When some people get ready for a trip, they make sure the mail gets held at the post office, do laundry, and confirm their reservations. When we get ready for vacation, it almost always involves spending many hours out in the yard desperately trying to get everything in the ground. Perennials, seedlings, bulbs… tons of plant matter that my partner has bought in fits of horticultural optimism that will surely die if we don’t plant it right this minute.
I am very sore now, but the bulk of the planting is done.
I have no idea where all those wild onions came from, but there were thousands of the nasty little things. They were everywhere. I smelled like a prep chef at a risotto restaurant by the time I was done ripping them out of the ground.
It wasn’t all toil and misery. We did get a visit from the five-month-old Tibetan Terrier down the street, who was out for a jog with her shirtless owner. Most of our neighbors are retirees, but the Tibetan Terrier humans are recent arrivals, and her dad can pull off the shirtless thing. I mention the shirtlessness only for context.
With all due respect to my much-loved mutts, this puppy is the cutest canine ever. On their first pass, she looked perky, tidy, and adorable. On the way back, much later, she looked filthy, slightly deranged, and even more adorable. I can’t see myself owning a purebred dog, but I would happily kidnap this one. Unfortunately, her owners seem to love her very much and take excellent care of her, so I really can’t justify it as a rescue.
So now there’s just the standard list of pre-travel chores. I still don’t feel sure about my choices of reading material. I’m going to have to supplement it with some manga and a few library books, I think. But I did get a copy of Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation. I like Vowell’s essays a lot, and the title seems like it will discourage strangers on the plane from talking to me.