Good morning, friends.

Today is the first of May. Happy Beltane to any of you celebrating. It’s that time of year when we whip out Jonathan Coulton’s song and hope that it doesn’t snow again.

My garden beds are full of weeds. I’ll need to get out there this week and get to work. My personal Stardew Valley has a lot of potential this year. I picked up a number of heirloom seeds from Baker Creek. The little seedlings are situated in three trays on a rack in my dining room, just under the back window. They are reaching for the sun. They’ll likely go into the ground next weekend – in this region of Ohio it’s best to wait until after Mother’s Day unless you have something frost-resistant. These are not.

As I write this I’m listening to some podcasts Warren Ellis recommended in his latest newsletter. Warren’s weekly letter is a welcome addition to my Sunday mornings - he’s significantly weirder than I am, and I always discover new things. It’s refreshing to see a wider world. It’s not always my cup of tea, but I enjoy the discovery.

Health-wise, I’m working on my mobility. Two years in a desk chair in my home office did Very Bad Things to my legs, knees, and hips. I’ve lost a lot of strength which I am trying to rebuild. Exercise is becoming more important. Apparently, I cannot just think it all better. Dammit.

I’m also focusing on cooking more healthy meals - since becoming a hausfrau I’ve taking the love of tinkering and discovery and focused it on learning healthier habits that I can inflict on…erm…I mean share with my family. One big push I’m making is going far lower carb and an far higher vegetable content. It’s been my experience that American vegetable cooking is a boring mess, boil or steam, though in recent years roasting has become a thing and that’s been really tasty. I wanted to explore more Indian and Asian styles of cooking, and so I’ve been using Lord Krishna’s Cuisine and The Wok: Recipes and Techniques to up my game. My daughter and her boyfriend took me on a field trip to the local Asian market yesterday, and I was able to load up on all sorts of sauces, cooking wines, and chile pastes I’ve never used before. I’m really looking forward to trying these out.

Since leaving my career, my interaction with the Internet has changed. I use it much more for research and reading now and much less for social interaction, other than Discord and Zoom for various game-related stuff. I’ve shifted most of my social interactions on the web to a Mastodon instance: it reminds me a lot of the old days. I like it for now. If you want to find me, there’s a link under my picture.

That’s it for this entry, I think. I’m going to go continue my reread of Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné cycle. You have yourselves a nice day.