Gardens

After 2 springs and summers of no garden, and more specifically fresh tomatoes, we thought it was time take gardening seriously. So we did. I am so excited about my garden.

We started with railroad ties and lots of dirt!

 8 railroad ties. And Oh. My. Gosh they are heavy. We found out that some of them are made of oak. There was one that I swear weighed over 100 pounds. Bruised my arm trying to move one of them.

We put down a layer that will keep the weeds from coming up in my garden.

 Strong Daniel!

 

 Conference weekend we had 2 trucks get 2 loads each. It was lots of dirt!

 Our new garden is 9 ft by 18 ft.

 Yard work is hard for a dog.

Then came the produce. And the fence. My dogs are diggers and thieves. Winston likes to eat my food. So we put up a fence. It still needs a real gate. Right now the opening is blocked with tomato cages.

 I've got Chinese eggplant, beats, Anaheim peppers, and peas.

And all my tomatoes! I got a tomatillo also. We have: Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes, Black Krim, Great White, German Johnson, Lemon Boys and Celebrity. It's going to be a yummy August! There's nothing like a home grown Utah tomato.

Being Home

As of writing this, Daniel and I have been home from Xiamen for 9 days. People keep asking us how it feels.

Well. I'm home. That's about all there is to say. It was a little surreal the first two days being back in our own house, but with only a bed and our suitcases. But Daniel and I both went back to work Monday morning and we've gotten back into the swing of things pretty easily.

The hard parts for me are when I think about Xiamen and realize I have no idea if and/or when I'll ever get to go back. I'm missing my friends there and I'm seriously craving some of the food. We ate lots of international stuff there. I went to a couple of grocery stores this week and scoured the international sections for spices and seasonings to resemble some of my favorite foods there. I'll let you know how they turn out.

I even went to the Oriental Market in Riverdale Road to see what they have. The dumplings were disappointing. They should have been marketed as pot-stickers, and not dumplings. My favorite dumplings from China were what is called shui jiao. Boiled dumplings of, most often, pork and Chinese leeks. Yummy. I like to eat mine dipped in black vinegar. Don't boil pot-stickers. They don't taste very good.

I bought 6 different yellow curries to find which is closest to the Malaysian Yellow curry I ate there. I loved the Chicken Malai Tikka at the Indian restaurant. And the cheese kebabs? Oh my. I'm sure I'll never find things like those again. It's like a deep fried cheese churro. Yummy.

The other big adjustment is the prices. We forgot how expensive some stuff in America really is. I find I was quite disconnected from the US dollar. I'm learning to grocery shop all over again.

But it feels good and right to be home. We are getting our house settled in. In the coming weeks we hope to be able to get our adoption profile back up and going.

Some people have also asked if Daniel is working for the same company. Yes. We went to China for the same company he has worked for for over 10 years. It was a single project. Now that we are home, Daniel will continue to travel fior longer, more frequet periods of time until the project is done. Then he will travel less just keep things current. He is still working for Lifetime and is happy there.

Any other questions?

Thanks for all the welcome home's we've had. We are happy to be back!