Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 31

Empty Nest

Grief in the plan.Children's solo guardian: expect change.But doesn't fit as jeans sizes small. Throw out favorite expensive pair or work on body?Dropped off my son to college four weeks ago.I didn't cry.Kept brave.Days slip stolen by menopause and hackers.I found lotto tickets never checked.Liquor store guy says, "too old and if you win they won't pay."Book of Isaiah?Don't offer food and wine to the gods...Fortunate to have children I adore.Guiltless give them everything.
Pack up worry because it weeds no garden.Revisions on the next book finish.Begin the next story.Please Stop by, share abundance of zebra striped tomatoes.I'll give you a bag. Pick the herbs you need.Just don't call me empty nester.



I have a photo of my two on this whale when they were toddlers

On the way  home from dropping off at college hike
Caroline Gerardo Empty Nest Poem
copyright 2015

Storm Clouds

Storm Clouds welcome!

Fountain of Memory

Sad that my baby is off to college stirred with joy for hisadventures. Around me everyone tells their own universitystory, sharing in the memories of those days when faces, ideas,and libraries were new. Why do we relate as humans to our own flow? Is it universal water that we drink?Working with a tool prowritingaid to polish sentencesand writing edits. Will it help me share my own existence?
What editing tools have you purchased? I've tried a few.

Henry Miller and Emil White

Letter to Emil White from Henry Miller
They did enjoy a long life- 80 and 88


Henry Miller's typewriter image above.Hear it clicking and the return jamming?What would it be like for you to press hard on each keypounding out every word, then to trash the pages with errors.No spell check, no copy and paste no easy edits...
Come to my rescue as I complete 3rd revision How are you writing?

Collector of Rain

Collector of rain, tea cups, heirloom seeds and roses.Fill the orange Home Depot buckets.My job is a raucous fight where I smile.My home is for salewhere does the wind lead?Son leaves for college in days.Your birthday is on September 11th?Sit while I brew lavender tea.Hummingbirds sip with us,  Siberian Wallflower blooms.Monarchs chrysalis in the canyon.
Caroline Gerardo 9/14/2015

It's raining tonight. After two years of drought the sound of rain in my bucket retention system is a dance. I got my submission in to the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature around 3:30 AM. Wish I had another week for editing, but my  schedule is demanding.  I hope you are well. The photograph is the beginnings of new butterflies in the canyon below my house. I planted milkweed and salvia for the monarchs and there are thousands of them collecting food and doing what makes them happy. Poem above untitled for the moment, perhaps "Welcome Change"     

Born to Build Something Wonderful

A short post to my daughter. You were born to build something wonderful!

Ebay Selling Plymouth Rock

Down Sizing using ebay. This is an adventure with people who have rocks in their brain.

I'm selling stuff on ebay coordinating with clean sweeping my house (selling the big house
where I raised my children all by myself).

Ebay is a microcosm of the real world. Commerce, work, and some nuts lurk there. It's not easy. The process of photographing, uploading, packing, shipping and answering questions takes time.
There was a time when I was rich.Twice a year I would donate ten bags and ten boxes of stuff to the Salvation Army and be rid of clutter. I no longer need a write off. I want to earn a little dough for son's college extra account.
 Here's why it's hard:
 1.  Hat pins that were from turn of the century. Some were in need of a good silver polish and some needed a couple jewelry welds. I took ten photos of them and sold as one lot. There were actually twenty seven in the photograph. A woman bought them. She complained that I didn't ship them fast enough ( I shipped according to the ebay estimate for United States Postal service. Ebay Always underestimates the cost of shipping by fifty percent. I lose there.) I had not said I would overnight them. I sent out the same day I got paid in pay pal. But the pickle is buyers send their money by credit card and there is a lag day or two for me to see the money. She also complained that some were not as pretty as in the pictures, and that some were missing. I come to find out this woman has a store and she re-sells what she buys on ebay... whatever ...
2. Listed an iphone 5. I took pictures of the cracked corners of the glass and mentioned in detail that they buyer would have to go get a new glass put on. The cost to "reglaze" or whatever the correct term is ... is about $125. I discounted the price of the phone by $130 from other models listed. The guy who bought it sent me two nasty messages before he recieved the phone. The day he opened it he started emailing me his demands to give him my apple ID and password. Next he wanted my ATT user and password. I told him "no". Then he sent messages with curse words. I don't offer returns but told him to carefully pack, insure and ship the phone back for a full refund. He complained to ebay that the phone is - what did he call it? "jail breaked." I looked up the term. No idea how or why someone jail breaks a phone. This was a lie to be able to keep the phone AND get a refund from me. 3. Oh and the crook who bought the Matisse poster...


