jumping back in

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It has been a very long time since I felt like writing anything in this space - and so much has changed since my last post.

2018 is the year I get my life back. I'm in the process of finding a new job. I now own my house and am fixing it up, my goal this year is to declutter and streamline. I'm doing a lot of the things I spent the last few years wishing I had the freedom to pursue: I spent November and December traveling and getting out of the house. I went to Boston and Chicago, spent two long weekends in Kentucky, visited Las Vegas and saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. 

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Losing mom changed so much. I'm still trying to figure things out 7 months later. It's the weirdest tiny little things that make the grief come roaring back. I turned her closet into my office a few weeks ago and it felt like a huge betrayal to be so happy about claiming that bit of space. 

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But I'm learning a lot. Leaving my last job was hard until I decided to embrace the opportunity presented by all of this free time. I'm calling it my professional sabbatical. I've got a stack of books to work through and I've been knitting up a storm. I'm back in a ceramics class for the first time in a decade. I've checked off a few major bucket list items over the last 2 months. Garden season is fast approaching and there are major plans to be made. And I'm finally looking forward to what the future might bring. 

Stay tuned.

State of the Garden: June 28, 2016

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Looks so good over here. Elders still blooming, orienpet lillies and gladiolas starting to open, zinnias popping up. That one massive volunteer sunflower. I had to fence off the flower patch with tposts and twine bc the guy who mows our grass thinks every
Morning garden walk with neighbor's cat; she likes to hide in between the tomato cages. That volunteer dill is almost my height and smells so good. #garden2016
Radishes growing well for the first time in 6 years. #garden2016Early raspberries #garden2016

Two weeks of hot hot heat and the garden is bigger and busier than it was in July last year. Everything is thriving, despite being planted weeks later than years past. The neighbor's cat comes over to walk through the garden with me every morning. Zinnias, gladiolas, lilies, elder, borage, milkweed are all blooming. There's volunteer dill that is almost my height. I've successfully grown radishes for the first time in 6 years. The raspberry canes are full of berries, but nearly impossible to pick because that area of the yard is overgrown. We're supposed to be getting a fence along the back this summer and my plan is to separate and move all the berry canes once that happens.