Does It Feel Sick In Here to You?

Because it kind of does to me. I'm that kind of sick where you keep telling yourself you aren't, until finally you're forced to admit - ok, dammit, this isn't really some mysterious sinus ailment, this is actually that malady known as the common cold. But I'm fighting it off in semi-determined fashion. Although I'm trying to be smarter this year. Last year I just kept exercising (repeating the mantra, "it's FINE to exercise as long as it's not in your lungs!"), until I had pretty much forced it into my lungs or until I felt like I'd been run over by a car, and then would still take a week off to get over it. So this year I'm doing something different (maybe I'm growing up?) and just taking a few days off when I start to feel bad. So far it's 3 days off, but I kind of almost felt like running today, so maybe I'll give it a go tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm making good use of my non-exercising days by actually accomplishing some work. Don't laugh, it's true. I've been very mad-scientist with the beeswax, and behold - the beeswax lantern:

Same shapes, sizes, ideas as the candles, except this is a hollow lantern that's lit with a tea light - so it'll last pretty much indefinitely. Unless you do something crazy, like put a big candle in it - in which case it will melt. But if you act with just a modicum of prudence - and stick with a tea light - this pup will be in it for the long haul. This particular one is also made from white beeswax, which I've been experimenting with and am enamored of. It makes me happy to look at it.

I've also just gotten my seed order in. Which in a normal year would be late, but given the year we're having now it doesn't seem to make any difference -- I don't imagine anything's going to be planted anytime in the foreseeable future anyway.

And also - Michael Oppenheim, a local wedding photographer, just put up a blog with pictures from a wedding I did last year. Love his photography, and shows our flowers off to their best. Thanks Michael! (And thanks to the bride and groom - they were the best, easiest, nicest people to work with.) Just to give you a taste - here's a shot of the bridal bouquet:

Decade in Review

I was thinking about the last decade - kind of a lot going on in the last ten years. You'd think things might be fairly much the same from the ages of 27 to 37, but in this case, not so much. So since I was thinking about it (and since I've read some other bloggers that reviewed their previous decade and it entertained me), here's the very abridged version of the last ten years:

2000 - We celebrated the New Year at the Outer Banks in a beach house with Clark's brothers and their wives and a bunch of our friends. We had a great time, although I'll confess to being slightly disappointed that all of the computers in the world didn't grind to a cataclysmic halt and end technology as we know it. I mean, I'm not really advocating for the end of days here, but still, there was a lot of build up for not much of a result.

In 2000 we were working in Charlotte, childless, and had just moved to an old farm house in Chester, South Carolina so that we could consolidate our horses and our lives in one place (in other words, I had gotten tired of commuting to a barn 40 minutes from our house to ride a horse in the middle of the night (since that was the only time I had to ride my horse given my job), and Clark had gotten really tired of never seeing his wife.) So we decided we'd put everything in one place - which was a great idea, except that the only place we could afford to do that was Chester, South Carolina. Which is about an hour from where we worked, and we were the epitome of "you're not from around here, are you?" Everyone we met was so nice, but we had *nothing* in common with any of them. My vet introduced himself by wanting to know if we had found a church yet, and assuring me his was a "god-fearing, bible-believing congregation." Umm. . . we actually do go to church on occasion, but I'm pretty sure my kind of church and his kind of church were not the same thing, and really, I just wanted him to look at my lame horse. And while we were in Chester it was made famous for dog-fighting, cock-fighting, and a boy his killed both of his grandparents. Seriously.

2001- still in Chester, still riding horses, still driving a really long way to work. Wondering if maybe we might one day be brave enough to reproduce. About 10 minutes after we wondered that, I was pregnant. Turns out my paranoia about birth control for all of those years was not paranoia at all. Fertility's a fickle mistress - you just never know which way she's going to turn.

