adventure. This area is well-known for its mineral springs, which were used for medicinal purposes during the Victorian era. I'm all for low-priced healthcare, so I biked through the state park and filled my water bottle from a half-dozen springs. And they must be healthy, because they were all unpleasant. Lightly carbonated, tasting heavily of minerals (think rust plus a bit of sulfur). I heard that there are palatable sources elsewhere in the city, but they weren't featured on the visitor center pamphlet so I didn't got to try them.
 

The lovely old hotels that fill the town show that it was the playground for the well-heeled, and it still is. I had no trouble finding vegetarian food here, but I did have trouble finding entrees that cost less than $30.

It has continued to be extremely hot and muggy. I decided to keep my tour short and enjoy the long air-conditioned drive to Newark for the rest of the day

 

Syrup and sasquatch

It's hard for me to describe how photogenic Vermont is, and my pictures certainly don't do it justice. Yesterday I did another long bike ride, about 26 miles in total. The path was outstanding due to its variety - sometimes I rode in forests, sometimes in meadows or through corn fields, or along rivers or through towns. The only thing that would have made it better was if it hadn't been 32C/ 90F and humid. Unfortunately, the DC weather followed me north.

After that, I started my drive to the Adirondacks.  listened to a banjo player at a farmer's market, and took more pictures of roadside attractions. There are museums and shops that count as "roadside attractions," but with Covid and limited time, I'm enjoying the drive-by sites the best.

I ate ice cream in a picturesque Vermont village. The flavor was goat cheese and strawberry, continuing the cheese theme. They also had basil ice cream, but I learned my lesson trying that in New Orleans once. The flavor of pesto does not belong in ice cream.

The face of modern maple syruping - the sap is all collected with flexible blue tubing strung through the forest. It looks like a medical experiment gone awry.

The world's tallest filing cabinet, although the website is careful to point out that this claim is unsubstantiated.

A giant jack, because, why not?

Bigfoot is the official animal of Whitehall, NY and there are many reported sightings in the area. I appreciated the baby sasquatch along for the ride.

Cheese: still searching

Today was a rest day - no big drives or bike rides. I strolled around Burlington, ate some ramen (tasty, but not something that helped me in my cheese quest), and spent some time at a local beach along Lake Champlain. 

Lake beaches usually get a bad rap. Since I'm from the Midwest, lakes were all I knew until nearly middle school. There was a tiny sand strip, then usually lots of rocks. Maybe my memory is wrong, or maybe this one was extra nice. The waves were calm, a big bonus for someone swimming alone* and not wanting to be dragged under the sea. The water was much warmer than the mid-Atlantic, and I could see all the way to the bottom.  It was also less crowded than DC or Miami beaches.

I specially chose my dinner location because their macaroni and cheese was highly rated. Alas, while it clearly used high quality cheese,  I make better at home. However, I don't drink beer at home that is as good as what I have drunk here, so all is not lost.

*I mean, there were dozens of fellow swimmers, but no lifeguard. 

Biking in style

When my dad travels by vintage car or ultralight, everyone waves and wants to say hello. On this trip, that's how it is when I'm wearing my vintage styles. I traveled on a bike ferry (more on that later) and the captain loved my outfit so much he asked to take my picture and had me sign a waiver so they could use it to advertise the bike advocacy group that sponsors the ferry. That put the biggest smile on my face.

Today was the probably the highlight of the trip - a "rails to trail" bike path (that means it used to be a railroad and is usually level and easy to ride) that follows Lake Champlain. Several miles of it are on a causeway.  Waves lapping at you from two sides is just a really stunning way to ride. Near the end of the causeway, where there used to be a bridge, a tiny ferry shuttles hikers and bikers across the gap. It was without a doubt the most beautiful bike path I've traveled. And on the other side, I consumed a local ice cream treat called a maple creemee. It was delicious, but after biking for hours I would have been delighted by cold skim milk, so I may not be a reliable reviewer.

I've started making progress on my cheese goals as well. Due to a formal assessment at my Uncle De-I's house, I know I like mildly-stinky cheeses but not medium- or advanced-stinky cheeses. That helped the waitress recommend a lovely blue goat cheese plate. Later, I supped on a pizza made with local cheese.

Yesterday turned out to be a learning opportunity. My nine-hour drive stretched into eleven hours with breaks, and it was just miserable. I've never really road-tripped on my own, and I overestimated what I could do. I want to limit myself to four hours per day for future trips, so I can avoid shoulder pain  and enjoy myself by making interesting stops. Luckily, I can book the rest of my accommodations on this trip to ration the driving.

