To my loyal readers: it’s been a whirlwind of a month. I don’t have time right now for a full blog post but I figured a short update would be in order.

First of all, my small duplex garden is going crazy! I’ve already harvested tomatoes and zucchini, and I have a baby eggplant and poblano peppers teasing me. My pumpkin vine has taken over the fence I share with my neighbors, and with all the rain we’ve had, my comfrey plant is lush and gorgeous.

On pragmatic survival issues, a week ago I got a screw in my tire. Thanks to a handy tip I learned from my Urban Core Basic class taught by The Human Path, I had tire repair tools and an air compressor in my car. That allowed me to air up my tire long enough to drive home and change it there. This may seem like a small thing to some people, but being in the middle of a busy shopping center parking lot in the middle of a hot day, with groceries in the car, it was wonderful to be able to get home and fix my tire in the safety and relative comfort of my own driveway.

And on a totally different topic: as some people know, I am a passionate user of WordPress, a web development platform many people use for their blogs. I do freelance WordPress training and development for small businesses, and I was one of the main organizers for WordCamp Austin, a two-day event for WordPress developers and bloggers. If you’re interested, I just posted my reflections on the day on my WordPress.com blog.

There’s lots more going on in my life and I’ve discovered that my survival training has helped strengthen my personal coping strategies and leadership skills. These skills in turn are critical in surviving the stresses and challenges of our modern world… and that’s where I’ll leave you today.