Friday, June 13

fruitful recovery and a vegetable mystery

Well, the boy is on the mend! He ate some grapes and strawberries yesterday, and had a couple of bites of a hot dog. Yeah, don't judge me by that hot dog, I am fully aware that it is the last thing he should have eaten. But, when your kid hasn't eaten in 6 days you give him anything he wants to eat.
The lab called and the doc says it's not mono. Halleluiah!! There is an infection and they don't know what it is, but they've put him on antibiotics and though I haven't checked his fever this morning it was down yesterday. He stayed awake more yesterday and definitely had more energy. He was happy that it seemed to be subsiding as he is tired of all this:) He's ready to be a 12 year old boy on summer vacation.
I'm ready to be a mom who sleeps in her own bed(next to her dear husband) instead of on the couch next to a snoring child who walks in his sleep.
Again, my heart goes out to Damien who has been ill or weakened so often in the past few years for long periods, and to Kate who was so devoted to caring for him in those times. Thank you Lord for an end to Jedd's short tunnel and also that the Howards are truly seeing the light at the end of their extensive tunnel.
In the spirit of good health I report that my gardens are also flourishing. I actually was able to go out yesterday and pick some baby spinach leaves for our chicken salad last night. What a wholesome feeling! We really lose a connection when we never experience growing anything to feed and nourish ourselves. If you don't have anything growing this year, I really encourage you to plant anything, tomatoes, spinach, whatever, in a pot if you must. Just one thing to connect yourselves to the dirt:)
I am amazed by the speed at which some things have grown. I did most things from seed this year. Pumpkins are just growing like Jack's beanstalk. Wildly. Onions, spindly and hardly there yet. Cucumbers and strawberries are showing their little fruitful beginnings. Peas are sending tendrils climbing up the fence, which is truly amazing to observe. God has created these plants to send out feelers to pulls themselves up. Cucumbers too. But not the tomatoes. Why? The tomatoes will just flop over and fall on the ground in their weight if not caged. Well, to be fair so would the others, but give the others some string tied across or a cage and they pull themselves up with those tiny threadlike tendrils. And here's a question for those of you who are real gardeners. Where do the seeds come from for things like carrots and spinach? They haven't flowered. There is nothing inside them as there is watermelons and tomatoes. It is a bit of a mystery to me.

9 comments:

Damien said...

kate, these colors on your blog are just beautiful together. nice job.

the reason tomatoes flop over like they do is probably because we've hybridized them into bigger and lusher fruit than there original tiny-fruited native species. if we concentrated on breeding for nice stout trunks they'd probably end up with dinky little berries.

both carrots and spinach do produce seeds by the way. you just have to not harvest them and let them "go to seed."

kibbe said...

Thanks damien. You are a minefield of information. I like it:)And here's another for you. Why do they call it a "minefield" as if it's a bad thing to have all that information?
And thanks for the compliment on
the colors....

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear Jedd is on the mend. When"men" don't eat it is serious indeed:-)Plus you need your sleep for all this harvesting.
I watered my flowers yesterday and the leaves fell off today!Something wrong with my water?
Transplanted some infant sage; no basil popping up from last year though(that's a first)
Rachel's cucumbers and tomatoes will be under my care while she is in Ecuador-She IGNORES them and they flourish; I'll probably kill them off:-)

Anonymous said...

Oh! Got our first little "return" from the organic farm co-op we joined this year! Two kinds of lettuce/teeny red potatoes/3 beets/and something that we don't know
I sent Bill for the first pick-up.Mistake.He was the only guy with his SUV and Bush/Cheney bumper sticker(lucky he didn't have the NRA on there). He called me to say he was in a sea of long-haired, flip-flop wearing college educated hippies with that crazy Co-Exist bumper sticker(you know, the one with the symbols of ALL the religions). :-)

ukrainiac said...

I second the great look with your color combo!

Anything you recommend to grow in a pot on our balcony or windowsill? I'm not the greatest gardener (whoa...major understatement!), but I'd love to have SOMETHING edible growing nearby!

Riverrat...you do make me laugh! I wish you had a picture of the scene wth Bill!

kibbe said...

riverrat I'm with ukrainiac. You are so funny!
Ukrainiac, how about a pot of spinach that hyou can pluck some leaves off and they'll re-grow. Definitely, if your balcony is big enough, tomatoes. Have you seen the new tomato bags which hang and the tomatoes grow down? that might work really well!

Sue said...

I like the new colors, too. I, too, sleep on the couch (and Hope on the love seat) when Hope is sick--she just feels better and safer that way (and so do I); sometimes I read Nancy Drew aloud by flashlight until she falls asleep...makes for tiring nights, but memories I wouldn't trade for anything....I am sorry Jedd has been so sick and hope he is on the mend! (you know, I hate being alone when I am sick; I always feel better with someone there to talk to or just there with me....)

kibbe said...

Sue, Jedd loves the Hardy Boys. I wish I'd thought to read him that by flashlight. :)

faith said...

Our onions are ready. Last weekend when I was home I went out to the garden and pulled up like four or them. It is so much fun to pick your food and then go inside and eat it. I love it! And freshonions are amazing!