All ye know on earth, and all ye need to know

Oh, you guys. April and May are such busy months here in the saltycrunchy household.

Last month P turned 49. I'd be all "mwahahaha" about that, but I'm a year and a half younger than him and payback is a bitch.

Also last month, my boy C turned 18. EIGHTEEN. He is officially an adult now and he takes that responsibility very seriously. He is doing so well now, really extraordinarily well, and I am so excited for his future (the specifics of which are still up in the air, but I know it will be fantastic).

We finally got to see H perform onstage for the first time in two years and she was fabulous as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I keep forgetting how talented she is. I mean, objectively I KNOW she is remarkably talented, but every time I see her perform, it's like I discover it all over again. So proud of that kid.

I've been cooking, paleo-fying favorite recipes from Martha Stewart and the like, and drinking lots and lots of mocktails because alcohol has turned on me, you guys. I know. First Vicodin and now booze. It's like I'm not allowed to have vices! What kind of world is this?!

I've also been going through a phase of starting books, reading a couple of chapters, then getting bored and tossing them aside. Rinse, repeat. Right now I'm reading The Good Earth and I think I'ma stick with that one to the end but I'm not making any promises.

I have 22 herbs in the garden this year. Do you want to know what they are? Of course you do.

1. some ancient mint I've had forever that keeps coming back
2. cilantro (this has already gone to seed)
3. cardinal basil
4. serrated basil
5. large-leaf basil
6. amethyst basil (all of these basils are from my dad, who is a Master Gardener with the county)
7. some really old sage that keeps coming back also
8. bay laurel
9. two different pots of flat-leaf parsley; not sure how that happened
10. some sort of lavender or other
11. last year's oregano
12. last year's chives
13. last year's garlic chives
14. a new kefir lime because the old one died over the winter
15. chocolate mint
16. pineapple mint
17. creeping thyme
18. German thyme
19. French tarragon
20. dill
21. fennel
22. stevia

And four oxheart tomato plants, also from my dad, currently sporting a grand total of ONE tomato between the four of them. But who's counting?

We're having kind of a wet spring, which is good in the aquifer/horticultural sense, but not so good in the fun-in-the-sun sense. H and I are planning a mother-daughter trip to the beach sometime in July and all I ask is that it not rain for those few days, please. Just those few days. Mama needs some sun.