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What I Did on my Winter Vacation
(I started this in fb but it got too long for that format so I posted it here instead.)
Last evening of vacation (though technically, today is our displaced holiday for New Years). I feel like I haven't been posting much anywhere in the last three weeks. I probably have, but if I haven't then maybe that was part of my vacation?
Worldcon was fun, if fraught with worries about omicron. (Based on post-convention Covid reports, it sounds like all the precautions did their job. The incidence rate was significantly lower than the general DC population in the same period.) NYC was relaxing, since Lauri and I decided to ditch any plans to see shows or go to museums and mostly just hung out.
I was a coming back to California, I was anxious enough about exposure that even after 2 consecutive days of negative tests I stayed masked for the New Years Eve/Day hangout with family. Another post-visit test was still negative so if BinaxNow is to be trusted, I seem to have gotten through all the travels without picking up any viral hitchhikers.
Got a bunch of blog/podcast writing done during vacation. Today's project was to play-test doing a video 'cast, combining the usual audio with a slideshow, and just to make things more challenging, including and embedded image of me doing the script. Zoom has some great tools (designed for academic settings) for this sort of thing. I've even worked out how to edit around re-takes in video without having to touch iMovie. I don't plan to shift the podcast to video as a usual thing. (For one thing, the editing is *much* faster when it's audio only and I'm doing it in Audacity.) But this will be much easier than the kludgy method I used for my only other slideshow episode, and I rather like the idea of having my face on-screen alongside the slides. (It does mean that I have to design the slide-show with a blank corner where my image will be.)
I've started the winter garden chores: pruning the roses (and other stuff), doing the soil-work stuff that is much easier when the ground is damp. I got an email from Trees of Antiquity that they're coming up on delivery season. Or rather, pick-up season since I took that option. I figured it was worth the combination of saving the shipping cost and an excuse for a minor road trip. (They're in Paso Robles, so abut 200 miles each way.) I'm getting a Bing cherry to replace one that failed to thrive, a Santa Rosa plum because one can never have too many plum trees, and some black and red currants and gooseberries because the blueberries are being successful as landscaping plants in the front yard and I have lots of space for more smallish berry shrubs. (I've tried currants and gooseberries in the back yard before and they were never happy about how little water they got. But in the front, where the irrigation is aimed at keeping the roses and the grass happy, they should get plenty.) So the trick will be getting all the holes dug before I pick up the plants.
I'm anticipating having a good year for the fruit trees, since the amount of ground water seems to be a significant factor. And we're getting a lovely amount of rain at the moment.
Last evening of vacation (though technically, today is our displaced holiday for New Years). I feel like I haven't been posting much anywhere in the last three weeks. I probably have, but if I haven't then maybe that was part of my vacation?
Worldcon was fun, if fraught with worries about omicron. (Based on post-convention Covid reports, it sounds like all the precautions did their job. The incidence rate was significantly lower than the general DC population in the same period.) NYC was relaxing, since Lauri and I decided to ditch any plans to see shows or go to museums and mostly just hung out.
I was a coming back to California, I was anxious enough about exposure that even after 2 consecutive days of negative tests I stayed masked for the New Years Eve/Day hangout with family. Another post-visit test was still negative so if BinaxNow is to be trusted, I seem to have gotten through all the travels without picking up any viral hitchhikers.
Got a bunch of blog/podcast writing done during vacation. Today's project was to play-test doing a video 'cast, combining the usual audio with a slideshow, and just to make things more challenging, including and embedded image of me doing the script. Zoom has some great tools (designed for academic settings) for this sort of thing. I've even worked out how to edit around re-takes in video without having to touch iMovie. I don't plan to shift the podcast to video as a usual thing. (For one thing, the editing is *much* faster when it's audio only and I'm doing it in Audacity.) But this will be much easier than the kludgy method I used for my only other slideshow episode, and I rather like the idea of having my face on-screen alongside the slides. (It does mean that I have to design the slide-show with a blank corner where my image will be.)
I've started the winter garden chores: pruning the roses (and other stuff), doing the soil-work stuff that is much easier when the ground is damp. I got an email from Trees of Antiquity that they're coming up on delivery season. Or rather, pick-up season since I took that option. I figured it was worth the combination of saving the shipping cost and an excuse for a minor road trip. (They're in Paso Robles, so abut 200 miles each way.) I'm getting a Bing cherry to replace one that failed to thrive, a Santa Rosa plum because one can never have too many plum trees, and some black and red currants and gooseberries because the blueberries are being successful as landscaping plants in the front yard and I have lots of space for more smallish berry shrubs. (I've tried currants and gooseberries in the back yard before and they were never happy about how little water they got. But in the front, where the irrigation is aimed at keeping the roses and the grass happy, they should get plenty.) So the trick will be getting all the holes dug before I pick up the plants.
I'm anticipating having a good year for the fruit trees, since the amount of ground water seems to be a significant factor. And we're getting a lovely amount of rain at the moment.
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Glad you managed to do the trip without getting sick well done! My Seattle family managed to come down with Covid without travelling (coming in through the other family in their bubble and showing first in my niece who is too young to have been vaccinated yet), luckily they all had very mild symptoms).
Yay for more fruit! As you probably already know, black currants are a favourite of mine, and wind up in most things I cook, both sweet and savory. I look forward to hearing what you do with yours.
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If they follow the same pattern as the blueberries, in the first year, I'll just munch on them while doing yard maintenance. But I'm hoping for a much bigger blueberry crop this (second) year and we'll see. One useful thing about growing all sorts of varieties is that I can always combine them to make up the numbers.
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I know that it is pretty common for Alaskans to pack frozen salmon in their checked luggage with lots of layers of newspapers and plastic bags around it and it is still frozen by the time their flight reaches the lower 48. However, packing frozen berries for an international flight might be pushing the laws of thermodynamics. Not that I have a budget for international travel. Not that it is recommended either. But perhaps by the time your black currants are thriving enough to be freezing them...
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