2002 - yep, still in Chester. Around April, when I was 7 months pregnant, I decided that there is no way in hell I'm going to keep doing my current job. I was Senior Counsel at a telecom company, and while I liked a few of the people I worked with, that was the only redeeming feature of that job. Seriously, the only one. Except maybe for the giant Harris Teeter I could walk to. And now that I think about it, when proximity to a grocery store is a shining light of your employment situation, that job totally sucks. Decided I'd quit, and job search after Sam was born. Turns out that's the last law job I've ever had.

June 19, 2002, Sam Duncan is born. He's a doll. As long as I'm holding him at all times. Parenting gurus would say we were very attached. And we were - very, very attached, usually literally - the kid ate all the time. He was the sweetest thing I've ever seen, and I felt a primal urge that said if anyone messed with this kid I was going to rip the flesh from their bones. In fact, I still pretty much feel that way, so if you're considering messing with Sam Duncan, consider yourself warned. Motherhood's a powerful force, and I've got a bit of a temper.

By late summer it was clear that Chester was not the place for us any longer (my big outing of the week was to head to the Wal-Mart in Rock Hill with the baby - kill me now), and it was time to head back to Asheville. I grew up in Asheville, and all of my family is here, and we'd always thought that one day we'd move back. One day just happened to turn into that day. So we put our house on the market and Clark started looking for a job. But finding a job in Asheville and selling a white elephant in Chester aren't easy tasks, so that was also how we ended 2002.

2003 - In April it all came together - our house sold, and Clark got a job. Hooray! We're on our way to Asheville! We stayed with my parents while we were house hunting - talk about incentive to find a house. All three of us were staying in my high-school bedroom. Tight fit. A month after we got here we were closing on our house - thankfully our rush didn't impede our judgment - we love our house, it's walking distance to downtown and we have a ton of good friends in the neighborhood.

This year I also was running again for the first time since my ill-fated collegiate running career. Since there's no call for middle-aged hurdlers, I started running a little distance. It all started with Sam in his baby jogger the previous fall, and then I kind of just kept seeing if I could run a little farther and a little farther. It culminated with the Citizen-Times Half Marathon in September, where I ran a 1:39:21 over a super hilly course, and was 6th in my age group. Not too bad, I'll take it. So then I ran the first Dupont Forest Trail Marathon. Oh my. Talk about a hard day at the office - I had a pretty bad day, [ok, probably the worst I have ever felt at a sporting event], and still ended up 3rd in my age group even though I ran well over 4 hours. That's when you know the whole thing was a long hard slog. Unfortunately I also tweaked my IT Band in that race, and it was a long time before I was running again.

2004 - Clark and I were sort of running, but I wasn't having much luck with the IT Band. Although this was when I found yoga, and discovered it's pretty much the cure-all for anything that ails you. We did manage to get to the Kiawah Half Marathon, and had a great time. I ran a 1:39:30, which just goes to show how flat Kiawah is - I wasn't in anything close to the same kind of shape as the year before.

2005 - IT Band was still kind of a mess, and I had been sort of riding the horses off and on while Sam was slowly growing up, so I turned my attention back to the horses. Hooked up with a really good trainer - Amy Barrington - in Landrum, and was having a blast.

2006 - doing a lot of riding, and raising Sam (who by this time was in pre-school a few mornings a week thank god), and having fun with Clark. Loving being in Asheville.

2007 - the year of the horse (for this decade anyway). Was taking Fred to a lot of events, and had Finn started, and was generally having a great time. But in August Sam started kindergarten, and Clark and I had our 10th wedding anniversary, and I barely remember either one - because I was in the trauma unit at Mission Hospital after a very unfortunate landing from a pretty easy fall off of Fred. Oops. He stopped at a jump and I went over his head and landed on a jump pole, and broke 4 ribs and punctured a lung and ended up with a chest tube and was in the hospital for 11 days. Clark was amazing - held everything together even though I was in a drug-induced haze for the better part of a month. It's kind of like the lost month for me - I was fairly blissed out and unconcerned from the opiates. I really think Clark got the worst end of the deal. Although the opiates had to go in fairly short order - turns out you don't poop when you're taking opiates. Like, at all. Dear god, how those Hollywood stars all get addicted to Vicodin is completely beyond me. So I ditched the drugs fairly quickly, and was actually back on a horse 6 weeks later. Took Finn out to his first events and had a great time.

