Linda Erday here, and I am not sure what to say "about me" -- I fancy myself a writer and a mother, a music lover and a veterinarian. I'm good at lots of things: cooking, setting up comfortable campsites, writing, listening, finding the depth in most situations, understanding stuff. Lately I have been doing more writing than practicing medicine, I've been trying to be a good mother at least half the time (which, if timed appropriately, is all I need since I share custody with my ex), and I've been tending to a small garden as well as backyard chickens. They are laying chickens, not cooking chickens. Well, they aren't laying yet, but I'd suspect they will at some point. And you can trust me, because, as I said, I'm a doctor and I know all about that kind of stuff. Except, not really. In veterinary school we had only a week or two of poultry medicine, and that was a long time ago. The chicken diseases have even undergone name changes for crying out loud! But I digress...
I've always loved traditional music, and my ex opened the doors to the world of old time music (thanks, Randy!) so I spend a lot of time listening to fiddle tunes and songs written in the early part of last century. I've been hanging for a while with a musician who plays old time and bluegrass as well as jazz & classical stuff. I didn't think I liked jazz, but then became aware that Dixieland Jazz, which I've always loved, sort of fell into, well, that genre, so I guess you can say I like jazz. I really like old songs -- stuff that the Carter Family did, and a bunch of those old duets -- the brother duets and sister duets; again, stuff from the 30's...
My kids are great. They are both really smart and nice (except to each other some of the time). Both are good musicians -- Corey plays guitar and sings, and Emily plays piano and fiddle and sings like an angel. If you met them I bet you'd like them too; if you were young enough to reproduce I bet you'd want kids of your own. When they were little they never cried, they just giggled and laughed. Women would hold them and ovulate. Really, they are great kids.
For fun these days I am raising chickens. If I really like you I might give you a pair. They are very nice, quite pretty, and also a practical, utilitarian pet. I was going to go for Episcopalian but I decided Utilitarian was more politically correct.
Last year's garden had too much stuff crammed into too small of a space. I thought it would work -- after all, I'm from New Jersey -- but the harvest was not remarkable. So this year I planted only basil and tomatoes in quantity, with a smattering of other herbs, some greens, and one red and one yellow pepper plant. I made a new garden patch where I'm going to put cabbage and brussel sprouts. The first garden space is already planted, a tad risky here in the middle of NC, but I figured I'd just live life on the edge. So there's been this freeze warning and yesterday I had to set up the camping canopy and the sides over the garden, and I'm using the chicken's heat lamp and monitoring the temperature remotely. The wonders of modern science and appliances. Thank goodness I had all that stuff since I opted out of practicing patience.
That's probably enough about me. I bet you can tell a lot from all of that. Now what on earth will you do with all this new knowledge???
Linda Erday, April 7, 2007
