6.14.2015

where I'm at





The past two mornings have seen me up and out the door for a 3 mile run.  I've been keeping with it since December (except for a good deal of February, when I was sick and it seemed to always be sleeting) and most weeks now I try to get out at least 2 or 3 times.  I will occasionally do a 4-6 mile run but much more often it is around 3 miles.  One thing I've quickly realized is that absolutely, certainly, without a doubt, summer is NOT going to be my favorite time to run.  Call me crazy, but I much preferred the 35 to 45 degree temperature range for running.  When I run and feel like I'm wearing summer on my back like a hot, heavy, drippy cloak I think unhappy grumpy thoughts and I don't like it one bit.  So there.  And yet, I'll keep at it and find ways to make it work (going early or late, I suppose, when it is coolest) because in so many ways I enjoy it so much.  It clears my head and helps me sleep and improves my overall mood and quite obviously, my overall health.  I go to the river and run past the farm fields and cow pastures of a local college.  That is where my longer (5 and 6 mile) runs have been, and I was very happy to realize that I could just dip my feet in the cool cool water at the end and just sit for a while.  I go to the recreation park and take my pick of several different paths.  I can go creekside or I can run along mulched paths with blooms of wild daisies and vetch at the path's edge.  I can run through the community garden or along the paved greenway.  I can run through the forest, shaded and therefore somewhat cooler.  Ferns below and my mind playing tricks on me by taking in the rotten stumps in my periphery and concluding "bear cub".  One particular route pops me out on a pine needle lined path between hundreds of 25 year old (or so) white pines.  25 years is my rough guess by counting the whorls, but seeing as how I was whizzing by so incredibly fast (or something like that) I can't be sure.  Also, looking up and attempting to age trees while running isn't so smart anyway.  Tree roots and all, you now.  And I'm not known for my physical grace and balance, generally.

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The county schools let out last Thursday, which means this here mama is on summer break.  So far there's been a lot of popcorn, some pool time and splash fountain time, and a bit of ice cream.  This week we're heading north to meet a new baby niece and to visit with family and friends, and then we'll park it back here at home for a good while before traveling again the last week of July and first week of August.  In that home time I plan on embracing summer's glory by doing a whole lot of nothing.  Well, nothing plus a respectable amount of cold beverages, ice cream, and cool water.  It's already hotter than I remember early summers being (and it isn't even really summer yet!) around here- mid to high 80s daily and humid.  Most days there is a bit of rain or even a quick thunderstorm.  Some plants in the garden are loving it.  Actually, they all look to be loving it, but I know what a humid, rainy early summer often means for those tomatoes.  At least down here in the south.  It means blight-y blight blight and it's no good.  I look at the plants.  Right now they are a deep, dark green and many are already up past my shoulders.  I see their flowers and it all looks so promising.  But.  But I've grown tomatoes from seed many years down here now and I know that often all those months of careful tending end in heartbreak.  And so I'm trying not to get too attached.  We'll see.

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I treated myself recently and upgraded my camera body.  I've wanted to for quite a long while and I finally just went ahead and did it.  I've been putting myself out there, too: setting up some photography work, bartering that for things like chicken-sitting and house-cleaning, pasture-raised pork, homemade medicines, and original art.  I don't quite feel comfortable taking money in exchange, but this I feel good about.  I just might try to wrangle up some interior painting help out of it.  I'm also writing regularly for the local paper (what fun!) and other little writing opportunities come up now and again as well.  I don't take myself very seriously when it comes to my little bits of writing and photography that I let out into the world, but it gives me satisfaction to be able to say that I paid for the new camera with money made from writing and photography.  And that's something.  I suppose that at least makes it a self-sustaining hobby.  I'll take it.

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That about sums it up, where I'm at.

18 comments:

  1. I love where you are at Amanda. Congratulations for putting yourself out there and the new camera body. I love reading your words and gazing at your photos so I'm sure others do too.
    I hear you about this summer temperature. I was just talking to my Mike to see if I could get some kind of light to use so I can head out the door earlier in the morning to try to beat some of this heat. It might not be so bad, but I travel dirt roads and need to see if there are any snakes. I for one am ready for winter. :)
    Enjoy your summer break!

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    1. thank you, Tracey~ I appreciate your kind and encouraging words very much.

      with our days lately in the nineties it makes me wonder if you're getting 100 degree weather down there!? yikes! I'm also hoping for cooler days ahead, but I'm not quite ready for winter.

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  2. Very impressive, you have done so well bartering and getting your camera for your writing and photography. You are one talented lady.

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  3. Sounds like good things are happening and I remember when your camera broke so I'm glad you have a new camera body and new possibilities.

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    1. I started thinking of replacing the body when that happened last year but then Mike was able to fix it with the help of a local camera shop. Still, it was time.

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  4. so good catching up with you! the running... awesome!! i am to a point were i also enjoy running now, but i am too scared to run out here (at least alone) because of the predatory animals we have.
    i am a bit jealous of your heat. it's still too cool here for my liking. we barely get out of the sixties :( when we travel over to the valley (where i grew up) i am in love with the heat in the eighties. i wish you the best for your matoes though :(
    also, the writing and photography trade.... way to go!!!! that is exciting and wonderful! i am so excited for you. (you should contribute to taproot if you feel so inclined... i could SO see your writing style and photography in there).

