Happy New Year...Here's to the Year of the Rat (or another brief intermission)

Nothing to do with Tomatoes, but it is the Chinese New Year, so I'll use any excuse to put off doing stuff that I should be doing (actual work), to spend time doing something I enjoy instead (writing, reading, chatting on the phone or on-line, looking through seed catalogs)! I'm really starting to dislike winter, it's been long enough now. But one thing I do like about this season, is having a roaring fire to heat the living room and sitting on the couch by the warm flames. Usually Simon is next to me, snuggling on the wool blanket and curled up against my leg, and I have my trusty laptop, well, where else but on my lap. I love the sound of the flames sputtering against the frozen logs as they heat up. I love to watch the flames flickering in the fireplace. There's just something so primordial about sitting by a fire.

I learned something important today. The more I learn, the less I know. Reading about tomatoes, and breeding and hybridizing, I realized how little I actually know. And I went to college for horticulture and landscaping! I took botany, and I learnt how to build a decent fence, and how to lay stone. But there really is only so much you can learn at school, and you should never stop trying to learn. I also spent four years at a university and then some, studying when I was much younger, and I'm not sure what I came away with, save my student loans. I picked up more skills and interests in between my schooling stints than I did during. I still have the love of literature, the love of baking (I worked in a bakery), the love of animals (vet clinic years ago and pets and horses), the love of writing (Thanks, Mr. Chiapetta, you rock), and I really wish someone would pay me to read and critique books. I mean, c'mon, how many people can read the entire Lord of The Rings (including the Hobbit) in a weekend? Isn't that a special talent? I think so! I should put that on my resume when I start job hunting next year.

Next post, will be about tomatoes. Promise.