Amanda Takes Off...

"[굳멘], 노력 '력' 하고 적응력 '력'... 도같아?" [Good Man], effort "력" and ability "력" are the same root 력?

"응." Yep.

"난 똑똑해. 똑똑한 부인 있지? 나 같이 사는 것이 어려워?" I am smart. I'm a smart wife, huh? Is it hard living with me?

"아니. 내 밥 그릇 더 켜." No. My rice bowl is bigger than yours.

According to Good Man, if you say you someone has a large [rice] bowl it means they have a large ego, or very big ambitions and goals.

Trying to describe to Mother the way a woman was talking to me, I muttered some phrases in Korean. I finally settled on "거시기, 거시기."

Good Man figured out what I meant and said, "Oh, 어쩌고 저쩌고."

Eo-jjeo-go jeo-jjeo-go.

Koreans, please. Why couldn't you have something easy like "blah, blah"?

I've really been struggling with my 1,000,000 characters goal lately. First, I started reading Little House in the Big Woods. Vocab was too hard. Switched over to Alice in Wonderland. Too weird/strange/hard. Switched over to a book of Greek myths. Too boring. Tried Romeo and Juliet in manwha (cartoon) format. Not in the mood.

I have been reading a lot! I just can't seem to get through a book.

To that end, I'm reading a short story ("소나기," a very well-known Korean story). It's part of a larger book, but I figure if I can get through one complete story, I'll be back on track.

And hell, if that doesn't work, I'll read 삐삐 again. I do love Pippi!

Landlord: Amanda! When you two gonna come use the beach cottage that comes with your rent? I've got a new one down here and the view! It's the best view on the beach!

Amanda: How about this weekend?

Landlord: How about any weekend but this weekend?

Amanda: Mid-July? We're going to Canada.

Landlord: OK, tell you what, come down this weekend. Bring your linens, towels, you know. The kitchen isn't working yet, but we got a fridge with beer.

When someone basically demands you come use their beach cottage for free, and you can do it right now, well, how can you say no?

The beach house is a recent purchase and new windows were just installed, to take advantage of the view. The floors are unfinished, the walls are unpainted, and the front door has a lock but no knob.

And the view? Worth a million bucks.

Landlord: Tomorrow morning, around, oh, 5:40... 5:48, your toes will glow with the sunlight.

Amanda: Hmm. [Good Man] will complain. He's like a cat, he sleeps a lot.

At 5:46, the brightening sky woke me up. Good Man pulled our blanket over his head. I went out to take pictures.

I know that staring at the sun is bad, but how can you not stare when you can see it moving in the sky? When you can actually see the sun rising in the sky, how can you not look at it in awe? (No, I'm not a sungazer. I have yet to convert my body to photosynthesis.)

The photo below? That was the view from the bed in the house. It really was a great view.

06:06, 06/26/10

Good Man: I want to do wine tasting. Let's find place.

Oak Crest Vineyard and Winery

Landlord, on my voice mail: I hope you guys are enjoying your stay. Hey, listen, there are antique rocking chairs in the kitchen. Take them out on the porch and enjoy the sunset and drink some beer.

Me, to Good Man: He's like a father or something. He tells us what to do.

Good Man: Yeah, but I want beer.

So we sat on the porch. Good Man lounged around, nursing a beer. I sat in the green antique rocking chair, working on a knitting project. And then I spotted the orange, orange moon.

21:19, 06/26/10

It's been so hot lately. We've been above 90 F each day, hitting 100 F with the heat index. We keep getting promised thunderstorms that don't appear. Tuesday night it rained for all of 30 seconds. It didn't cool down the temperature, but it did cause for some nice sunset shots.

06/22/2010 Sunset

06/22/2010 Sunset

The county cut down some diseased and dead trees near the property.

Diseased

I love summer foods.

I also love the chopsticks-as-any-kitchen-cooking-tool trick I learned from Mother. And Mother seemed rather happy to have access to my cooking chopsticks when she stayed with us.

Long Cooking Chopsticks

We ate some delicious, fresh-off-the-stem sesame leaves with dinner last night. When we buy sesame leaves from the store, they come in a big pack and go bad in two days. I'm so happy I chose to plant six plants, because I can pick just the right number of leaves off as I want them.

Unfortunately, the taste isn't quite as strong as I'm used to. But they're also not as hairy as I'm used to, so that's a trade off I can appreciate.

Sesame Leaves

Dinner was brown rice and barley steamed in homemade veggie broth, fresh sesame leaves, sauteed summer squash (from my CSA), and grilled pork belly. Not pictured? Bright red gochujang.

Dinner

The sesame leaves are almost as big as my face. I can't believe how well my lazy gardening is turning out. Even that grasshopper nymph I photographed enjoyed my sesame leaves. (Said nymph was chased around my porch until he finally jumped off the edge.)

As Big as My Face

Fan Dancing with a Sesame Leaf

In the past three days I have frozen peaches, grapes, and blueberries whole. I've frozen strawberries in a dry sugar pack.

I'll be picking raspberries in Fairy Godmother's back yard next week.

My peppers are growing.

We're having fresh-off-the-stem sesame leaves for dinner.

I've got spearmint leaves drying on a baking sheet, and peppermint leaves drying in bunches.

I love summer.

Last year, I freaked out over every insect and mark on my plants. I watered my plants daily and often twice a day if it was really hot. I fertilized them with chemical fertilizers as the labels directed. I sprayed and sprayed for aphids, which solved nothing until I finally got ladybugs.

I probably loved my plants too much.

This year I've been a lot lazier. As soon as I saw those aphids, I got them with a soap/oil solution. As soon as I saw caterpillars, I knocked them off. The grasshopper nymph below? He got knocked off after I took the photo.

But I water much, much less than last year (which seems to be preventing the fungus gnats I think I had last year). I don't take heat wilting as actual wilting, and I don't water as soon as I see it. I whack off herbs, only being sure to not take more than one-third of the plant. I mixed vermicompost in with the soil when I planted, and I've soaked some vermicompost in the water before watering, but other than that and the slow-release fertilizer in the potting soil? Nothing.

I think I love my plants just enough this year, and they seem to be doing better because of it.

Grasshopper Nymph

Pepper Plant Symmetry

Twisted Blossom

First Pepper!