Surprise! I'm going to miss you...

Well, not *you*, but a friend of mine.

A friend of mine lives in the UK, but, for the last few years, he has come to the States for 3 weeks every three months or so for his job (he works for a US company).  When he comes, I get to spend a reasonable amount of time visiting with him on the weekends. We usually have lots of fun, I get a nice change to my normal routine, and most times, I end up going places I wouldn't normally go.

And, he's my oyster buddy :-) He introduced me to the joys of raw oysters and when he's here, we have oysters at least once during his visit.

Recently, he's decided it's time to find another job. And I agree. He's very, very smart, driven, and extremely motivated to create great software products. Not something he can do in his current job. He's been dissatisfied with his work for awhile, but giving up the frequent trips to visit his US friends has kept him holding on.  But, to no one's surprise, he's reached his limit and is now ready to find a new job (and he has a few options lined up).  It all makes sense to me and I am happy that he's ready to do something that's more satisfying and more in line with his talents.

A day later after we talked about this, I suddenly realized that I'm going to miss his visits. And, I'm totally surprised. He's a good friend, but we're not especially close. When he's not here, we don't communicate much. And while we have good times together, we don't share close, personal things very often.  So, I'm surprised at how much I suddenly feel a loss. I know that I'll visit him, and I'm sure he'll come for visits as well -- he has a lot of friends here. But, I didn't realize how much his visits had become a part of my general routine. Once every three months, there he was.

Today, I felt oddly happy and sad. Happy that my friend has a bright future ahead of him and is going to go out and reach for it. And yet so sad that this change means I won't have as many fun times with a friend who, apparently, has come to mean more to me than I realized.
 
Surprise...

Leaves falling like rain...

Driving to work today, a gust of wind brought down a shower of leaves and for a brief moment, the leaves were falling like red and gold rain drops. Like a call from the wild, I suddenly felt like driving to some unknown destination, leaving everything and most everyone behind (there are a couple of dear people that I hope to always carry with me).
There's something about this time of year that makes me think about change. One would think that Spring, with it's new leaves and bright sun, would be the motivation for seeking new adventures. For me, it's autumn. Perhaps it's the change in temperature -- the crisp, cold air that invites movement, if only to keep warm. Or maybe it's the knowledge that the end of the year is coming (albeit a mad-made, arbitrary date) and that there's only a short amount of time left to accomplish those wistfully expressed goals that I made at the beginning of the year.

Whatever it is, today I wish I could just hit the road and drive to somewhere new and different. Instead, I'll be a good girl, place my butt in the chair, and get to work!

(but I wonder...is it that I want to run away from something or run towards something?)

I'm back...again...

Oh, my few loyal readers, did you think I had disappeared forever?

I'm back. Really, I am. Just took a bit of a break from my random nattering which is likely to be as boring as hell, and yet, according to my blog stats, SOMEONE out there is reading (or maybe it's just googlebot indexing my blog for some odd reason).

I was reading some "tips" about how to stay current as a technical writer. Mostly good advice. The problem is, I don't really want to be a modern day technical writer. I liked being the old fashioned kind. You know...the one that wrote the online help and administrator manuals. I liked putting chunks of content together, group huge, dense tracts of text into nice lists, tables, and diagrams.

Alas, that's not the wave of the future. Sigh. Alas, I find the topic of DITA to be a big, boring, blog of blather. Alright, I admit, it has a lot going for it regarding reuse and efficiency. And, perhaps if I had implemented it where I work today, I would be regarded as innovative (but expensive) and maybe I would have a nice content management system that allows me to use content in product documentation AND the web, instead of the crappy process I have to use today. I sort of regret that I took the inexpensive route. And, not using DITA could be a bit job limiting (yes, I'm sure I'll have to find another job within the next couple of years...more about that in another post).

I'm feeling nostalgic for the good, old days of technical writing. Social media, screen casts, video productions...sounds pretty cool and exciting, eh? And yet, I'm having trouble finding the motivation to be bothered with learning all the new stuff.

Perhaps I'm really ready to retire, eh? Too bad I can't afford to do so.

The garden winds down...

One of the things I did manage to do was keep my community garden plot going. Overall, I'm pleased, although a lot of things did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Leeks, onions, and fennel did not do well. A number of plants didn't survive my haphazard care, especially when it came to watering. And the most recent heat while I was away (see previous post!), devastated my magnificent pumpkin and melon vines.

And yet, I have 5 or 6 sugar pumpkins ripening. Four or so melons -- one that's gianormous and should be ready for harvesting soon. The cosmos and sunflowers were fantastic. The zinnias and marigolds took care of themselves. The herbs went wild (I could feed pesto to the world, I have THAT much basil!). I learned a lot of good lessons to apply to next year so, even though things didn't go as expected, I know that next year will be even better.

During the month of July, the garden just looked glorious. The vines were taking over everything, the flowers were blooming happily. Now, the garden looks like the end of summer. Things are dying back, the leaves aren't as bright. It's the natural order of things so it's OK with me.

At home, the patio garden did OK. My tomatoes were doing very well, but some critter kept eating my huge, ripe tomatoes so I lost a number of them. Still, I managed to get some lovely specimens. The hot peppers are wonderful. I'm hoping to make my own paprika from the Hungarian peppers. Although, they're quite tasty when eaten fresh. I've had a few beans and peas that were quite yummy. I plan to plant more of them next year.

Overall, a good growing season. The recent heatwave wasn't all that good for my plants, but most of them were hardy enough to take hold and keep going.

