moments of grace

last week after my kiln debacle(s) I decided to take a nice long run with my dog after dropping my boy off at school.  I headed into it happily, hoping to burn through some tension.  Just as I started the last leg, one mile from home, I tripped on a sidewalk crack and landed on both knees, right underneath someone's sprinkler system.  I got up, kept going, finished firing the kiln (glazing the vitrified pieces didn't really work), and got ready for the market on Saturday.  Saturday was miserably hot.  I left early.  And I decided to take an extended internet break.  I'm still on it, technically, because life has been consistently kicking me in the shins.  And I'm terribly, terribly tired of it. 

I think one of the best ways to get out of a slump is to count your blessings.  And as tough as it has been, I can't say that there haven't been good moments.  A friend and I have been planning a one-night sale featuring etsy sellers from Memphis.  We're so close to finding a location.  She also rehabbed my bike.  My sister in law passed on her old trail bike to me several years ago.  It needed a bit of work and I didn't have the know-how.  And I hadn't been on a bike since, um, 1997.  Before that (1997 was a single bike episode), I hadn't ridden my bike since maybe 1987.  Yesterday I took my first bike ride in 13 years, and the first time I've used a bike with gears or hand breaks.  I enjoyed it immensely.  I have dreams of riding though the paths at Overton Park, which is a stone's throw from my neighborhood.  First I need a helmet.

Another friend has been really involved with a new farmers market in town, one that serves an area that could easily be called a "food desert."  Every week for the past three weeks she's been bringing me pounds and pounds of produce.  Okra, squash, tomatoes, lima beans, corn- and I've been able to pass the surplus along to people who could use it.  The okra (one week there was easily 3 gallons of okra) has become pickles- pickled okra is one of my favorites.  Lima beans and black eyed peas have been blanched and frozen.  I've been in high vegetable heaven. 

And this picture- Edna laid her first egg today.  I watched her carefully build her nest (they don't like our egg box, for some reason), step into it, and lay her egg.  This evening we had huevos rancheros for supper- made with our own organic eggs.  Soon we'll have enough eggs to share.

I'm still working on making pots, trying to build inventory.  And I'm heading back off-line now, and into a book.  I've got a list of books as long as my arm that I'm interested in reading.  Right now I'm half-way through Out Stealing Horses: A Novel.  Really enjoying it.  Also on my list is  Lucky Jim and March.  And I'm trying planting my fall crops by the moon phases.  Just to see if it makes any difference at all. 

Enjoy the rest of your summer, friends.  I'll be back in this space soon.