So let's give it another go, especially now that I'm a bit more settled.
Just to bring everything up to date, I have settled into a life in East Austin, where I live in a lovely little writer bungalow and spend a lot of my weekends gardening and landscaping.
I'm working part time as a teacher (it feels like full time, but my paycheck reminds me that it's definitely part time!) at the Bronze Doors Academy, where I teach creative writing, poetry, academic writing, Socratic Dialogue, textile arts, and Japanese to an assortment of odd, bright, dynamic middle and high-schoolers.
Here is my goofy little teacher profile.
I just submitted a round of poems to the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg competition, in hopes that this year I may get lucky again. Otherwise, I have work upcoming in Alimentum and Confrontation that I am VERY excited about. Order a copy of the next issues when they're out, and I'll be there!
I'm also playing full time with the most amazing inspiring people in a surreal musical project called The Human Circuit. (Excuse the half-finished webpage. We've been concentrating more on practising music. And yes, we do realise that the band name has somewhat appropriate initials.)
The crappy myspace page has some nice live recordings.
We've played a few shows, and besides some technical snags mainly stemming from the incredible difficulty of micing a cello, things are going swimmingly. The next show will probably be a Halloween show, with even more bells and whistles and funky costumes than usual.
So this band is a beautiful thing in my life, and soon we hope to be in the studio working on the first full length album.
I have also postponed my project in India to next summer, so that I have some more desperately needed time to work and right and think and get my head wrapped around the events of this past year.
And it is autumn, so it is time for baking pies, cooking savoury things, writing letters to loved ones overseas, working furiously on my novel, poems, and Emma's and my chapbook. It's time for planting bulbs that will come up in the spring and establishing a fall/winter garden and learning more about growing things. This gardening thing is a constant learning experience, and I am learning that it takes so much more than sticking some plants or seeds in the ground and watering them every day. I'm learning about organic pest control, fertilizer, making leaf mulch, noting what areas get what amount of sun and planting accordingly, how to flick the stems of tomato plants to that they pollinate themselves, the importance of bees, and how much I love spending my mornings murming and singing to my plants and giving them love and attention.
Here are some pictures of the yard before I got motivated:
And then here's what happens when I go to the nursery and get inspired. Jessamine, Phillipenes Violet, White Salvia, Rock Rose, and some grass that gets red trumpet flowers, along with my two types of basil and some cactus in the pots. I have also strategically planted Anenome bulbs around our metal sculpture and around the tree in by the street.
Purple mums, Zinnia, Nasturtium, Jasmine, Marigolds, a Fire Bush, Fennel, Rue, and some edible purple cabbages (these are where the organic pest control learning is happening.)
Two types of Salvia, Sweet Potato vine, a Butterfly bush/vine thingy, Marigold, and Pineapple Sage.
Backyard wilderness! Both gardens are full of veggies and lovely green things.
Rosemary, Lavender, and strangely, some cucumber vines.
Zucchini, Kale, Yellow Chard, Mustard Greens, and some dubious carrot sprouts. Just out of the frame is an heirloom tomato plant.
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