I Hab a Coad

Everything's greening up! (even the bark)
I have been trying to fight off a tickly snotty sore throaty malaise since Monday, and yesterday I though that it was getting better. Really. But then I stayed up until almost 4:00 am finishing The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, which Brian gave me last Saturday after the weekly run. It was clever and lovely: I highly recommend it. However. It was not a very health-enhancing decision, and this morning my nose is runnier and my throat scratchier, and I imagine the the unrelenting gray and rainy weather isn't going to dry up my head anytime soon. Ah well. I think that I've put reading in front of health pretty much my whole life. It's not such a bad way to be.

Read anything good lately? I need a new book to take my mind off this cold...

I raked all these leaves off of my flower beds the other day. Thanks to the recent rain, they're going to be a real pleasure to bag up...

Best. Orange Juice. Ever.

The juicing setup.
Always thoughtful and unfailingly solicitous of our good health, WonderNoona recently shipped us a crate of fresh-picked Temple Oranges from Florida for the purpose of preventing Academics-Onset Scurvy. (You get it if you study too much. Don't even get me started on Under-Employment Rickets...all I can say is “Chocolate”…)

Anyway, these oranges were amazing: absolutely bursting with juice, nearly rind less, teeming with seeds, but in a lively sort of way, as if they were the adage "be fruitful" illustrated in rind and pulp and potential. They made such exquisite juice, sweet, tart, and bright, that they are now entirely used up, and all that remains are these commemorative photos. Bless your heart, Noonetta, with your generous help, a severe case of A-O Scurvy has been averted once more.

Thin-skinned and bursting with juice.

If we lived somewhere warmer, I could plant my own orange grove.

Goings On

Crabshell on the beach, macro-style.
Ok, yeah, I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been very good about posting lately. I've been busy. Too busy, in fact, to procrastinate by blogging. That said, we did just have a lovely weeklong vacation on Hilton Head Island (off the coast of South Carolina) with Scooby's grandparents and LM. Highlights included trips to the beach for biking (yay balloon-tired rental cruisers) and walking, kayaking in Broad Creek (hello dolphins!) and hiking on Pinckney Island. Oh, and a really good sale at the J. Crew outlet store. I am SO set for chocolate brown clothing now. But hey, how often can you leave J. Crew with 3 pairs of trousers, a sweater, and a shirt for under $50?

We block the lovely scenery at the Pinckney Island Refuge.
Anyway we came back to find the colossal snow fall mostly melted, which leaves me longing for spring to get properly underway so that I can get into the back yard and start digging and planting. Who would have thought that I would be so excited by gardening? I know so many people here in the city who don't plant anything, and even fewer who grow veggies, but I think I would feel bereft if I left my gardens fallow. I guess it's a luxury, like anything else, and I'm lucky to have the time in my life to do it. That said, it's just satisfying on so many levels so see the tender shoots of things I have planted pushing up through the mud. Hurry up spring!

A Camelia in the Grandparent's backyard.