You Know What This Means...

Great burlap coffee bean bags, full of 'fresh' compost...thank you Whole Foods!

50 lb. bags of Whole Foods own compost!

Raised garden beds, after the long Winter...

Last years garden yielded so much in joy, and herbs, and color and the wonderful hum of bees...looking forward!

Well, this week was riveting to say the least. Edward made his way to Boston on Thursday, and much to his surprise, wound up on lock-down with the rest of the City on Friday. The stories of healing and heartbreak keep rolling in all in the same breath. Sweet Caroline. I have stopped watching for now. Edward flies back in tomorrow night.

Last year, I 'happened upon' a 50 pound bag of compost, a gift from Whole Foods and my garden was happy happy happy. I was not going to miss that opportunity again! Following the Colorado Springs Whole Foods on Facebook, I saw that yesterday was the day! Jimmy high tailed it over there, and we picked up 3 bags of, might I add, free, compost of their own making. So, you know what this means, this is a great sign, a hopeful moment, that re-planting is in the air, that I can start playing in the dirt once again. Planning a new garden is always exciting and this year is no different. I am wondering if the earth worms I bought lived through the winter, do they need to be replaced. Maybe I'll go digging later and see if I can spot any. Will the Greek Oregano actually come back, will the Honeysuckle bush start to sprout? They should. The work will be easier, as we will not be building the raised garden beds, although I did enjoy the process. I did discover that you can go to Home Depot or Lowe's and purchase wood pallets for about $15, and they are multi-purpose, multi-functional, already nailed together pieces of wood. I might make a potting table with 1 or 2 of them. We'll see. In the meantime yesterday was a start, a joyful, hopeful moment, exactly as Spring should be!

The Comfort Dogs...

 Edward is heading to Boston tomorrow for a long weekend, long planned, long looking forward to spending some time w/ his college friends. I think that right now Boston is probably one of the safest cities given the horrific events at the Marathon. For me, I am just now starting to feel this latest nightmare. I have sat, w/out emotion for hours in front of the TV, watching Anderson Cooper and the 'group' @ CNN, I have watched the World News, I have looked @ the photos over and over, I am reading the stories of Jeff Bauman Jr., who lost both of his legs below the knee, the heartbreaking glimpse into the short life of Martin Richard. I am listening to the doctors and nurses who treated the gravely injured men women and children, experiencing trauma themselves @ the sight of the extensive casualties they have so brilliantly treated. I am hearing brave the stories of heroism over and over and over again. I am just starting to feel. I am so grateful that my Family and Friends back East are all safe. Life is so fragile.

This morning on MSN, I saw the 'smiling' face of a beautiful Golden retriever, a comfort dog. One of the many dogs being 'dispatched' to Boston to help the families of those injured, to help the doctors and nurses who are themselves in need of comfort, to help anyone who needs some cheering up.  Two of the dogs, Addy and Maggie are coming directly from Newton, and will be doing what they are trained to do w/ their uncanny ability to discern 'sadness'. So, today, I am feeling. I am feeling sad, but honestly just the sight of the comfort dogs helped me...maybe I'll run into a Golden as the day goes. Hey you never know what the day will bring.

So here is to all the heroes, to all of the first responders, to all of the gravely injured (may they heal and live full lives), to those who lost their lives (we pray unyielding, unceasing comfort for their Families), to those who saved so many, to the dispatched comfort dogs, to Edward having a safe trip to Boston.

Home Spa!!!

Yet another very cold weekend. My son is now back in Boston, snug as a bug, after Winter break...whew. Bless his heart, he kept his whirlwind contained to his room. However, I did spend quite a bit of time 'in there' to clean up, change the sheets, and enjoy the sound of the quiet. After a couple of hours I decided to pull out our new Conair aqua foot massager.

Aqua-jet foot massage has a relaxing effect on tired and cold feet. In this technique, two hydro-jets are used for massaging the foot. The feet are immersed in a pedicure bath filled with water. The water is released by the hydro jets at controlled speeds, which stimulates the circulation of blood. This stimulates the feet reflexes, thereby giving making your feet relaxed. The temperature of water in the equipment is maintained at a certain level....warm, wonderfully, warm!
I also made an avocado/honey facial masque, which I warmed up in the microwave. So, there I sat for 15 minutes, green faced (yes, good enough to eat!), enjoying the gentle aqua-jet massage. You can really feel a lingering 'tingling' from the hydro bubbles, and a certain satisfaction, knowing that you have done something truly kind for yourself. I left the avocado facial on for about 30 minutes and now, I am only sorry that I didn't think to take a picture of the mixture....next time!!

Edward's Work...and Growth

Edward and I spent an afternoon at the Museum of Natural History, in the winter of 2007. He needed more 'life' drawings for his portfolio. We sat together and drew with pencil, this lion (bottom image) on the second floor of the museum. I love the drawing he did. We even made stamps out of the image. However, he was home this weekend from Boston and he showed me this pencil drawing he recently competed of another lion (top image). I must say, I believe he has really grown as an artist!!!

Thrilled for him...more to come!
Click here to see more of his work...

This is a self-portrait of my son, Edward. He is a freshman at the New England Art Institute in their Animation program. He is a great kid. Yesterday, he was scheduled to go to Harvard and meet other students there for a project they are working on. He and his friend were driving. They got lost and simply could not find their way to Harvard. The Boston area is a tough place for a novice driver (not him) to get around. It is easy to get lost. But, they should have had the directions from their dorm in Weston. After all, these are the children of the computer age, they could have Googled it, logged onto RandMcnally.com, or Mapquest. He was REALLY upset with himself for not being prepared. Have we not all been there? I felt his pain, but I also felt that it may have been a 'lightbulb' moment for him, because it meant alot, it was imortant. Well, hopefully, he'll get another chance to go to Harvard today, this time taking public tansportation. I'll keep you posted on that one.