Restlessness: June 2011

So it's been a while since I've actually written. Probably because I'm very busy. In a good way.

I'm loving this summer - the weather, picking fruit, foraging, cooking, baking, hanging out with friends, etc. I've stopped to marvel a few times at how happy I feel right now. Is it strange that it's strange? I'll be biking around Davis in the heat and think "wow this is really nice. I LOVE this." I sound like I'm high!

Anyway, my latest obsession has been picking fruit at this place called Impossible Acres just west of Davis. Most fruit is 1.99 a lb. So cheap! So now I have a crapload of jam. Apricot, Bing cherry, marionberry, boisenberry...mulberry (which we gleaned from a tree in a park in Winters). What is it about picking things that is so satisfying? No clue. But my friends are the beneficiaries of this (strange? natural? primitive?) habit, so everyone wins.

I do have a canning injury now though. I was using jar grabbers to grab a jar out of boiling water and my finger touched the water. I jerked my hand back and flicked boiling water in my eye. Hurt like a bitch and I found some hydrocodone left over from my MS flare 3 years ago. It doesn't hurt now, but I look like I got punched in the face. Once again I have attained new heights of sexiness - it's truly a talent. It was EXXXTREME canning, if I do say so myself. I think the apricot jam is going to be really good.

Tonight I'm going to a pig roast at someone's house (they shot it). My friend is also way into foraging. We got some beta on where/how to find really big morels. Hopefully we'll make it up to the Sierra this weekend and score. I think I'm going to make more elderflower sherbet. That reminds me - gotta go out and get more elderberries.

I'm also starting to go to Column of the Giants. Pretty fun climbing - I like the angle of the stuff on the left side. It's a long drive, but I found a solid partner who I can meet in Jamestown, reducing behind-the-wheel time.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that I got the teaching position at American River College. Class starts mid August so I have a lot of work to do. I've been attending this teaching seminar at Davis that's simultaneously given me a lot of ideas about how to teach and overwhelmed me with how much people think about teaching. Hint: it's a LOT. I'm not going to have time to think about this stuff! Between lecture and grading and organizing and all that stuff, how much time will I have to think about dualistic, multiplistic and relativistic learning? Not much I think.

Last night we packed up the moving van for Karrigan, who's relocating to Kansas after getting a PhD at Davis in Ecology and a law degree from Stanford. I'll be sorry to see him go. He's been a very good friend. On the bright side, he gave me his deep fryer, so now I can make donuts (without just using a dutch oven - temperature control of the oil is the hardest part).

In another new development, I have a minion at work, who I'm training in molecular techniques. It's interesting, and is an eye opener to how long I've worked here and how efficient I am (at least relative to a beginner). It's strange having someone report to me, and look to me to tell them what to do. Very weird. I actually have to have something for her to do...all the time, or else she doesn't know what to do with herself. On the bright side, she can generate a lot of data because she's not distracted by writing, doing rerun, organizing a class for fall semester, applying for grants, data analysis, rock climbing, canning and baking. So that's good.

Back to Column Friday/Saturday.