Author: iagardener55

It’s going on 4 months now since Ivan died.

I’ve been trying to decide if I am ready to go to Los Altos for the New Year, as I have been invited, or should I just stay here. I’ve been seeking any kind of instruction from the Lord, but haven’t really felt Him speaking to me about it, one way or the other.

Until this morning. I was listening to today’s episode of Bible in a Year, with Chris Pratt, the actor, speaking about spending quiet time with God. How we should try to take time out of our busy lives to reconnect with God through solitude.

He was describing the difference between solitude, and isolation. My ears perked up. He said that isolation is an escape, a danger. It paints a target on ourselves for the “tempter”. Solitude, conversely, is being alone, with God, engaged, and open to Him. It is time set aside to feed, and nourish the soul.

Thank you Lord. That was just what I needed to hear. I’ve been completely isolated since Ivan died. I’ve not gone anywhere, not done anything outside myself, and my surroundings. I’ve given nothing to anyone besides myself.

Self, self, self. Boring.

Our families in Los Altos loved, and adored Ivan. I owe it to them, and to myself, to go, and reflect upon the wonderful things we all remember about Ivan. He’ll never be forgotten.

Will it be hard to rehash all of my memories? Of course it will. So what? He’s not coming back. There’s nothing else I have of him except memories, so I might as well get used to it. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life hiding here in the apartment. I have to go out, and live my life, albeit alone.

Am I lonely, or just alone? I’m not really sure at the moment. That’s a thought for another time.

I’ll let you know how it went in Los Altos, reconnecting with my loving, and amazing adopted families.

Until then, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I received mine just yesterday.

What am I writing about? Surely you’ve seen the grounding mat advertised on every possible platform. It’s a long, fairly narrow “sheet” that you place on top of your bottom sheet, close to your skin, plug it in, and it allows your body to “ground” with the Earth. They claim it has all kinds of healing qualities. I’m skeptical, but hopeful.

I have to tell you that for my first night of sleep, it was as advertised. I slept 2 hours nicely, closed my eyes again, and slept another 4 1/2 hours, dreaming several uneventful dreams.

Discomfort control? Some. I woke up with a bit less pain in my lower back, and hips. In the first 5 minutes of my morning walk, it felt as if I was 10 years younger. Virtually pain free. The other 15 minutes were as normal; walk 0.2 km, do 5 hhhc’s in each direction, (*see note below), continue walking. That is for the first 3/4 of any walk. The last 1/4 almost always allows me to enjoy a comfortable, leisurely walk, no hhhc’s needed.

I’m going to continue to sleep on the grounding pad for another month. By the time you read this an entire month will have gone by, and I will post an update.

However, as we have only 1 working electrical outlet in our bedroom that has a ground, you know, that 3rd hole, and our extension box thing is plugged into it, and it lives in the closet, (don’t ask), I had to plug the ground into an extension cord that is plugged into said grounded outlet. As far as I can tell, it worked just fine.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

*Note: hula-hoop hip circles. Please make not of this abbreviation as it will reassert its ugly little head in the future.

Post script: a very happy wedding anniversary, (yesterday), to our son Joshua, and our beautiful daughter-in-law Molly. I pray you celebrate many more in the future.

When walking outside, say, around the park, across from the condominium in which one lives, it’s best to wear shoes made for walking outside, around the park, across from the condominium in which one lives.

To where shoes meant to be worn inside said condominium, and not outside, one can only expect to be extremely uncomfortable on said walk around the park, etc.

I have had a bit of time away from walking around the park, for various inane reasons, and of no consequence to this tirade.

One thing I discovered, just this evening actually, is that wearing my Haflingers, woolen European footwear, to walk around the aforementioned park, etc., is not the footwear to keep ones very old back in alignment, and pain free.

Having said that, my Earth shoes, old, black, my negative heel marvels, are.

The walk I took this morning, 11:30ish, was an absolute killer. I was in fear, all afternoon, at what my muscles would feel like when it came time for my evening walk.

They were fine. I did have to stop a few times to do the slow hula-hoop hip circles in order to continue, but I’m used to that. I had on the Earth shoes, did 5 hhhc’s in both directions, and finished in record time.

So, the moral of this story is to pay attention to ones footwear prior to leaving the house for ones walk around the park, across from the condominium in which one lives.

Until next time humans, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

For anyone new to this nonsense, TYJ means Thank You Jesus.

In this case, however, it means thank you Jesús, as in our friend, and adopted son, Jesús Garcia. If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know that Jesús was our concierge/maintenance man/Jack of all trades. Unfortunately for me, he, and his family moved out of the building so he could take a new job.

Fortunately for me, however, he can come help me after a text SOS, and a bit of time, as he works nights, every night, and sleeps in stages during the day.

The other day I had to SOS him in total desperation. My gas hot water heater stopped igniting, sending me nothing but cold water to my shower. I tried reading the manual, no help there. I tried searching online, again, no help.

Hence the SOS. Jesús came over a few hours later, with Liz, and Brandón, their 3 year old son in tow. He took off the outer panel, removed the 2 C batteries, and went to the Plaza to buy 2 new ones. After reinserting the new batteries, he found a loose wire, and tightened it up. I had to keep “running” back to the bathroom, turn on the water in the shower, run back to the pantry, then back to the bathroom to turn off the water. After 5, or 6 times of this “running”, we determined he had made the appropriate fixes needed, TYJ.

