This monster-melon weighed in at 14 pounds.
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Photo Wednesday
OK, it's Thursday. But we took the photo on Wednesday...
This monster-melon weighed in at 14 pounds.
This monster-melon weighed in at 14 pounds.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
My Gal Is Red-Hot
Joy's been keeping us on our toes lately! One of the things that kind of ebbs and flows with her is how assertive she is with boundary-pushing and getting into things. Well, right now she's doing a lot of that pushing, using her strength and lightning speed to indulge in forbidden fun.
And the kitchen is full of forbidden fruit! Quite literally. Every now and again she'll make a break for it, tear into the kitchen and snag an apple. Or a peach. Or a big ol' tomato from the garden. Before we know it, she's sunk in her teeth and had a lovely chin-dripping bite.
She did that yesterday too... and got something a little bit more than she bargained for.
When Joy gets a red pepper on her plate, it's sweet and delicious.
This one from the garden was a "cherry hot" aka "cherry bomb." Even JoyDad approaches these with caution.
Oh, the look on her face as she realized that this wasn't the taste she'd expected!
The bite flew back out onto the floor. Her eyes watered. Her nose ran. Her lips got very rosy. My gal was red-hot.
I wonder what she was thinking. I wonder what lesson she took from it, if any.
I think JoyMama and JoyDad's lesson is: to put up the gate. And to put the hot stuff out of reach!
And the kitchen is full of forbidden fruit! Quite literally. Every now and again she'll make a break for it, tear into the kitchen and snag an apple. Or a peach. Or a big ol' tomato from the garden. Before we know it, she's sunk in her teeth and had a lovely chin-dripping bite.
She did that yesterday too... and got something a little bit more than she bargained for.
When Joy gets a red pepper on her plate, it's sweet and delicious.
This one from the garden was a "cherry hot" aka "cherry bomb." Even JoyDad approaches these with caution.
Oh, the look on her face as she realized that this wasn't the taste she'd expected!
The bite flew back out onto the floor. Her eyes watered. Her nose ran. Her lips got very rosy. My gal was red-hot.
I wonder what she was thinking. I wonder what lesson she took from it, if any.
I think JoyMama and JoyDad's lesson is: to put up the gate. And to put the hot stuff out of reach!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Random Tuesday Thoughts
On toilet-training:
You can lead a girl to potty, but you cannot make her tinkle. (sigh)
On gardening:
Beans, beans, good for your heart! We got green beans. We got dragon tongue beans. I need to process some beans tonight for freezing.
On growth:
Joy can now reach the mantel in the living room. We used to put things up there to be out of her reach. Must create new strategies.
More on growth:
Rose started soccer practice last night for the upcoming season. When we tried on her cleats (which she was able to wear through the end of the season in May), it was like the stepsisters trying on the glass slipper. We went up two and a half sizes to get her comfy with room to grow for the fall.
Still more on growth:
When it rains a lot (and it has), the weeds in the garden go crazy! But at least it's easier to pull weeds from damp soil than from hard-baked soil.
On peek-a-boo:
Joy has created a delightful new twist on an old game. When you put a blanket up to your face for peek, she doesn't yank it down -- she lifts the other side and burrows under to join you. And then says "peek"!
On switch-flipping:
Guess what has faded back into Joy's communication repertoire. Self-biting (and to some extent, chomping others). She's doing some swatting & hair-grabbing too, and not excluding her daycare buddies. Just in time for kindergarten. Would like this to fade back the other way very quickly.
On school administration:
A new principal has been hired for Joy & Rose's elementary school. Must get him introduced to Joy. I hope he's easy to work with. Joy needs allies, especially if we're in a mode where she tips easily into intense protest...
On summer:
How did it get half over already?!
Friday, June 18, 2010
A Newly-Acceptable Vegetable
My daughter discovered a new vegetable last night!
She's so picky with veggies -- her repertoire has been so terribly limited. Any new addition to the acceptable vegetables is utterly delightful, and met with great rejoicing by her parents.
Tender fresh raw snow peas from the garden are now in the thumbs-up category. Wahoo!
By the way. We're not talking about Joy and autism.
We're talking about Rose. Y'know, the neurotypical one.
Heh.
She's so picky with veggies -- her repertoire has been so terribly limited. Any new addition to the acceptable vegetables is utterly delightful, and met with great rejoicing by her parents.
Tender fresh raw snow peas from the garden are now in the thumbs-up category. Wahoo!
By the way. We're not talking about Joy and autism.
We're talking about Rose. Y'know, the neurotypical one.
Heh.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Random Tuesday Thoughts
A belated May-basket to Keely at The UnMom for running this Random Tuesday Thoughts operation, and giving me a reason for randomness!
- Joy wants "more". She's been signing it for food, bubble machine, swinging, all sorts of goodies and activities. Way to go, girl!
