Saturday, March 3, 2018

I guess I didn't have enough to do


So, you remember how I said I wasn't going to do a spring garden this year because the yard needed so much attention after the flood and harsh winter? Well, all my neighbors have been tilling their gardens this week getting ready to plant and the weather has been sunny and not too warm and I just couldn't help it. I got over there and cleaned out the raised beds of all the weeds yesterday afternoon. 

before, well, almost before, I had already done the raised bed on the left before I remembered to take a picture

Also started cleaning out between the beds where the weed cloth was washed away and was back over there this morning so yeah, I guess I'm doing a spring garden. I do need to fetch a yard of dirt to top off the beds and throw in some fertilizer and compost but I'll do that next week and then it's off to the Hungerford Co-op to see what they've got.

I watched Hidden Figures the other night, the movie about the three black women, computers as they were called by NASA, who were tasked with doing the calculations that would allow us to put a man in orbit in our space race against the Russians before the age of computers when all the calculations had to be done by people. The story focuses on three brilliant African American women who were crucial to the success of the nascent space program. Kathryn Jonson, who at the age of 9 was sent to a black university and stunned her fellow students and teachers with her brilliance, was responsible for not only the calculations that allowed NASA to send John Glenn into orbit but also the approach that allowed them to bring him home again; Dorothy Vaughn whose expertise and intelligence helped design the capsule so that it would not burn up in re-entry and became the first black female engineer at NASA in a strictly segregated state, civil rights desegregation laws notwithstanding; and Mary Jackson who was the acting supervisor of the black 'computers' and who when she learned that NASA was getting one of the first IBM computers that would make their jobs obsolete, she went to the library and taught herself everything she needed to know to know about how to program and run the computer and then set out to teach her co-workers the same thereby saving all their jobs. The acting was superb and the culture of segregation was honestly portrayed. It was a very engaging movie and I recommend it highly.


The next two months are going to be busy as I will be overseeing the work being done on the house and making the final decisions on the bathroom, working to recover the flower beds before it gets hot and I leave for Portugal in May, getting the spring garden in, and because I didn't have enough to do already, I agreed to participate in the spring open house with my artist friends April 28th and 29th so I need to finish casting the big drowned feather pieces, cast the lizard with anemones, and make a few more smaller items. Maybe even finish the blue heron box.

Well, my week alone is nearly at an end as I pick Marc up from the airport tomorrow. I've got one more movie I'm getting ready to watch, The Girl On The Train, and one more night alone in the bed splayed out in the big middle.





12 comments:

  1. One time a little boy who lived next door from me at the time said, "Mary, why do you plant all these things?" I was planting my spring garden at the time. I shook my head and said, "Well, Robert. I don't really know. I guess I just have to."
    Some of us have that gene, passed down from our foremothers I think. Spring comes, the light shines a certain way, the dirt has a certain smell, the air has a certain feel, and we just have to get some seeds in the ground.
    And I just spent about three hours weeding the winter weeds and getting ready to put tomatoes and peppers in. I've got some new green bean seeds I'm going to try this year and I'm so excited.
    I know you understand.

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    1. indeed I do. when I saw/heard the third neighbor tilling, that was the one that sent me over. forgot to post the 'before' picture. it's there now.

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  2. My onions are already 4 inches tall and the lettuce is the 4 leaf stage....so I know what you mean...even tho I leave for Colorado shortly!

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  3. I saw Hidden Figures. I don't remember where or when, but it was an excellent movie.

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  4. Looks like you are the same busy bee you have always been. Yard work and art work and all the usual jobs that need doing. Are you ever bored?
    Never heard of these three clever ladies, I wonder if that’s because of the colour of their skin? Is this generally known in the states? Perhaps it should be trumpeted all over the land.

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    1. you never heard of them because the US is racist and misogynist and only white men get credit.

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  5. I've heard good things about that movie. Glad you're doing a spring garden. I have a feeling you won't regret it!

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  6. You know, I kinda had a feeling that you were gonna give in and do the dirt worship thing in the garden. It's in our DNA, can't stay away. xoxo Oma Linda, with dirt under my fingernails.

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  7. I loved that movie. I haven't seen Girl on a Train, but I read the book & I was mostly so annoyed with her. What did you think of the movie?

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    1. I had read the book also. I thought the book was better and yeah, just wanted to slap her and tell her to get over it.

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  8. I like Hidden Figures a lot too. It was so wonderfully done by these talented actresses.

    Portugal? You lucky, lucky girl. Don't forget your camera !

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  9. We saw the movie at the theater and really liked it, enough to watch again at some point. I always enjoy getting ready for a trip, the anticipation is part of the fun.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.