In Between Days

The past two weeks...a blur...  Here are the highlights:

• An unexpected Memorial Day weekend visit from my sister Kerry and her old friend Dana consisted of a tour of the garden and a visit to the Dairy Queen

• Bringing in the hay with temperatures in the high 90's: the last time I sweat that much I was in full foil fencing gear getting trounced by my friend Nichole.  Despite the heat, it was fun to collect large piles of hay and spear them with your hayfork to lift them over your head before tossing them onto the hay wagon

• Riding on top of all that hay when it was time to take the wagon down to the barn
• Picking and eating strawberries that are still warm from the sun
• Learning how to do a somewhat complicated series of knots in order to train the tomato plants to grow upward on plastic twine
• Appointing myself "The Herb Steward" and taking on some of the responsibilities of drying herbs, flower petals, etc. for use in teas, salves, and other products later in the year
• Walking through the garden with my grocery list and harvesting the herbs and greens I needed for cooking

For extracurricular activities, I've taken a few day trips.  Mike's best childhood friend, Frank Massimo, his wife Amy, and their son Nick, live about 12 miles away in New Jersey.  They gave me an introductory lesson in sitting on a deck and enjoying tasty snacks on a beautiful afternoon, which was much appreciated.  My former Food & Friends co-worker Meg Coffman and her husband Aaron were in town for a wedding and lured me into Manhattan for a visit to the fascinatingly chaotic Eataly food hall followed by people-watching while eating lunch on a bench in Madison Square Park.  Meg shares my love of a good walk, so we explored The High Line, the former elevated railway along 10th Ave. that has been transformed into a wonderful public park.  Check it out if you are in NYC: www.thehighline.org/

Not everyone may be aware that Mike has accepted a position at the Veterans' Administration hospital in Albany, NY.  That's only about 2 and a half hours from where I am currently living.  There are many farms in what's referred to as the Capital District and the local food movement seems to be quite strong, so I'm hoping there will be opportunities for me when I finish the internship.  (Baking Fans- there's a bakery in Albany that offers a weekly bread share, like a CSA, from Nov. to April.  I'll be looking into that for sure.)  

This is not to say that I haven't been homesick, especially with so many new routines/ideas/personalities to adapt to.  I've tried to keep my long-held routine of cooking for most of the week on Sunday afternoon/evening and have found that this DC pattern is so strong I sometimes catch myself thinking I need to give Zoe her medication or ask my neighbors Betty & Rita for missing ingredients just as I would've done at home. 

This past weekend marked the first time since 2003 that haven't marched in the Pride parade as a representative of Food & Friends.  I knew it would've been difficult to top the bunch-of-grapes costume made of purple balloons (designed expressly for me by my talented former co-workers Jane Yamaykin and Tamika Hodnett) that I strutted in last year, but it would have been fun to try.  Perhaps something that the crowd wouldn't have tried to rip off of me, but then again...  ;-)

It's late and I've got compost to layer in the morning, so I have to stop for now.  Good night, all.