Wow! I can't believe I posted 17 times in October. It felt like I was much more negligent; they must have been primarily photo postings and little text. Well, I apologize for the half-hearted attempts at blogging lately. I guess I've been distracted by coffee-tasks during the week and by not feeling so hot on the weekends.

So far, however, November is turning out to be a lovely month. We've been in the low 80s and high 70s in Bisbee. At the beginning of the week, Snark and I finished pulling out the dead plants from summer and getting ready for the winter garden. (It turns out that four of our tomato plants survived the freeze and both of our eggplants. Though, who knows if they'll actually produce anymore fruit this year.) We moved the garden boxes and pots to other parts of the front yard, so they could better bathe in the winter sunshine that will be falling heavier once the cottonwood leaves fall completely. We planted new seeds outside (greens, beans, and herbs) and plan to soon start some inside seeds as well. We also transplanted some of the plants into bigger pots. The lemon balm is unhappy about the move to a new pot and looks like it plans to kick the bucket soon. At the least, it seems very depressed and droopy in its new, larger space.

Snark hung my hammock-swing from the limb of the cottonwood. I haven't had anywhere to hang it since I was 19 and lived in my first place in Oakland after moving out of my parents' house! It's become my new favorite spot to be; it's becoming a habit for me to take my tea and book outside in the mornings, to hang in the hammock chair, and read.

I've lately become obsessed with reading as many novels as possible, feverishly trying to finish one every few days. This is good and bad. I often worry that I am spending too much time absorbed in a book and not enough time doing things that maybe I should be doing. But it's a luxury to not be exhausted from school and full-time work and to have the energy to consume books like they are junk food. I try to pay attention to the dirty dishes in the sink or the dust gathering on the shelf or my partner-in-crime who might want to see my face once in a while (instead of the top of my head with the rest of my face glued to the pages of my book). But sometimes I get too carried away with the idea of finishing, as if getting them off my bookshelf and into the trade-in pile is a worthwhile accomplishment; it's delicious and feels momentous like crossing another item off on my to-do list (actually, sometimes I do write "finish so-in-so book" on my to-do list... is that sick or just really geeky?!).

My book obsession parallels Snark's turquoise/rock obsession, so at least there's that. If I need to find him, he is either in the mudroom grinding stones to expose the blue color or he's out on the side stoop cracking rocks open, daydreaming of the treasures he will find. Then again, he may be a couple of hours away on a rock-hunting expedition gathering crystals, cubed pyrite, or river rocks. At the end of the day, he lays a dark sheet out on the kitchen table to show me what he's found or uncovered in his day's work.

This week I have felt fairly content. For that I am grateful. I hope it's the theme for the month of November.

Oh yeah, on a completely unrelated note, in case anyone is wondering about the time difference between where you are and where we are (because of the time-change that occurred last weekend), just remember that AZ doesn't observe daylight savings. So until last week we were on the same time as the pacific time zone (all you Californians), but now we're on the same time as the mountain time zone (all you Coloradoans). The other weird thing that I just found out about AZ is that no post offices are open on Saturday. I thought it was just Old Bisbee, but I guess it's the whole damn state. That's not the case in CA, CO, OK, or WI, right? I mean, did the whole country invent this rule or is it just wonky ole AZ? I'm going to assume it's just AZ, but how bizarre in my little letter-mailing world!