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    1. good grief are you likely to run into mountain lions and wolves when out for a run? yikes!

      oh I'd love some days in the 60s or 70s. I am not used to 90 degree days- not here in the mountains, anyway. it is certainly shaping up to be a hot, hot summer.

      thanks for the nudge to contribute to taproot. I enjoy that magazine very much and submit ramblings and photography somewhat regularly. hoping one day something strikes their fancy ;)

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  5. I know what you mean about running when it's too hot. I cannot stand it and find that my body just cannot take the heat. But to dip my feet in some cool water along the way sounds just lovely, and so many paths to choose from - how can one not run?!

    We've already had a lot of outside time and once to the beach but here in Nova Scotia the water is still freezing cold! But the sand is ever so fun to play in!

    How wonderful for you to be shooting and writing. It's lovely when you can do what you love and either make some money or at least do some bartering. I've done that before and it's great when both parties get something nice out of it. Mostly these days I do my art more than I shoot - weddings were just getting to be too exhausting with a busy home schooling week and summers should be enjoyed and not exhausting, right? :)

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    1. As long as I can get myself up and out the door before it gets too hot I'm alright, but otherwise...... my body isn't a big fan of the heat either!

      does the water ever feel warm for swimming up there? the farthest north I've gone swimming (aside from Lake Superior) was in Acadia Nat'l Park and it was so cold even in the summer- I imagine it's a good deal colder where you are! but yes, the sand alone is usually enough for me.

      indeed summers should be enjoyed! I'm having fun playing around with doing some photography for friends. I'm still most comfortable shooting inanimate objects, but I'm enjoying myself all the same. you had mentioned filters you've used to shorten the minimum focusing distance and turn any lens into a pseudo-macro lens- are they any that you specifically recommend? I've been considering the set by Polaroid that is on the BH website.

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  6. Oh blight! I had blight here but managed to hold it off. Blight's not really a thing around here but we had just the perfect wet rainy cold spring for it.

    Well done on running even when you don't want too. I wake up early when I don't want to, to do yoga and I am always glad of it in the end.

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    1. Oh yes I'm sure that generally your climate is excellent for tomatoes! So far, so good- except for a few stubborn wilting tomatoes that I'm not sure what to do with. We shall see. This muggy, muggy weather is just perfect for spreading around any and all fungal (and other) tomato diseases. But, I just need to choose to not fret and instead to be grateful for all that is green and growing right outside our back door!

      Oh morning yoga sounds perfect. I was so good about it when I was pregnant. A nice solid routine almost every morning. It is one of those things on my list of things I intend to start doing regularly, but somehow it never sticks for more than a few days or so. And it would so nicely compliment the running. intentions, intentions.......

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  7. I love it when things balance out like your writing and pictures. I'll be looking for something like that when we move to Farmville. It is nice to have a little jangle in your pocket that isn't going to obligations. Stay cool, or if you can't stay cool, stay lazy. :)

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    1. When is your move? Best of luck settling in and finding your groove! Oh gosh it is hard to stay cool these days so yeah, I'm getting pretty good at lazy ;)

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  8. gosh, i want to run, well, jog is more accurate. but those bears roaming my hood freak me out a little bit. maybe i just need to go ahead and get some bear spray. you know, to make me feel "safer". I know the bears mean me no harm, and every time i've seen one they run off if i clap my hands. but. still.

    glad to hear you're out there getting after it.

    and, oh that blight! we had no such thing in colorado. our first summer here we lost everything. or, as i prefer to say - it was a green tomato year. we harvested a hundred, or so pounds of green tomatoes and made the best we could out of it. last year, and again this year, we're already at it with the copper spray. steve and i joke, on those wet, foggy mornings, "yep, tomato growing weather out there today!" only thing good about this heat wave right now is that THIS is tomato and chile growing weather.

    safe travels and see ya on the flip side!

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    1. yes, bears ARE big and intimidating. pepper spray may make you feel better :) we've only seen them twice in our neighborhood, about a year and half ago, but I know they are everywhere up by you!

      a friend who farms up in NJ told me recently about a website you can go to that predicts, daily, the chances of your plants being infected by blight- it uses data about your microclimate and sounds quite interesting. she uses copper spray on all of her tomatoes that aren't in her hoop-house. we've used serenade in the past but I always feel like I'm just fighting a losing battle. the copper at least should help keep it at bay as best as you can for as long as you can. I may pick some up, we'll see.

      looking forward to seeing you soon!

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  9. Yay! congrats on the new camera. What did you get? Did you stick with Canon? Sounds like good, clean fun in your parts! I'm happy if I walk or bike ride and stretch daily. I love your kitchen photo. You should frame that one. I have a photo of my grandma's kitchen that Byron took years ago. It's framed in my kitchen. Every time I look at it, I feel her. The humble kitchen...

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    1. yes I stuck with canon- I got an EOS 7D and am enjoying learning my way around it's ins and outs, even though I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface.

      I take so many photos in the kitchen, and every now and then I stand back and take it all in. somehow these stained cabinets and gold-flecked laminate countertops have really grown on me ;)

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thanks for taking the time to read and comment~