I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Enjoyable Temptations
This was one of those days when I was busy from sunrise to sunset. However, it was an enjoyable busy and an enjoyable day.
I woke just before 7:30 a.m. and immediately started making challah bread. I knew we had errands to run, so I wanted to get it braided and rising for the last time before we left. After I got it rising for the first time, I made pancake batter for breakfast. I put in whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, oatmeal, wheat germ, cinnamon, and apples. It’s a filling hearty meal.
As soon as we ate breakfast, EJ and I loaded some stuff that we were donating to the Hospice store. Danny tried to come along, jumping in the car through an open door, but we had no room for him so I had to pull him out of the car and into the house. He wasn’t happy.
We dropped the stuff at the first Hospice store in a larger town about 30 minutes away. One of EJ and my favorite things to do is drive through beautiful countryside and talk. The drive is a delight because every day the trees get more and more colorful. When we had dropped the items off, we drove to the furniture Hospice store across town. I had seen a behind-the-couch table the last time we were there, and we wanted to consider it. However, it was already sold and gone. Oh, well. No great loss.
We drove on to the grocery store for groceries. EJ bought me a couple jars of Kim-chee. He knows that I like it so he often sneaks some into the shopping cart when we go to this store. I developed a taste for Kim-chee when my Korean sister-in-law made it for my family when she first came to the USA years ago. Yum.
On the way home, as we drove through another town, we decided to stop at the Farmer’s Market that is set up every Friday in the Hospital parking lot. While EJ bought honey and maple syrup, I stopped at the booth of the lady selling herbs. I have bought herbs from this woman before and she is very willing to share her knowledge of herbs. I wanted to buy a sage plant. I have sage already growing in my herb garden, but it is very large and I want to try to grow herbs inside during the winter so I need a small plant. I selected a sage plant and then the woman showed me some tarragon and invited me to break off a leaf and taste it. It tasted very good, sort of licorice-ish. I set a tarragon plant next to my sage plant. I will have to read up on how to use it in cooking. I saw a plant called Lady’s Mantle and asked the herb lady about it. She said that these days it’s grown mostly for ornament. She said it’s very pretty. So I bought one. All three plants didn’t cost very much. A man was playing a guitar and singing as we shopped. EJ dropped some money in his case as we left. It was fun. I think next week is the last Farmer’s Market until Spring. I will miss it. Farmer’s Markets are delightful.
When EJ and I got home, we carried in the groceries and I put my challah bread in the oven to bake. While it was baking, EJ and I decided to stop at a couple of yard sales we saw down the street. We love thrift stores and yard sales. We didn’t buy anything. We returned home and I scrambled to finish baking the bread and fixing soup.
After EJ left for work, I drove to the elevator at the end of our street to buy cat food. Then I drove to the other end of our small village for our mail. Our village is so small that there is no home delivery within village limits. We all have post office boxes. I was dismayed by this when we first moved here–I mean, whoever heard of no mail delivery??? However, I quickly learned to enjoy walking the two blocks to the post office every day. I had no mail today, but the post office is right next to our library and I had read on Facebook that the library was having a used book sale. We love thrift stores, yard sales, and book sales. The book sale was large with books for sale everywhere, on every table and in boxes under tables. It was a booklover’s paradise. The books were very cheap: 25 cents for a hardcover book and 10 cents for a paperback. I had a very happy few minutes browsing through all the books. I bought a couple dozen. All those books only cost me about three dollars! Later on Facebook I hinted that the library should continue the sale next week so EJ could enjoy it as well and our librarian commented, “Your wish is my command.” We have the sweetest librarian. That’s one of the perks of living in a very small town. We don’t have mail delivery, but we have sweet librarians.
When I got home, I took Danny for his walk. We had a risk for some storms, but the storms have gone around us, as they often do, so the walk was nice although it was humid. We met some neighbors–a husband and wife–walking together. As the wife gave Danny some lovings, she said that she never knows if some dogs are friendly, especially if they are running free, but Danny is so cute and lovable and wanting to greet everyone that he makes her laugh and she loves to pet him. Danny has a lot of friends along our route. The kids all know his name. A little further along our route Danny and I encountered a couple more garage sales so we stopped at them. I didn’t see anything I wanted, which is just as well since I didn’t have any money with me. I did, however, enjoy a nice chat with a couple of women holding one of the sales.
JJ left for work, and I spent the next few hours doing dishes, cleaning the house, and planting my new herbs. The sage and tarragon I put in pots and brought into the house. Winter better come soon or I will have a jungle in my house as I add more plants on my window sills. I weeded my herb garden for a while to make room for the Lady’s Mantle.
Then it was time to go care for my neighbor’s dog, Keno. This neighbor lives two blocks away. She is actually the sister-in-law of my very dear friend who moved away several years ago. The family is going to a wedding out-of-state and she asked me to care for her little dog while she is gone. Starting today, I have to go every morning and evening to feed the dog and let it outside. Keno is quite cute, but he doesn’t know me very well, so he was a bit nervous to have me there. He kept barking at me and running away. I was calm and gentle as I tried to reassure him and make friends with him. He let me pet him finally, although he was still unsure of me.
When I got home again, I prepared parsley for drying in the dehydrator. I am looking for a parsley plant or seeds to grow, but until then I just bought cut parsley at the grocery store today. I want to be able to make Scarborough Tea this winter.
Finally, I was done with the tasks of the day and could sit down and relax. It was a beautiful day, filled with enjoyable temptations.
I Love To Go A Gardening 