Back to School One Last Time

Image via Wikipedia In 2006 I began working part-time on a Master's degree in Instructional Technology at NYIT. Evenings, weekends, online - anytime a class was offered, I fit it in. This week I've registered for my final two classes! In a few months I'll be all done. Can't wait! Although it's been fantastic to have the opportunity to take these classes, knowing the end is in sight is such a relief.
Of the last two classes, one is online and the other is ftf on Tuesdays in the late afternoon at the Manhattan campus. Not a very convenient time for someone who works a nine to five day (sort of) but I'll have to deal with it. Luckily my work has a bit of flexibility to it so I know I'll be able to compensate for the times I have to leave early. The online class will work very nicely of course, no schedule conflicts there.

Homegrown Satisfaction

A Image via Wikipediahome vegetable garden is so much work but gives a great deal of satisfaction as you see your plants grow. Nothing beats preparing part of a meal from ingredients you've nurtured along yourself. My property is not very large, about seventy-five feet by one hundred. That's enough room, though, to have a few good spots to plant a garden. The house faces north and on the west side, between the driveway and the house, is a great sunny spot for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers, some of the usual summer vegetables we grow at home in the Northeast U.S.

The photo here is not my garden, but looks just the same about one month into the season. Wooden stakes ready to hold up plants which would become many times their original size and loaded with heavy produce. Areas boxed off, each holding a different type of plant, and hoses hanging nearby for daily watering.

We didn't have a garden every year. Sometimes there was just too much else going on to get into it. There were a few good seasons though. Usually when the girls were small they helped plant in the beginning and pick in the end. Not surprisingly the in between work was left for me. They especially liked the picking part. They loved being sent out with a colander and returning it to me full of tomatoes.

For a couple of years, when my oldest daughter was a teenager she planted a vegetable garden herself and took care of it too. The earlier years of being a helper made an impression on her. She understood the satisfaction bringing something homegrown to the dinner table.

This spring I put in a few tomato plants in a small patch of the backyard. So far, they are doing nicely. When I planted them in May, I wondered if I would be here in August and September to harvest them or if new owners would be the beneficiaries of my work. As it stands now, I'll be enjoying it all myself.

Room to Grow

Image via WikipediaIn 1978 selecting a house to buy was not the ordeal it is today. You decided on a price range, went to a realty, viewed photos in a book and were shown what you liked and/or could afford. The sellers' attitude at that time was take it or leave it. There was no pandering to buyers, no HGTV guidelines to follow, no video tours posted on the web. In 1978 although mortgage loan rates were slightly rising, no crisis existed in the industry.

We didn't look at a lot of properties, maybe five or six. The first house we saw seemed to be a perfect fit, but who makes such a monumental decision that quickly? So we continued our search only to arrive back at the start. We chose the first house. It had the most potential, lots of room to grow, and interesting features which gave it a certain uniqueness. Since houses in our price range were mostly one or two bedroom homes, we thought choosing a house we could alter and add on to later made sense.

My favorite feature was, and remains to be, the fireplace. It can be a place for the whole family to gather around and enjoy or for only one to sit by and relax. It's a great background for entertaining in the winter. Anyone coming in from the cold out of doors to a warm, inviting fireplace will feel welcomed just by its glow. Each autumn I looked forward to that first chilly evening when I would light it again!