Waking up to an unscheduled single tornado siren is not my favorite kind of alarm, but as with many things in MO, there were confused mixed signals and then a downgrade to severe t-storms which then fizzled out…for now.  So random.  But when the real deal comes, there will be no siren or warning, no doubt, just kiss your ass goodbye.  Most people here just ignore the big T warnings.  T for Turbulence (IMO), which describes MO to a T!  (hahaha.)  You can’t tell when it’s serious or just–psyche!  I know it makes me crazy.

Synchronicitously, Avdi had his own turbulent start, trying to drive all the kid to all the schools in a tornado warning while simultaneously conducting a scheduled business meeting with European partners while driving, then having to retrieve a kid having chest pains (false alarm?).  As he put it, pretty much a normal Thursday.  His whole week has been worse.

But I digress.  Yesterday I got outdoor work done at Avdi’s.  S actually asked to help and really did!  Together we accomplished a lot.  We cleared out several areas, and he learned how to recognize and cut out invasive honeysuckle bushes.  He’s a quick and willing learner, when he wants to be.  I also seeded another indoor flat–cucs and lettuces– and did some housework.

It was so warm out (80º), S got out his swim trunks and I sprayed him on the trampoline!  Later, when the daily so-called severe thunderstorm (with possible tornadoes) was threatening, I just stayed outside, it was so nice out.  Of course the “storm” petered out.

Meanwhile, Avdi was in meetings literally all day and evening.  Besides his work, he had to confer with various school and special ed officials regarding S’s change of school and the other kids’ progress/needs.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Plus the kids are about to spend spring break with their Mom, so that entails planning and prep.  I may ride along (to Ohio, half-way), to help drive.

In lighter news, K found a brown recluse spider down in his lair.  We released it across the bridge over the runoff channel.

And now it’s a nice sunny day.

Yesterday it was the Springiest day yet, for still being winter, so I walked over to Avdi’s and started doing gardeny things.  I checked the green babies, who are happily coming along.  The ferny asparagus especially makes me happy.

Then out I went…you couldn’t not be outside on a day like that.  I was already working away when S finally discovered I was there, I was so intent on the garden.  He revved up his nonstop fantasy world motormouth, but I just worked around him!  (You can walk away and come back, and he’ll still be chattering away!)  Fortunately some new neighbor kids (on the other side) distracted him so he just redirected his discourse onto them.

I raked and neatened up the garden beds, transplanted a couple of random plants, and direct-sowed the snap peas that had just arrived per E’s special request.  The veg bed is ready for the onion plants that are in transit, and later the seed potatoes and sweet potatoes I preordered.  I’m hydroponically growing some of the new herbs and edible flowers at home, along with the others I started conventionally.

This year’s garden is going to be much more intentional and customized to the whole family.  It’s also like a demonstration garden for the kids.  I’m also guiding the kids on their own trial gardening.  E and Y are very much engaged in the whole process.  Even S asks me questions and observes my methods.  I’m glad to pass on what little I can, and watch them enthusiastically take it on.  It also helps me not overwork myself, as I tend to do.

I even found time to straighten up the house and do some laundry for Avdi.  I like doing it because I know every little bit helps.  So much more rewarding than slaving for some indifferent boss your whole life just to survive to slave another day.  In my perfect fantasy world, capitalism is dead, and people get to live and work together meaningfully while they’re not dead yet!  Call me demented.

Yesterday was a good day at the Avdi’s.  We all slept in, then I started working on the garden, and one by one, the whole family followed suit, pitching in with very little prompting.  Avdi picked up two loads of bagged compost/manure and topsoil, to be worked into the various garden beds.  I finished clearing the herb area, then started hoeing around the outside of the veg garden.  We added and raked in amendments to each area.  Then E did a final tilling of the veg garden, Y and I did the same by hand around the outside of it, and then the herb beds.

Some friends dropped by for a while, so the kids played and the grownups hung out with drinks and snacks.  Even K pulled himself away from schoolwork and made an appearance.  E built a fire and roasted some food.  It looked a lot like an unofficial spontaneous B&B!  I worked all day and got exhausted, in a good way.