2008 - Was planning on another big horse year, but in January Finn was 3 legged lame, and we thought he had chipped his stifle. This is really, really bad news for an event horse. Turns out he didn't (although we never actually figured out what he had done, even after a trip to the vet hospital at NCSU), but he did need a few months off in the field. Around this same time Clark was changing jobs and with Sam starting kindergarten it was time for to be a productive member of the family. But the law jobs weren't looking so appealing so I decided I'd start growing flowers. And that was the beginning of Spotted Dog Farm. Around September, after no riding and no running, I discovered my skirts no longer buttoned. Huh. So started running again.

2009 - Was going to try to run a marathon in the spring, but of course started running too much and ended up injured. (Seriously, I seem to have no self-control when it comes to this. If I ever win the lottery I'm hiring a coach immediately.) So I decided to try a few triathlons, since it would be like mandatory cross-training - and LOVED them. I remember thinking halfway through the ride at my first one, "I think I've found my new sport." And it was pretty successful - I was 3rd in my age group at the first one (Enka Lake), 2d in my age group at the second one (Asheville Tri) and won my age group at the last one (Lake Logan Sprint - but it should be noted that most of the really fast people did the Olympic distance the day before at this one.) So it turned out that triathlon was a pretty compelling new pastime, and somehow I just didn't manage to put Finn back to work this year. I figure he's certainly happy enough hanging out in the pasture with his buddy, and I'm feeling very entertained trying to figure out triathlon. Revelations for the year - I can actually sort of swim (if I have a coach and apply a LOT of effort to the project), it's possible to run a decent (though not great) 5K off of 6 miles a week of running if you're also swimming and biking, and I need to ride my bike more. Also in the middle of this year I decided that in addition to growing flowers I was going to make beeswax candles with pressed flowers in them. Did I decide this because of my exhaustive experience with candle making and pressed flowers? No. I just decided it. So thereafter ensued a period in which our whole house was covered with melted wax and really ugly candles. But I'm pretty sure perseverance trumps inspiration most every time, so I just kept making slightly less crazy looking candles for months and months - until I actually had something I liked. And it turns out lots of other people like it too - so 2009 was the year of the candle.

At the end of the decade I suppose I've got a few resolutions - although I'm not really one for concrete things like "floss my teeth." Instead I'm more in the mind of keeping on having a great time with my family, keep enjoying the new things I'm learning, and make sure Sam keeps having the best possible life. Pretty good goals all in all.

Random Musings

Sitting here waiting for wax to melt. Yep, my candle making moratorium is over. I had a good little break, what with the snow canceling our last holiday market and my manic candle making efforts at the beginning of the month. But people came by the house and bought several, and I've got to restock Woolworth tomorrow, so I'm back at the grindstone. And really, what a fun grindstone it is. I'm also working on a new hurricane lamp idea, so I'll report back once that one's complete.

Seems like there's been all sorts of stuff going on around here. I'm gearing up for the 2010 planting season, and also for more wedding and special event flowers that we're going to be doing next year. Fun. I know it probably seems early to be thinking about spring flowers, but in reality I've got to get my seed order in soon, and then I'll be starting seedlings before too long. And speaking of seedlings, I was really glad we're still using our ghetto greenhouse instead of a real one - a whole lot of farmers had them collapse during the snowstorm last week, which would be just awful.

