This one's for Kim

It was asked recently of me what life is like outside of the military.  Good question and for me, a hard one to answer.  My only experience with the military was the 5 1/2 years in Japan.  Those that have lived at more duty stations, overseas or CONUS, will know better than me the differences of living in the "real" world.  But of course I have put much thought into this question and the one answer that I can think of is "freedom".

Funny that as American citizens dependent on an active duty service member, we lacked certain freedoms that most civilians take for granted.  Whether you live on or off a military base, overseas or CONUS, our lives were restricted by boundaries and limits.  We had curfews, limits of speech, dress codes too.  Access of care and services had limits as well.  And of course, there's the military I.D.  Soon after arriving in our new town, for but a few seconds, I would panic as I searched for my I.D. before going into Walmart.  That was an easy habit to break.

Of course there are perks to being a military dependent, I'm not denying that.  But I'd rather give up shopping at the commissary and using 6 month, out of date coupons, for the right to say what I want and not worry about the reprisal on my spouse or myself. 

Finally, Buford Highway Farmer's Market!

There is something to be said about living in the country.  Last night I was able to enjoy a beautiful spring night sky with a few friends, something I couldn't have done, at least not as well, if we lived closer to the city.  We saw spring constellations and stars such as Orion, Leo, Sirius, and Gemini.  We even saw two satellites racing through the sky!  But that also means that we miss out on the wonderful opportunities of living in the city such as diverse dining opportunities, entertainment venues and anonymity.  We're only 30-45 minutes away from all of that so it's really not a hardship.  And considering how spread out and diverse the Atlanta metro area is, we can enjoy the diversity without even having to go into the city at all.

That means, I can get my Asian fix by heading up to Doraville, GA.  This area is basically a conglomeration of Asian cultures and businesses, mostly Korean and Vietnamese, with strings of strip malls lining Buford Highway.  Korean barbeque, hot pot and bibimba are offerings at these many restaurants as well as vietnamese pho.  This also means that grocery stores are nearby and that includes the Buford Highway Farmer's Market. 

The market is huge.  Huge!  It's not much to look at on the outside but on the inside, it's huge!  But considering that it's an international market, it would have to be large to accommodate the all the various food stuffs to satisfy the diverse cultures that live around Atlanta.  Now, ethnic grocery stores abound in and around the city, but it's nice to have a place like BFM that's large and clean where we can shop around the globe in a comfortable setting while enjoying samples too!

Photography isn't allowed in the store but I took a few quick photos anyway.  I wish I had taken photos of their seafood section. I would love to show you the cases filled with live crayfish, the seven different types of shrimp, as well as the other shellfish selections and the live fish.  The smell wasn't offensive which means they make sure their products are fresh and their space is clean.  There is also a butchery too but for some reason, I'm never impressed with meat.  But their produce selection, WOW!

  Various root type vegetables

 

 Just a small section of their green vegetables.  There is another display of more leafy green vegetables including snow pea leaves and others that I have never seen before!

 There are at least 10 varieties of eggplant on this table!  There are more on the curve of the table that you can't see.

 

Of course, there is always the snack section.  It's always one of the first places I check out when I go to any Asian grocery store.  Do they have my favorite candies?  Well, no KitKat bars but they do have other yummy goodies such as Hokkaido chocolate cheese candy, (oishii), Crunky, gummy marshmallows and yes, they even have Hi-Chus!!

 

 

YAY!  Hi-Chews!?

A few of their salad dressings.  They do have the Pietro brand including the sesame miso flavor and soy sauce flavor.  FYI: In the upper left corner of this photo is a bottle of yuzu juice.  I should have bought one but it was $20!  So I bought wasabi/yuzu dressing instead.

 This is a cold case in the Eastern European section.  It's an incredible selection of caviars, pickled fish and one of my new favorites, cold smoked fish!

