Finishing up the Harvest

I think I’m coming to the end of the harvest season. The tomatoes are slowing down (although they barely got up to speed in the first place), and I’ve pulled out the squashes, bringing in these tiny pumpkins. I’ve been digging potatoes for more than a month now. There are still several plants going strong in the p-patch, so I hope to double this: There’s a little basil in the garden that we’re eating up. There are some carrots that will stay out there until we need them. Otherwise, it’s all pretty much done. The blueberry shrubs are turning red, …

Summer Retrospective: Geysers and Glaciers

There’s that cliche about folks and their slideshows of their vacations, inviting the neighbors over and boring everyone to tears with the endless photos, the snippets of stories that don’t quite make sense. Does this still happen? Or do we all just put our vacation photos online somewhere, assuming that somewhere there’s a person or two who cares? That’s a bit harsh. I know there are a couple of people who will at least not be too bored seeing these. Besides, I’m putting these up for myself. I don’t scrapbook, haven’t for years, although I like the idea, the carefully …

My Weekend

I have a small problem with stubbornness. I plan to do something and by darn I’m going to do all of it. Even at the expense of, well, health and sanity. Which is why I spent Sunday stumbling around the house in a fog of exhaustion. Because apparently I don’t have the good sense to not start something at 5pm. Saturday: one batch of Pear+Ginger Preserves, one batch of Pear-Apple Sauce (using up the rest of the fruit from the backyard), freezing three bundles of spinach, and one batch of spicy Chinese Plum Sauce. It’s not Can-o-Rama by any measure. …

Harvest Time

These are not my tomatoes: Or rather, they are now. That is, I didn’t nurture these beauties. But my neighbors moved out and I rescued their tomatoes before the landscapers came through to ‘tidy up’. Isn’t it sad that productive vegetables aren’t considered a selling point in real estate? It’s harvest time in these parts. My tomatoes aren’t producing quite like these were, but I’m bring in a handful every couple of days. There are pumpkins on the vine and it looks like I might get a handful of green beans after all. (My garden is punishing me for going …

Summer Retrospective: Sword-Play

Corrugated cardboard. Glue gun. Spray paint. Bling. Caitlyn and I have been (slowly) working our way through Craftsy‘s Costume Box class. I always seem to think we’ll have more time over the summer than we actually do. Fortunately, Craftsy’s classes don’t come with specific time limitations so we can watch the class lessons whenever we have time. At the rate we’re going, we’ll maybe get one more project done before Halloween. Starting with the sword was Caitlyn’s choice. Of course, she also wants wings, crowns, cloaks, wands, a fairy skirt, armor and boot covers. I expect she’ll try to wear …