The rumors are true.
Gardenkeeping is back after taking a year-long sabbatical. I’ll admit that it wasn’t intentional at first. I thought I’d take a break from blogging to spend some time on the nuts and bolts of my website: make a few tweaks here, an adjustment there, you know, spruce it up a bit….
…or so I thought. I’m still working on some of my ideas but, I really just needed to dip my toes into the dirt of the internet and get back to it!
The Smoke Screen
OK, you’ve probably guessed the real reason why I’m just now making it back online. The fires that are raging up and down the West Coast did what many months of a pandemic could never accomplish; I’m stuck inside my house. I feel so fortunate that we haven’t had to directly face the flames and flee our homes but, here on the West Coast, the bad air is everywhere.
The last time we were breathing bad air from wildfires, I wrote a post about it: Smoky and Blue. That was bad then, but this feels so much worse now. There is an eerie quality to the stillness that has descended over Port Townsend. The air, the people, the sounds of the town- everything has stopped. We all have masks but, since the cloth ones do not protect you from smoke, we’re all shut inside for now. One of the only things I’ve gone outside for is to clean the birdbaths.
I feel badly for all of the creatures that are out in the smoke and can’t escape it. I worry as I watch them from the safety of my home.
Breathing in the Rarefied Air
The only problem is, the air inside isn’t necessarily better than the air out there. I love my old house but, closing the windows and doors just wasn’t enough to keep out the polluted air. I finally broke down a couple of days ago and bought an air filter. Under normal circumstances, I would have never consider recirculating and filtering the air inside my house – I’m a fresh-air freak! My usual style would be to open the doors and windows to air the place out; even during the coldest days of winter. It’s a trick that you can use to avoid getting sick. I learned it from my mom who learned it from the nuns at her school – and she grew up in Chicago!
A Sensational Sight
Even though it took a couple of natural disasters to bring me here, I’m very excited to be getting back to my blog. It’s truly been a dream of mine!
~ First, I had to find my way through a house to a door. It was dark as I reached to turn the knob. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen it open. There inside was a computer and a desk. I searched for a button and pressed it. I was surprised to see the fan start spinning and the screen flashing words and codes. Then, on the screen, a picture of the moon with the words, *Stay Calm, Ask the Moon. This is familiar; I think I know how to do this……
I hope you’ll take some time and look around the website. I’ve made a few changes with more to come. I’ve reintroduced the page “Tale of the Gardenkeeper” and am adding a portfolio page to showcase some of my work. The biggest change that I’ve made is with my blog posts. They will now require a subscription to read the full story. I really struggled with that decision but, my goal was to make my site more secure as well as economically viable while keeping it ad-free. There will still be plenty available for those of you who do not want to subscribe. In the meantime, I’ll keep dishing the dirt here at Gardenkeeping.com.
*Words of wisdom from the Mighty Boosh.
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