Tomatoes–what I’ve been growing

October 31, 2018October 31, 2018 | run-sew-read

This is my one tomato plant I grew this season. It was supposed to hide in the middle of the 10-foot planter, surrounded by marigolds, vincas, petunias and alyssum. Instead, the tomato plant went all ‘Little Shop of Horrors‘, and took over the planter and pushed the marigolds out of the box, and choked off most everything else. It has grown out of the planter on all sides. The plant is about 15 feet wide. There is a wire tomato cage buried somewhere in the middle.

Tomato plant 2018

In mid-October, we had a surprise early freeze, with snow, so I bundled up the plant with a series of blankets and tarps, two nights in a row. (No homeowners association rules here, thankfully.) Tomato plant 2018 covered RSR

The snow covered the ground and the tarps all night. The windchill was in the 20s Fahrenheit. The snow and freeze broke four very old weather records.

Now we are back to sunny warm afternoons and chilly but not freezing nights. The plant came through the freeze mostly okay, and has a boatload of green tomatoes currently ripening on the vines.

Some of the tomatoes got scarred from the freeze, but continued to ripen.

Freeze scars aw RSR

The scars have so far been confined to the surface. The inside growth pattern is odd, but the taste is normal.

Freeze scars sliced aw RSR

The planter faces south and gets a full day of sun. With luck, I’ll get another dozen or so tomatoes before I have to give up on the growing season.

My foster garden helper got adopted by her forever parents this past week. The little digger was with me for almost 6 weeks, and gained 12 pounds during that time.

Butterscotch dirt2

Turtleneck stash busting

April 2, 2018April 3, 2018 | run-sew-read

Yes, there is such a thing as a turtleneck stash. Mine was becoming ridiculous. I wear turtlenecks solo, and under everything from dresses, to sweaters, to t-shirts. After months and years of washings and wearings, some start to fade. Some shrink vertically, and become too short in the body and sleeves. Some develop a bulkier, boxy shape, that doesn’t fit well under other garments.

This winter I summoned the courage to start carving them up. I loved the resulting composite pieces. I lengthened sleeves and torsos, and converted regular t-shirts into long-sleeved turtlenecks.

IMG_20180402_162739867-aw rsr (All photos taken under the watchful eye of the pupervisor.)

I attend a lot of college basketball and football games, so wearing a color-blocked garment turned out to be a great way to ‘represent’.

Color blocking made layering more fun. IMG_20180402_164246137-aw rsr

The color blocked garments were versatile. IMG_20180402_175041886-aw rsr

I also tried lengthening the torso by inserting a band in the middle. This brown and grey one doesn’t look smooth in the picture, but it actually looks fine when worn.

IMG_20180402_170801338-aw rsr

The turtleneck stash had outgrown the drawer, and then the shelve(s) dedicated to their storage. Even after cutting and combining several of them, I still have a bunch of old turtlenecks that need to be boxed up for donation. That will happen once turtleneck wearing season is over.

12 new habits for 2018

March 5, 2018March 5, 2018 | run-sew-read

It took me an extra month to figure out my goals for 2018. Then it has taken me another month to tell people about it. But here it is: I want to adopt one new habit per month. I started successfully with a January habit, which inspired me to keep going with a new habit per month.

Monthly Habits:

January: Get up at a regular time, and do 15 minutes of yoga stretches.

Janathon helped by giving me fun daily reminders to report my effort.

Our local PBS station has been the other help, by showing Priscilla’s Yoga Stretches each morning from 6-6:30. They fit two 15-minute sessions in that time slot. I’ve been doing the 6:15 session. Perfecto!

February: 90 minutes of ‘Monk Mode’ each morning.

I’ve seen various descriptions of what ‘monk mode’ means, so I’ve tailored my own version to what I need. I’m trying for a straight 90 minutes of office work, in the morning before I get distracted by other things. During this 90 minutes, I am trying to refrain from checking online news sources, blogs, and of course, Facebook. Ideally, the 90 minutes would be with no TV or radio. But, there are things I listen to in the morning to get my daily current events updates. So maybe I need an afternoon monk mode session as well, in total silence. Maybe that is a habit for a later month.

https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/monk-mode-and-five-other-tips-for-work-life-balanc/p05t70bk

March: ‘Spring cleaning’, baby! One hour, one room, per day

I am focusing on one room per day for cleanup, decluttering, rearranging, reorganizing, etc. I’m trying for an hour per day on this task. Do I include the yard and car as ‘rooms’? Looking at them, the answer is an emphatic yes! Does it make the goal too broad and undefined? Maybe.

April: I haven’t decided on April’s new habit. I want to decide month by month. I have ideas for some of the upcoming months. Potential categories are home management, productivity, conservation, health, fitness, enlightenment, budgeting.

How’s it going so far?

The yoga habit has stuck like glue. I feel great, my posture is better I think, and I love the jump-start it gives to my morning.
The monk mode habit, hmmm. I’m now aghast at how sporadic, sloppy and undisciplined my work concentration has become. If I had charted my month of devotion to this habit, the chart would look like a roller coaster. To me, this means I need to keep ‘monk mode’ in my morning routine, and need to make a consistent effort to accomplish it.
The room-a-day habit is not a habit yet. But each day something gets done. I’m looking forward to what the place looks like on March 31.

The regular activities continue. Fitness, food prep and nutrition, sewing. I don’t need to set goals to make these a regular part of my routine. For that I’m truly thankful.