on vacation in your own backyard

I have a nice backyard. It's big (3/4 of an acre) and has some regular and fruit trees, a couple of different gardens, even grapevines. I'm lucky. So when I got up off my couch and looked out the window today, I thought, "why am I inside?"

Well, for one, I have a cold. But a little fresh air never killed anyone, so that's no excuse. And my kids are with their dad (finally! I guess his new girlfriend takes priority now- its been 2 weeks since he saw them), but taking them outside isn't the only reason I go out. And when I was on vacation, we sat outside- in the same exact chairs I have in my backyard, and we read books, and I loved it. Now granted, I'm not sitting looking at the ocean, but my yard isn't too bad to look at either. There's a cardinal about 10 yards away from me, and a butterfly just flew by. I'd bet at least a few city people would kill for this.

I finished In Defense of Food, and it was awesome. The best part was the last part, where Michael Pollan talks about how having a garden and eating what you grow is the best thing you can do for your health. Done! Yesterday and today I picked: 4 regular tomatoes, handfuls of pear and cherry tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, a zucchini, 2 peppers, some broccoli, some parsley and some basil (and two slugs, ew). Most of it is gone already! If I had to pick one thing to keep from this blog, I'd have to pick the garden, even though I've learned so much more. It's been amazing.