It also felt like our family was a team, and Avdi has turned his place into a haven where our tiny developing “village” of the atypical can feel safe and at home.  Probably not coincidentally, the kids seem to have turned a point where they all trust me and notice when I’m not there.  Possibly related, S has been making some progress overcoming some of his meltdown issues.  “Some ” is still something!  I myself even feel more comfortable and accepted there.  I can be my real self.

Just a quick check-in between commutes to Avdi’s.  The green babies are doing well, the kids are doing…them, and Shabbat went well.  Y actually let me hug them!  K is starting to come out of his grief withdrawal.

I had so much excess food from Food Outreach, I was “compelled” to share a lot of it with the Family, which seems only right.  So dinner pretty much prepared itself.  In fact, I have enough to feed a village, which our extended family kind of is, so I don’t feel bad about giving back.  In return, Avdi had extra cheese to share, luxury of luxuries, plus an older but great vacuum cleaner, which I really needed, so it all balances out.  My bedroom is finally vacuumed!  So bougie.

Here are: dinosaurs resting on Shabbat (Y is on a dino-kick), flowers in the pouring rain, and my vacuumed bedroom.

Other than a routine vertigo therapy session, I’ve been in a semi-comatose state with convoluted, contorted dreams featuring all the unresolved dead relationships in my life flashing before my eyes.  Maybe there’s so much backlogged baggage, I had to start early or it would never fit into my dying moment!  At any rate, it’s quite lurid and lively, possibly more so than my actual life.

But I said I’d be back, and I’m just about there.  I finally made it to Avdi’s, where things are tense and complicated as usual.  But the green babies are all coming up downstairs, and the garden is looking good with all the cleanup work E and Y have been doing.

In addition to catching up on household chores, I even did some outdoor work myself, digging up the thick weed mat in the large herb bed, and raking it out to prep it for creating a culinary herb and flower bed.  E and Y and I consulted on the next steps in the garden.  I like being able to pass on experience and delegate jobs for them to earn money.  We’re becoming like a team.

I had a delightful exchange with a person in, of all places, the liquor store.

It was warm and windy, and I decided to test my land legs today, so I walked to the store.  Usually at that store I encounter Telugu people from Andhra Pradesh, so as usual I whipped out my imperfect Telugu greeting.  The lovely girl at the counter let me know she was actually Muslim.  As she said it, we both unconsciously glanced around nervously to make sure no one was there!  I said, “Oh, I’m Jewish, that’s cool!”

Then out of nowhere she spontaneously said “You’re beautiful!”  I did a double-take and protested, “Wait, what? You’re beautiful, not me!”  She insisted it was me.  We did that for a couple of seconds back and forth.  She must have seen something internal, because it sure as hell couldn’t have been my external appearance.

So then it was only right for me to whip out my few Arabic expressions, “Salaam Aleikum” and “Inshallah”.  She used the latter in a sentence for me–“Inshallah (if it be G-d’s will) you will return to the store!”, to which I concurred.

That’s the kind of unexpected interactions that happen to me sometimes, in otherwise mundane situations, and make my day.  My life never ceases to amaze me.

I almost forgot to mention, I had finally broken down and decided to get me some Johnnie Black as a belated birthday present to myself, so an all-around auspicious occurrence.  Now I will drink to it.  Whatever “cheers” is in Arabic.

I spent erev and overnight at Avdi’s.  I’ve been feeling really fatigued and out of it.  I made challah as usual, but kept the meal unusually simple for a Shabbat—tacos with all the fixings.  I also wanted it to be something everyone would like.  Only, I couldn’t eat, myself.  I just sat there, enjoying my funny family.

Then I actually went to bed before everyone, but of course couldn’t sleep half the night.  Then I made up for it, with some surprisingly graphic dreams, even for me..  (I think just reading this boring post would cure anyone’s insomnia.)

In the morning, Avdi took E to CRC services.  I planted another seed flat downstairs, this time tomatoes.

It was warm outside, with flowers blooming everywhere, but mostly all I could do was slack off.  Later, E got out and tilled the garden some more, while I “supervised”.  I did a few minor cleanup things around Percy’s grave and the herb beds, just to feel like I did something.

Avdi drove me home, where I finally ate something and mostly sat around like a zombie, waiting for drug-time to come around!  Yes, this is what it’s come to!  JK, I’ll be back.  It takes more than a couple of setbacks to keep me down for long.