Sunday, June 20, 2021

getting out and staying in



It is hot and humid out there (isn't that how I started out the previous post?) and it saps any motivation to get stuff done after about 15 minutes. I've managed to get some weeding done, some watering, so I should be spending my days over in the studio. I've been thinking a lot about my lack of motivation for making art, sculpture, starting to feel a little guilty after going through the expense of building that room out. I guess we'll see if that gets me over there. Maybe it was a mistake moving all my model making and mold filling stuff out of the house though I don't really think that's the problem.

Thursday was my day at SHARE and it was another slow day after the latest stimulus and enhanced unemployment. President Biden says he's cut hunger in half with his policies and if the number of people we are getting for food and other assistance is any indication, he's right. I didn't keep exact count but we only filled 8 baskets, possibly 10. Pre-covid I was told they serviced 30 – 35 people every week.

Also pre-covid I was going to yoga class three times a week, twice in El Campo with Abby who puts us through a 30 – 40 minute session of moderate to advanced asanas, and once here at Hesed House. Abby reinstated her classes over a year ago as we meet in a large metal building with three sides to roll up, a giant fan for air circulation, and plenty of space to social distance but Stephanie at Hesed House just restarted her classes a couple of weeks ago and I finally made it to one of her sessions Thursday night. It might seem like overkill, three classes a week but Stephanie's class is very different. Her hour long sessions focus on being in touch with your body and your emotions and how they express themselves through your body and strength building via asanas. It's a much gentler class but at the same time can be strenuous.

Hesed House had a fundraising garden party last week that Pam and I went to and I have plans to do a post about their garden (but here's a peek),


so life seems to be getting back to some form of pre-covid normal. I wrote previously that the HEB and Walmart removed their 'masks required' signs and now the library has as well. Not sure how I feel about it with the more highly contagious and more virulent Delta variant of covid making inroads here in the US though I'm not so worried about my vaccinated self.

I finally accumulated enough tomatoes, either given or bought from a local garden, to make a batch of tomato sauce, slow roasted with olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil leaves then pureed in the blender.


I went to the Farmer's Market here in town Saturday, hoping to get more but everyone is selling them for $5 a pound which is a bit pricey so I hope they'll be cheaper next week. And I got more peaches so I made another peach cobbler and still have about half to put up and I'm making beef stew for dinner tonight so by the end of the day I will have spent the better part of three days in a row in the kitchen.


Well, we just had a sudden intense but brief rain storm. I don't think it lasted even 10 minutes, just enough to make it more steamy out there so I guess it's just as well I'll be in the kitchen today.




8 comments:

  1. You make me want to start doing yoga. I really need to do it, but I keep procrastinating. Our tomatoes here are only in the flower stage, so no tomato sauce for a while, and your batch looks so yummy. Beautiful garden and lovely flower too.
    I read an article in the SF Chronicle yesterday about how people are responding to the new mask-free world here in California as June 15th. Then reporters went to five big stores in the Bay Area. In every single one from Costco to Trader Joes, at least 95% of customers and employees were still masked. We're still masking up when we shop, but when we're out for our walks we're mask-free. Life is so interesting these days.

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    1. the hardest part of yoga is getting your ass to class. just do it. I highly recommend it.

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  2. Hot and humid here, too. Why do I even need to say that?
    Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day I'll start dealing with tomatoes. I swear.

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  3. Too much kitchen happens to me every so often. I cannot stand for long, but whatever I'm prepping or cooking has other ideas. I wind up taking aspirin.

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  4. I inspired you to eat with my post, and you are inspiring me with yours. I'm going to have to get some peaches, stat!

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  5. Art....mine lingers untouched. Great kitchen stuff tho.

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  6. Let's hope your observations about the drop in numbers of people needing food aid is confirmed elsewhere, that's excellent.
    Making tomato sauce is some kind of art work, no?

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  7. I'm glad to hear that things are normalizing, more or less. I think your artistic impulses will return. You've had a lot going on with maintaining your garden after the big freeze, moving your sister's house in, and getting the plumbing and others stuff sorted on your own property. I'm not at all surprised you haven't had time for art!

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