Photo-averse Me, in the uniform, with Our First Egg Ever last yearTracy at Outside tagged me yesterday for this meme. Monica tagged me for a similar meme a while back, yet that one highlighted the odd things about you; I believe I revealed a preference for eating popcorn with a fork, amongst other "tendencies." Tracy's was (thankfully) NOT odd: she chose some gardening things to reveal, and I shall follow her example.
1. My only sibling, my brother Tom, is autistic. (I am his big sister and have always been his prime defender, and many a kid who deigned to pick on him ended up getting pummeled by me.) Autism is not a disease of cute but odd children: it is a life-long disorder, and it annoys me to NO end that the only stories you hear about it pertain to cute but odd children. Autism has marked me profoundly, too: like most siblings of other-abled children, I cannot help but look at the world through the rainbow that is the Autism Spectrum Disorder. I think, frankly, that we are ALL a little bit autistic.
2. Knowing about autism, then, I understand well the need for order and habits. Regarding my gardening, there are things I ALWAYS do, in a certain order, or else I kind of run around out there like a chicken with its head cut off. (And YES I know that chickens don't really do that, but most gardeners, especially in early spring, know EXACTLY what I am talking about.)
3. I love to garden, but hate the sun. I'm Irish, and the sun and I don't play well together. So I am usually almost completely covered, and covered in sunscreen, if I am out there. Otherwise, I furtively do my gardening in the early morning or the evening.
4. Perhaps it's from all those years in parochial school, but I can definitely see the purpose of a uniform. As such, then, I don a particular uniform when I garden, and I end up looking like a game warden. The shirt is a Columbia fly-fishing number with fun pockets and the ability to air-dry. The pants (YES full pants even in 90* weather) are a pair of men's Carhartt carpenter pants that are purposely big on me. A girl doesn't want anything to bind while she's pulling weeds, you know. But I definitely need a belt after all the stuff I put in its 100 pockets. A big straw hat and some wonderful boots round it out.
5. Boots, you ask? Why, I could write a book about my Blunnies. Others have, but let me just say these Australian work boots are the bomb. They are lightweight, waterproof, breathable, and after 7 years they're a mess but they're quite recognizable as their true selves. Please note the double loop pull-on feature: this is KEY.
6. Garden tools. I feel nekkid without my hori-hori and my flat fork and my Felco. Thus, I need my belt to hold up the pants that hold the tools and keep me clean in the gaaar-den (sing with me now!).
7. Gloves. Must Wear Them. Lined in winter, the dipped washable kind in summer.
Okay. That got a little odd, but then, consider the source!
I would like to tag some other gardeners for this meme, and I will do so on your sites today... I apologize ahead of time if you've already played: I'm on extreme work overload here. OH AND DID I MENTION I HAVE PNEUMONIA? Maybe that'll be my 8th thing. I've felt sick for weeks and DING! the x-ray showed what I knew to be true. But I am not too sick to garden.
12 comments:
I hope you feel better soon. It seriously sucks to be sick in the summertime. And pants in 90 degree weather? Wow. I garden in orange crocs, a tank top, and stretchy cotton shorts that my husband lovingly refers to as 'bruce jenners'. And if you pulled in my driveway while I was gardening in this get-up, I would hit the dirt and hold my breath until you left again.
I've also been tagged and will post later.
Get well soon! Being sick in the summer is wrong, just wrong.
And I almost always wear long pants (old jeans) in the garden unless I am just mowing, and lots of suncreen, as I high a number as I can get. So that doesn't seem odd to me.
Oh, no! I hope you're starting to feel better. I had pneumonia once, and it is not fun.
I really enjoyed your post - thanks so much for doing it. I've also checked out the Blundstone link and now must have those boots!
OMG...I thought that I was "tough" cleaning up on the weekend after the storms with a slight head cold. I hope you feel better soon. OMG, gardening with pneumonia!!!
Blunnies and a blue heeler....hmmm, that's very Australian country. As an alternative to the Blundstone, I can also recommend an RM Williams boot....worn by many a city and country farmer alike.
Those parochial-school roots run deep, don't they? I have a garden uniform too, consisting of any of several pairs of very loose-fitting cotton crop pants paired with an assortment of motley shirts I no longer care about!
Yes, I think we're all a bit autistic in ways if you stop and think about it. And by the way, I did once see a chicken run around after its head was cut off!
Sorry about the pneumonia. It's happened to me in summertime too, but it's so unfair! Get healthy.