So, with all that time in the car yesterday, I only managed one non-ice cream stop, but I feel like it checks both the Americana and cheese boxes.

A vacation with a theme

The Puerto Rico trip was cancelled before it even began - the night before, in fact. I was grateful that I didn't have to wake up early and fight crowds at the airport before learning the bad news. In the end, I'll probably lose no more than $100, because I had booked some more-flexible accommodations, thinking that COVID might be a problem. That the airline might implode was not something I had considered, but the end result was the same. (And if anyone knows what's going on with Spirit, let me know in the comments!) The airline hasn't processed my refund, so I'm still getting emails aimed at unhappy customers. So far I've been offered one $7 meal voucher and one $50 travel voucher for the future. If I was stuck in the airport for two days, I'd be positively insulted that they thought those vouchers would make up for it.

I started my vacation one day later than planned, but with a whole new itinerary. Instead of beaches, pre-Columbian history, and rum, I'm pointed my car north, with the eventual goal of Vermont. I've never been to Vermont, and I hoped it would be cooler than DC (something that may not turn out to be true this week, after all.) The theme of the vacation will be Americana, bicycling, and cheese.

I had previously thought of antiques as nineteenth century and earlier, but a friend took me antiquing last weekend and I realized that since vintage 1950's items are now 70 years old, they now count. It's a bit odd for a minimalist to comb through antique stores; something has to really knock my socks off before I'd consider buying it. 

Last weekend I bought a 1951 Family Circle and read it cover to cover, including all the ads. It was the best $8 I'd spent in a long time. I hope to repeat the experience with this 1941 Life magazine.

This local donut store caught my attention, and seemed to count as Americana, even with the prominent maple leaf. The custard-filled was the first donut I've eaten from a store in many years. Definitely tasty, but my own donuts are still my favorite.

I've found a road-side attraction website that is directing me many interesting places. The first stop of the day was this giant pineapple atop a publishing business in the middle of an industrial park. The pineapple is their logo, but even the vast Internet can't seem to explain why.

The Shoe house! Built in 1948 as an advertisement by an enterprising shoe manufacturer, he allowed honeymooning employees to stay in it.

It's still furnished in the 1950's style, which I swooned over, of course.

I took a long bike ride along the Susquehanna river and many people smiled and told me they liked my look, which was delightful. I guess there aren't too many bicyclists around here in circle skirts and saddle shoes. I didn't manage any cheese today, except for what was stuffed into my dinner burrito, but I have high hopes for Vermont.

Potluck holiday

Travel to Europe looked iffy this year, so I decided to plan a vacation closer to home. Puerto Rico sounded perfect, because a four-hour direct flight got me to a location where I could practice my Spanish, avoid a covid test (with a vaccine card), and enjoy the beach. But I did book the more-refundable hotel, just to be sure.

That's looking like a good idea, because my flight out tomorrow is on Spirit Airlines. If you haven't been reading the news, that's the airline that has been cancelling 50% of their flights for the past week, due to weather/planning/staffing (who knows?) issues. My parents arrived home two days later than expected because of Spirit cancellations and there are stories of people spending days in the airport.

Every single flight to Puerto Rico from Baltimore was cancelled today, so I'm not too hopeful about tomorrow. But I have decided I want to avoid spending days waiting, so if my flight is cancelled, I plan to put my suitcase in the car and point in a new direction. I don't know where I'll be tomorrow night, but hopefully it will be neither my living room nor an airport floor.

Adieu, office building

Last Thursday, I packed up my office and said goodbye to it. Not to the job, mind you, just to my office and the building I worked it for seven years before the pandemic sent us all home. My company has decided to go full-time remote. We'll still maintain part of the building for occasional in-person meetings, but no one will have offices and almost all work will happen remotely. I think this is an excellent decision - the majority of my coworkers are really excited about permanently working remotely, and some of them are already planning to move to other states. We've also been able to hire new people that would never have considered moving to DC.

For me, it is bittersweet. My job is mainly meetings, and doing them all by Zoom isn't easy. I also quite enjoyed the location - a building surrounded by woods, but near a metro station - and I had chosen my house so I was within a bicycle commute. However, I am by nature a positive person, so I'll enjoy the view of the my cottage garden that my new office (i.e. my living room) affords, and the opportunity to cook a proper lunch on the stove instead of the microwave most days.

