A Mother’s Journal

My Dear Friends,

There was a bountiful harvest this morning, fresh from The Tame Little Garden.

Now.  I could tell a big fib and say I grew the bananas and the strawberries in my office, but I bet someone would see right through that.   So I’m gonna stick to the truth and tell  you that I grew only the chives.

Yes, the chives came with me from the old garden, The Little Wild Garden, a little garden that has a lot of me in it–a lot of my sweat, dreams and some of my heart.  And many creatures that I encouraged to take up residence there.  These chives started as babes, were separated and planted in pots, ready to sell at the farmer’s market, but that’s a thing of the past.  Now, I have two pots of chives in my bright office window. 

Did you know that chives belong to the onion genus, or Allium?  The “hot” smelling oil in these plants contains sulphur, which is a good germ fighter.  Chives have not traditionally been used as heavily medicinally as onions and garlic, simply because they do not have as much of this oil.  Still, it’s there, and in The Tame Little Garden, chives are my sulphur-rich herbs.

I love that I can grow chives inside.  It’s one herb that will do okay inside.  They do need full sun, so they need a very sunny window, and they like to be used.  Leaf blades can be cut down to about 1 inch from the soil and used in soups, salads, as garnish.  When cold weather arrives, it’s best to put the pots outside and let the foliage be killed back by the frost.  Bring them in again and they’ll come back out.

In other news, a name for my little cottage is still floating around in my mind.  I worked out at the gym again tonight, and last night, so that’s three nights in a row, folks!  What are we going to do with me?  My my my! 

The gym had several people already there when we got there tonight.  Sometimes Michaela and I have the gym quite to ourselves, but then sometimes there’s lot of people there.   Tonight, actually, there was a very pretty, trim, fit, muscular, (did I say pretty?) lady on the treadmill, and she had on real workout clothes.   I was dressed in high-water gray sweats, bright pink Valentine’s day socks, and an assortment of T-shirts and tank tops.  Thank goodness the tanktop was long.  And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.  Except that I was also wearing my running shoes from 1987.   But I did smile.  Yes, you can always wear a smile.  No matter what else you happen to have on.  And just for the record, she had a smile on too.  And so did her male exercise partner.  I didn’t pay much attention to his clothes.  Mostly because I figured if I didn’t pay much attention to his clothes he wouldn’t pay much attention to mine.   At that particular moment, I felt like I’d be more comfortable if I also had a poncho on (for obvious reasons) but that might just attract more attention, so I crossed that thought out of my mind and went on riding on my exercise bike like I was there all the time, and where had they been, by the way. 

Have I ever told you how much I like having a public blog on which to pour out thoughts and ramble on? 

On that note, I shall depart to my bedroom chamber and take up where I left off in my book, which is a secret book until I decide to tell you all about it.

I hope you enjoyed this day.