Category Archives: Jersey Girl in GA

Dog days, iPhone snaps, Jersey Girl in GA

Sadie: starting over with a “senior” shelter dog

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We sat in the parking lot of the shelter and very nearly went home without her, for a second time. Then we twisted each other’s arm and, just like that, it was done.

A new dog!

Some very basic and important part of me is made happier by having a dog. I’d been trying to deny that the past couple years since splitting with the ex-DH, but all the practicalities in the world couldn’t change that part of myself.

So… meet Sadie!

She’s 10 years old and a mix of perfectly polite and adorably unsure of herself. She’s cowering under the desk as I write this during a thunderstorm. Her first inclination when feeling anxious is to climb on top of something. She wanders around, following behind us like a houseguest that’s run out of tourist attractions to visit. She’s scared of cars and utterly oblivious to the cat who’s in a state of permanent hiss.

Nobody slept the first night. Last night we slept shifts on the floor beside her. For tonight I’m stil hopeful. Little by little her head and tail are coming up and she’s making tentative eye contact.

Who knows what her life before was.

Her eyes are sad, sad, sad.

We mean to change that.

City love, Garden, iPhone snaps, Jersey Girl in GA, Pastimes

Gardening in a furnace

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“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.”–W.E. Johns

Finally (!) I’m starting to feel overrun with tomatoes. Luckily, it’s the cherry tomatoes that are first to bear and those disappear easily enough. Better than half of what’s ripe at each visit is devoured before I even leave the community garden with the day’s harvest. I munch away while I water and while I weed. Makes all the sweat seem so much more worthwhile somehow.

: )

I planted a bunch of heirloom tomatoes… Rutgers was the first of the “big” tomatoes to ripen, but I haven’t tasted one yet. Each one I’ve brought home has mysteriously disappeared before I got a bite! The first of the lovely pink Brandywines is almost ready… those are a favorite and will be hidden away in my purse, if necessary!

The heat of the sun here is something else… like gardening in a furnace! I’m surprised anything survives, really. I’m approaching this first summer as little more than an experiment to see what’ll grow and how well. Cucumbers did well, but the vines have turned to dust in the last week. Just as well… I was getting a bit overwhelmed with them. The summer squash looked beautiful and I got half a dozen that I still need to cook, but the plants were overrun with bugs. I’m still waiting on the peppers. I also planted tomatillos for the first time… anyone know anything about them? Lots of flowers, but no fruit set. Curious.

I spend some time at each visit just wandering around the garden, enjoying being around growing things. I think that’s what I like most about being there. I love to see what other people are growing and how well their vegetables are doing. There’s a couple of beehives maintained by students… those are fun to look in on. Plenty of bluebirds and towhees, too, keeping the bugs at bay.

It’s supposed to be 106 this Saturday… you’ll find me somewhere shady, for sure.

Crazy things i do to amuse myself, iPhone snaps, Jersey Girl in GA, Remembering

1/365

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New coffee pot, new camera, new life… why not a new photo project, too?!?

I’m trying out the 365 Days Project to take a photo a day for the next year. Sounds pretty easy for someone as camera addicted as me, right? I figure it’ll be a sweet way to chronicle this first year in a new place. I also have a new camera – the new iPhone 4S – and it combined with Hipstamatic is the perfect toy!

I’m not sure how often I’ll share pics from the project here, but considering the difficulty I’m having with writing regular posts to this blog, if nothing else, a photo a day will at least give me something to blog about. The truth is, I have plenty to blog about, but the difficulty lies in how much to share and what to keep close to my heart. I imagine I’ll work that out with time and practice. For now it still feels like too much, as if too many people are reading over my shoulder…

Anyway, about the new coffee pot…

; )

The cheapo Mr. Coffee died yesterday when I was just desperate for a cup…

Coffee this way reminds me of my dad and of camping. I love the smell of it cooking on the stove. It’s especially yummy this way, I think, but it takes forever to be ready. So today I snapped a pic while I waited.

Anyone else out there prefer perked coffee over drip-brewed? Any hints for getting the basket contraption out of the pot without burning my fingers or should I go to the garage for that camping tool?

: )

Jersey Girl in GA, Snapshots

Mid-week cat fix

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Everyone else is doing cat-blogging, so why can’t I join in the silliness? 

; )

This is Belle. She’s a pretty cat. She runs to sit in my lap at every opportunity. She kneads my soft belly with her claws. She looks at my bunnies like they’re dangerous and might infect her with some terrible cuteness. Her breath smells like fish, usually.

How do cat people stand that?

I’m such a dog person by nature and by choice. I had cats as a kid and as an adult had taken to saying that cats were okay so long as they were other people’s cats.

; )

There’s a dog park down the street and I’m sort of haunting it in my pining for Luka and some doggy-love. I steal kisses from strange dogs I meet when out hiking. I’m developing a friendship with a lady who has four, hoping she’ll let me borrow one from time to time. I carry biscuits in my pockets and am considering a career change to professional dog-walker.

Honestly, don’t you think dog and cat people are wired differently, somehow?

Is there some book I can consult to help me understand the strange mincing about on tippy-toes they like to do first thing in the morning? Why the black one chooses to sleep curled up on the dark steps where I can easily trip on her? Why they invite me to pet their furry bellies and then attack my hand with teeth and claws? Why Belle stops mid-step and glares at me from across the room? Why they prowl around in the dark, yowling?