Review: De-I Sandia Outfitters

 My uncle runs a very exclusive combination retreat center and adventure guides in New Mexico. You  can read more here, here, and most importantly here. Go ahead, read that last link, or this review won't make any sense...

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1 out of 5 stars: 

Be forewarned if you choose de-I Sandia Outfitters. They make you work for your supper!

This is the photo in the brochure, but boy is it misleading! Sure, they have a lovely estate and delicious food, but your trip will be anything but lighthearted. When I arrived, I was immediately put to work making my bed - literally, we constructed it out of pieces stored in various closets. I had to scrub floors and trudge through the foothills almost daily. They even scheduled me for an afternoon shift frying donuts. 

Since de-I Sandia Outfitters is in a desert, I was told that the basic resort package included only a few liters of water rations per day. At that point, I gave in and upgraded to the luxury package, which included more drinking water and also allowed me a short shower every day.  

This photo was taken right after my uncle had taken my credit cards, "for safe keeping." Why did he suddenly start walking so quickly after that?

All in all, I would say all but the most seasoned of tourists should stay away. I'm grateful to be back in my cozy DC abode. I can drink all the water  I want, although there are fewer bottles of excellent red wine here...

Rare sightings

The fireflies have been absolutely spectacular this summer. As in, I have added them to my calendar every night this week so I don't miss the show. At dusk, the species near ground level light up, and then as it gets darker over the next hour, the species at tree level light up. 

After all my spring garden woes, the summer garden is now a lovely place to be. I had to replant when an animal or insects got some of the smaller seedlings, but it looks like I'll have green beans, eggplant, and tomatoes very soon. And I've come to terms with the inexplicable death of most of the asparagus plants, and will be turning that into an extra bed for fall-producing plants.

I haven't felt much like blogging, and have no real excuse. But I wanted to capture a few highlights of the past month.

In May, I went camping with my physicist friends, something we've done for many years (excepting 2020, of course). The adults were all vaccinated and my friends have literally embraced my efforts to fill my hug deficit, post-covid. The highlight of the trip, besides hugs and singing with people again, was sitting around the campfire and watching the International Space Station fly by. There are handy webpages for helping you figure out when you'll see it, but once you do, you can't miss it - it was a bright object whizzing across the sky, and it was amazing to imagine astronauts up there just living their lives in space.

My peonies bloomed. Peonies were the flower that prompted me to design the cottage garden in front of my house, because I had run out of places to put new shrubs. Peonies take a few years to establish themselves, but the scent was worth the wait, and as a side benefit I get a beautiful garden. Now that I work from home permanently, I've arranged my desk in my living room to have a terrific view of the garden, something that cheers me up year round. In fact, today I saw my very first hummingbird, something that was so exciting that I interrupted a meeting to announce the event. 

The ups and down of gardening

In 1776, Thomas Paine said that these are the times that try men's souls, but I can say that 2021 is the (spring)time that will try this (wo)man's soul. It has not been a good time in the garden lately. In fact, if I didn't have so many years of success behind me, I would assume I have a black thumb.

The asparagus mostly didn't come up, we haven't had nearly enough rain, and something ate all my spring crops. My friends and the internet don't yet agree on whether I have a groundhog, a deer, or rabbits. I may have to add extra fencing, but the type of fencing that will be effective depends on what kind of furry creature I am dealing with. Gardens can also be ravaged by birds, insects, and disease, but I think I have ruled those out. 

We are also expecting the 17-year cicada cycle, with billions or trillions emerging in the next week or two. I saw my first one today, when it hitched a ride inside on my sweater and wouldn't let go. I'm willing to let nature be, but I have a strict rule on it staying outside of the house. The experts assure us that the insects won't harm garden plants, so luckily I should only have to deal with the racket and molted shells.

For some reason, the perennial garden seems to be thriving much more than the vegetables. So here are some pretty flowers to distract you, since vegetable pictures seem to be a thing of the distant future.

Foxglove. A beautiful plant, and persnickety, as it needs two years' growth before it will bloom.

Daffodils, springstar, jonquils, and violets.

Public service announcement

Today I learned the very useful lesson that if you smell gas, you should call 911. I was only peripherally aware of a funny smell this afternoon before one of my neighbors waved me outside. My home office is in the living room, and I keep an eye on things outside while working but don't usually pay attention while I'm in meetings. My neighbor told me that she smelled something, I should call someone, and that she was going grocery shopping.

