Report from Sabbatical, Day 28

It was my intention to chronicle each day of my 7-week sabbatical, but after Day 1, I found that I enjoyed being away from computers so much, that I couldn't even bear to update our blog! It's been just the break I needed, since I typically spend most of every waking day on a computer for work and social catch-up (and just general surfing around).

So now we're on Day 28, with three more weeks and some change to go. It's been a restful, relaxing, and reflective month off so far. Unlike some of my coworkers who understandably opt to travel to distant, exotic places, I've chosen the "stay-cation" variety of sabbatical, with the exception of an 8-day trip along the California coast that helped kick it off.

Jon has benefitted from my time off, too (when I'm not nagging him about house projects, working out, and eating right). We truly kicked off my sabbatical by harvesting and selling our produce at our local farmer's market, then enjoying the California trip, and most recently playing in a golf tournament for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support breast cancer research.

On my own, I've taken two art classes (but haven't produced anything noteworthy...), completed some small home projects, and have had the distinct pleasure of reading a few books. One of those books is titled, Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself. Not that I'm sick or anything, but I've felt "off-kilter" for years, having serious trouble sleeping, often feeling fatigued during the day, and just not feeling at the top of my game. But WOW--this book and its program really helped infuse new energy into me after just 7 days of the 3-week program. While I'm now completing week two of the program and haven't lost any weight, I feel like a million bucks. I've tried to follow the program to the letter (with a few inevitable "mishaps" along the way), which meant that I also engaged in some new physical activities and other behavior shifts as well.

For example, I found a nice little yoga studio in Albuquerque near the airport (not too far of a drive, about 20 minutes), so I've taken up yoga a few times a week to help me with my breathing, posture, strength, and overall sense of well-being. And with my Massage Envy membership (thanks for introducing me, Linda!), I've managed to use my banked up time to get a massage nearly every week in September. Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.

I haven't been completely wrapped up in myself, however. We've spent some time with family and friends as well: celebrating my dad's 76th birthday, having neighbors over for an Oktoberfest celebration in our backyard, sharing cherished meals with friends Jerry and Karen, and sipping beer at our haunt Chama River Brewing Co. while listening to the delightful details of our friends' Shelby and Ethan's European cruise.

Jon and I haven't done as much hiking and camping as we had intended, but we plan to do a hike this week before the weather gets too cold. Next weekend, we may camp near White Sands National Monument, as the Trinity Site will be open to the public for only one day, as is customary only twice a year. The following week, Jon's family is coming to visit The Farm for the first time, so we have much work to do to prepare for their visit.

Perhaps because of all the time on my hands, I've become very introspective during this sabbatical, pondering where I am at this time in my life and where I might want to be headed--with family, career, and spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being. I've made some good progress with all this time to ponder and engage in new activities, new behaviors; now the challenge is maintaining momentum once it's time to go back to work.

More to come on my sabbatical musings in future posts....

Sabbatical Day 1: Organization, Restoration, Rejunvenation

I have seven weeks off from work. Seven incredible, precious, fragile weeks. I say precious and fragile because I'm so achingly aware of how important every minute of each hour of every day of this "free time" is. It's hard to believe Day 1 is already over! But Jon and I accomplished much on this first day, mostly running errands and getting our house in order before taking off for the San Francisco Bay Area for time with family and friends.

After spending a few days in the Bay Area, we're driving down the California coast on our own to get away and reacquaint ourselves with one another, with a time we shared before work was so invasive and a mortgage introduced itself into our otherwise unburdened life. The time when we had adventures together--HOORAY! This will be our first unfettered trip together since we moved to "the farm". We're incredibly excited, but also eager to return home afterwards to wrap up harvest season, work on some long-overdue projects, and explore our own backyard--both literally (as in, the farm) and figuratively (e.g., the state of New Mexico).

There is at least one overnight camping trip in our near future, and one trip to Taos for a storytelling festival. Otherwise, I intend to regularly go to yoga and play golf, and I enrolled in art classes several months ago to keep me on track to completing some art projects I've been looking forward to for years. And I intend to catch up on sleep, eating healthier, and getting fit again. A tall order in seven weeks!

Now, the trick is continuing any new, healthy habits after returning to work in late October.... Any and all advice on how to do that is appreciated!

Harvest 2009

Production is looking up at the Ashe farm (still looking for an official farm name to start our "business" next summer, selling to farmer's markets, schools, etc. Stay tuned for a poll!). Last year we had less than half the planted area we have this year, and harvest time is at least twice as busy. Because we planted a bit late (June vs. May), our harvest is later than others in the neighborhood, but that's not such a bad thing--we missed any early frosts and hail and are now enjoying the abundance for missing those harsh conditions.


Here are pics of one day's harvest these days. August and September will be busy months!




















In the photos: Japanese eggplant, yellow hot peppers, pickling cucumbers (which, by the way, make AWESOME half-ripe pickles, my favorite!), yellow sweet pear tomatoes, Chadwick cherry tomatoes, Lady Godiva squash, yellow bush zucchini, and monster radishes! You can also see the watermelon and honeydew melon patches ripening for market next week. We have about 40 melons on the vine so far, and we broke into one of the honeydews last night--a phenomenal experience, like nothing we've ever tasted from a store....


