Chlorine, drippy hair, and nostalgia

In the gardening post, I pointed out that, rather than focusing, I'm choosing to introduce hobbies and activities while I work on my thesis. The theory is that, if I'm distracted, I won't lose my mind and commit a homocide. So, I went swimming with a friend yesterday afternoon. In the competition pool, with 50 meter lanes. It was cold, refreshing, exhausting, and perfect. I showered afterwards and immediately ponytailed my hair such that it smelled like shampoo when I went to sleep. I guess it's nostalgia that makes swimming so relaxing. The smell of chlorine, the drippy hair, that starving feeling afterward. When I woke up this morning, having showered the night before, I just re-ponytailed my hair, made soft but crazy by sleeping on it while wet, put on my clothes and came to work. I still feel relaxed, though my neck hurts, from breathing, I guess, weird.

Square foot gardening

The garden that I planted, about 3/4 from seed, is flourishing in the late spring heat. It's a very satisfying feeling. We've had plenty of rain and things are growing incredibly fast now. The cucumbers are cute little tiny guys with flower crowns. I'll take a picture tonight for next time. We have eaten nothing yet but it's time to harvest the leaf lettuces, I think. We pulled up two radishes because the foliage was gigantic but, it turned out that the radish was not big yet. They're crowded so I'm sure it was fine. I'm looking forward to getting some carrots. If we get too many cucumbers, we're going to make pickles and that will be fun also. We check things every day. I think it's time to harvest onions but I don't see any tops on any of them. Also, I think you're supposed to wait for the greens to tip over or something. I'll have to check the book again to see. The root vegetables actually confuse me frequently, which is too bad because there are lots of them. Here's a picture of the beets. Also, some onion greens, which were blocking my view. I don't actually like beets, as far as I know, but the square foot gardening book told me to plant them, so I did. Here, I'll put a link to my book. It's been really a terrific idea and I'm having a great time. Look, you can see carrot fronds in this picture. They're so pretty! I don't know how the eating will work out but I'm really having a lot of fun. I could write something poetic about the seasons and so on. Mostly, the advantage here is that I go into my backyard a lot more often. It's a nice yard and it was feeling neglected, I suspect. Also, there's a deck back there that we should really use more often. I'm considering letting the cat out into the yard to walk around. I think he might like it. Here's a picture of him looking out the door. Sad, right? He should be allowed out. He probably won't leave. I have friends who let their cats wander around in the yard while they're in the yard and the cats go back in the house when they go back in the house. So, that should work out okay. Well, so, I'm totally excited about the garden and how it makes me feel rooted to the new house. We actually exited the house via the back door this morning so that we could poke the various plants and see how they're doing. This also makes the day more pleasant. I like to have things happening in my life other than the dissertation so that I keep in mind that, in the grand scheme, and as far as the rest of the world is concerned, this really is a very minor thing. OK, well, enjoy, whoever you are reading my blog. I will be writing more later.