Simple Pleasures and Setting the Record Straight

It really is the simple things in life that often bring great joy. Thus is the case with my little veggie and herb garden. No one who knows me would ever think that I would grow anything other than a flower bed here and there. But, this year, I decided to dive into planting tomatoes and some herbs for Dear Husband (aka Chef Ken) to use in his cooking.

I bought all the starter plants at our local Raley's store in Loomis, CA. They were quite small when I purchased them a little over six weeks ago. As you can see (I hope) in the top picture, I have - with great pride - actually grown a plant that is now starting to bear fruit (or in this instance, tomatoes). This is the first tomato I have ever grown! Imagine my glee when I walked out one morning to spy these tiny green circles on the plants. I was so happy! Such a simple thing, but this speaks to the pure joy we find in something so small from nature.

Yesterday, I transplanted the tomatoes from their original pots (which were too small) to these larger pots. They survived the adventure and this morning look even better than before. We (well, maybe just I) are very excited about having fresh tomatoes for salads and pastas. Now, how do I tell when they are ripe? Note to self: Must Google this and find out before picking.

Now, a quick note on skating. First of all, I am thrilled to report that Coach Chris and I agreed that I would work on a Free Dance program for the ISI Adult competition in Vegas. We will be skating to "Adagio in G Minor." I will be in a beautiful robin's egg blue, floaty dress, perfect for the music. Now I must test up through ISI Free Dance 5 and have two months in which to accomplish this feat. Yikes!

Finally, let's set the record straight about my attempts at an axel. On Friday, because Coach J had, without realizing it, thrown down the challenge a few weeks ago by telling me that some people just aren't ever going to do an axel (read: "Karen, you are never going to do an axel"), I announced to her that I had obtained the harness and we were going to work on an axel. At first, she balked at this idea, but after doing some waltz jumps and loops, I all but demanded that we start to work on my axel. Let's get something clear: I did not execute an axel. . . what I did was to jump off two feet, try a 360 degree rotation in the air, and come down on two feet. None of this went very well, but at least I got the feeling of the rotation. So, that is "All the news that's fit to print" on the axel. No one should be impressed by this effort. I doubt that I will ever actually execute one (Coach J says it is very, very rare for anyone over 50 to do so), but at least I proved my point to Coach.

Onward to the dentist. Ugh.