Our Garden, so far this spring

Spring is a season of changes, little changes week by week.  From the bare earth, buds come forth.  The early spring flowers arrive.

Eventually, the bushes and trees bud and then leaf out, first in the palest of delicate greens, and then becoming the more mature greens they will display all summer.

The March flowers in the front planter

Tending the garden is one of my ways to stay in tune with the seasons, particularly in spring:  the jonquils in March into April, the roses in May and June, the Mayflowers in June, the day lilies in July.  I love to measure the passing of time by the changes in nature, even here in the city.

Here's a quick tour of our little garden this spring.

A bed of impatiens

The rhododendrons in bloom in late May 

The June roses blooming in late May.

The window boxes hanging out on the patio while the building is painted.

Feline Thermal Units

Fall is here and the days are shorter and colder. Being staunch New Englanders, we resist turning on the heat until at least Thanksgiving. (New Englanders joke that this gives us something to be thankful for!) Without heat, how to keep warm? Warm sock, sweaters, staying active (e.g., I never feel cold when I’m vacuuming). That’s a few ways.

But our favorite: feline thermal units (or FTUs)! To you, they may look like ordinary house cats. But as warm blooded mammals, they give off a good bit of heat. While heat and air conditioning are often measured in BTUs (British thermal units), we’ve converted from BTUs to FTUs.

Our FTUs come with other nice features: soft fur, a pleasant meow, and deep purrs (they have a 4-stroke motor – after 4 strokes on the head or back, they start a gentle yet strong purr). They also come with 4-on-the-floor, pointed ears, and a sandpaper tongue – all standard equipment.

So, whether watching TV sitting on the couch or sleeping in bed, before we turn on the heat, we take advantage of our FTUs!

My Computer is Keeping Me Up at Night!

Ever do this? Finally cleaned up the kitchen, kids in bed, just about to go yourself, but, hmmmmmmm, maybe I'll check my e-mail. Next thing, it's way past midnight and it'll be another night of 6 hours or less sleep. Yikes, how did that happen???

At first, I'm ok the next morning. But, maybe about 2:30 pm, while digesting lunch, you find your eyes getting heavy. you stay awake for a bit, but as you start thinking about that memo you need to write, you kinda doze off for a bit and look up to see this on your screen: jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj.

Well, I just took this as my own fault. But now I know of the hypnotic spell cast by that pleasing blue light of the screen.

Michelle Slatalla, last Thursday in the New York Times Style Section ("As Different As Night and Day," NY Times, Jan. 19, 2010) spilled the beans on my computer's spell over me. She quotes Dr. Nancy Collop, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. “It emits a blue light, which is one of the most stimulating lights to the little receptors we all have in the back of our eyeballs, which send messages to the brain to say whether it’s day or night and whether we should be awake or go to sleep.”

So, even though I'm tired, the screen is stimulating my brain with its subliminal message: "It's really daytime, and you want to be awake. Just keep watching me. You don't need sleep!"

My rectangular master has duped me into spending the hours bathed in the enticing light it casts upon my face.

Now that you know this, beware! Don't look at the screen before bed or when you really have other things to do. Don't let your computer screen condition your brain to spend all your free time in its spell!

Is it a Dad’s Duty to Clean the House?

Which is more believable:

• Is it a dad’s duty to clean the house?
  
• Is it a mom’s duty to clean the house?

What is your first reaction?

If you’re a mom, do you laugh out loud at the thought of it being a dad's duty to clean? Do you think “I only wish?” Or is it true in your family that dad and mom share the house cleaning?

If you’re the dad, do you do most of the cleaning? Or does your wife do all/most of it? Split 50/50?

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a post titled “Is it a mom's duty to clean house?” by a blogger friend Jenny (of Suburban Jungle http://www.suburbanjungle.net/). And it got me thinking about gender roles in housework.

You see, I’m old enough to recall the ‘50s and ‘60s when TV families all had a husband working a full time job and the wife at home cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. But then came the woman’s liberation movement and a move towards equality both in the workplace and a home.

But today is there equality in the workplace and at home?

Today, women have achieved much in the workplace compared to the ‘60s. Back then, my mother was the rare example of a woman in a major corporation with a professional position (i.e., not a secretary or administrative assistant) and, without a husband, got a mortgage, bought a house and was the sole provider of our extended family household of six! I mention this so you understand I grew up with a mother who was a true pioneer, though she would never admit that herself.

Some 40 years later, my mother’s situation is commonplace. Women can be found in virtually all jobs and professions. And there’s been an evolution in the workplace. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s there was resistance from some men to having women in some jobs and professions. But, my observation is that now it’s more “just the way it is” to have both men and women in the workplace. There is still an income gap and the issue of a “glass ceiling” in some fields, but, still, much progress has been made.

But, while change has come in the workplace, it seems to me that equality in the home seems to be still an elusive goal. When my mother re-married in the ‘70s and they both commuted to the city and worked 8-hour days, it still fell upon her to handle the domestic work. Even today, my observation from some of the comments on Jenny’s blog posts and other sources is that some women still do much of the house cleaning chores, even if some husbands do help out. Although, some comments from women indicated that they don’t trust their husbands to do the cleaning.

For those well off financially (particularly with couples of 2 high earning professionals), “equality” can be obtained by outsourcing the domestic chores to cleaning services or a domestic. In fact, Jenny's blog mentions that now she has someone to do her cleaning for her.

Yet, most families can’t afford that. So why does it seem the cleaning still falls to the woman?

There really is no anatomical reason that men can’t clean a house as well as a woman. In fact, I’ve known men who are quite skilled at the domestic. Now, a good number may be gay, but regardless, I believe any man can do as good a job as a woman.

So, what is the domestic “glass wall” that keeps women “manning” the oven and vacuum and washer/dryer? How does it work in your family?

My Least Favorite Thing!

This is an easy one: it’s those telemarketing calls!!

Why do they think they can sell you something by harassing you?

You get home after a late day and sit down to relax with your favorite beverage and maybe a little snack: Ring Ring! Won’t you contribute to our fund?

Later, you sit down to a tasty diner: Ring, Ring! So what if your potatoes get cold, don’t you want a new credit card?

It's the climax of your favorite TV show: Ring, Ring! You miss the most important line of dialog.

I HATE it!

Fortunately, we have caller ID!

• “Unknown caller” – no response from us!
  
• Calls from strange area codes: let it ring, let it ring, let it ring.
  
• Strange caller ID: hey, we don’t talk to strangers.

While we still have the ring, ring, ring, but at least we know when not to answer the phone.

This post is Inspired by Bingkee’s post titled How to Get to Talk to a Human.