nature's own

Hey everyone! First off, thanks for participating in the head count from the last entry. It occurred to me after the fact that given the purpose of the poll, I probably should have just made the two choices "Yes" and "Yes," because obviously, if you live in Hawaii, you're not going to come to New York for a book event (nor would I--in fact, if I lived in Hawaii, I probably would never leave to go anywhere, ever).  But as an inexact headcount, the poll was more than adequate. Thank you all so much, and I hope (hope!) I will have an event to tell you about soon, at a nice venue in which to meet you all and thank you in person.

Oh, and I should address this one too: someone pointed out that Step I of the USMLE is usually taken around May or June. (I know it seems impossible to those of you entrenched in this process right now, but I actually can't remember in the slightest what month I took any of the three USMLEs, just like I couldn't remember what month Match Day was a few years after the fact. Believe me, once you pass them and place into a residency program, their significance in your mind will drop exponentially.)  Anyway, I'm not even talking about the possibility of this event in specific, I just wanted to say: it's OK to not study for a few hours once in a while. In fact, it's good for you.  So at least once a week, go out to dinner, see a movie, play frisbee in the park with some friends. Your poor, overstuffed brain will thank you for it later, I promise, even if you have to put off for another day memorizing the difference between the different types of MEN syndrome.

(For some reason, that's one fact that sticks with me, that before I took Step I I really thought that knowing the different types of MEN syndrome was going to make or break me.  I'm not really sure why I thought that, all I know is that I memorized the shit out of MEN syndromes and I never got asked about it on any standardized test, ever.)


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One of the things that really drew us to our new house was the backyard. The people that lived here before us (and not doubt, the people before them) were obviously into gardening, and it really shows. It's not a big yard, and it's not a flat yard, but it's all planned and planted and, now that we're officially in the thick of Spring, incredibly lush. Joe and I live in fear that, now that the house is our responsibility, we're going to totally screw it up. TOO MUCH PRESSURE.

Most of the foliage is of the flowering, ornamental variety, and before we moved in we told the kids that once we got moved in, we'd plant something edible, because that's some good clean family fun right there.  So today, we made good on our promise, got a few things from the local plantatorium and shoved them into the ground.  Hopefully they will survive, because in the face of all this verdant growth, it's going to be really embarrassing if they don't.

We planted we little strawberry plants (shown in the first two pictures), two blueberry plants (above), and some tomatoes and peppers.  So anyway--we'll see!  My gardening experience is strictly limited to planter boxes on our balcony in New York, but those flowers didn't die (immediately), so I figure these plants here have an even better chance, because, you know, nature and stuff.

Despite the look of the pictures, our backyard is basically full sun for most of the day, so that's helpful for the photosynthesis and whatnot.  But if anyone has any more detailed advice on how to keep these plants in decent shape, I'd love to hear it.  Do we need to do something to keep woodland critters out and away from our imminently delicious edibles?  Oh, and if there's anything else that's reasonably easy to plant and maintain, let us know, and maybe we'll shove some of those in the ground too.  I mean, if we can find any room back there.  Or maybe we can reclaim some of the planting space from all that ivy, because it's getting a little out of control.