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Growing Up in the Garden

Growing Up in the Garden

Category Archives: Off Topic

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treasure

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Jessica Y in Off Topic, Weekly Photo Challenge

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anderson, Couser, family, Fyfe, photography, post a day, Weekly Photo Challenge

Edith Mary Manly - born 12-14-1866 - Australia (18 yrs old)

My great, great-grandmother Walton, 1884.

This is a photograph of my great, great-grandmother when she was 18 years old. It was taken in 1884, one hundred and thirty years ago. So, I obviously can’t claim credit for it. I am just its keeper. My daughter’s name comes from this woman who I only know from this photograph.

I have a book full of these sorts of sepia toned, and then black and white, photos of my family. My grandmother, my mom’s mother, left them to me. Continue reading →

Weekly Photo Challenge: Habit

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Off Topic, Weekly Photo Challenge

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

coffee, off topic, Weekly Photo Challenge

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My coffee habit was born sitting on vinyl covered booth seats at one of the handful of Denny’s restaurants my friends and I frequented while in high school. Their coffee is pretty horrible, but back then I didn’t know the difference. We were there all the time, in the wee hours of the morning after clubbing, in the later hours in the morning when we should have been in school, at dawn after those especially adventurous nights, in the afternoon because it was somewhere to hang out that wasn’t home. And no matter the hour, we always drank coffee, several cups.

As high school seniors we started making occasional trips to coffee houses. The Mad Hatter’s sported black and white checkered floors, beat up chairs and board games, but was a considerable trek from our homes. We finally settled on the Bourgeois Pig, which is still nestled away in Hollywood, like a secret. At first we went seeking a cool ambiance, not better coffee. It didn’t take us long to notice the difference.

At this point coffee drinking, while done with much regularity, was very much a social endeavor. As more coffee houses opened up, we traded the drive into “hipper” parts of town for convenience. One of these closer to home coffee houses became like a second living room. During the many hours I spent there I learned to play chess (sort of), made some great friends, studied, fell in love for the first time, journaled….You get the idea.

And, it continued like that for a few more years. I am not sure when I crossed over into the realm of making and drinking coffee in my home every morning. It happened sometime during college. I have this distinct memory of being on a backpacking trip with a couple of friends. When we arrived at our first campsite, after hiking several miles, we discovered we had forgotten the coffee filters. That was bad. One of my friends was seriously considering hiking back to the car to retrieve them. This is when you know coffee has become a necessity. Luckily we were able to make do with some paper towels.

As I became a regular morning coffee drinker I also became aware of the economics and politics of coffee drinking (and growing). While coffee chains started spreading out like wild fire, selling lattes at $4 a pop, many coffee growers were barely surviving. So Fair Trade coffee became and remains a non-negotiable when buying coffee for my home.

Today, I have a completely different relationship with coffee than I did as a teen and early twenty-something. It is something that I do every morning, almost without fail. I did give it up for a few months early in my first pregnancy. Most of the time I drink coffee without any fanfare or thought. Sometimes I don’t get to finish a cup before it gets cold. Or I misplace my mug , spend several minutes looking for it, get distracted and forget all about it until I stumble upon it cold and alone. And, no more late night coffee drinking sessions in hip, converted Craftsman houses. My caffeine cutoff is 3:00 p.m. I still very much enjoy the taste and ritual of coffee, but it has become much more of a practical matter than anything else.

I still have a romantic vision of a cup of coffee well enjoyed. Sometimes I capture it momentarily as I swing in our hammock chair and gaze out over the garden.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Altadena, Off Topic, Weekly Photo Challenge

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Altadena, horizon, postaday, San Gabriel Mountains, Weekly Photo Challenge

While poking around WordPress a few weeks ago I stumbled upon the “Weekly Photo Challenge,” and it peaked my interest. Then, all of a sudden, a few of the bloggers I follow started doing Weekly Photo Challenge posts, and I took it as a sign. I cannot promise that I will do them every week, but I am going to try. I miss writing, and need some inspiration. These posts may be off topic, but I hope you enjoy.