I have a piece of rock. Years ago when my grandparents were alive my Grandfather chiseled a piece of stone off Plymouth Rock. Today the rock is down deep in this encased showcase so that people no longer take a little bit home. If I list the rock on ebay will my deceased Grandpa be in trouble with park rangers? Will some nut out there send me personal swear messages about the pebble? My stuff is just stuff. I think I am going to put that on my ebay home page. No guarantees.

Magic rock for sale. Once touched by Pilgrims near Massachusetts Bay. Was also washed by the same Atlantic Ocean where the Kardashians once swam... Touched by a poet who needs to get rid of stuff
Thanks for reading
C G

Sustianable Gardening Cherry Tomatoes could save us

·         
       Grow Valueable Fruits and Vegetables—choose your favorites that are expensive. 

       Grow heirloom that aren’t available at stores. Allow a percentage of your heirlooms to go to seed and trade at online seed banks for free. 

      Sustainable gardening is about the big picture without buying lots of equipment.

·         Year over year garden production varies. One season a glut of zucchini pops up. Make bread, add to spaghetti sauce  and save the seeds that are desirable to someone else.

·         Make your growing season long. Build recycled cold frames. Be creative with plastic liter bottles in a sunny window to start your seeds while it is still cold outside. Make tunnels, cloches and other devices to stretch the season and grow food. That goalie net the team is throwing away plus some plastic make a free plant shelter. Get a head start on spring salads by at least two months.  Extend your fall crops by using row covers to protect them from frost and deer.  Extend both seasons to grow more cold-tolerant greens and root crops for food production.·         Grow early-bearing fruit and berries—Grow June-bearing strawberries and early raspberries. Don’t be stuck with only one type or breed. There is nothing sweeter than fresh berries, and antioxidant. My family eats them so fast I never have any left to freeze or make jam. They can be frozen in simple ice cube trays to add to drinks or tea. In the fall, there are late-ripening raspberries that fruit.  I’m fond of trading or gifting fresh fruits and vegetables. Friends and family reciprocate with things that will surprise you.·         Grow natives and foods suitable to your climate zone. Some crops will be easy to grow in your area while others can be a challenge. Soil type also determines what will grow where you live.I have two compost piles and have my local coffee shop save grounds to amend my soil that tends to be alkaline and clay. After three years of digging in compost and rotating, my soil sustains a huge variety of fruits and vegetables with no fertilizer and no chemicals.·         Grow beverages—Mints, sage, raspberry leaf and nettles make delicious and healthy teas.  Mint is hardy in my climate I have to be careful not to let it take over. I learned to keep mint in pots. ·         In Southern California it is easy to have a lemon tree – I have Meyer, Lisbon, Ferminello St Teresa (my favorite for the smell of the fruit and flowers). Picking a lemon off one of my trees and squeezing into salad dressing, a sauce or drink give me joy. I know the fruit was not touched by pesticides. Lemons stay fresh on the tree longer than in the refrigerator.·         I wish I could grow apples and cherries. I planted them at two different homes with meager success. We just don’t get enough cold. Right now I’m experimenting with avocados because we enjoy them so much. Unfortunately it will take my seedlings seven or eight years to bear fruit. Patience is part of the fun.·         Perennials such as asparagus, rhubarb, and bunching onions are easy. These keep paying you back every year.·         Cherry tomatoes in yellow, lemon and red are the easiest fruit producing plants. The seeds of fallen fruit and that which birds nabbed will spread. Cherry tomatoes could save us in a disaster. ·         Culinary herbs maybe started from cuttings or gather seeds from friends. Thyme (my favorite) dill, basil, rosemary, sage, parsley and mint grow in most any summer garden. I have couple types of thyme and sage as the bees love them and the perfume when you brush past them is heavenly.·         We eat about half of what I grow. My kids try anything. They grew up pulling weeds and napping under peach trees. They have the same love of gardening. One of life's special things is the taste of a tomato warmed by the sun, rinsed off in the yard and popped into your mouth.
I wish you every happiness. Eat healthy, enjoy fresh.
 Concord and Albarosso grapes above
below some photographs of my children