And the flowery, honey-like AROMA that emanated from that melon both before and after we cut into it--if we could bottle and sell that smell, we would be set for life!

Wordless Wednesday: Watson Loves Greens (Don't Worry, They Were on Their Way Out)

Cat's Got Your Toe

Poor Watson had an accident on Friday and broke or dislocated a toe on his back paw, poor thing! I was interrupted by howling, blood-curdling screams during a conference call Friday, but couldn't immediately find where it was coming from. I thought Alma (our other cat) and Watson were in a bad fight, which they NEVER do, or that some wild animal snuck into our home and was attacking Watson. It was a horrible, distressful sound.

When I finally understood it was coming from the closet in our office, I was even more confused. I flung the door open, and there was Watson, frantically swinging by one back leg, his little claw stuck in one of the joining corners of our metal shelves.

Jon rushed in to help, and as we tried to grab Watson, he panicked even more, scratching and biting us so ferociously, I felt like he would break one of the bones in my hand. Jon finally managed to hold him while I tried to jimmy his bloody claw out of the shelf. I finally had to yank his foot free, which was not pleasant, and he screamed even more, flying out of Jon's arms and limping badly around the house, continuing to scream and bleed. It was just horrifying.

We also had visitors in town from California that day--our friends Laura and Paul--who were already waiting for me to finish my conference call when all of this happened so we could go out to lunch on this, their first day of their first visit ever to New Mexico.

So, Jon rushed Watson to the vet while I stayed behind to finish my conference call and to go out with Paul and Laura. I felt so guilty leaving Jon and Watson behind, but Jon is a great Kitty Dad and made sure Watson was well taken care of (poor Jon also experienced one of the worst storms we've ever had here in Bosque Farms while I was out galavanting around with Laura and Paul--he SO deserved a beer!).

I know it's sick that I'm smiling in the photo above, but Laura and Paul asked me to say "cheese" as they caught me comforting poor little Watson after he came home quite drugged from the vet. He's doing better now, nearly a week later, but he's still on sedatives and antibiotics since he started getting a fever over the weekend. Please say a prayer for our little guy, that he'll be able to walk (and terrorize Alma) normally again!

Spooky Sweet Savannah

I had a few days off in June and decided to spend them visiting my good friend Karen and her husband Danny in Savannah, Georgia. They've lived there for nearly two years now, so it was great to finally see how they're doing, after their move from Colorado Springs.

The architecture and lush green flora is so remarkable in Savannah, the result of an enterprising, colonial English general, James Oglethorpe, who founded the colony of Georgia and mandated that the city of Savannah situate itself into a grid organized by "town squares", each surrounded by a roundabout, each square with its own unique history and personality. The resulting town is one of America's most pleasurable to stroll.

I had never really known anything about Savannah except what I've seen in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (and Forrest Gump, also filmed in Savannah), and that I really, really love the name, "Savannah". But when I arrived, I learned that Savannah is truly a magical place.

Karen and Danny actually live in a suburb of Savannah called Pooler, but Karen has the unique opportunity to work in downtown Savannah at the Telfair Museum of Art. We spent a lot of time downtown, but before our first foray from Pooler to Savannah, Karen and Danny made sure to stop at a local nature preserve, home to hundreds of huge alligators. The alligators weren't shy and were free to roam on the roads and paths we took through the preserve. It was unnerving, to say the least, but it was amazing to watch the locals fearlessly plop right into the water to fish in the same waters the alligators wade.

We visited the Mercer-Williams mansion, owned by the actual Jim Williams from the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" (shown below), which was one of Mr. Williams' wildly successful renovation projects. Williams contributed a good deal to Savannah's regentrification in the 1960s-80s as a celebrated art and antiques collector and dealer.

Savannah is a haunted city, if not with souls, then with stories. We took one of the many walking ghost tours one evening, and enjoyed elaborate stories of colonial and turn-of-the century betrayal, scandal, piracy, and human trade that all ended badly. Our guide was probably even more animated than most as it was a pub crawl tour with drinks served at each stop. He didn't refuse any drinks himself....

Karen graciously took me to nearby Tybee Island Sunday afternoon for a leisurely stroll along the beach and a dip in Atlantic waters. We planned to dodge crowds of paparazzi who should have been there to ogle the set and crew of Miley Cyrus' upcoming new movie, but delightfully, we didn't see many people at the beach that day. Only small families like this one, burying their children in the sand (see body-less head, below).

Karen and Danny were amazing hosts and tour guides. They took me to every possible nook and cranny they knew, from the historic Bonaventure cemetery (final resting place to many famous writers, notable Southern families, and civil war heroes) to a 300+ year-old oak tree that is still growing and thriving, to a quaint neighborhood oyster bar called Pearl's in the heart of Savannah's marshes.

Touring Savannah was like devouring an enormous, Southern, pecan praline: the rich history of the place was nearly cloying, but I just couldn't get enough.

Wordless Wednesday