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Mountains are my favorite horizon. These are my mountains, the ones I can see from my front porch, as I drive up the road to my home, the ones I get peeks of from my backyard. Continue reading →

One Hundred Posts, Zero the Hero, and Tomatoes

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Garden, Off Topic

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

100th Day of School, blogging, garden, gardening, teaching, Zero the Hero

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I have hit a blogging milestone. This here is my one hundredth post. I had been mulling over what I should write about to mark this accomplishment, and all I could think about was Zero the Hero. Zero the Hero? Who’s that you might be asking. Well, he has nothing to do with gardening, but everything to do with the number 100.  Continue reading →

Wordless Wednesday: Not in the Garden

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Off Topic, Wordless Wednesday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

off topic, photography, Wordless Wednesday

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A Different Kind of Time

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Garden, Off Topic

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

garden, gardening, gardening with children, mommy time, parenting, stay at home mom

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As I sit down to write this post, my eyes dart up at the time. I have exactly 20 minutes left. Exactly 2 hours and 20 minutes ago I left my two children with a trusted babysitter. In exactly 19 minutes I have to pack up and drive home. Today is the first day of “my time,” as I have it marked in my calendar, a few hours one morning a week, every week until the end of August. This was a deliberate creation, something I needed, time to be something other than “mommy.” Time for me to get immersed in my other selves: gardener, blogger, someone who would enjoy a massage or a quiet walk all on her own. I did contemplate getting the car washed, but then decided that falls into the same category as grocery shopping and other such errands, not things that were intended for these three precious hours.

Continue reading →

Fueling Pre-Dawn Activities

06 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Garden, Off Topic, Recipe

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

exercise, fitness, garden, gardening, Mamacita Fitness

Close Up Kale

I am stretched out on the couch as I write this, and I may not be able to get up when I am done. Not only do my muscles ache from head to toe, they are so tired I find it hard to do routine things like take out the kitchen trash. The last five mornings have found me using my muscles, my body, my mind in a way I have not had an opportunity to do in years, and it all starts before the sun rises.

Continue reading →

On Roses and Excess

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Off Topic

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

flower, gardening, Rose Parade, sustainable agriculture, sustainable living

Rose Parade 2013

Rose Parade 2013

I had a dream just before I woke up this morning that all the flowers that didn’t make it onto Rose Parade floats ended up at a warehouse for a public give-away. I had some project in mind and went in hopes of scooping up some free flowers. I ended up there on the last day of the three-day event and all that was left were rose stems. No flowers. Just thorns.

Continue reading →

Still Here and a New Year

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Jessica Y in Garden, Off Topic

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

garden, gardening, parenting

Okay, I never intended to just drop out of sight, without a peep, a word, a warning. I didn’t see it coming. I could blame my daughter’s 5th birthday, visitors, the lead up to Christmas, lots of things. The first week I disappeared, I was busy decorating my daughter’s birthday cake on the day that I usually write. She has fallen in love with the movie “My Neighbor Totoro” and had a showing of the film for her party. I never would have agreed to a movie themed birthday party, but this film is especially lovely. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Here is the cake I made, an accomplishment I am quite proud of.

Totoro Cake

Continue reading →

Shuttle Viewing Leads to Off Topic Blog Post

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by Jessica Y in Altadena, Off Topic

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Altadena, Endeavour Los Angeles, events, Space Shuttle Endeavour

If you had asked me when I woke up this morning if I would be writing about the Space Shuttle Endeavour on my gardening blog, I would have told you, “No way.”

But, that was this morning, before Endeavour made its way over my neighborhood. Yesterday I asked my daughter if she was interested in seeing the shuttle flying attached to the back of a “really big plane.” She was interested until I told her she would have to miss school. Upon that realization she replied, “No, I can just see it at the Museum (The California Science Center) later and be a lot closer to it.” That was all I needed. I wasn’t going to make it a big deal. I try not to get sucked into hype.

Continue reading →

Growing Up in the Garden

Growing Up in the Garden

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