The Mountain Thymes

After a week of continuous rain amounting to over seven inches, overflowing our riverbanks into cow pastures, and contributing to rock and mudslides, the sun beamed into my kitchen window at 7:11 this morning. There is a zero per cent chance of rain today with 15 mph winds  all day as the front passes through. The creek at the bottom of our acreage sounds closer than it is. I hope to get down to the garden later today and pound in some fence posts for a few new ideas to try this growing season.  With the clay this wet, it's easier to drive posts into the ground. My neighbor up the road juices vegetables and brings me the skins and debris the juicer throws out for my composting.   This year the compost is full of huge worms thicker than my baby finger.  As soon as vegetables begin rooting and growing, we'll be diligently proactive in  our vole and varmint eradication.  Seems the mice problem is under control in the garage.  Moth balls and traps w...

My little sister turns 70 today!  How did that happen so quickly?                                                            Retta, Chip, me Happy Birthday, Retta!!!

  Cliff has been taking online Con Ed hours not only to keep up his EMR certification but also because he loves that field, the women and men he responds with, and it keeps his brain sharp. He spent last Sunday online finishing his February course requirement and his 500-word essay. In March he'll register for his April course which will include material on congestive heart failure among other emergencies. Thank goodness for medical responders, flight medics, and all other medical personnel.  I couldn't do it.  Talked to Michael, up in Ossipee, last weekend and he's thrilled to have been hired by Walgreens and put in the manager training program.  As soon as a position opens for a store manager, he'll get his own store but for now he'll continue as assistant manager in Ossipee. December marked our tenth year of retirement in Murphy.  I've enjoyed the journey of making new friends and exploring new routes, the challenges of gardening on a mountainside and liv...

As I type this post at 5:15 pm ( Thursday Feb.7) our temperature is still 74 degrees.  When I poured my coffee at 6 am this morning, the temp was 64.  It's been over a week with crazy high temps for February.  As a cold front moves through tonight, the high tomorrow may reach 45 and windy.  It's the sudden drastic changes in pressure and temperatures that play havoc with my RA causing flares.  The last one was about two weeks ago when the severe cold set in during the night dropping the temperature to 9 degrees with a 30 degree high during the day.  It was brutal on the left hip.  Cliff drove me to the doctor the next morning for a depomedrol injection in the hip, followed by Epsom soaks, Motrin, and two days later I was able to walk again like a normal person.  The negative side of the depo injection is that it accelerates cataracts but if I don't get the inflammation under control, it'll destroy the joints, the arteries and the organs.  S...

The second half of January brought us a mix of early morning lows in the 40's to this week's 11 degree lows.  It's been dry, windy, and brutally cold. Daytime temperatures reaching low 30's by late afternoon.  It's been hard on the joints.  I'm doing more Epsom soaks, heating pad in the evening, and saunas at the gym. Last fall I planted kale and spinach seeds in my kitchen garden to see how they would do when spring arrives.  The beds are covered with old sheets which I remove when the sun is on the soil and cover again as the sun sets.  During this frigid week, the covers remained over the gardens.                                                           kale   ...

About 7:15 this morning while preparing our hot oatmeal, a magnificent sunrise colored the eastern sky blazing through the silhouetted forest.  Sunrise and sunset colors change quickly.  You need to be present to be a part of them and appreciate each second.  Such is life also.  It can change in a second. It's easier to adapt to positive changes than to accept negative events and we each have our own way of dealing with these. It's unnerving to hear that a family member or a close friend has breast cancer.  Your heart aches for the decisions that need to be made.  Yesterday after yoga class a friend told me she has three tumors in her right breast that have increased in size and after going through chemo and radiation years ago on her left breast, she will have a mastectomy this time with no radiation or chemo.  Her mother and sisters have all had breast cancer too.  She's at peace with her decision.  This morning while standing at the to...

My short "to-do" list is lengthening daily due to neglect.  Important chores such as transferring all anniversary and birthday dates from the 2018 calendar to this year's new one, vacuuming the thin garlic skins from their hiding place under the kitchen counters, chasing cobwebs seen only when the sunlight hits them, and on and on................. The temperature dipped to 23 degrees by 7 am this morning and will probably reach 35 up here on the mountain for our afternoon high. During the day there's no fire in the stove because with the brilliant sun beaming through the windows, the house stays around 72.  Around 4pm, we fire up the stove as the sun slides down the western side of our mountain.  I'm excited about gaining over a minute of daylight each day.  It's too beautiful an afternoon to do menial tasks but the perfect afternoon to stretch out on the couch, in the sun, with a cup of hot tulsi tea and dive back into my book.  I found this old paperback i...