My Life In Pictures

stellar sky // Pasaquan // early morning work vibes // some trees get all the good names // Mama Kitty is the cutest, right? // grey days are sometimes my favorite thing // spring has sprung // will clean for chickens

Hello.  Hi.

First, let me say that I've been truly overwhelmed by the generosity I have received from so many of you.  I got emails, postcards and care packages after the passing of Miss Tullah Belle, and while every single one made me cry be assured that they were not bitter tears.  Thank you for that.  My grief has been at times a low stoked fire and at times a deep dark thing that is shocking in its intensity.  That dog had been in my life for 13 years and had seen my at my worst (far too often than I care to admit on that one because I had a lot of self-destructive tendencies in my early/mid 30's) and at my best (which I feel is so much in part for my love of her).  Ok, I'm crying again as I type this but I'm not avoiding the pain.  If anyone else out there has lost a loved one of the furry kind or know someone who has then I recommend reading this.  I'm lucky enough to have a great support group that has never questioned the depth of my sadness but I think that's unfortunately not the norm.

In the last few weeks I've also been putting myself out in the world much more than usual.  I think it's my way of coping?  The bingo games at the VFW.  The kayaking in the wee morning hours.  The late day hikes.  The photography sessions for friends.  Little things like a bite of a local strawberry, the swirl of apple cider vinegar+maple syrup+h2o in a big mason jar or the color of a spring sky seem to be tastier/brighter.

Oh, and the prepping for raising chickens and veggies and flowersand herbs at a friend's property has been prettttttttty fun.  That bottom right photo is my friend Ansley doing some roof cleaning on the coop which is, luckily, in an 'almost ready' state of repair.  I'm going tomorrow to finish the inside of the coop, prep some dirt bath areas, hang a few swings for the chickens and build some herb boxes that will provide our future hens with some delicious noms.  I don't really care about the eggs we harvest and we are definitely NOT eating our chickens but I'm beyond excited to hopefully build some relationships with these birds.  I want them to be my friends!

Yesterday I built a compost bin out of discarded wood bits from a 150 year old house. My neck is so whacked out right now (ouchy ouch ouch) it's not even funny but, damn, that bin looks amazing and is rather heavy.  I have about 10 tofu buckets of fruit and veggies scraps from work that are just waiting to get in that thing.  I can't wait til it's all ready to go in the garden and work towards making our veggies something stellar.

Let's see...what else?  We went to Pasaquan as you can see in the post below.  I'll share more photos soon.

My assistant is on tour right now, our new gluten-free cakes/pies just rolled out and everyone's buying them up, it was parent's weekend at UGA and a million charity events are clamoring for cookie donations so, as you can imagine, work is busy.  What's new, right?  But you should go see my co-worker's band!  Nana Grizol is simply amazing. For you Chattanooga folks, they're playing Sluggo's in early April.  You won't regret it.

Is anyone else watching Legion?  No?  You should.  It'll tide you over til the new Twin Peaks gets here.

Well, that's all I got for today.  Happy Monday!

PS  Follow me on Instagram @ grits_and_moxie