I'm going to go back to BFM soon.  The shrimp and mushroom dumplings that we had brought over to our friends house last night got left in our car and, well, you get the picture.  The car doesn't smell bad at all which is a good thing and I get to go back to the market to replace the dumplings which is a better thing!  So if there is anything anyone needs, please let me know.  And btw: they have great crispy tostadas and an almost complete selection of dried chilies too!

Pollen, Leeches and Frogs, Oh My!

What you are seeing is a photo of a small contribution of the 5500+ pollen count that hit Walton County yesterday.  I looked outside and was reminded of the Gobi Desert dust that would fly into Japan on a toxic front from China usually around February.  This front would then rain yellow and brown dust and and leave us with burning eyes and sputtering coughs for maybe a day or two.  But this, this is pollen.  Nothing but pure, Carolina Pine pollen.  This year us Millers are fine and not showing any allergic reactions but next year, well, can I say I'll just hold my breath?

Not art or is it?

I hope the fish are alive.  Doug and Zelig

bought 10 goldfish from Walmart last night but

I don't see them down there.  They are small.

I just hope they survive the next few days.

Speaking of ponds, Doug and friends finished the pond overhaul.  It really needed a good cleaning too.  The pond had to be drained to the last drop whereupon Doug and his junior helpers discovered LEECHES at the bottom.  They found every one of them, I HOPE, a few frogs too.  Finally they threw out the rest of the debris, rocks and pine straw, and got that pond clean and clear.  Of course the photo above does not show a beautiful product but I hope you get the gist from the ones below.

 Falling Waters III?

 One of our friends took it upon herself to put the slabs back around the pond.  

Thanks to all of our helpers on our pond re-do: Michael, Zelig, Thomas, Jolie and Terry.   You all did a great job.  You too Doug!

Update: Life in Monroe in March

It's still cold in Georgia.  Maybe one or two sunny days, those are just teasers!  This month has been cold and quite honestly, I'm starting to get tired of it.  Mainly because I want to garden and Zelig's practices are later in the day and outdoors of course when the nights are cold. 

Zelig had a game tonight.  They were CREAMED!  18 to 6!  Yikes.  But Zelig doesn't mind.  Actually, he doesn't really care one way or the other.  We try to give him some commentary at the end of the game, just so he can understand what was going on.  All he cared about was playing out some scene from Star Wars the Clone Wars or looking at the ground for any snakes.  Yep, he's in the outfield.  The very last inning of tonight's game, the coach put a few of the regular outfielders in to the infield.  Zelig was at 2nd base!  He did fine too.  Actually, he looked more mindful of the game and seemed to actually PLAY the game, as opposed to watching it.  One of these days, I'll take a few photos of a game to share.

The garden is going well.  Check out Red Earth Diary if you are interested in more in-depth commentary.  But very quickly, I have a large cleared out lot in the back of my yard so I asked a few friends to share the space for their own gardens.  We each have our own beds, all are built and are awaiting final filling with wood compost.  My seedlings that I started are okay.  Not great, some are leggy, such as the tomatoes.  The peppers haven't sprouted at all but the kohlrabi are doing great!  I'm getting a little excited about the leeks too.  The rest of the seeds that I have in my "box of ambition" can just be direct sowed, usually when the weather warms up...whenever that will be.

As for my other gardens, I'm getting antsy there too.  I have a swath of lawn, off of the paved path, next to the back of the house, that would be most suitable for stone crop or sedum.  Around the corner from that bed, I think I can be a little more involved and put in more flowers, maybe iris and lamb's ears.  Those are great combinations by the way.

Doug recently installed a fountain in our pond.  I wasn't too convinced that a fountain is what that pond needed but once installed, it really is a nice change for the patio.  The sound of the water is mesmerizing, even tranquil.  I think we need a fire pit to finish off the patio!

Zelig found a snake the other day.  Actually, Doug found the baby garter snake but Zelig adopted it.  No, he did not bring it into the house and call it "Fred" but he did insist on holding onto the little critter until it fainted.  No, the snake did not die.  It was just resting as Zelig put it.  I think it was trying to play dead until Zelig let it go.  Which he eventually did, covering up the snake with a leaf to hide from the hawks.