The long & short of it

How is it that a period of time can feel so long, and yet so short at the same time? Take January for instance. We have a lovely LCRA Wildflower calendar on our fridge and I was checking it out last night. It was so hard to believe that Max's 6 month check up was a mere 4 weeks ago - I swear it feels like at least twice as much time as passed since we took him to the doctor! And yet, I can hardly believe the month has flown so quickly. The first of Feb is literally around the corner (and completely booked already!). Pretty soon, Max's first birthday will be breathing down our neck - as if time wasn't passing quickly enough already.
So, in my New Year's post I said that I had the goal to read at least one book this year - maybe two. I'm proud to say I am a few chapters away from finishing my SECOND book. Woo Hoo! The first book I read was a Christmas gift from Chris: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/. What an amazing and inspiring book. Ms. Kingsolver can come across a little preachy in the beginning, but it's not a finger-shaking-you-have-to-do-this-or-you're-a-bad-human kind of preaching. It is more enlightening and informative, and the truths she reveals about our current food sources, and the tinkering we are doing with them, are truly terrifying. This book inspired me to get going on the planning for our garden this year. I was also inspired to try to grow heirloom varieties, so I visited the Victory Seed Company http://www.victoryseeds.com/ and bought seeds for 5 different kinds of tomatoes, some basil and sunflower. I plan to start all the seeds in the next couple of weeks with the intent to plant them in the garden mid-March. The book also talks about eating locally and in season. I have to say, now when I go to the grocery store, I am much more cognizant of where my food originated. Chris and I agreed that food grown in Mexico, while not local, probably consumed less of our earth's resources to travel to my local HEB, than did the produce from Oregon or California (you can justify anything can't you!). Sure is nice to live in a southern state & close to a country that has a long growing season. Incidentally, I find it interesting that HEB has begun listing the origin of the foods in produce & at the fish counter.
The second book I'm reading is On Her Trail by John Dickerson http://www.onhertrail.com/index.html. Chris and I listen to John on the Slate weekly pod-cast and attended the book signing last summer at Book People. It's an easy and pretty interesting read.