- Rose wants more too. More time playing with Mama.
- Mama wants more too. More independence on the part of Rose, especially during handbell concert season.
- Sunday's concert went awesomely well. I love it when we finish a piece and the audience gives a little gasp/sigh after the last note and before the applause...
- We debuted new royal-blue floor-length dresses for the show, most with plunging necklines, and managed not to have a single "wardrobe malfunction"!
- When Joy has a "wardrobe malfunction" it usually has to do with a leaky diaper.
- Why is it that Joy always seems to wake up in the wee small hours on Tuesday mornings, one of her busiest days of the week?
- I was up early today too, but it was intentional. Got a nice pre-dawn run in. Lots of birds and blossoms and bunnies out there.
- The strawberry patch is starting to bloom, now that JoyDad has fenced the bunnies out. Can't wait till the garden we planted this weekend starts to sprout as well!
- Did you know that violets are edible? Tastes kind of lettuce-like and makes a lovely unusual contrast to a salad of greens. Rose has loved picking flowers for dinner. Joy eats them on her plate, but hasn't figured out to pick them out of the yard to eat. Which is just as well, I suppose.
- Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Favorite Place
I'd like our home to be our therapists' favorite place to come work.
Actually, I'd like all their clients' homes to be the favorite, such that every therapist could look forward to every visit with every family! But I know that's not how it is in the real world, and since the only home I can influence is my own...
This "favorite place" idea of mine grew organically from the seed of wanting to get the most out of our therapy visits as possible. To me, that meant being present and engaged to try to learn all I can from the therapists' expertise; sharing what I know about Joy and what's going on with her; and coming up with my own ideas about how we can work together.
It also meant being organized, and available, and on-time for the sessions. (Occasionally I flub, but get easily forgiven because of my track record.)
Therapists respond positively to such efforts! Cordial partnerships have ended up becoming friendships, and I've ended up with even more reasons to want to make things pleasant.
I found myself taking a little extra care to keep the floors on which they work/play from getting too disgustingly grungy, and to keep the bathroom reasonably clean as well. Not that I wouldn't do that for our family (right?), but this provides an extra little kick in the pants.
Then there are the little things that make life a little sunnier. Like small gifts of produce from the garden. (Especially among our intensive-autism line therapists, these people aren't making a princely wage!) Or passing along a certain jack-o-lantern stencil to a therapist who gave me the thumbs-up about a certain sign in our yard. Or complimenting a therapist on the piano piece she played for Joy during a session, ending up with me asking to borrow the sheet music.
Most of this stuff I'm almost doing more for me and Joy than for the therapists, and I wouldn't be doing these things if I felt it was a burden or an obligation. Instead, it makes me happy -- and it makes them happy -- and happy therapists are more likely to bring that attitude through the door.
As I said before, ideally there would be no hint of competition between families. And I know that there are reasons why, say, one's bathroom might be hard to keep clean or life is just too freakin' insane to do one more extra thing. I've had stretches like that, most notably this past winter, and nobody's held it against me.
Speaking of this past winter, for Christmas last year we gave our therapists little gifts of homemade strawberry freezer jam. For some reason, thinking back on that now, it reminds me of a line from a LaVyrle Spencer romance called Morning Glory. (Yes, I do have that kind of stuff on my shelf, among the highbrow goodies. Now you know.) Anyway, the heroine is trying to hire a lawyer, during WWII when money is tight, and she brings with her a quart of honey from the farm.
Construe this any way you like!
Actually, I'd like all their clients' homes to be the favorite, such that every therapist could look forward to every visit with every family! But I know that's not how it is in the real world, and since the only home I can influence is my own...
This "favorite place" idea of mine grew organically from the seed of wanting to get the most out of our therapy visits as possible. To me, that meant being present and engaged to try to learn all I can from the therapists' expertise; sharing what I know about Joy and what's going on with her; and coming up with my own ideas about how we can work together.
It also meant being organized, and available, and on-time for the sessions. (Occasionally I flub, but get easily forgiven because of my track record.)
Therapists respond positively to such efforts! Cordial partnerships have ended up becoming friendships, and I've ended up with even more reasons to want to make things pleasant.
I found myself taking a little extra care to keep the floors on which they work/play from getting too disgustingly grungy, and to keep the bathroom reasonably clean as well. Not that I wouldn't do that for our family (right?), but this provides an extra little kick in the pants.
Then there are the little things that make life a little sunnier. Like small gifts of produce from the garden. (Especially among our intensive-autism line therapists, these people aren't making a princely wage!) Or passing along a certain jack-o-lantern stencil to a therapist who gave me the thumbs-up about a certain sign in our yard. Or complimenting a therapist on the piano piece she played for Joy during a session, ending up with me asking to borrow the sheet music.