With that inauspicious comment, I googled my natural gas company and learned that calling 911 was the recommended action. And, in fact, when I called 911, they agreed. Fire trucks and the gas company quickly arrived. It turned out that the city, while replacing my street's sidewalks, had damaged my gas line, which filled my yard and started seeping into my front rooms. 

So today I learned many fun facts: you should immediately call 911 if you smell something odd. Natural gas does not smell precisely like rotten eggs, unlike the advertisements. Firemen do not wear masks, even when they're in your house. However, the gas company is highly invested in making sure you don't blow up, and will even avoid walking on your tulips and raspberries while doing that.

Scenes from Ohio

I hate my parents' stove. I think it's some kind of electric coil/glass top, which makes it easy to clean, but difficult to use. Some of the heating elements don't work, it takes forever to heat up a pan, and the controls are the opposite of intuitive. Last Christmas, I got fed up and threatened that if they hadn't replaced the stove by next Christmas, I was not cooking for everyone. My father apparently took this to heart, and while they haven't replaced the old stove, he did build a handy-dandy, propane-fueled, three-burner stove. It worked great, although you'll note that I was too short to use it properly. I think the plan is to buy something permanent and new, but if this is the option next winter, I can live with it.

As my years as a vegetarian roll on, I find I'm enjoying handling meat less and less. So my father made the meatballs while I made the mushroom balls. Everyone enjoyed their respective pasta dish.

My mother, a friend of hers, and I have been exercise buddies for the past few months. Although we all live in different places, we text each other every day with the accounting of whatever activity we've managed. I took lots of photos of our walks to add to the text thread. It was sunny but windy in Ohio until the last day, when Mother Nature played an April Fool's Day joke and dumped a few inches of snow on us.

Spring!

The DC region is absolutely at its finest in spring. All the trees are blooming and it's precisely the right temperature. It's also the time that my car traditionally fills up with dirt, although that is less a miracle of nature and much more my labor. I hauled and shoveled four carloads of mulch last week, covering all of the vegetable beds with the lovely rich black stuff. 

Even though I put down a tarp, my bits of my car will be filled with dirt for several months. When I know I'll be doing lots of compost transfers plus camping, I don't bother cleaning my car between times. A bonus of Covid is that no one can ride with me to be horrified at the state of my car's interior.

The broccoli and lettuce seedlings coming to life under my basement grow light. They have since been supplanted by all the warm-weather seedlings like tomatoes and basil.

Of course, now that Maryland is truly lovely, I'm driving to Ohio to visit my parents. It'll be a bit colder and muddier there, but I guess the parental hugs and not having to cook every meal for myself will more than make up for the lack of blossoms.

 

Leveling up

Sewing has been *the* project for me this winter. I wanted to complete all my unfinished projects, so I devoted my weekends to fabric and even turned the former renter's bedroom into a sewing room. In the process, I think I have leveled up. On the most recent garment, everything just clicked. When I read the pattern, I (almost) always knew what they were talking about. Ease the collar into place? No problem. French seams? No sweat. Even buttonholes, which used to terrify me, went smoothly. 

A 1960's blouse, with much lace trim, and a lined summer skirt.

1940's pajamas. They are super comfy, and I love the enormous WW2 era shoulders. These are pajamas that are ready for military action, even if I do not know how the models in the drawing looked so svelte in this pattern. While taking these photos, I discovered that there is no way to look elegant in flannel.

 

Thank goodness this is all done, because warm weather is nearly here and then I will not want to do anything besides play in the garden dirt.

Things That Make Me Happy (or Evidence of Completed Projects)

Although it is January, it is not all gray and gloom at my house. We just finished my team's biggest project, a conference for 1500 people, which was (of course) virtual this year. My summary: everyone had a good time and learned a lot, and I hope I won't have organize another virtual conference for a very long time to come. So here are all the good things that are happening.

A selfie with Millie Dresselhaus for the conference webpage.

Another frozen bike ride. I have fairly good cold-weather gear, except for my feet which are ice at the end of a three-hour ride. I am getting some wool socks to see if sheep have solved this problem.

Part my project, and part my father's project: I have successfully installed a bike rack so that I no longer have to cram the bike inside the car. My father designed and welded a the license plate holder  onto the bike rack, and I learned how to drill out rusted bolts and tap threads. 

Darwin the dog has recently taken up residence with my brother's family, far from his original birthplace of Turkey. Seen here, Darwin demonstrates that street dogs learn skills quickly. That stuffed toy didn't stand a chance.