I neglected to tell you that I had stopped having hot water about 2 weeks ago, thinking that somehow God would fix it for me, and I wouldn’t need to bother Jesús. He didn’t miraculously fix it. What he did do was insist that I ask for the help I needed, and get over myself.

So I did.

Now I have hot water with which to shower whenever I want.

TYJ.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

This was quite the week, let me start with that.

Today is Saturday. My larger bottle, (20 oz), of water kefir soda exploded on the counter. I should have put it in the fridge yesterday.

However, yesterday, the bread dough exploded in its plastic container on the other counter.

Needless to say my fermentation efforts appear to be going quite well.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

And keep an eye on your ferments.
The bread turned out great.

My goodness but they’ve grown.

Yesterday I repotted all of the seedlings into smaller, more manageable containers. They’re mostly small terra cotta pots, and, for the moment, are sitting in the small tub that came as part of the seed starting set. I was able to move the lights as I needed, and, as of this morning, they look “happier”.

What does a happier looking plant look like you ask?
Each of them has a tiny smile on its face.

I had to do it. Even if you didn’t need the chuckle, I did.

Let me show you how they’ve grown in however many weeks it’s been. (I can’t remember when I started all of this, and don’t really care. I’m just so proud that I haven’t drowned any of them).

That tiny little beauty in the middle of the front row is my only sage seedling that actually sprouted. I have enough basil for an entire Italian neighborhood! And am anxious to get to using some. If the cilantro survives it will be the biggest miracle to date. For some reason, it’s difficult for me to grow cilantro, well, herbs in general. That’s why I buy it from the grocery stores, from those who know what they’re doing.

As you can see, basil, oh and 1 tiny thyme plant. So, sage, and thyme will have to be babied until they are well established. Or, I can try starting more of each.

That’s all I have to impart for today. I got up at 5:30 this morning, and my cup of coffee is lulling me to sleep. What’s up with that?

Until next time my lovelies, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord, and have a safe, and happy new year.

Post script: a very happy birthday to my brother in law Larry. Praying you have a great year!

I think I have made the best loaf of bread I’ve ever made.

The recipe is from a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread™ flour, and is a no-knead loaf that was an absolute PITA, (pain in the ass), to make. It is a very wet dough, and difficult to work with, but the end results were worth every moment of angst I went through to bring it about. I’ll show you in a moment.

Let me just preface this by saying that it won’t look like much because it doesn’t, not even for me. But the flavor, the texture, mouth feel is incredible. Unlike any loaf I’ve made to date. I can’t get enough of it.

It was made with only 1/4 tsp. of yeast, not my sourdough starter, and it rested overnight in the fridge to rise for about 14 hours. It had been a blob when I scraped it off of the countertop, and put it in the not-floured-enough banneton to do its fridge rest. The next morning, I turned it over, onto a piece of parchment paper, (having to scrape it gently away from the cloth of the banneton because I didn’t use enough flour), and put it into the scalding hot 475ºF Dutch oven, then back into the oven itself. It was still a blob; a bubbly blob, but a blog of dough nonetheless. My bread dough usually has a bit of body to it, but not this one. I was skeptical to say the least.

Having said that, here is how it turned out. A bit more blonde than I’m used to but delicious.

I am going to use this recipe to make this amazing loaf for the next little while as it makes the best grilled sandwiches this side of the Rio Grande river.

Until next time, I pray your Christmas was enjoyable, that you have all stayed safe, and are healthy in the love of our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I wasn’t sure if I would, should, or could put up the Christmas tree, and decorations this year, or not.

I did.

And I’m so glad I did. It has helped so much to lift my spirits this holiday season. It’s only the second time Christmas decorations have been enjoyed here since we moved.

The living room has always been so full of “stuff” that there was no room to put up the tree. The tree isn’t very big, 6ft. tall, and the base isn’t very wide, about 4 1/2 ft, but because there is so much less “stuff” in here now, there’s plenty of room to accommodate it.

I’m not going to go on about how my heart is still quite empty, and how sad I am that Ivan isn’t here to enjoy what I’ve done, but let me just say that without the support of my loved ones, life right now would be so much more difficult than it is.

Thank you, each of you, you know who you are. I’m not going to name names as I have no idea who all reads my silliness. Those of you of whom I am aware, you’ve made a huge difference in my life. I cannot thank you enough.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the love of the Lord.

Post script: here’s a photo of the living room as of today.

I have just gotten a brief whiff of Pine Sol.

I haven’t smelled it for decades. I think the last time was when we lived in Laredo, TX. That was 1989! When we lived there, everyone, except us, used it. Ivan didn’t like the smell of it because he grew up smelling it. I have no memory of what my mom used to clean the floor.

Down here, they use something else, but I can’t remember what it’s called as I don’t use it. It’s strong smelling, and very chemical. I prefer Ajax scented ammonia.

It cleans everything it touches so it makes my cleaning chore that much easier, and faster. Win-win.

That’s all I wanted to say. See you in the next one. Have a great day.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.