September Musings

Picture courtesy of first-grader Sarah at Loogooty Elementary West

Some of the things I'm doing or have noticed with the turn of the month and a new season starting:

1. Everyone forgot how to drive over the three-day weekend.

Sorry, but this one comes first since it was the first thing I noticed this morning at 5:00 AM on the freeway. And considering I take no less than five freeways and cross three counties to go to work, I had a lot of time to observe this. No one remembered where their gas pedal was and everyone forgot how to merge.

2. Ralph found out he has a brother from another mother.

(This one should have come first in order of importance, but I had to let off steam in order to continue.) Through a series of crazy coincidences, Ralph's (now youngest) brother got in touch with him and his siblings. We all went out to dinner this past weekend and sat around the table marveling at each other. He is 10 months younger than Ralph's (now oldest) brother, and looks like him, too. He asked a lot of questions about their dad, as he never met him. He is very excited to meet the rest of the family.

3. I'm continuing the Discretionary Eating Challenge.

Of course, anything is anti-climactic after #2, but I'm happy to wipe the slate clean and start over in September. What with all the end-of-summer barbeques and eating out (with new family members), the last week of August I fell completely off the wagon. But I'm ready to jump back on and keep on keepin' on.

4. I'm starting a new challenge of Greening My Insides

I read about this one on One Green Generation's blog. I'm a little late signing up, but her post on natural skin care jump started me. I've already pared down a lot of my skin-care routine, and look forward to reading what others do. She also talks about how to green the inside of your home as well as your body.

5. I'm trying to revitalize my garden.

Things were going so well. Plants were flourishing, tomatoes were ripening, vines were intertwining. Then my watermelon becomes infested with aphids and ants, and my last tomato plant looks like it's about to kick the bucket. I fixed the aphid problem, but the watermelon still looks worse for the wear. I'm having to keep a vigil over the tomato; I don't think it's going to make it and I have no idea why. I planted some herbs this weekend to make me feel better. Rosemary and sage, although I rarely use them in cooking. I just love the smell, plus, they both do well with low water and lots of sun. Perfect. Oh, and Ralph bought me a lemon tree. So there's still hope!

6. The breeze this weekend was almost cool.

We still have quite a bit of hot weather ahead, but I'm hoping the dog days are coming to a close. It's only supposed to be 87° today! Whoopie!
*Edited: Oops. 87° is what the temperature was at the time I looked, which was about 9:00. It's now up to 93°. Oh well. It has to get cooler at some point.