Triskel Life

Way way back in February of this year I wrote about the teeny tiny tomato seedlings sprouting in my windowsill. After replanting the little guys into various containers around my deck and purchasing more than a half dozen additional planters for my recently-expanded roof-top garden, I can finally enjoy the fruits of my labor! Okay, not really. I can appreciate them visually for now, but will need to wait a bit longer before they’re actually edible.

Of my roof-top plants, both varieties of tomatoes are bearing fruit (I planted Black Krim and Silvery Fir Tree) but the more traditional tomato bush is definitely winning the race, with at least four tomatoes already (see if you can find all four in the picture!).

Interestingly, the tomato plants on the roof have remained much shorter, maybe just two feet tall, but are successfully producing fruit, while my deck plants, who get a good degree less sun, are as tall as me but bear no fruit. I’ve debated moving the poor shadowed guys to the roof, but unless you know an easy way to move half wine barrels full of dirt, I think they’ll be staying put.

Hopefully very soon I will be posting about enjoying a nice Caprese Salad with my little tomatoes.

My hubby is a fireman, so talk of fire is a regular occurrence in my house. But recently the discussion has reached an all time high as our fair county has been faced with three serious fires in just as many weeks. As one local reporter put it, any of these fires alone would have been eligible for “Story of the Year” were this even the end of it.

Fire season has only just begun and fires continue to rage, as illustrated by this map dated June 27, 2008. Walking outside my house it reeks of campfire, normally a smell I love, but now a scent that represents destruction. Fortunately, the fires have not yet been at my own back door, but close enough that hubby and I have assessed the most valuable items to grab in an evacuation (dogs, cat, computers, backup drive and wedding photos), tightened down our fireboxes with important documents, and stocked our “get-away” vehicle—our truck—with food and water for us, our animals, bedding, dishes and the basics to get us by for a few days self-contained. We’ve even made plans about where we’ll meet should we be separated at the time of evacuation.

This week, when reports of possible thunder and lightning—weather that caused 300 spot fires last weekend—hit the news, I started my home inventory. The list catalogs everything in our home, what it is, where it’s from, how much it cost and when we bought it, should we need to make an insurance claim on our burned-down home. It’s not done yet (boy do we own a lot of stuff!), but it has served as an interesting barometer of our lives. You see patterns that mark the changes in your life, like the plethora of kitchen appliances from our wedding registry and the furniture from 2005 when we purchased our second house. In making these lists you are struck by both the futility of the “things” that accumulate in our lives, and the special place they hold in our hearts.

We all know we should have these plans and preparations in place anyway, especially living in earthquake country, but sometimes you need a little nudge to make you do it. In this case, the emergency has made me grateful for what I have, and what I don’t need.

How are you prepared for an emergency?

This past birthday I officially moved from my “mid-twenties” to the oh-so-near-thirty “late-twenties.” The passing from one threshold to another moved me to notice how I, and my almost-thirty-years-old peers, differ from the other twenty-somethings. I found some of the changes interesting or funny and began keeping a mental list. Naturally, this is from a woman’s perspective, so I would love to hear what the almost-thirty man notices too. If you have some additions please comment below and share them! I can’t wait to hear how you know you’re almost 30.

How you know you’re almost 30:

-The majority of your friends are married or have sent out their ’save the date’ postcards.

-You look around at your male friends and realize most have gray hair speckling their heads or beards and baldness is no longer just a possibility, but part of their “look.”

-”Are you going to have kids?” “When are you starting a family?” or some other version of “When are you popping one out?” is a weekly, if not daily question you manage.

-You’d much rather watch Grey’s Anatomy on your DVR than go out on Saturday night (you mean get dressed up AND stay up late?!).

-You start to think that silver jewelry looks cheap and choose gold because it looks more sophisticated.

-Body fat starts to stick in very strange new places.

-You walk inside American Eagle Outfitters/Urban Outfitters/Abercrombie+Fitch/Forever 21 and realize you probably shouldn’t be shopping there any more.

-You over hear the most recent hires at work talking and realize that you are now one of the “old guys” with the “outdated ideas.”

-Know that Hershey’s Chocolate or any other kind of milk chocolate is for kids, instead craving the deepest darkest solid chocolate you can find.

-You look at the covers of the magazines at the checkout stand and honestly have no idea who some of the stars on the covers are.

-You don’t feel a day older than 16—just a little bit smarter with more money.

Last Saturday we dropped the velvet curtain on the seventh annual Santa Cruz Film Festival. The nine day Festival included 146 films from 26 countries. Each year this festival blows me away—both in the quality of the films and its global reach. We opened to a full house with One Fast Move and I’m Gone: Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur, an eye-opening documentary on how fame tortured the Roadster Kerouac. Up ’til 2 a.m. on night one, the second day brought the opportunity to enjoy dinner and conversation with the directors Tom Wheelan and Brian LaBelle of The Art of Travel, a fun coming of age/traveling adventure tale starring Chris Masterson (Malcolm in the Middle) and Brooke Burns. There’s nothing more refreshing than meeting humble directors with great films. Their film set the pace for what seemed like a wanderlust theme in ‘08.

As the week carried on Festival attendance proved stronger than all previous years and film goers were blown away by The Listening Project, a film that went around the world asking “What do you think of America?” and Ripple Effect, starring Forest Whittaker and Virginia Madsen.

When closing night finally arrived, I was honored to take one of The Listening Project’s directors, Dominic Howes, out to dinner before he was bestowed the Jury Award for Best Documentary.

It was a long nine days, but it was a blast. Thank you to all who helped fund and support this year’s Fest. Please join me for year eight in 2009!

I don’t ask for help often. It is rare that I’ll ask for help and even rarer that I accept it. But today I make a change. I’d like to ask you to help me support the 2008 Santa Cruz Film Festival.

As you’ve heard in the news, the business economy–particularly the Real Estate industry–is facing tough times. Unfortunately the fallout trickles down, even to the little non-profits. Many of our regular sponsoring businesses have been forced to significantly reduce their financial contributions to the Fest, leaving a deficit for us to make up.

So we are turning to those who value “Keeping Santa Cruz Weird” and the arts in our funky community. Each of us Board Members are responsible for raising a totally-doable $500 and I need your help to make this happen. I need any contribution you can commit and every dollar counts. Any contribution, just $5, will be greatly appreciated. For those of you able to contribute a bit more, your contribution can be put towards a Film Fest Membership or Pass, allowing you perks like free admission to the films and parties.

I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need to. This year is shaping up to be the most amazing yet, bringing awesome filmmakers to Santa Cruz and cultural tourists (which means thousands of dollars to the local economy, win-win!). Please let me know what you can contribute to my $500 debt. Checks can be made payable to the Santa Cruz Film Festival. Donations are tax-deductible. Thank you in advance for doing the right thing and not taking art for granted in Santa Cruz!