List #15: The Great Outdoors

As winter insists on continuing, and I'm running out of survival skills/patience, I'm going to let myself think about spring, dammit. Several of my friends have already started seedlings (or so they proclaim on Facebook: I never actually SEE my friends, of course), and I should get on that, though it's a bit early, I think. The last time I planted seedlings was 3 years ago, and as I recall none of my plants lived to see June, though several friends got productive tomatoes from that batch, I think. For list #15, I present a two-part list.  If the first one bores you, just skip to the second.

15A: Things I should plant.
Martha Stewart says I should only plant the fruits and vegetables I love to eat, and god knows Martha Stewart is smarter than I am.

1. Corn: I don't like corn in any other form than on the cob, with a little butter and a little salt. I could eat corn on the cob every. single. day. when it's good. Oh, mercy.

2. Green beans: I really love canned green beans (shut up. I have rights), but I also remember how green beans seemed miraculous to me as a kid. The soft, fuzzy crispness that is a homegrown green bean is something I want my child to know. Plus you can make them grow in a teepee. Awesome.

3. Pumpkins. Seriously. I know you can buy them fairly cheaply around Halloween, but there's just nothing like carving a jack-o-lantern from a gourd you saw from a blossom. And I'm more than a little freaked out by giant milk-fed pumpkins, but I think it's neat that it can be done. By other people.

4. Carrots: I don't really have room for carrots in my backyard garden (which is, actually, full of lilies, and so I plant my vegetables in containers), but like green beans, my childhood summer memories are full of carrots.

5. Eggplant: I've only eaten eggplant once, and I didn't really like it, but I love that something grows in that color.

As evidenced by #5, I'm mostly out of things to grow, per Martha's orders. I mean, I like tomatoes, every now and then, sliced thick with a healthy layer of sugar. It's how my grandfather ate them. But that one's just obvious, and I'm ready for the next list. Now.

15B: Things I really want to do this summer even though I probably won't because it's the story of my life.

1. Get ourselves to Duluth. Shaun's sister and her family have lived there over a year now, and it's just over 4 hours for us to drive there. We are not good people, so we haven't been to see their new house or anything yet.  But we will, before too long, and V will get to see the Greatest of the Great Lakes.

2. Build V a  playhouse or treehouse or some sort of thing. Perhaps I could combine list 15A #3 and dry a giant pumpkin and turn it into a house. Of course, these options (minus the pumpkin) are ridiculously expensive. Right now, I'm obsessing over this dinosaur head, and the idea that it can be on the ground, or in a tree, or part of a larger structure. Plus, it's cheap!

3. Visit Graceland and/or New Orleans (perhaps with V and maybe Shaun if he wants to go which he likely won't because that's his way). For some reason I feel a hankering for travelling down south lately. I've never been to Graceland, which is a sin, and I want to see even more of New Orleans.

4. Go camping with V again. Okay, this one can probably happen. It's so much easier to go when I have real camping friends who know how to start good fires and how long to grill a hotdog. And who pack extra food for when my five year old who eats like a teenager needs a second or third breakfast.

Ah. I feel better already. Now I'll just remove my slanket, tuck V into bed, and dream of warmer days.

How do you get through the February slump, gentle readers? And will you help me build a playhouse in a few months? Do tell.