In sports-ish type news, we've done our last market until mid-April, which means that now I can join the Masters group on Saturday mornings too - three swims a week! Real ones. Before I was doing Masters twice a week, and swimming once on my own, but on my own I tend to just do drills and float around, so adding an extra real swim ought to help. But of course I've been playing too much on the dip machine at the Y and my shoulder was a little sore yesterday, so I didn't do the timed 1650 everyone else was doing. Dammit. Ok, that's kind of a joke - I wasn't all that broken up to miss a timed 1650, but in reality I do want to do it - but I've got until February before the times are turned in, so I'm sure I'll find a time in the semi-near future.

Biking has kind of been on a back burner lately - I usually don't pay much attention to bad weather, so I figured I'd just pile on layers and keep riding through the winter. But now I'm wondering if we're going to have a bad snow winter - and I'm not ok with riding a bike on icy slush with cars on icy slush right beside me. So... (and this is a sign that I might be a terrible daughter) - but my mom bought me a bunch of beautiful clothes for Christmas, and I'm taking them back to pay for the bike trainer I found on sale. Yep, bad daughter. But better cyclist. Surely mom will understand, right???

Hope everyone's having a happy holiday and looking forward to the New Year!

Wreaths - Before and After

I'm supposed to be at the farm right now, cutting cockscomb and plumed celosia and hanging them to dry for wreaths. But it's raining - and when cutting flowers to dry it helps if when you start they actually are. . . dry. So no cutting this morning. Instead I'm procrastinating and reading blogs and playing on mapmyride and pretending like I'm about to make a pair of booties.

The type of booties I'm allegedly making this morning.
Except the ones I'm making are purple with lavender flowers.

If I *was* actually cutting flowers for wreaths, here's what I'd be looking at (because I love a good before and after):



The celosia in the field (with some cockscomb in the foreground). A lot of it was volunteer this year, so it's not exactly in neat rows - but there's a bunch of it.

The celosia after a few weeks of hanging to dry and some Martha Stewart action on my part. In fact, one of these wreaths is still hanging on my kitchen door from last year. Yes, that means I'm lazy about taking things down. But it also means they last a long time - bonus.

Cockscomb in the field. I love this stuff - it feels like velvet, and it pretty much looks exactly the same whether it's fresh or dried. People call it "brain flowers" because it really does kind of look like a brain. As far as I know.



And behold, after transmogrification into a wreath. You wouldn't believe how many people think I'm lying when I say this is really made of flowers. It does look (and feel) rather velvet-ish. I'm growing a lot more red cockscomb, so hopefully I'll actually have enough of these this year.

All this talk of wreaths probably makes it obvious that I'm about ready to transition from sweating my ass off in the field to a slightly more subdued season of making things. And along with that I've been looking into some good craft shows to add to our itinerary this fall - so if anyone has suggestions, by all means let me know.

Farms Pics

Yep, it's that time again - the time when I remember to bring my camera to the farm. Friday is pretty much "get ready for market day" - so lots of cutting of flowers. In no particular order, here's how the day played out:



Zinnias! Tons of them - they're in full swing these days.


The cockscomb and celosia rows are taking off too - these have wreaths in their future.


Random flower rows. You might notice from this picture that I am not as johnny-on-the-spot with a hoe as I could be. To which I reply - sue me. Not that I'm defensive or anything. But yes, if I'm really telling the truth I'd admit that a weedeater has occasionally made its way down my rows between the flowers to restore order. The thing is, usually the decision goes something like this: I *could* be OCD about weed control. Or I could go run. And here you have pictorial proof that the run usually wins. Balance is good, right? Right??



The castor bean plants that are considering eating Oakley. Seriously, look how high those things are. This is definitive proof that chemical fertilizers are not required to grow things. And that having a few horses on the property really helps in that department.


The goats that ran away from the circus and met up at the barn. These goats are *supposed* to be living in the overgrown paddock with Max and Charlie - but these wily goats, who arrived in two separate pairs within a day or two of each other, all immediately found the one tiny hole in the woven wire fence and took off for the barn. And they are so entertaining up there that my dad and I haven't had the heart to corral them and take them back to the paddock. We refer to them as our tiny herd of tiny goats, and they have a fabulous time running and snorting and knocking horns with each other all over the pasture. So poor Max and Charlie are fending for themselves in the weeds that are way taller than they are, while Bonnie, Clyde, Thelma and Louise are living it up. Life is not fair.




