Feeling Out of Sorts

Storm moving in

I don't know, I've been feeling not my best self for the last several days.  I've had a low grade headache (sometimes escalating to not so low grade), and associated with it is a feeling of inability to focus and anxiety.  It's a complex of symptoms and I'm not sure what causes what: when I have this particular kind of headache, I can't focus very well, and I get anxious and confused.   On the other hand, when I get anxious and confused, I get this particular kind of headache.

Garden posts

I know I got the headache much more often when I was working and under an especially large amount of stress.  Now that there's less stress in my life, I get the headache less often, and I've structured my life to avoid the kinds of situations that generate stress and the headaches.  I've had periods with this headache all the way back to high school.   I had them in college--I remember them being so bad that I would bang my head into the wall over and over.  I had them every afternoon when Oliver was young, and my doctor put me on migraine preventative medication which I took for years even though it didn't seem to work.  They reached a crescendo when I was trying to finish my dissertation and working full time. Well, perhaps crescendo isn't the right word.  They reached a level of horrible and this went on for several years, throughout the time I lived in Virginia and Maryland.  I remember them being so terrible that I would wrap my hands around my head to block out all noise and light, and other times, bang my head against the wall repeatedly as a kind of way to cope with the pain. 

This past year, I don't have them nearly as badly as I used to.  Now, I get them about once a month for a few days, and generally they're not horrible. I don't take any kind of pain reliever for them because I've learned from experience that this pretty much guarantees that I'll have the headache again the next day, worse than the day before. 

Green bean plant

Twice in the last week, though, the headaches have been bad enough for me to take the risk and I've swallowed some ibuprofen, just to get some temporary relief.

I'm also going around and around in my head about what the best course of action is with respect to buying land and building or buying land with a building already on it, and whether or not it's reasonable to buy in the southwest given the current and projected drought conditions.

I'm trying to learn how to use my new camera and shooting lots of pictures just to get a sense for how things work.  Most aren't good yet, but from every batch there are a few worth saving. 

Basil

On other fronts, the garden is growing. There are baby summer squash and cucumbers, and the tomatillo plants are covered with flowers.   I gave up on a batch of garlic--it grew some but then the tops turned brown and drooped long before the bulbs were mature.  The peas reached a total of three inches tall and then stopped growing, even though I put them in right around the last frost.  The carrots have germinated, as much as they're going to, I guess, which is about 40% of the seed I planted.  No sign of germination from the dill seeds I planted. 

This is definite learning experience.  I see now that many crops need to be started under row covers to shield them from the full strength of the sun.  And I've learned from the Northwest Edible Life blog that some seeds, such as carrots and radishes, will have a higher germination rate if I sprout them under something such as damp burlap . 

Summer Squash

Tomatillo blossoms

Tomatillo

We had our first food from the garden tonight:  fresh basil that I added to store-bought summer squash, zucchini, and tomatillos.  Hopefully, in a few more weeks that entire meal can be made with foods fresh from the garden.

Weather-wise:  I'm awaiting the monsoons that should start this month.  We've had storms threatening all afternoon yesterday and today, with rumbling in the distance.  Just a few moments ago, it finally started to rain.  The soil is so dry that when it does rain, rather than soak in, the water mostly runs off.  Shortly after the rain stops, you can't even tell that it did rain.