All Quiet on the Western Front
I shouldn't have worried about our gluten-intolerant guests. After all, they are from Humboldt.
Hutch, his lovely lady Jane and their tweenage son Ry turned out to be ideal guests: they knew what they wanted to do while in our area and were out and about most of the day, looked after themselves and when we did socialize, were fun, intelligent and inquisitive. Which is saying a LOT for an 8th grade boy!
Plus, the food challenge became not very challenging. Jane even brought their own bowls for fruit salad in the morning! (Which was probably a good thing since I don't have bowls that size.)
But now they are back up north and it is quiet again at the ranch. I say "quiet" but I really mean "unpeopled" because it is a madhouse of activity. Big Dog suddenly got the interior decorator bug up his behind and has been pulling out artwork, curios, etc. from boxes that have not been opened since we packed them up for shipping across the Pacific. One corner of the office is my one-woman sweatshop with pieces of fabric piled up around the ancient sewing machine. (Finally resurrected the machine I discovered in a barn at the ranch when we first got here. Best $75 I've ever spent!) The other corner is the framing workshop where I cut matte and make little museum signs for Big Dog.
I really don't have time for any of this. It's harvest season and I am busy picking, drying, canning, fermenting and otherwise dealing with the produce. If I look at the list of what I need to do before the end of the season, I'll go crazy, so it is hidden away under the ever increasing mountain of paperwork, books, manuals, notes, wish lists. I also need to start thinking about next season and what seeds to order.
My "To Do" list grows faster than I can tick things off, but producing film and video has taught me how to stay focused on the project at hand and not feel too overwhelmed. Besides, even if I don't get around to drying all my herbs, or framing all of Big Dog's photos, or dyeing my organic cotton fabric red (beets! Hopi Red Dye amaranth!) and green (artichokes!) and brown (leaves!) there will be no angry client at the other end.
The sky is a deeper shade of blue, the sun a more golden yellow. Life is sweet.
Hutch, his lovely lady Jane and their tweenage son Ry turned out to be ideal guests: they knew what they wanted to do while in our area and were out and about most of the day, looked after themselves and when we did socialize, were fun, intelligent and inquisitive. Which is saying a LOT for an 8th grade boy!
Plus, the food challenge became not very challenging. Jane even brought their own bowls for fruit salad in the morning! (Which was probably a good thing since I don't have bowls that size.)
But now they are back up north and it is quiet again at the ranch. I say "quiet" but I really mean "unpeopled" because it is a madhouse of activity. Big Dog suddenly got the interior decorator bug up his behind and has been pulling out artwork, curios, etc. from boxes that have not been opened since we packed them up for shipping across the Pacific. One corner of the office is my one-woman sweatshop with pieces of fabric piled up around the ancient sewing machine. (Finally resurrected the machine I discovered in a barn at the ranch when we first got here. Best $75 I've ever spent!) The other corner is the framing workshop where I cut matte and make little museum signs for Big Dog.
I really don't have time for any of this. It's harvest season and I am busy picking, drying, canning, fermenting and otherwise dealing with the produce. If I look at the list of what I need to do before the end of the season, I'll go crazy, so it is hidden away under the ever increasing mountain of paperwork, books, manuals, notes, wish lists. I also need to start thinking about next season and what seeds to order.
My "To Do" list grows faster than I can tick things off, but producing film and video has taught me how to stay focused on the project at hand and not feel too overwhelmed. Besides, even if I don't get around to drying all my herbs, or framing all of Big Dog's photos, or dyeing my organic cotton fabric red (beets! Hopi Red Dye amaranth!) and green (artichokes!) and brown (leaves!) there will be no angry client at the other end.
The sky is a deeper shade of blue, the sun a more golden yellow. Life is sweet.
posted by bad-dog at 3:16 PM
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