Monday, May 10, 2010

Garden!






I will finally make a post that doesn't have to do with Thomas, to prove that I do have a life outside of him! ;) Even though I have a black thumb, and even though I JUST started to be able to keep some plants alive, I decided to try gardening this year. I tried last year and it was an epic fail. Last year we thought "Oh hey, look the old owners planted a garden in the yard, let's just plant stuff there and see what happens!" So we planted a tomato plant, strawberries, and a couple other things I can't even remember. I don't think I watered them ever and we also realized that the soil there was total crap. Everything died. Obviously. So this year for my birthday Shem had a friend build me a raised bed. I also planted tomatoes in pots on the early side and they seem to be doing well. I also paid a tiny bit of attention to the fact that we have two citrus trees and an artichoke that were here before us. I fertilized them and we have two artichokes right now, and the citrus trees are budding so we will find out what the produce soon too! Once the raised bed was built, I planted two kinds of lettuce (one Bibb, the other, no clue), a red pepper, a green pepper, chioggia beets, basil, kale, and haricot vert green beans. Ambitious, yes. Foolish to try my hand at so many new things at once, yes. But it was all relatively cheap so if I kill everything at least I will have learned. I will keep you updated as things grow (hopefully).

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Grandpa "Bapa" visits!



Grandpa Tom came and spent a week with us last week and it was great having him around. Thomas immediately loved him and called him "Bapa" the whole time. If Tom left the room, Thomas frantically looked for him, and every morning when he woke up, Thomas would try to get into Grandpa's room. I got to go on some outings too and Tom was nice enough to watch Thomas which is always good for me. Shem, Tom, and Thomas all went to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate park one day and went to the aquarium there. Thomas loved it but he also gets overwhelmed after about an hour at places like that and then he starts making his car noise because he wants to get in the car and leave. At least he tells us when he is over it! We went on a couple of fun walks together and went to the Farmer's Market at the Civic Center in Marin. It had been a couple of years since I went to that one and I forgot how awesome it is. Fresh fish for reasonable (well, more reasonable than the markets out here) prices, and awesome local beef, and fruits and veggies. The food there was amazing. We plan on going a lot more this summer but it does get crazy crowded. I also bought some vegetables to plant there. More on my intro. into gardening later...Thanks for coming to stay with us Tom....we miss "Bapa!"