We kicked off the weekend with dinner at our favorite
Japanese Restaurant, Kishi. Fueled
with delicious fish and warm rice, we summoned the energy to attend Comedy
Sports at the high school, where several of my former students were showcasing
their quick wits! Saturday morning
offered seven miles that I seemingly ran in my sleep. Perhaps due to the overcast weather, impending rain, and
cool temps; this run seemed effortless. Last time I ran this very same route, I
felt I barely could drag my exhausted body home. For whatever reason, this weekend it seemed super easy. Moving fast resulted in staying warm or
so it seemed. When I got home, I
drank water and stretched out before hopping into a warm shower, so I was
surprised to find that my lips were still a shade of pale blue 30 minutes after
getting home. I guess my
speedy pace didn’t keep me as warm as I thought.
No time to dwell on my great run or chilly countenance,
after a quick breakfast and some coffee it was time to trek over to the Bernard
Field Station for the LEEP open house.
The B.F.S. is an awesome chunk of preserved native land owned by the
colleges for biological research.
Lucky me, I get to take 36 6th graders for weekly hikes and
lessons in the field. As a part of
the Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership in which Pitzer students
get to practice teaching environmental lessons under my stewardship, my
elementary students get some awesome outdoor learning, as well. It is far and away my favorite part of
teaching each spring. Saturday was
a day where the B.F.S was open to the public for families to see what their
students have been learning all semester.
I took the opportunity to tour my good friend Talia and her mom around
the field station. Walking about ¾
of a mile from home to the gates and hiking a couple miles on the trails of the
88 acres of sage scrub, oak woodlands and Riparian habitat that is the
B.F.S and hoofing it back home to
grab lunch with Greg before he headed off to work, added at least another three
miles to the day’s total. I
managed to make it inside with my seed collection to plan my spring garden
before the rain started to fall.
The pitter-patter of raindrops on my roof was the perfect invitation to
an afternoon nap. With beautiful
images of purple Penstemon in a wildflower flourish decorating the foreground
and cream-colored spice-scented Elder blossoms punctuating the green trees,
only sweet dreams can follow.
After our usual trip to the farmer’s market, Sunday was all
about planting my spring garden.
Greg had hired the next-door neighbor’s gardeners to help him attack the
weeds with some manpower on Saturday when I was at the LEEP Open House. The result was easy access to my raised
beds. I planted dry shelling
beans, basil, nasturtiums, edamame, zucchini, yellow squash, 6 varieties of
winter squash, 2 varieties of pumpkin, pole beans, sunflowers, eggplant and
peppers in addition to the 6 tomato plants, strawberries, lettuce, carrots,
celery and radishes that are already growing in the front and back yard. I
still have about 3 more beds to weed and some herbs to trim back before I can
plant the remaining melons, cucumbers and gourds that I hope to get in the
ground before it gets too hot.
Knowing I’ll be busy with yoga training next weekend, it will be at
least two weeks until I get to spend substantial time in the garden again. Still I’m more than ¾ of the way done
with planting for the season and that is a good feeling.
Any weekend that results in this pile of shoes by the back
door is a good one. We’ve amassed
running shoes, hiking or trail shoes, street shoes or
farmer’s-market-going-shoes, and gardening shoes. This is a good reminder that my feet have been busy this
weekend. I’m hoping to put my feet
up tonight and rest a bit before early morning yoga teaching kicks off a busy
week tomorrow morning.
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