Feeling the Heat June 29, 2009
Posted by millyonair in Life, Things Environmental.Tags: animals, chickens, drought, Environment, heat, Life, Thoughts
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Eunice, Eugenia and Goldie wait their turns while Rocki enjoys the wading pool.
It’s hot outside, and it’s all anyone can talk about. It’s like some kind of minor apocalypse, this grueling Texas heatwave, combined with a choking drought that has lasted since 2007. Each morning the sun roars over the horizon, snorting and throwing its great, angry weight about the sky like a bull in a ring. Before noon, temperatures have reached triple-digit proportions, and the chickens are panting in the shade, their tongues bobbing in the bottoms of their beaks, jabbing like little pink knives at the barbarous heat. The edges of the plants curl inward, the water in the birdbath is greedily devoured by the hot air, and the basin is left to sizzle in the sun. My kitchen is invaded by mad hordes of thirsty ants; they drink the cats’ water, and skitter dementedly in my sink.
The area’s creeks and rivers have shriveled into scummy, stagnant pools. In town, the sidewalks are empty, blasted clean and white in the scouring sun.
Fans whirl. Air conditioners hiss and moan. Libraries and other public buildings crowd with fugitives from the heat. It’s too hot to cook, it’s too hot to eat. It’s too hot to swim, even, too hot to run the vacuum, too hot to sleep. It’s too hot to think, or even breathe. The greedy air steals into my nostrils and snakes into my lungs, pulling the moisture from the inside of my body and away from me.
Night is no cooler, just darker. Even after sunset solar heat burns all the way through from the other side of the earth, radiating up through the soil in hot gasps that only remind us of the day’s suffering, and the throat-sticking, skin-peeling agony of tomorrow.
In order to maintain my sanity, I’m compiling a list of GOOD things about this hellish, hateful, harrowing heat:
- Sun tea.
- Standing in line at the grocery (or anywhere else with AC) is a pleasant respite instead of an annoying waste of time.
Well, that’s all I got so far.
Suggestions are welcome. This is my sanity we’re talking about, folks.
La Dolce Vita June 20, 2009
Posted by millyonair in Food.Tags: Food, gardening, Life, lifestyle, summer
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What is summer without homegrown tomatoes? This is my first real tomato of the season. It’s probably sacrilege to have done anything to it other than devour it the moment I plucked it, but I was excited and couldn’t resist a little fanfare. Plus, I have a big ol’ potful of basil right outside my kitchen door, so, really, how could I not add a little cracked-pepper-and-basil-and-balsamic-vinegar-and-olive-oil? And cheese? It was that or a bog ol’ blob of Blue Plate Mayonnaise, which our local grocery (miraculously!) carries.
I think that I will devour the next one straightaway, standing in the garden. That’s greedy, I know. Tomatoes do that to me. And besides, there’s something to be said for the warmth of the sun in your mouth, the hot juices running all over your hands and chin, and heavy, glistening gobs of seeds tumbling down your shirtfront. It’s like eating the very heart of the earth. Seems a pity to let all that hot, gooey goodness dissipate into a bowl on the kitchen counter.
The one after that? I’ll eat it with Blue Plate.
What the Ancestors Left Me June 14, 2009
Posted by millyonair in Uncategorized.Tags: ancestors, fashion, hair, Life, Thoughts
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Milly Gets a Make Over!
Oh, I’m a lucky, lucky girl. This is what happens when your sister-in-law (and friend) is a talented hairstylist, another good friend is like a clothing artist and gifted seamstress! My friend R made me this ADORABLE dress for my birthday (along with some PJ’s and another very cute dress).
I have never been a brunette before, though that is my natural color. I was blonde as a kid, but – there’s just no denying it – I am not blonde anymore. I have brown hair. Brown.
I’ve been in denial about this for a very long time, so it feels good to get it off my chest; it’s been kind of a secret big deal to me.
Since age 18, I have been dyeing my hair an ever-changing array of colors. Sometimes red, sometimes platinum, sometimes auburn (but only once or twice did I ever flirt with brown-ness in this way). Once It was black, and once it was blue. But never brown. (more…)
A Gift From God June 8, 2009
Posted by millyonair in Things Environmental.Tags: beer, kayaking, Life, litter, Nature, outdoors, religion, River, Thoughts
7 comments
Photo from Southwest Paddlers
Yesterday, my husband and I rented a kayak and took a meandering trip down the San Marcos River. Before I met him, I don’t think I had ever once thought about kayaking. Since then, I have been kayaking three times, and each time, I am reminded how much I like it! Kayaking is like taking a walk, only you’re in a boat instead of on a path, and you’re using your arms and torso instead of your legs and butt.
It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning, communing with nature, and reacquainting myself with the pleasure of prolonged physical movement. Being in outdoors in a natural area is an almost-guaranteed way for me to connect with God. When I lived in Hot Springs, Arkansas, I was in the practice of taking a long hike on Sunday morning. It was irresistibly hassle-free because the city of Hot Springs is actually located within a national forest, and there are trail entrances all over the place. There’s just something about being enveloped in nature, surrounded by such beautiful complexity, that seems purer to me than any church building, no matter how ornate, or spartan.
And, because I can’t control myself about this: I had to pick up some trash. It never fails to amaze me how river enthusiasts are some of the worst offenders when it comes to littering! Besides being a form of pollution, litter is ugly! I pick up trash, not to be all -high-and-mighty about it, only because it strikes me that if I consciously notice a piece of littler and don’t pick it up, it’s like that piece of trash got thrown on the ground all over again.
My efforts, however, were appreciated by God, Who floated me a can of beer down the river. I reached out to grab what I thought was another piece of trash, and was rewarded with a cool, unopened can of Keystone Light. I know– you’re thinking Keystone Light, Milly? God must have not been overly appreciative! But that in itself was proof of Who sent it to me. Who else but God knew that I actually prefer cheap, watery beer when I’m on the lake, or at the beach or on the river?
Nature’s Bounty Hunter June 2, 2009
Posted by millyonair in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Taters 'n Radishes
This weekend yielded some of the first fruits in our garden: Radishes, potatoes, and bush beans. To celebrate the late spring bounty, I prepared two salads for dinner. Old-fashioned potato salad (family recipe) and a salad I invented from blanched green beans, garbanzo beans, black olives and smoky sausage. Both were a hit with my husband, who, before tasting, was probably secretly a little less-than-enthused about a dinner plate heaped with salad.
Things just taste better right out of the garden! Textures are better, flavors are more intense- all buoyed on the comfort of knowing that your food hasn’t absorbed any chemical fertilizer or been doused in poison. I highly recommend that everyone try some kind of gardening at least once, even if it’s just a tomato in a pot on your balcony or in a window. There is something thrilling about watching a the flourish of a sudden blossom, watching the blossom whither and disappear, and then watching the slow green swell of a fruit grow heavy on its vine. Each day is filled with anticipation of the flavors developing within those neat, brightly colored packages of solar radiation and mineral compounds- vitamins that will sing into our bloodstream, brightening our skin and putting shine into our eyes. Embrace the process of food production from beginning to end- it’s so much more complete and magical!
This radish has split its pants.