I never did win the battle with the ants. Every time I come home from the garden, I have new bites to contend with...why I don't use insect repellent before entering the garden, I don't know. Right before I went on vacation, my forearm was hideously swollen from insect bites. Luckily, it healed before I left. But, after visiting the garden a couple of times this week, I'm back to my itchy, lumpy state.

Did you miss me? And a few notes about a sailing ship

OK, so I know I have a immensely small (nice juxtaposition of opposing adjectives, eh?) readership. But, I've noticed that when I do get around to posting something, some one reads it eventually.

So, I'm back :-) Did ya miss me? (that's a rhetorical question, of course).

Not sure where the summer went this year. It's just about mid-August and there's tons of stuff I still haven't done. Didn't take out the kayak once. The bike is still in storage with flat tires. I didn't do any of the home renovations that are desperately needed.

What I DID do:

Go away more than usual. A weekend in New York City, a weekend in the White Mountains. And then there was the sailing vacation.

My dear friend B invited me to join her on a sailing ship cruise around the New England coast. Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cuttyhunk. I've always wanted to take a trip on a sailing ship so, of course, I agreed to go.

What a marvelous trip. Really. It was the first time I went away when I wasn't eager to come home. I could have stayed on that ship for...well, I don't know how long -- maybe forever?

The ship is a beautiful three-masted schooner called the Arabella and she was glorious when under full sail. The routine went like this: Get up in the morning and go up to the deck for coffee and breakfast. By then, we were under way to our next destination. So, we would spend an hour or so sitting on the fore deck, just enjoying the wind and sea. Then down for a shower (the cabin was about as small as could be -- we took turns in there if we weren't sleeping). Then, back to the deck to read, talk, or just sit. The ship was only half full with passengers so there's was always a great place to sit. Then, we'd anchor, have lunch on board, and head off to the day's island to explore, shop, or watch a sunset on the beach. After dinner, it was back to the ship for our nightly session in the hot tub on the aft deck.

One of the best vacations ever. To just sit on the deck, listening to the wind in the sails was sublime. To not have to make any real decisions about what to cook, where to go, what to do...such a relief. To have no real responsibilities...fantabulous.

Sigh.

Garden wars!

This year, my time is fully occupied with gardening. For the first time, ever, I have a real garden plot in the community garden. I've always wanted a flower garden and this year, I'm working on making that happen.

It's been a good learning experience. Watching what my fellow gardeners are doing, I see some things that I could have done better; things that I can plan for next year.

On the plus side, so far, everything I've planted is thriving. We've been very lucky in that we've had rain once or twice a week, so I haven't had to worry about watering yet.

On the other, other hand, I've had to declare war on a stalwart opponent. Ants. Millions.Of.Ants. They seemed to have swarmed into my garden plot after I had cleared the area. Before I started planting, I tried to dig up the area in the vague hope that they would get mad and move away. No such chance. They've dug in and now swarm all over my garden plot. And, since I come home from the garden with a new set of insect bites, I'm convinced that they're the culprits. Each time I scratch yet another large lump on my arm, my anger rises just a bit more.

And so, I've declared war. I don't really care if the ants aren't causing harm to my plants. I just want them to stop making me scratch! Besides, it's not like I moved into their territory. There was NO evidence of life in my little plot of dirt when I did all the work of clearing it. Nope, the insect horde took advantage of an opportunity, without any invitation. And, if they hadn't started with the biting, I might have let them be. But no more.

My first attempt to rid myself of the six-legged intruders was a mixture of vinegar and water. Research indicates that they don't like vinegar and it screws up their scent trails. But, of course, with all the rain we've had, I'm sure that it's all washed away. I'll try again.

I've planted tansy -- a plant that ants supposedly don't like. When I get back to the garden, I'll check to see if that area is now ant free. If so, I might get more and plant it around the border of my garden plot. And I'll be searching for more lethal approaches. After noticing yet one more insect bite, I have no sympathy for the mobile marauders. None at all. There's plenty of land for both of us ...they have to move or suffer the consequences!

Despite this unpleasant challenge, I did manage to get a nice, little bouquet for the house (after picking off the ants, of course).

Must remember how to say NO

I'm usually quite good about not over committing myself. Able to say no, able to set priorities. Lately though, I seem to have totally forgotten how to order my life in a comfortable way. I feel overwhelmed and over committed.

For the first time ever, I seem to have overbooked my sparse allotment of vacation time. I agreed to go on a trip with a relative this year. But, since we've been trying to plan a trip for two years, I really didn't expect she would come through. But she did. AFTER, I already made plans with someone else. So, that takes almost 2 of the 3 weeks that I get. Add in a few days to visit my parents, and I probably won't be able to take my typical week in December. I love taking the last week in December off and I'm annoyed with myself that I've overbooked my time so much that it's unlikely to happen. And, unless I take some sick time, I'm unlikely to get any time off just to do nothing.

Work is busy and stressful. I come home tired. But, there's going to the glass studio once or twice a week. And now, the stupid community garden which seems like it will never be done. But, I need to get there several times a week to make sure something survives because it's been like late July here with no rain in sight.

And then, there's the writing group that I want to go to once a month, except I'm too tired to think of writing anything except these silly blog entries. And then there's the artist support group that I've started going to..only once a month, but still, it's something on my calendar.

And there are people I want to see, movies to see, and, I desperately need to do some work in the home (many things need replacing and upgrading), and my car needs care, and I haven't done any kayaking at all, which I miss terribly, and, and, and...see what I mean? I'm out of control.

I'm really not a high-energy person. I like to have lots of down time. Time to set some priorities and start saying NO to new activities!!!

Too bad I can't just retire. That would free up so much time!

:-)