Tomatoes could save us

·         Grow High-Value Fruits and Vegetables—choose your favorites that are expensive. Grow heirloom that aren’t available at stores. Allow a percentage of your heirlooms to go to seed and trade at online seed banks for free. ·         Year over year garden production varies. One season a glut of zucchini pops up. Make bread, add to spaghetti sauce  and save the seeds that are desirable to someone else. ·         Make your growing season long. Build recycled cold frames. Be creative with plastic liter bottles in a sunny window to start your seeds while it is still cold outside. Make tunnels, cloches and other devices to stretch the season and grow food. That goalie net the team is throwing away plus some plastic make a free plant shelter. Get a head start on spring salads by at least two months.  Extend your fall crops by using row covers to protect them from frost and deer.  Extend both seasons to grow more cold-tolerant greens and root crops for food production.·         Grow early-bearing fruit and berries—Grow June-bearing strawberries and early raspberries. Don’t be stuck with only one type or breed. There is nothing sweeter than fresh berries, and antioxidant. My family eats them so fast I never have any left to freeze or make jam. They can be frozen in simple ice cube trays to add to drinks or tea. In the fall, there are late-ripening raspberries that fruit.  I’m fond of trading or gifting fresh fruits and vegetables. Friends and family reciprocate with things that will surprise you.·         Grow natives and foods suitable to your climate zone. Some crops will be easy to grow in your area while others can be a challenge. Soil type also determines what will grow where you live.I have two compost piles and have my local coffee shop save grounds to amend my soil that tends to be alkaline and clay. After three years of digging in compost and rotating, my soil sustains a huge variety of fruits and vegetables with no fertilizer and no chemicals.·         Grow beverages—Mints, sage, raspberry leaf and nettles make delicious and healthy teas.  Mint is hardy in my climate I have to be careful not to let it take over. I learned to keep mint in pots. ·         In Southern California it is easy to have a lemon tree – I have Meyer, Lisbon, Ferminello St Teresa (my favorite for the smell of the fruit and flowers). Picking a lemon off one of my trees and squeezing into salad dressing, a sauce or drink give me joy. I know the fruit was not touched by pesticides. Lemons stay fresh on the tree longer than in the refrigerator.·         I wish I could grow apples and cherries. I planted them at two different homes with meager success. We just don’t get enough cold. Right now I’m experimenting with avocados because we enjoy them so much. Unfortunately it will take my seedlings seven or eight years to bear fruit. Patience is part of the fun.·         Perennials such as asparagus, rhubarb, and bunching onions are easy. These keep paying you back every year.·         Cherry tomatoes in yellow, lemon and red are the easiest fruit producing plants. The seeds of fallen fruit and that which birds nabbed will spread. Cherry tomatoes could save us in a disaster. ·         Culinary herbs maybe started from cuttings or gather seeds from friends. Thyme (my favorite) dill, basil, rosemary, sage, parsley and mint grow in most any summer garden. I have couple types of thyme and sage as the bees love them and the perfume when you brush past them is heavenly. ·         We eat about half of what I grow. My kids try anything. They grew up pulling weeds and napping under peach trees. They have the same love of gardening. One of life's special things is the taste of a tomato warmed by the sun, rinsed off in the yard and popped into your mouth.
I wish you every happiness. Eat healthy, enjoy fresh

Bobcat Ranch

Bobcat Ranch  July 2015

Hide in excavated Oaks.
Dead tree home provides

Flight saves Golden Eagles but not
bug getters, Lewis woodpeckers.
They nestle inside the
confines of hallowed trees.

Drought evacuates
Smoke rises and consumes