"Pollen Problems"

Ah, Sunday morning. We're wide awake, finished with breakfast and coffee and it's only 9:20. My plan is to dive into my garden this afternoon and I couldn't be more excited. With the exception of my fear/queasiness about anything wormy or squirmy that lives in dirt, and my aversion to physical activity, I do really like to garden. I knew that someday I would - gardening is practically as much in my genes as cooking is - but I'm surprised that the bug bit me as hard as it did. I mean, I honestly am one of the laziest people I know, and I really do run screaming when I see a worm, so this is kind of a shocker.

So, "Pollen Problems" you say? Literally, on Sunday morning when we usually watch Meet The Press or Football In America (that's my name, not theirs), today we have on in the background The Weather Channel. Yikes. That's bringing dorky to a whole new level! TWC is highlighting pollen problems across the country as their headlining story of the hour. They certainly don't need to tell me about pollen problems!

On a side note... (perhaps I should have labeled this post "Stream of Consciousness")....

Here is why I love cooking. You can turn THESE gorgeous ingredients (and I wish you could smell them - amazing!):

Into this:

Or, make pizza that looks like this:
That, my friends was our potato, gorgonzola, bacon and rosemary pizza. Here's a close-up:
I love food, I love taking ingredients and turning them into something else. I getting the opportunity to be creative and imagine new concepts and then make it happen. It just makes me so excited. I am not a good painter, or good at drawing or making music or other forms of art like that. Food is my art. And, even better, it's a chance for me to incorporate what I love to study (science) into something very applicable and concrete. What better and more basic way to understand chemisty (baking), biology (gardening - which in my mind is a very small step away from cooking) or even physics (tossing pizza dough in the air - a perfect demonstration of applied centrifugal force in action)? And, throughout all of this, it's a chance to be creative and to put all my love into something that will feed people I love. What's not to love? :)

Okay - following my stream of consciousness and speaking of love. I will leave you with some pics of my loves:

Pretty self explanatory why I'm nuts about this guy, huh? And could this little girl BE any cuter?
Yes, I think she could be:
This is how we frequently find her - showing off her cuteness to the world: Miss Jane is rather elusive and doesn't like the camera, but she does like to snuggle while watching movies:
And then there is our boy Mont-Dog. So sweet, and his love for little gingy-boy is quite charming:
Okay - we're off to McLendon's hardware to build me a garden!