Gardening Progress

I am not nearly as good a gardener as I was four years ago. Weeding is a haphazard affair. I am less vigilant about watering. And yet, I still persist. And I am excited to see growth. 

I find that gardening, like relationships, require faith. Faith that my efforts are not wasted, that eventually there will be a harvest. My young tomato plants look a little silly, currently dwarfed by their tomato cages. I have faith that those cages will eventually keep the plants from toppling over when they are huge, covered in ripening tomatoes, and wanting to sprawl.

I have six Brussels sprout plants. Honestly right now, without the tags, I'd be hard pressed to differentiate between the Brussels, the collards, and the broccoli. I am excited for when they grow enough that I have no doubts. I've never grown Brussels before and while they're not my favorite vegetable, they're Booba's. There is something very powerful about growing them for him.

Also in the garden, we have lettuces. Which is a little odd since I typically only make salads using spinach, but lettuce is soooo easy to grow. Still, with what I spend on spinach, I should definitely be making yet another attempt to grow it and not be so deterred by the creatures who insists on munching it before I get the chance to.

Toddler Food

I am lucky. Some people have children who are picky eaters. Their children refuse to eat anything other than chicken and pasta. Or the kids will only eat breakfast then pick at food the rest of the day.

My child will eat anything and a lot of it.* I guess my first hint should have been at 9 months: my Boobaloo crawled in lap and demanded to sample my ginger tea. It was home-brewed ginger tea and it was STRONG. I shared a sip, figuring it would be the last request. After a tiny sip, he tried to get the cup again, insisting, "Mo'! Mama, mo'!" Anyone who can appreciate the spice of a properly made fresh ginger tea is not going to be a boring eater.

I decided that slathering artichoke-spinach hummus on a tortilla and topping it with a slice of tomato sounded good. Booba agreed and gobbled that up, along with walnuts and strawberries, for lunch.

Life is good.

* So far, he's turned down arugula and has picked the rosemary leaves out of his alecha. Everything else seems to be on the good list.

What is Detroit spending money on?

"Mommy, why they putting the concrete in that dump truck?"

I really don't know. Apparently, our city--which is on the verge of bankruptcy, where the state-appointed emergency financial manager is threatening to liquidate art work and any other public asset to creditors, where we cannot keep the street lights on consistently--is replacing driveways and sidewalks in my neighborhood.

Some of it would seem to make sense…probably some areas do need to be replaced. They ragged and uneven and I can't imagine someone in a wheelchair navigating over them:

Though my neighbor wanted to know why they aren't grinding up the stumps before replacing driveways like this one. The workers, of course, said the inspector makes decisions on what to replace before they come out; they just do the marked areas.

Other areas are cracked, but flat and not stopping any movement:

Or driveways that are ugly, but functionally fine:

I find it especially odd since the sidewalks and driveways have been like this for *years*.