Peace, rhubarb, and I think my pillow and bed are trying to kill me...

I did finally sit down at my machine and sew. But not without wrestling with it first. I secretly think my machine is alive and was messing with the tension just to terrorize me for not having sewn for over two weeks. I also secretly think that my machine gets up in the night to pee, but maybe that's something I shouldn't be saying out loud?

I know it seems silly, but just making peace symbols with rick rack was soothing. I suppose this is why humans love symbols, they remind us of important things like hope and peace. I can't wait to have my own peace apron and pot holders.

Bounty from the early spring garden. Herbs for quiche and rhubarb for crisp. We had a mostly seasonal meal which is always deeply satisfying. Especially when a good portion of it is from our own mini-ranch. Philip made the crisp (with some help from Mark) which turned out to be excellent. I used spinach and mushrooms for the quiche with lots of finely cut fresh herbs. Then I made a vegetable side dish with carrots and locally grown asparagus and seasoned it with butter, honey, and mustard.

It doesn't really get a lot better than having your favorite people come over to eat a good meal and drink some fine beers and wines. I don't enjoy having "parties" where you invite every person you know. I get easily overwhelmed and panicky. I actually don't enjoy parties at all. The last time I was a person who really loved a good party was when I was seventeen or eighteen years old.

Last night was the perfect gathering. Except that my mom could only sit up with us for a while because she was in so much pain. Other than that, it was perfect. The boys glued themselves to the computer and shed very little blood betwixt them, and Elena gave birth to several unicorns under our very watchful glazed adult eyes.

I think she may have been trying to demonstrate to Dominique how to give birth to magical creatures with no pain. This is very useful because Dominique has got herself in the family way and will be pushing her little watermelon out in another month! I can't be completely sure about this, but I'm going to take a risk here and say that I'm pretty sure she's hoping it's not a baby cyclops she's carrying in there. Because then she'll have to name it something like "Randy the Cyclops" instead of Truitte.

Now, I don't have any proof to offer up, but I'm pretty sure my bed is trying to kill me. The evidence? I go to sleep not completely a broken person and I wake up in agony with pains in my lower back, cricks in my neck, and tense shoulders. This is not an old bed and it's not a cheap bed either. So what gives? It's supposed to be firm yet with give. It's by Sealy, a "reputable" brand, as though that means anything. This whole 85 year old body thing is really bringing me down. It is a bright sunny day here in the Pacific North West and I've got about five more yards of amendment to haul into my garden beds and seeds to plant. I don't have time to be broken. This totally sucks.

But not as much as it would suck to have no arms or legs to complain about. It's important to keep things in perspective at all times. I'm pretty happy I'm not a part of a Siamese twin duo. I imagine that really puts a serious damper on life too. What right have I got to complain about a little agonizing neck pain when there are people out there joined at the head for life?

I spent a lot of time looking at new blogs yesterday and found some really great ones. I love all my crafty blogs, but I've been wanting to find some blogs with more posts about gardening, especially kitchen gardening. So through a tangled web of links I found one called Allotment Lady which is filled with pictures of her allotment, her lovely baby, and other garden projects. Just the thing! She also has some great links to explore of other allotment blogs.

I also found Snowflakes and Black Vampires through Allotment Lady which is a woman's creative blog on which she posts pictures of hers and other people's art, and also some poetry. The funny thing is, I have spent years making jokes about Bukowski and how his writing is brilliant but I can't read it because it's so depressing, and here on this blog I read a poem by Bukowski that was really good. I mean, I totally related to it. It's called "Ice cream people" and he manages to describe exactly how I've felt for so much of my life. (Like a curmudgeonly old lush of a man who is always looking at the bright squeaky clean shiny happy people as though either they, or I, am from another planet just observing the show.) So it seems I'm going to give Bukowski another chance to make a fresh impression on me.

Both of these bloggers visited my blog yesterday and I can only hope I didn't scare them off with my super dark post from a few days ago. But I suppose there's no time like the present to freak people out since it's bound to happen eventually anyway.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I just checked out a new commenter's blog called Cauldron Ridge Farm and really enjoyed it. Since Gina commented on the scary post, I can be pretty sure I haven't freaked her out. Yet. She's just had a beautiful baby and has some very honest worries about the world she's brought her boys into. I can totally relate!

One more new blog I have to mention is Cottage Magpie because it's a great blog with crafts, gardening, and house stuff. (I really like the word "stuff". It's such a great all purpose word.) Angela and I are connected by a series of strange coincidences and she's fully as spazzy as I am, which is very admirable. (Uh, not everyone values spazziness as I do, but I consider it a very fine quality in a person, whether they are quiet about it or loud.)

Well, I think it's time to take a shower, and hobble out to the mountain of amendment, and start shoveling like I'm impervious to pain.