Mom's Day 2010

So today is my 10th Mother's Day. I count the one in which I was pregnant, because I remember being included in the celebration with the mom's in my family. It was one of my first memories of my mom celebrating an occasion with my in-law family. I know Erik's Grandma Thompson was there, and I think my Grandma Boyd was too. I received some cards. I smiled from the joy of the inclusion into that society known as Motherhood.

I am still smiling.

This morning, after eating some delicious breakfast created by Erik, (and did I mention he did all the dishes, too?) listening to Jake pound on the piano behind me and screech his hyperness into audible existence, I smiled. Erik and I gave up on conversation, walking into a different room to finish planning our day. Of course, our crazy-haired-bursting-with-life child followed.

Today we are headed to Home Depot to spend my gift certificate on 5-gallon buckets and soil for tomatoes. I am really into the idea of growing tomato plants this year. Our soil is rock-hard and houses gophers that love to eat roots, so I decided to follow some online instructions on how to grow them out of buckets. I also want to get some lettuce plants.

When I was a child, I preferred reading over helping my mom and step-dad in the garden. A few times, I would show interest and my mom would show me how to plant the fragile little flower plants into the plot in front of the house. After a few minutes, however, whatever I was reading would call me loudly and I would escape within its pages.

Gardening has been a hit and miss process for me since becoming an adult. When we lived in the San Bernardino Mountains, we didn't bother planting anything in the ground. My mother-in-law had little success and we were busy spending our time doing other things. In Ocean Beach, we belonged to a community garden for a summer. I spent hours weeding and planting and watering in the strangely-vibed community garden, rife with emotional unhappiness between the self-proclaimed leader and its other members. I grew fava beans, then had no idea what to do with them. My favorite success there were the gorgeous iris's that bloomed. Our plot was originally for 4 of us, but I spent the majority of time there.

When we moved to Fallbrook, there was already a garden plot, lined with chicken wire and wooden boards around the edges. These precautions did not stop the gophers, however, and they were happy to eat my chard and lettuces as soon as they got a chance. I give up easily sometimes and this was one of those times.

Last summer, however, a friend and co-worker, Julie, e-mailed the staff of the school where I was the librarian and offered seedlings to anyone who was willing to go to her house with dirt and containers. I couldn't resist. She gave me tomatoes, bell-peppers, watermelon, cantelopes, and other stuff. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought some baskets and other cheap planting containers. I lined the baskets with some weed-cloth we had on hand and filled them with soil. I was pleasantly amazed by the sense of excitement I felt when pulling in the driveway and seeing my container garden working. I was a faithful waterer. To be honest, however, not much produce was yielded from my labors. My neighbor, Carla, let me have a few extra jalepeno plants, which thrived, and my potted orange tree produced fruit for the first time ever, due to the watering.

I was inspired, however, and this year I pulled out those Dollar Tree containers again and planted flowers. Instant gratification, as they were not from seeds. I also have 6 strawberry plants blossoming. And a few sunflower seeds sprouted and have been transplanted from the recycled trays in which they started life to random other pots shared with plants where they are welcome. And did I mention the tomato seedlings? I am not the type to carefully plant one seed in each little pocket in the container. I sprinkled gobs of them all over the surface of whatever funky plastic container I had on hand, and lo and behold, they sprouted! Lots of them sprouted. Thus, the interest in growing them upside down out of buckets. I had seen the commercials for the kits one can buy, and figured cheap people like me have figured out how to do it without buying the kits. The beauty of online searching came in handy, like it so often does, and I printed out some ideas. So. Off to Home Depot.

My other big plan today is to go to the beach. I scored a huge bag of rolls from a wedding we attended a few weeks ago, and after eating as many as we could, and they started tasting stale, I laid them out to dry. The seagulls will love them and I always love being at the beach. Jake thinks he will go in the water and we will allow him to, but I am not fooled into thinking that it will be warm. I have already told him that I have no intention of anything but my feet getting wet.

So, now I am the only one not ready to go. Gonna remedy this and fill you all in on the rest of our day later. Thanks for listening!