Garden Sprouts & Sun

garden time. beans seeds are sprouting. flowers on peppers and tomatoes. even the onions and potatoes are growing. while i'm anxious to see how well our garden grows this year, since we added for the first time, our very own home-grown-compost, IF it DOES produce abundantly, we will have enough food to feed an army. i don't preserve or can...or i should say, i never have canned. i have a friend who cans enough of her home-grown "garden pix" (as my grandson used to call them) to last them all winter. at this point, i'm not sure i am that into it, to learn it all and buy all the equipment. at this point, that just sounds like too much work. but! i sure do love seeing it all grow. and i sure do look forward to going out and picking my lunch.

this time of year, i spend less time in front of the computer (gee, could you tell, since i haven't blogged in so long?), and more time outdoors. but, speaking of outdoors, i took myself to the beach yesterday. the first trip down this year. because of my stupidity, it might be the last.

i am real, real good about telling others to put on suntan lotion. but since i was in a hurry to go yesterday, and had already wasted way too much time trying to find the lotion i just bought last season, i did without. my crazy skin type is such that i almost never burn; and if i do, it quickly just turns brown and no big deal. plus, it was actually cold on the beach when i arrived, so i didn't even take off my cover-ups until i had been there over an hour. when i did, i had goose-bumps, the air was that cool. but then, the last 2 hours i did lie on my towel, in the afternoon sun, bathing suit on, but no lotion.

by the time i got back home i was aware that the burn was beginning to show, and while i knew it was stupid of me NOT to lotion-up, i figured, o well, no big deal. welllllll, it was a big deal, because as the evening wore on i began to feel worse, and by late evening i hurt each time i moved and could not stop shivering. it even upset my stomach a bit. i felt really stupid for doing such a dumb-dumb-DUMB thing! then, just for good measure, on top of my stupidity, add in a huge dose of guilt. why? because---and YOU decide what is wrong with this picture:
hubby works long and hard all day; wifey lays on beach. hubby comes home from work and offers to take wifey out to eat. wifey, having gotten too much sun, apologetically declines (cause she could hardly move, let alone put clothes on her stupid burnt body). hubby lovingly offers to cook. wifey thanks him, while covering with 2 afghans to stop cold shivers. hubby makes nice meal. wifey can't even think about eating anything cause now her stomach's a bit upset from stupid sunburn hurting so much. hubby sends wifey to bed and even cleaned up all the dishes. wifey takes ibuprofen to help diminish pain and tho she's never heard of taking it for sunburn, is marvelously relieved that it DID help take away the pain. so wifey sleeps away the night and is (as always) very thankful to hubby for his kindness, generosity, understanding and helpfulness. hubby never even said, what the heck were you thinking, lying in the hot sun with no protection?! hubby is unbelievable. wifey is red and wears a mask of guilt and stupidity! never again, she says, having just returned from pharmacy with lots of suntan lotion and aloe gel to help cool her stupid red face and body!

many, many years ago, my mom always told me: you always learn the hard way! all these years later, turns out mom was right.....again!