Container gardening Fall 2014

I finally got back to my roots today.  Literally.  I planted my little fall garden on my patio.  I had forgotten how happy I feel with dirt in my hands. 

NJ Vacation 2014 Photo Blast

Reality and responsibility have reared their ugly heads again but I am going to mentally revisit my vacation by posting all the beauty I got to enjoy while I was away.  I hope you all love it as much as I do!

Friends in high places

I find it amazing how important connections with other people are to a person as anti-social as I am.  I have a few childhood friends that started out as friends more out of convenience than because of any deep personal connection.  Those friendships have lasted because of our history and in some cases because we have found ourselves on similar paths with similar interests.

All is not lost

Last February, I made a major change in my life. 

Identity

A friend of mine thoughtfully shared a recent article from The New York Times called The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists (written by Benoit Denizet-Lewis).  It is a very long article with no hard science in it, despite the title.  It was still incredibly enlightening.  I highly recommend that everyone give it a read.

For those of you who are unaware, I am bisexual.  It isn't really something I talk about.  Like many bisexuals I have never formally come out (I guess this is pretty close, though).  My mom knows, most of my friends know.  I am selective who I discuss it with because many people are not open to the idea.  I have never really felt the need to give myself the label but it is truly what I am.

(Not really sure what bisexuality means?  Here is a pretty good definition:
“I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted — romantically and/or sexually — to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way and not necessarily to the same degree.”)
 
I have lived a heterosexual life.  With the exception of a short period in my late teens I have been only with men.  That fact doesn't mean I am now less attracted to women or inherently more likely to spend my life with men.  I am attracted to both, for very different reasons.  

"According to the 2013 Pew Research Survey of L.G.B.T.-identified Americans, bisexuals are less likely than gays and lesbians “to view their sexual orientation as important to their overall identity.” That feeds into a belief among some gays and lesbians that bisexuals are essentially fence-sitters who can pass for straight for decades at a time and aren’t especially invested in the L.G.B.T. community."
 
I can attest first hand to that being true.  As human beings we all identify ourselves in different ways.  I'm a woman.  I'm an intellectual.  I'm a hippie.  Those are what seem most important to me.  I'm a bisexual doesn't even make the top 5.  For others, sexual orientation might come first, or second. It might be the major defining factor of your life. 

 I have not been immersed in the LGBT movement and I was ignorant to the under-representation of bisexuals.  This article really opened my eyes to the need for me to embrace my sexual identity and advocate so others can, too.
 
I feel lucky to have the pool of potential suitors be larger.  Loving people regardless of their gender really does feel like a gift.

I will leave you with this last excerpt from the article which resonated the most for me:

 “I really wish everyone could experience how extraordinary it is to be able to fall in love with people regardless of their gender,” he said. “I once told a straight friend who couldn’t really understand my bisexuality: ‘Hey, just because you’re incapable of finding the beauty in both genders, don’t hold your deficiencies against me. You have a handicap, I don’t.’ But, somehow, I’m seen as the strange one, the one who doesn’t fit into our obsession with everything being black or white, straight or gay.”

Want more info about bisexuality?  Check out the American Institute of Bisexuality website here.

Right, Write, and Wrong

I recently finished reading a book that really got me thinking.  It's called The Atheist's Guide to Christmas.  Now I realize that reading something with Christmas in the title in February might seem a little odd, but I picked it because I needed a little levity in my life.  I figured there is never a bad time to poke fun at social and religious norms.  To my surprise, this book filled with short stories was both amusing at times and enlightening.  Each chapter was written by a different non-theist.  Some are comedians, scientists, writers.

Life's Little Detour

To say that my life has changed since my last post would be an understatement.  Sometimes, even the best laid plans just don't pan out quite like you hoped they would.  I do not regret contributing to the homestead that Adam now has sole ownership of.  I really hope that it serves him well for as long as he chooses to live there.  I will miss the compost heap and the giant clothesline.  All the fresh produce from the garden and the private backyard.  Those things all made living green so much easier to do.  But just because it isn't as easy to do anymore, doesn't mean that I'm throwing in the towel.  

I am now renting a townhome.  I picked it in part because it has a little fenced patio area that is visually private (it faces the parking lot so it isn't particularly quiet or peaceful). 

I want to incorporate composting, gardening, airdrying clothes, and recycling into my new lifestyle.  Obviously these are all things I've done before, but this time it will be done from the perspective of a renter in a rather strict HOA community.  There will be hurtles to jump but being earth friendly is important enough to me that it is worth whatever aggravation I have to endure.

I already have a few herbs growing but I will be adding a cherry tomato plant or two and more herbs soon.  They all grow nicely in pots so they are great options for people to grow when they can't augment the property they live on.  As you can see in the photo, there is a lot of light in the morning.  From about 8AM-2PM the sun shines warm and bright into the patio area.  Having the plants in pots is an asset because I can move them if I come to realize certain parts of the patio get more light than others.  It's only been a week now, so I am still learning.

I dabbled with the idea of stringing up a clothes line.  I figured I could just untie the line and wrap it up when I wasn't using it.  After living here I realized the orientation of the patio doesn't really lend itself to having something strung across it.  Instead, I found something like this and it worked surprisingly well!  It isn't meant to hold 100 lbs of wet jeans/sweaters but it worked fine for this single floridian hippie.

That was nearly a whole load of laundry, including a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.  As you can see I brought the whole thing outside and let the sun do its thing.  My only complaint (and I know this is only because I've been spoiled with an awesome clothesline) is that I had to come rotate stuff in order for both sides of the clothing to dry.  I like this rack overall though, because it folds flat for easy storing and it is so easily portable.  I can keep it inside if the weather is bad on wash day or I can bring it outside to utilize the sunshine.  I will have to re-evaluate when it comes time to wash the quilts.  Stringing a clothes line might be the only option.

So, in this first week of habitation I have two things on my earth friendly to-do list checked off.  Growing something, and sun drying on laundry day.  Stay tuned for my next post:  Waste not, want not.