When it is hot and sunny out, I am not working in the garden. If I have to use a shovel or pick, I do it before or after the sun will be on me. My front yard is all sun after about 10 am. My back yard is all sun after noon. Another caveat I might add is that my garden is pretty much done from a design or planting standpoint. I just need to maintain the existing plants and/or plant annual things, and that planting is into nice, already worked soil usually. I've sweated working in the garden but I try not to. I am in reasonable shape, but I am a bit overweight. I am trying to get more exercise, like bike-riding or swimming. I think the benefits of gardening are more mental than physical, although it is no doubt beneficial to bend and move around some as you do your gardening chores. I'm not a doctor but a heartrate of 120 doesn't seem all that high for a short period. 150? Yes. Resting, mine is 70 or so.

A friend on a non-hippi list sends a photo of her cool CAKE and there is a hippi in the background. She replies that she knows nothing of this Apple Blossom (not an AB) and you say that it looks like Pink Diamond and suggest she looks it up on the internet. She replies that she did a GOOGLE search for Pink Diamond and lo and behold her search reveals a photo that you took posted on this photo. She then refers to you as a wealth of knowledge and starts bombarding you with questions...and of course you encourage her to join the FORUM!! K

Always happy to see a new time-lapse video from the "Micropolitan Museum" YouTube channel, and this one shows a worm bin scenario! "Two weeks in a typical vermicompost bin: two compost earthworm species (Eisenia fetida and Dendrobaena veneta) in a base of aged vermicompost with plenty of fresh organic kitchen waste (used coffee grounds, carrot and potato peels, celery and carrot leaves, egg shells, etc.) on top. Other fauna (mostly potworms, springtails and mites) arrived spontaneously in the compost bin through addition of garden waste." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6em_8iFfKIk Of course the food stock being layered on the top is for demonstration purposes only, but it's interesting to see how completely it gets demolished by the end

I gave up my car when I moved to downtown Charleston, so I spend a lot of time just walking and riding my bicycle to get around the city. I used to do yoga and ballet, but thus far have not found any classes here that I can afford. I do enjoy cooking, but do not like to bake, as I seem to have no "sweet tooth." I love to try new dishes. I am in a lively French conversation group that meets weekly; our "leader" is a French native. I also enroll each semester in history classes at the nearby college, which is only 7 minutes away by bicycle. That enables me to utilize the wonderful college library. I enjoy being on campus and talking to the students. When I have free time, I also like to explore on foot the historic neighborhoods of Charleston, and take in the gardens. Day-trips with friends to visit the plantations are also enjoyable. I used to dabble a bit in genealogy, but seem to have gotten away from that. I do like to "surf" the Internet and am in a few "chatrooms" (forums).