Golden squash to be

I thought planting a bush variety of squash would be better than getting overwhelmed with squash, but the two little squashlettes it has produced so far is less than underwhelming. Now, all of a sudden, there’s at least four of five of them hiding under the leaves. Do you think it knows there’s a deadline […]

Goldenrod for a lazy bee

We went out for dim sum today, and I feel as lazy as a bee hanging on the goldenrod with a faceful of flower. This is a Carpenter bee, and you know it’s a male because of the light spot on his face. He was so sleepy, I could move the goldenrod to an easier […]

Punt

You know what? I’m going to punt tonight.

Re: Now Open

My first delight in “Now Open,” came in the opening, as the unnamed narrator meets a goth girl in a mall, selling time in a box. What a neat conceit, I thought. The next came when I realized this was another story by K.J. Kabza. It’s always nice to stumble on more stories by an […]

Collards in the rain

I love the way the rain beads on leaves, and I love my collards. There’s three little plants establishing themselves and one big one. Like so many weeds, the volunteer plants form a rosette, but tasty ones. Between them, I’ve cut two batches of greens already. Since they’re so young, it doesn’t take nearly […]

Re: The Orphan’s Tales: In The Night Garden

Lately I’ve read several stories that play with the role of storytelling: “The Red Bride,” “A Whispering Voice,” “Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra.” Over and over again, I’m reminded of Catherynne M. Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales: In The Night Garden.

Re: Miguel and the Viatura

I avoid reading headnotes to stories. I don’t mind when they tell me about the author. I appreciate the warning if it’s the twelfth installment of a long-running series. But I hate it when they say anything about the story. They either say too much and drop a spoiler, or they tell me something that […]

Ad astera per apis

The asters in flower are framing the hill, in a swath of lilac cloud flowing across the top and sides. All of September, the honeybees were swooning over the sedum, and the bumbles had the asters to themselves. I’ve been trying to get a good picture of a bumble for a month now, but they […]

More monarchs, la-di-da

I don’t know where we got this overblown scare. Massive storm in the Northeast? Get real! A little wind, a little rain, big deal! What was that, a feather? It’s like the weather keeps saying, To the moon, to the moon, pow! — but the braying is over now. The world is blue skies and […]

Re: The Red Bride

From the opening line of “The Red Bride,” by Samantha Henderson, there is a lot you imagine that turns out to be different in truth. You are to imagine, Twigling, the Red Bride to be a human, such as yourself, although she is in truth a creature of the Var.