Wild Violet's Garden Blog

I'm a tea drinker. Tea comes from plants, specifically Camellia sinensis , which is native to Asia but now is cultivated in tropical places around the world so all of humankind can have it's plant-y caffeine goodness but not have to drink coffee, which tastes like burned dirt. And that's the horticultural part of this post. What I really need to talk about is anxiety.  COVID anxiety is a new level of anxiety on top of my regular anxiety. My regular strategy of carrying around yellow legal pad to-do lists to keep on top of life's tasks is not cutting it. I feel like my brain is swimming in open ocean with dangerous distractions like Titanic-sized icebergs, sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads, and that giant vortex of human-dumped trash in the Pacific. So, the docs suggest medication (of course), cognitive behavioral therapy, exercise, and meditation/mindfulness. Each one of these could be a large discussion, but lately I've been thinking a...

In 2014, my husband's parents moved into town. It was a big deal. My father-in-law, almost 77 years young at the time, was born on this farm and had literally never lived anywhere else. My husband had only lived one other place besides the farm, in River Falls, WI with me, for a few years before and after we got married. Hubby always wanted to live on the farm again. Due to the level of physical work that home and farm building maintenance, mowing, and general fix-its require on a farm, it made sense for Grandma and Grandpa to move to a simpler home with an association to take care of all that tedium, and the next generation to take over those tasks on the farm. Making sense, however, isn't the same as making it easy. The transition brought those feelings of fear and awkwardness and loss and excitement that come with big change. I assume these extended on both sides of the transaction and into the extended family, although we are all from a culture and heritage that doesn't...