Movin' on down the road

Camping at Mesa Verde, CO

 Well, it has been "ages" since I have posted... a few thousand miles driving and a change of season. A springtime road trip to Florida was followed by a longer road trip to both New Mexico & Colorado, then a short jaunt to Iowa. My interests in gardens, textiles, history and camping seem to be the motivation behind my explorations, as I continue to focus on fulfilling the goals of my January manifesto.

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings

I have been using my tent as much as possible, finding solace being closer to nature. Hearing the wind rustle through the leaves, quietly observing the environment and getting away from town life and politics has been a soothing reprieve. Hiking and simply being silent outdoors distances me from stress more effectively than my intermittent media blackouts.

Now that I am home, I am finding it is crucial to my mood to spend more time outside in the garden. June temperatures were the hottest on record, as high as 105F/40C, and here Missouri adds a huge amount of humidity, making our climate both dangerous and miserable.

My time in the garden has thus become more focused & organized to make the most of cooler hours. The newest addition to the garden is an 1800lb Wisconsin boulder delivered into the front street-side garden. That area has irritated me for years, because the nearby sugar maple sends dense mats of micro roots into that garden every time I apply compost, preventing most perennials from surviving there more than a season.  Consequently, the tough to dig, lifeless center of this garden needed more definition than annual bloomers and "wild"oregano could provide. While this garden photo appears a bit "sun tired," since it is south facing, the daylilies, aster, liatris and oregano have been drawing in lots of honeybees. The boulder fills the dead space and is a pretty cool looking defining asset.

The daylilies are blooming profusely, and while they look a bit sunburned, they are beautiful in the garden. This salmon colored one is called South Seas, and is certainly a bright spot... paired nearby with a blue balloon flower.

New manifesto

I have found myself planning another road trip while recovering from the flu this cold January. My desire to travel alone has done nothing but increase since my April 2017 trip to Scotland. Certainly this trip was a boost to my confidence and capacity to successfully navigate away from home. Those days spent without a tour group or guide allowed me to realize that I can cope with different customs, countries and transportation without much trouble and I actually enjoyed taking the time to wander through these challenges. Truly, my most horrific travel situations occurred in the US, returning from Scotland, where several of my flights were rescheduled then canceled causing me to sleep on an airport cot overnight, before returning home.

My road trip to Devil's Tower, WY with the associated camping bolstered my enthusiasm for solo travel as well, reaffirming I still possessed useful skills for successfully "roughing it" without a hotel room. I have found I am now actively looking forward to another road trip/camping exploration. I believe this desire to get out and explore is colloquially known as "itchy feet" (see here for the Urban Dictionary definition https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=itchy%20feet.)

My recent trip to Florida had me realizing how few material items I needed to care for myself, and how valuable the time I have to see the world has become. While age hasn't been uppermost in my mind, I realize that I have much less lifetime remaining than I did in my youth, consequently I had better start using it to my benefit.

No longer am I going to worry about job-hunting, obviously, I can carefully manage my lifestyle without giving forty hours of life time away each week to an employer. No longer am I going to feel like a failure because I am unhired. No longer am I going to put my interests on a back burner because I think they are less important than something else, nope, this year I am going to finally explore my interests. So begins a year of adventure...

Depth of winter

We have been bitterly cold with single digit temperatures for a couple of weeks, then two lovely days of 60F/15.5C before weather returned to the chilly teens. I have noticed how often I begin my blog with a mini weather report, but frankly climate change is apparent in my area and I am obsessed. At least, the winter blooming plants are still on schedule, my 30 year old Cymbidium orchid is flowering. I leave it on my front porch all summer and into fall until temps are about 50F, then shelter it in my chilly basement under artificial lights. This year its blooms are lovely. See care here https://www.thespruce.com/grow-cymbidium-orchids-1902836

We welcomed the New Year in with temps so cold my champagne was frosting the glass! Of course, I got chilled and then the "flu" hit a couple of days later. I haven't been sick, not bedridden (as I was) for over ten years, but this viral infection laid me low. Thank goodness for Extra Strength Tylenol, carbonated water, Airborne and Progresso Lemon Orzo soup. So while I was over the acute "flu" phase eight days ago, I am still coughing. Apparently, this cough can last up to six weeks, so I am just  trying to stay warm, rest and hydrate until the cough resolves.

Consequently, reading and knitting have been high on my activities list. Here are a few of the novels I have finished so far this year: Ghost Bride, by Yangze Choo, Three Souls and Dragon Springs Road, both by Janie Chang and finally, Love and Other Consolation Prizes, by Jaime Ford. A bit of a theme going here, but pre-war China and Malaysia are fascinating and Ford's book is an enlightening window to Seattle society at the time of the 1909 World's Fair.

On the needles right now are my stashed Icelandic Lettlopi Yarn skeins 109 yds, in colors that reminded me of the Icelandic landscape. I am knitting Mary Jane Mucklestone's Flying Geese Cowl, see on Ravelry here https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flying-geese-cowl 
I am hoping this pattern will show off the lovely complementary colors of this yarn. So, I will brew myself another cuppa tea and settle in for a quiet evening