The Frost is on the Pumpkin

sixtonsThis is going to be a lame-o post becauuuuse…oh, where to start?

1. I’m not yet focused on perfume because…I got six tons SIX TONS SIX TONS of topsoil!  And 3 tons of mushroom compost. (my dad’s saying about defecation or losing my eyesight definitely applies here)

2.  I am not a wealthy woman.

3. so….guess who’s moving the bulk of this around?

4.  Temps dropped like a stone and it rained…and I am jammed like the 405 at rush hour – it’s this weird jam, where I can breathe (enough to get some air into my lungs and brain) but I can’t BREATHE.  The upper sinuses are still packed and I’m vaguely logy and cranky and off-kilter. Ick – but there ya have it.  So the only perfume I’ve been wearing, besides dirt and chicken crap, is Amouage Gold and a rose attar from Bulgaria atop Creme Riche from Diptyque (which I will review anon – it’s really pretty!!!).  But honey, I am wearing the HELL out of it!  You can smell me a mile away.  Ask me if I care.

 

So…here’s the dirt on the dirt.  Nine tons of matter is a lot of particles.   Saturday, my friend’s 14 yr old son came over to help.  Ah, youth.  He moved the living daylights out of the first ton – y’all have seen my kitchen garden, with the cute little gravel paths…Mario Andretti couldn’t maneuver a wheelbarrow full of stuff in there – not with everything still growing – so we did a lot of shoveling.  Ah, age.  Every bone in my body is yelling at me!  But it looks sooo clean and pretty in there, with all the new compost and dirt – and today I put those little round carrot seeds and the Japanese spinach seeds in…..and the golden beets..and some collards (the Summer collards are looking mighty raggedy).

Seeds are a great metaphor for ….oh, heck….for a whole lot of things.  Planting seeds in late Summer is a leap of faith and always a bit melancholic; today was a gloomy day, portending rain with crickets sawing away at 2pm  – there’s this stretch of road that runs just before the Princeton exit – it sits above the little valley and even in the early Spring it has an Autumn feel to it; whenever I drive along that stretch I think of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls and hot coffee in the am.  Part of me wants to start ripping out everything in the garden, battening down the hatches, justgetitoverwithalready…planting seeds in Autumn reminds me that not everything has to be rushed.  There’s still life left in my broccoli plants and most of the tomatoes still on the vine will ripen before the killing frost.  What’s my hurry?  The carrot seeds will germinate – it’s going to be 80F tomorrow – and I don’t have to jump the gun on every thing.  It’s highly unlikely that we will get a killing frost or blizzard on Friday.  And if it does?  I’ll replant.  It’s the same with perfume – I’ve had to force myself to quiet my rattly mind and not just spray and “okay, what’snextwhat’snext,WHAT’SNEXT??”It’s interesting to force myself to just settle the hell down and not wash it off 4 minutes after I apply, so I can put something else on.  Kinda like the tomatoes and broccoli – and the newly planted carrot seeds.  I. Can. Wait.  And let the beauty unfold.

I’m definitely doing it with that dirt.  Can you imagine?  I actually thought I could move – by hand – NINE TONS of matter…in a matter of a day!  It’s actually a bit amusing, once you get past the batshit crazy part.  But like with the seeds and the perfume, I’m letting it happen in the fullness of time.  I don’t have a choice.  I don’t have a Bobcat and I don’t have a gardening staff.  Just me.   It’s not going anywhere, so there’s no reason to give myself a hernia or a heart attack trying to get it all done at once.  I’ll move it in place of renewing my gym membership!   The perfume is a little more difficult, I’ll admit – there are so many – and I’m so far behind. …but if I don’t get to all of them…..there’s always next Autumn!  In the meantime, I’m actually enjoying the slow reveals!

 

Are you Slow Reveals?  Or are you What’snextWhat’sNEXT?  What’s your weather like right now and what are you wearing?  Can you breathe?

 

And do any of you want to come down here and help me move this blasted dirt!  ps.  those boxes just behind the dirt are the raised beds for the mirror-kitchen garden.  Now filled with my own compost and the topsoil they are kind of creepy, like elongated graves.  Come Spring, though……….ooooooooh!  Serenity now….I can wait.  Really.  I can!

  • poodle says:

    I’m not playing with seeds this time of year. Actually yesterday I started to cut things back and rip things out. I used to think I had more time but then we started getting record snow storms in October and my fall cleanup ending up not getting done until spring. So now I just have to try and get as much done as early as possible. Today when I get home from work I’ll be getting down and dirty. I’m jealous of your soil delivery. My house is on a hill so and soil amendments must be carried up stairs to get to the yard. It’s neither fun nor funny. Sorry about your nose. I was like that all weekend with the stuffy nose and sinus pressure and pain. It’s awful. I totally sympathize with you.

  • Martha says:

    Seems like you would need a slow reveal while moving 9 tons of topsoil& compost around. I mean, besides a 14 year old, you definitely needed something to keep you company. I am sooo sorry to read about your sinuses. As a fellow allergy sufferer, I can almost feel the pressure in my face when I read your post.

