Ahhh for the love of Saturdays...

This morning I awoke at 6:20am to unusually golden sunlight scattered across my pillows and the alive, fresh end-of-spring-almost-summer-minus-the-heat air blowing in on me from my window. This is quite possibly the very best way to wake up- a beautiful weekend stretched out ahead of you... Inspired, I got out of bed and went for a run, cut my hair, showered, went to the farmers market for my delectable fresh veggies and coffee and am now eating my Reids Orchard strawberries in my yoghurt and it is all of 8:30 in the morning!! I feel so wholesome, so accomplished, and STILL the weekend is stretched out in front of me! After last weekend-spent on a farm- I am ready to reconnect to my morningperson self. (That fresh air and six o'clock sunshine dancing on my eyelids certainly didn't hurt either)

LAST Saturday morning I awoke even earlier (5:00!), snuggled close to Rita for warmth in Katie's chilly, electricity-less cabin on Caretaker farm in Massachusetts. Up to the farm house for a quick cup of coffee before the work day- which starts promptly at 6:15. We spent the morning snipping the third stocks of squash seedlings out of their little seedling pots. (they plant 3 seeds, but once they come up, the weakest link must be cut out), squishing flobber worms (cucumber beetles, if the truth must be told) between our fingers, (well, so, back to being truthful, I pointed them out while Rita and Katie fearlessly squished them in between their fingers. I like to think I'm tough, but squishing bugs is NOT my idea of being tough. Its gross. I left the massacre to K&R). We painted the barn door, cleaned up an old pile of roofing materials, planted endless rows of little bitty lettuces. Sweet lettuces! And weeded... and helped with fence posts. And I don't know several other farming odds and ends. Shoveled mulch into a stall for chloe and her calf. 

We did break for breakfast around 8:30- a delicious fresh farm egg quiche thing with corn bread and more coffee. We sat around the big dining room table, the farmer family- two kids, three apprentices, an apprentice boyfriend in for the weekend and Rita and I--loving every minute of this quintessential farm life that we were getting a bitty taste of. And then it was back out for our long list of to-do's... (listed above). Brilliant though it was- and we were only a part of it all for a half days work... the life of farmers is intense- and not to be idealized or taken for granted... I have tremendous respect and appreciation (even more so now!) for these farmers and their families who live close to the land, loving it and coaxing from it wholesome goodness that feeds us.

Now- back to my revelation. Its AMAZING how much time there is in the day when you are up at the butt-crack-o-dawn... and how much can be accomplished! I am a morning person by nature, but fear I have become a bit lazy with my mornings, due largely to my cushy work schedule that starts at (oh, I shudder to admit publicly) 10:00am. Don't get me wrong, I have no interest whatsoever in starting my work day ANY earlier than I have to, but just think what could be accomplished in the hours between 6-10am! So I am inspired. Get my running in and over with bright and early... and the afternoon will be all mine! 

So a fabulous memorial day weekend of farming with Katie. Rita and I drove up Friday and back Monday. It was an immeasurably special time... roadtripping it up to western Mass with Rita, and farming with Katie while we were there. There may be a great many things in this life that leave me wanting... but not in the arena of friends. I have the dearest and deepest of friends, and for this I am so so grateful. 

We farmed... we hiked... we drove through some fun towns and the beautiful green mountains of Massachusetts... We talked, we had sunday breakfast over the campfire. We collected wild... shoot, can never remember the name... not scapes. Rita? Oh yes, RAMPS... onion things... which we then cooked up into delicious sour chickpeas... We had dinner at the People's Pint, bought fresh maple syrup along the side of the road...  Read short stories and poetry outloud, sang to josh ritter... ate homemade ice-cream like only they have in Massachusetts, and inspected the glacial potholes, among many, many things... Ah to be with good people. 

So some fun photos of the weekend... If you are interested in the full, unabridged 200+ photos, check out my album on line. But here are just some of the highlights:

And happy, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Katiedid!!! Much love...

The wisdom of the trees, part II

Oh, I have been absent a long while. Which is, I guess, partly due to the fact that a lot of big changes are brewing... And partly also, because life feels pretty much the same as always. But really, honestly, it is MOSTLY due to the fact that I have been escaping into the wizarding world of Harry Potter and have been more than happy to ignore all else for the duration. A month of magical adventures and adolescent angst as I read the whole series backtoback... hooowee-FUN STUFF! Sadly it came to an end last week- so while I'm in the thick of some serious withdrawl... I will try to get on the blogging bandwagon once again. Oh Harry Potter was good though. If you were like me and avoided reading them for whatever lame-o reason, get over it and go read them I say. SO good.

So... life... real life, where there is no apparating or invisibility cloaks or polyjuice potion, is hurtling towards me at a break-necking pace. I have pulled and yanked my second foot out of the good baltimore soil... I am leaving. My last day of work will be June 25th. And the beginnings of July will find me and Junebug heading west to Chicago... and from there, well, who knows. Many possibilities exist... Will I stay there for a while? Will I carry on a west-ward path to Montana for a few months? Will I head south to Florida? Or across the oceans altogether? And why you ask? Why right now, with a flailing economy, would I choose to give up a job (I love) and a steady income for the great unknown? Simply: it is time.

If you have followed this blog at all, you know how much I love this great city. Baltimore has grown me up I think- I have discovered what I love doing here, and have had the greatgood opportunity to learn it and do it. I have found many good people and beautiful places along the way. But, ultimately, it is not where I want to BE. And rather than simply stay here indefinitely just because, or wait for opportunities to magically appear in my lap (oh where ARE you dumbledore??), I'm going to go figure it out and make whatever happens next, happen.... write some proposals, look for opportunities back in Kenya or elsewhere, see what I can see. 

I am excited. I am ready for adventures and new (old?) ways of life. And I am ready to go find them and live life as fully as I can where ever it lands me. 

But also I'm ridiculously sad; the uprooting process is wretched. I have six more weeks to soak in all the goodness and quirkyness of this place and the people I have here: of the farmers market, of this house that is my home, of Clayworks, of being a short hour away from some of my dearest of friends... So the plan is to enjoy it, really enjoy it-- and live life as fully as I can right here, right now. 

Druid Hill Park and the fountain that sometimes goes.