Most of this stuff I'm almost doing more for me and Joy than for the therapists, and I wouldn't be doing these things if I felt it was a burden or an obligation. Instead, it makes me happy -- and it makes them happy -- and happy therapists are more likely to bring that attitude through the door.
As I said before, ideally there would be no hint of competition between families. And I know that there are reasons why, say, one's bathroom might be hard to keep clean or life is just too freakin' insane to do one more extra thing. I've had stretches like that, most notably this past winter, and nobody's held it against me.
Speaking of this past winter, for Christmas last year we gave our therapists little gifts of homemade strawberry freezer jam. For some reason, thinking back on that now, it reminds me of a line from a LaVyrle Spencer romance called Morning Glory. (Yes, I do have that kind of stuff on my shelf, among the highbrow goodies. Now you know.) Anyway, the heroine is trying to hire a lawyer, during WWII when money is tight, and she brings with her a quart of honey from the farm.
"Might this be construed as bribery, do you think, Gladys?"
"Construe it any way you like, but try it on a bran muffin. It's indescribable."
Construe this any way you like!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Fall Comes to the Garden
Our vegetable gardening is one of my favorite spinning plates of the summer months.
I learned to love gardening from my father, and the basics of preserving what we grew from my mother and my father's mother. The backyard garden behind the house where I grew up was a continually expanding project. Every year Dad would rototill up just another smidge of lawn, until eventually the garden ballooned to take up almost a third of the yard.
Our main vegetable patch here has stayed stable at 20-some feet per side, but we expand by finding new flowerbeds in which to plant produce. Rhubarb replaced hostas; basil replaced pampas grass; okra (with its beautiful hibiscus flowers!) replaced rose canes; a strawberry bed replaced a stand of Snow-on-the-Mountain; and this year my front flower bed held rainbow chard instead of salvia.
When the garden is in full swing, it's a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy. Here's a shot JoyDad took back in August:
Especially great crops this year: bok choy, kohlrabi, beans, peppers, the aforementioned chard. Strawberries and sour-cherries did pretty well too, as did the rhubarb and okra. Also mulberries, not in our yard but we picked and froze a whole bunch from a tree on nearby park property. JoyDad keeps pickling hot-peppers:
Joy is willing to partake of just about everything we grow, even the kohlrabi and the pickled beets! Rose's favorites are the fruit and the sweet peppers and the cherry tomatoes. She likes rhubarb upside-down cake too.
I know I keep harping on the difference this summer's new fence has made to life with Joy in our back yard, but it's really helped with the gardening too. I can now let Joy play on her own nearby while I pick raspberries or go into the (separately fenced) garden to do some harvesting or pull a few weeds. So liberating to only have to keep half an eye on her!
The garden is winding down for the fall now, though. We've had a couple of almost-frosts which have slowed everything down. The tomatoes are petering out, we'll get one more bok-choy stir-fry, the beets and beans are all in, pretty soon it will be time to bring in the butternut squash.
Growing so much food is a help to the pocketbook in these troubled economic times. But mostly it's good for the tastebuds, and the soul!
I learned to love gardening from my father, and the basics of preserving what we grew from my mother and my father's mother. The backyard garden behind the house where I grew up was a continually expanding project. Every year Dad would rototill up just another smidge of lawn, until eventually the garden ballooned to take up almost a third of the yard.
Our main vegetable patch here has stayed stable at 20-some feet per side, but we expand by finding new flowerbeds in which to plant produce. Rhubarb replaced hostas; basil replaced pampas grass; okra (with its beautiful hibiscus flowers!) replaced rose canes; a strawberry bed replaced a stand of Snow-on-the-Mountain; and this year my front flower bed held rainbow chard instead of salvia.
When the garden is in full swing, it's a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy. Here's a shot JoyDad took back in August:
Especially great crops this year: bok choy, kohlrabi, beans, peppers, the aforementioned chard. Strawberries and sour-cherries did pretty well too, as did the rhubarb and okra. Also mulberries, not in our yard but we picked and froze a whole bunch from a tree on nearby park property. JoyDad keeps pickling hot-peppers:
Joy is willing to partake of just about everything we grow, even the kohlrabi and the pickled beets! Rose's favorites are the fruit and the sweet peppers and the cherry tomatoes. She likes rhubarb upside-down cake too.
I know I keep harping on the difference this summer's new fence has made to life with Joy in our back yard, but it's really helped with the gardening too. I can now let Joy play on her own nearby while I pick raspberries or go into the (separately fenced) garden to do some harvesting or pull a few weeds. So liberating to only have to keep half an eye on her!
The garden is winding down for the fall now, though. We've had a couple of almost-frosts which have slowed everything down. The tomatoes are petering out, we'll get one more bok-choy stir-fry, the beets and beans are all in, pretty soon it will be time to bring in the butternut squash.
Growing so much food is a help to the pocketbook in these troubled economic times. But mostly it's good for the tastebuds, and the soul!
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