  • HemlockSillage says:

    Putting on Diptyque Creme Riche and Amouage Gold (extrait!) to attack 9 TONS of dirt is wonderful. I love that image 😀 You are an amazing woman. Be gentle with yourself and you are right, the slow reveal is worth it. Not that I generally have patience for any slow reveal, lest it’s weird perfume notes. In life, I’m generally running around like you, trying to get it all done now. Then looking for the next mountain to attack.

    Life here is still hotter than blazes, 90+F and muggy. Life-wise, I’ve been wandering in the desert, between jobs, post surgery, caring for an ill parent, wanting this section of my life to move ON, because it has not been very fun. I acknowledge that these times are necessary for growth. Perfume is a comfort and a delight in dark days. Reading your garden adventures and other blogs is also a delight. Today L’Ombre dans L’eau EdP is wearing me, and I want to run away from myself. Yesterday I wore a teensy spritz of FM’s Fleur de Cassie and was charmed. Go figure. I wore *clouds* of MH’s L’air de Rien and my family thought it was the softest baby powder scent ever–clearly their noses did not detect any barnyard, but I worried I’d oversprayed.

    Happy gardening, and hope your sinuses clear so you can wallow in all the scents around you. Sun on dirt. Amouage. Your wonderful pups. Fall’s beginning. Be well.

  • Dina C. says:

    What a great harvest you have to look forward to in weeks and years ahead because of all the hard work you’re doing now! I think the slow reveal is very nice. I will occasionally have a spurt of frenzied, “must get a bunch of samples to sniff” usually around the time the seasons change, but then I settle in and enjoy whatever is going on. We’re entering fall finally, and I’m so happy for the cooler weather. Wore my leather jacket today for the first time this fall. And that was over a long-sleeve T-shirt AND a wool cardigan! Wearing Niki de Saint Phalle edt to go with my fallish outfit.

    Take it easy on spreading your dirt around. Little bit at a time…easy does it…lots of excuses for nice warm bubble baths followed by scented body cream. 🙂

  • I wonder if it’s the Midwestern blood, because I’d be the same way about the dirt – MUST GET IT ALL DONE TODAY! Since we moved to Ames, I haven’t gotten much to grow in the way of vegetables, not even peas. I hope your sinuses clear out soon, that really makes it hard to feel awesome about your perfume, or food, or anything else. xoxo Amanda

    • Musette says:

      whazzup with Ames? Does it have bad soil? A curse on it? I dump my coffeegrounds into my ‘bad’ soil every day (or so – I have a can I dump them in, along with leftover coffee). Worms love the grounds and I’ve found that amending with coffee grounds results in more worms, etc….great for the soil – this soil sucked big time, Amanda, which is why I focused on the small food garden first. Five years (and a ton of mushroom compost & coffeegrounds) later, it’s pretty decent, though I amend it every season with my own compost.

      xoxoxoA

      • Well this is where the first tests for nuclear bombs were, so maybe it’s got bad mojo. I know there are people who have great gardens here, so maybe my thumb is just not for growing foods 😉 Most likely, it’s just I haven’t really paid much attention to my poor little plants – they’re very last on my list of “to do” so they usually die from lack of watering. Need to get my kids to help I suppose!

        If I was there, I’d help you shovel 😀

        • Musette says:

          :-O

          I did not know that!

          and yes, DEF get the kids to help! they eat, they help. simple as that (at least that’s how it works here)

          xoxoA

  • Ann says:

    Hi, sweetie! You are one cool chickie. You never fail to amaze me; and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that dirt is somehow all gone by this time next week. We’ll call on the Dirt Fairy Godmother to wave her magic wand over it.
    As for perfume, I used to be a What’snextwhat’snextwhat’sNEXT, gotta smell the latest thing now, but I’ve incorporated some Slow Reveal into my life, so I’m hoping I’m more balanced now. Hang in there and feel better! Sending you a big hug …

  • KirstenMarie says:

    Definitely slow reveal. A girl friend put it this way: Some people are fountains. They are showy and splashy and loud. Though they can bring beauty and light refreshment on a hot day. You never need to look for a fountain – their sparkling drops catch and refract the light. Other people are wells. To get to their water, you have to put in some effort in lowering your bucket. But the drink from cool fresh well water is so deeply refreshing that the effort is well worth it. Wells don’t splash their water around to everyone, but reserve their content for those who search for it. Wells and fountains are both refreshing, just in different ways. A slow reveal perfume goes with a well type.

    • Musette says:

      OMG! I LOVE that! LOVE IT! Though I suspect I am mostly fountain, with a bit of wellishness – but not a whole lot. I am pretty splashy and loud! xoxoA

  • jilliecat says:

    You have made my day! Amouage Gold to accompany dirt shifting! That’s class. And you’re right …. we should try to slow down a bit, but it’s hard when the whole world seems to be pedalling around you at a crazy pace.

    Sorry your sinuses are still misbehaving; have you tried the age-old remedy of sitting over a bowl of boiling water with a cloth covering you and breathing up the steam? With maybe some menthol of balsam added (to make it pleasant, if nothing else). It could also act as a good facial ……

  • rosarita says:

    Man, that’s some dirt. It’s amazing what we think we can do in our heads, isn’t it? Then reality sets in……

    • Musette says:

      …..and your back and knees say ‘FOOL!, you betta cut that crap out NOW!’ LOL! Although it is a great workout – just have to do it in stages. xoxoA