Dexter, king of the barn cats. He had an encounter with Thelma (Supreme Commander of the Renegade Goats) that convinced him goats are NOT SUPPOSED TO LIVE IN THE BARN. He wandered straight up to Thelma to introduce himself, and she took one look, backed up a few steps and scooped him up on her horns and sent him flying. He was hissing as he flew through the air, and I confess my dad and I could not stop laughing. He landed with a thump (you'll notice he's well padded) and stalked off to nurse his wounded pride. It was the only thing wounded, but he was highly offended.


Extreme electric fence building to combat the tiny herd of tiny goats. Goats like to get on anything high - like, for example, the hood of your towing vehicle or the wheel wells of the horse trailer. Four strands of electric tape have now convinced them otherwise.



Most ridiculous shoes in history. And they're on *my* feet. After investing untold $$ in plantar fasciitis treatments (orthotics for bike shoes, orthotics for run shoes, special arch supports for other shoes, god knows how much athletic tape for arch tape...) I have now gone the other direction. All of that worked for a week and then it hurt again. So I'm beginning to give more credence to the cult of barefoot runners. I'm not running barefoot, but I do think there's some sense to the argument that my arches need to figure out how to support themselves again. So I've been walking around barefoot at the farm. But sometimes I'm walking around places where barefoot just isn't the best plan - enter the Vibram Five Fingers. They totally look like muppet shoes, but I swear the plantar fasciitis is feeling better. And even if it's just because I'm distracted by these ridiculous shoes, that's fine with me.

Wedding Flowers

So I've gotten a few requests for weddings since I started selling flowers, and I've always been kind of reluctant to follow through. The very idea of getting embroiled in a wedding has seemed a bit. .. stressful. Because some brides (and grooms) are super mellow and happy and fun, and some are. . . not. So I had steered clear of it, but this year I decided to dip my toe in, and so far it's been a rousing success. I sold flowers to an incredibly nice fellow named Zach a few weeks ago for his wedding in Celo (and as an aside, it really has to be a good start to your wedding when the groom cares enough to drive all creation buying flowers.) And I have a customer who's getting married on July 4 that I'm providing flowers for. And she seems super cool and relaxed, so I'm feeling like if I screen customers carefully, this wedding thing may work out. :)

Speaking of wedding flowers, here's a bucket we put together last weekend for a picture for my soon-to-be-created Spotted Dog facebook page.


I really do love a big bucket of flowers. You'd have to be the grinch not to.

And speaking of wedding flowers, and great timing, I checked my mail on Monday, and look what was waiting for me like a big delicious surprise:




A copy of this book! It was written by a friend, Mardee Morris, who has a wonderful floral design studio in Florida called Blooming Branches. Mardee's sister Carson and I went to college together, so after Mardee's book came out Carson mailed me a copy. And it's *beautiful*, and clever, and filled with good ideas. So anyone who's getting married and likes flowers really might want to pick up a copy (you can find it at her website: http://www.bloomingbranches.com/)

And one last tale of wedding flowers - here's how I ended up with mine. It was 12 years ago, and I wasn't so invested in flowers at the time, seeing as I was studying 12 hours a day for the Bar Exam. So we met with a florist, I made a few vague suggestions (I think something along the lines of "I like bright colors"), she suggested something and I agreed and forgot all about it. So the week before our wedding is the week that FedEx goes on strike (seriously, who knew?), and she calls on Thursday with a slight edge of panic in her voice to say that, thanks to the strike, our flowers appear to be stuck on a dock somewhere rotting away, and would I mind if she substituted some others? I say no, of course not, since in truth I couldn't even remember what we had agreed on to start with. She arrives with the bouquets, and they were absolutely beautiful - lots of bright colors. Sometimes going along with the flow of things really works.