granting done

Back to art! This painting is coming along.

I'm learning a lot about gardening these days. Helping a very old man (at least ninety) maintain his gardens. Every morning now I'm hard at work rejuvenating the soil for next year... layering in sand, mulch, lime, gypsum and seaweed.

My favorite part is using a big gas-powered rototiller to mulch this stuff into a homogeneous earth-smoothie. The machine must be from the seventies, or maybe even older. It burps and chugs loudly, and the exhaust pipe is right on the gear shifter, so I burn my hand every time I shift gears. The exhaust also spews directly into my face. I like it.

Too busy to swim in the ocean consistently, but I love it every time I go. I'm in the water for about ten or fifteen minutes at a time, but I think I can do more once I get swimming every day again. I'm looking for a thermometer that I can link onto my shorts so I can tell how much the temperature of the ocean is changing. I swear it's warming up again, but maybe I'm just getting used to it.