Wow. 8 times with pneumonia?!? You poor thing! Do you have asthma as well? I have lung problems & live with supplemental O2, so I can sympathize. It sucks to not be able to breathe well.
I realized, after I reread this, that my gardening habits sound terribly autistic!! Actually, I just appreciate good work clothes and good tools. I've spent years on construction sites so I have a great appreciation for both, frankly.
Meredith, I SO hear you. But when our UPS lady comes, I'm similarly attired, so I don't feel so bad.
Carol, good, I am glad to know I am not the only pants-clad gardener out there. But do you put on that cute hat and long dress when you push your mower?
Tracy, Must Have Boots. I got mine in Calhoun Square, if it helps you! Thanks for tagging me, this was fun.
Nada, I saw your snow! Wow winter came fast. I SO appreciate your boot link! I am so not a shopper any more (kind of like your 90% thing) but again, I do appreciate good work wear. And we just got a second blue heeler Sunday, so does that make me more Aussie yet?
Lostroses, uniforms are GOOD. At least I feel like I am Working if I am in the garb. I felt that way when I used to wear panty hose, too. (Gawd, I'm glad those days are behind me.) But I think you'll agree it's fairly important to be really comfortable, and unafraid of the dirt, when you're out there.
Artemisia, nope, this is only the 3rd time I've had pneumonia; it's just a 7 Things meme, and I felt like I should throw it in there.
Regarding the pneumonia, I am on the mend. Today I feel lots better, frankly. It really rendered me joyless (I didn't even like to make bread that's how sick I was) and unappreciative and just plain crabby. I will probably be back to normal in another week or two. But yuck. Bad microbes!!
I wear Carhartts, too. Heavyweight green in fall/spring, Lightweight khaki in summer. It's because of those damn blackflies.
Hope you're feeling better. :)
woman... pneumonia is not to be triffled with. Rest. Really. Rest. The garden will always be there and the weeds grow fast whether you are there or not... so rest and be take care of it later.
I enjoyed the post immensely. I know nothing about autism but I suspect that your spectacular little girl is growing up within a special environment because geography AND perspective. Good. She should have wonderful life.
As for the uniform, I agree. I wear a different get-up but for the same reasons... except I never seem to remebver to PUT ON the gloves. I have 'em. And then, when I slice my hands open I think" I should have put on my gloves." You clearly smarter than I am.
As for the boots... I've ordered some. One cannot have enough good boots.
Finally, the egg. What a delight.
Now... here's what you need to do:
Turn off the computer. Heat up some soup. Sit down on a comfortable chair and doze. This is not the saem thing as a nap or "going to bed" - it is just dozing and it is good. Go do it.
The garden will wait for you.
Ha!
Your Aussie rating is increasing exponentially. Here we had a long running cop show set in a country town- it was called "Blue Heelers"- that oz sense of wit!
Blue heelers are great around people and animals and really smart! They go a little crazy if people keep them in the city but give them space and they just thrive.
My father in law (ex-farmer and Agriculture bureaucrat) once wrote a book on training sheep/ working dogs. He was also a judge at the sheep dog trials.
Liz, I'll have to investigate the khaki kind. I am so glad I left the blackflies back in Minnesota, so I feel for you!!
Hank, you're such a dear. I'm really feeling lots better. But, to tell you how "in denial" I really am about illness, I was sitting here drawing furiously a week ago Tuesday, and it occurred to me that I felt kind of hot. So I took my temperature. It was 103.5*. (Hello, doctor?)
Oh, and you will LOVE those boots.
Nada, herding dogs rule. Started with a sheltie as a kid, had a German shepherd when I got my first house, and now these two heelers. I guess I really understand the need to work, and have a job, if that's what you're bred to do. Yes indeed heelers go nuts if they're left in an apartment all day but damn, I'd go nuts, too! That's cool about your FIL. Were they border collies he worked with mostly? Those dogs are like Extreme Sports dogs in the herding category. Heelers don't have as much "eye," but they have an insatiable need to run around. I'm glad we can offer them the room, and the environment, to be happy dogs.
My FIL also was a judge of sheep. Yes to the border collies. They are in fact the dog of choice for rounding up sheep. Kelpies are a good choice too. Heelers are more for cattle and they love to run around.
This info (summarised) comes via my husband who was sent to work on a sheep station/ cropping farm when he was 17. His parents thought it would 'sort him out'. He was up there for about a year.
Not sure if the 'sorting' happened.
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