Monday, September 20, 2010

Games garden bloggers play

There comes a time in every Alaskan’s year when the transition from outside pursuits to inside pursuits takes place.  Depending on the weather, it can be in October, September, or in the case of this year, June.  We’ve had a record year of consecutive rainy days (I feel your pain Seattle, Brazil, England).  Then cloudy.  Now cold.  So I feel cheated about the whole summer gardening season.  Since I have transitioned to the inside stuff (whether I want to or not) it seems appropriate to mark the occasion with something I can do indoors.

fair 311

Bangchik, a garden blogger growing all kinds of unheard of vegetables (in the cold, frozen north of Alaska at least) in Malaysia, has kindly asked me to stop shivering long enough to list 10 Things I Love.  I don’t usually take time for online games, but what else is there to do?  Certainly nothing outside at the moment.  The containerized Phormium in residence agreed with my assessment of the now cold nights outside and was dropped off at the nursery’s balmy greenhouse for the winter on Friday.  I asked if they had room for me but the price was too exorbitant, so here I am.  Batten down your tarps and put on your quiviut hats because we’re off: 

1. Italian leather shoes.  It all started with one pair, justified because of the sale price and an upcoming wedding in the family.  Now I have to move into a home with a bigger closet.  And the LFG hubby is talking about getting a side job at the gas station.  I may be wearing rubber boots or flip flops six days of the week in summer, but watch out on Sunday when I get the peep toed heels out.  Ka-zam!

2. Chubby kid cheeks, preferably clean ones.

3. Sunshine on the couch, warming it to the perfect temperature for napping.  Do I ever get a chance for that nap?  Usually the first five minutes, then “ring, ring” or “mommy!”  Someday my nap will come.

4. Crunchy dill pickles.  Absolutely no sweet or squishy ones.

5. A good hair day.  I think possibly this falls in with numero uno in being mostly a woman thing.  Men, am I wrong?

Nassella tenuissima in container, October

aug-sept -garden tours 095

6. Ornamental grasses like Nassella tenuissima, backlit in the autumn sun.

7. Hearing people I love laugh, most likely at me.  They say they’re laughing with me, of course.

8. Front yard gardens: unique, funky, vegetable, jungle-like, anything goes as long as it’s not just lawn and one shrub.  (Though I must say, I don’t care for the broken down cars or blue tarps adorning some front yard “gardens” here in Alaska.)

9. Being done with housework…for the moment anyway.  I can hear the dust settling as I type.

10. To my shame, cheesy music like ABBA, Bee Gees, etc.  “If you change your mind, I’m the first in line.  Honey, I’m still free.  Take a chance on meeeee.” 

Am I the only one who loves having a good hair day?  Maybe the infrequency of such a thing makes it that much more precious, sort of like a non-rainy day this summer.  My hair often has twigs or a stray bug in it during the gardening season, so the bar is set pretty low.  Pathetic or empowering, you decide.

What do you love/hate on my list?  Please don’t tell me I’m the only one with a few cheesy CD’s lying around….

21 comments:

  1. Snap! No not cold snap?! I have just posted Ten for Ellada (but she asked for 10 blogs too ...)And yes Abba, definitely!!

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  2. I love your list. And yes, I relish a good hair day.

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  3. Yippee! I am not the only one who loves ABBA and Bee Gees! Bring on the cheesy music, I say.

    Cute list! It is good to know more about you.

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  4. Ohh a good hair day is the day I step out of the beehive and possibly two days after. In this economy that is less frequent than a sunny day this summer.

    I keep myself from going nuts in the winter with beadwork.

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  5. I have a weakness for a really well made pair of shoes and ditto on good hair days (because they are exceedingly rare in my world). And I think I would add any number of 80's one hit wonders to your music list. Rick Springfield anyone?

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  6. Yes ABBA ! You should watch the movie, Priscilla Queen Of the Desert, about transvestites traveling in a van across the Australian desert. At night they break out the guitar and play lots of Abba tunes. It's a great film you won't regret it.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109045/

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  7. Cheesy CD's, me??? LOL! I will have that tune in my head all day now you know. LOL! I love good hair days also.As I get older it gets thinner so good hair days are few and far between now. I bet you hate to see the cold coming in already. Frost you say in your driveway. Oh, no. I am just not ready for this stuff.
    Have a wonderful week Christine.

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  8. #5 you are most def wrong on! some days I am an astute metrosexual. I love the Bee Gees, but am curently hung up on Golden Earring from the early 80s.

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  9. Napping one is all too telling. I get jumped on as I doze off way more than is good for my health.

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  10. Hi Christine, What is up with this insane weather? We're in the midst of late October weather here. Rain and clouds. The temps are okay so I best not complain too much... Sorry to hear your summer is over.

    No Abba thank you very much but I have circa 1974 Elton John's Capt'n Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy CD in my car. :) Nothing says cheese like 1974.

    I nap almost every day right now. I'm trying hard not to feel guilty about all the things I should be doing instead.

    Now, don't hate me but here's a suggestion: you could get all those digital photographs organized! :)

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  11. Love the Bee Gees. "You Should be Dancing" is one of my favs

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  12. Yes to all of these, especially the sun-warmed couch, which is even better with a little dog on it.

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  13. I have a whole wheel of cheezy cds that I love and listen to. If my hair is looking good it is amazing how the entire day seems to follow along. I was wondering where all our rain went. It is way up there in AK. Give it back. We need it and some of that cooler weather.

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  14. What fun answers! And I won't tell you how warm it is in Northern California today. That would be rude.

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  15. I like your list. You got me thinking about what I'd put on my own list.

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  16. I have to disagree with you on hair: the two members of my family most concerned about good/bad hair days are both male. Here's my candidate for favorite cheesy music (I have all their albums): Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Fun post!

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  17. Enjoyed your list and thanks for your sympathy re the wet stuff. Summer has been an all too brief encounter on this side of the pond and we feel cheated by the experience :)

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  18. hi, working outside i always have a bad hair-day and look as if i have just crawled through a hedge backwards which i probably have...but please no cheesy cds...give me rock and roll and make it loud!

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  19. those of us in Maine are right there with you on the transition from outside to in. in fact, husband is outside right now chopping wood & i'm making a sauce from the last batch of garden tomatoes. but i'm already planning for next year's garden. can't wait for those seed catalogs!

    loved your list... especially the clean chubby cheek kids ;)

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  20. I relate to a lot on your list - I love the cheesy songs too!

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  21. A good hair day is definitely on my list along with watching my adult children be best friends, spending a quiet sunny day working uninterupted in my garden, and walking barefoot on the beach.

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