Not enough thyme for Brown Rice and Ratatouille?

I haven’t cooked a proper meal in more than a week! No wonder I’ve been feeling cranky. We’re still hitting up the farmers markets, though, so it was high time to cook up the inventory on hand. I pulled out everything that looked good, and by the time I had it all lined up, I […]

Stay-put bee

I think the way this bumblebee stays put pretty sums up how I’d like to be right now. She’s been clinging to this same spray of goldenrod for a couple days now. Maybe it’s cold. Maybe she’s tired. Maybe she just sees no reason to go anywhere. All she has to do is move over […]

Close inspection may reveal some irregularities

It’s a bad sign for this blog that I’m starting to skip days without feeling much of an urge to apologize. To both of you. Needless to say this blog is not exactly my highest priority. Nor will I bore you with the matters that, despite their importance, I don’t care to share. Still, I […]

Maybe these are the last tomatoes?

After I picked the “last” tomato, my Celebrity tomato plant is not giving up. It’s ripening three in good shape and there’s two more on the other side of the plant in not so good shape. I think it’s taking a personal challenge to see how long it can make summer last. It’s done a […]

Let the bees eat squash

It’s starting to look like the mystery plant will be revealed. Perfect round balls are developing ridges. Acorn squash again. Every fall, I keep getting various squashes, but I’m no longer sure how much I actually like winter squash. So I no long care that I probably won’t enjoy the fruits of the mystery plants. […]

It’s another writing surge

1200 words this morning. Another 1300 this afternoon. Just when I was beginning to think I was going in the wrong direction, a “what-if” presented itself, and sent me in this new direction. I guess I’m back on track.

Is this the last ripe tomato?

The rate of tomatoes ripening has fallen from three at a time, to one at a time. But as the weather cools and the days shorten, I don’t expect to get any more ripe tomatoes at all. So this might be one last gift from my tomato plant. Never mind how dead half of it […]

Why do I put off the simple things?

It’s amazing how hard it becomes to get myself to do the simplest things when I haven’t done them for a while. Like submitting stories. It’s not like I have to pick up the phone (that would be hard) or anything. After a while, the little tricks, the do-list, the breaking it down into first […]

I’m running out of cute ways to refer to bee flies

Along with the butterflies and the bees and the birds, there’s a syrphid fly I’ve been chasing. A bee mimic, to be precise. Mostly likely Eristalis tenax, to be even more precise. It’s the kind of fly that looks just like a bee but it doesn’t exactly act like a bee. Bees methodically go from […]

Unbearable cuteness of corn

I did not grow this corn. Too cute. Neither did the squirrels grow this corn. Oh, no. This corn is so professionally grown, it formed as a slender extra ear clasped within the husks of a full-sized ear of corn we had for dinner. The kernels are so fine, so perfect, so fully formed, and […]