A New Fashion?

You can wear it:

Or sleep in it:

Or??? 

Oddly (Ab)Normal

I know that they are tromboncino squash.  I know this, but still my eyes have to blink a few times rather quickly to avoid a freakout. 

Because they are definitely weird-looking. Like the fossilized internal organs from a long-extinct ruminant. Or some giant invertebrates who only appear out of the ground on every third Harvest Moon during prime numbered years. Or even as a friend commented, "I have to say, that photo is strangely anatomical, I'm almost blushing."

Good soup, though, and lots of it.

Better Late Than Never, Right?

 Mid-October, and the San Marzano tomatoes are coming into their own. But since they're all ripening up at once, they're having different futures: some are for roasting now and the rest are for sauce for this winter. And for me - it's back to the kitchen!

Ferry Around the Bay

It's summer once again, that little splash of rain notwithstanding, and the new crop of "summer" visitors should be arriving soon. Now we all know how difficult it can be to find new things for them to do and see. So why not try the ferry?

Our dear friend Helen Doyle recently wrote a comprehensive guide to ferrying around the bay in Bay Nature magazine. It spurred us to take the ferry from Richmond (easy parking) to San Francisco, and then straight back again. 

So why not stay a bit longer in SF? Well, we had to make it back for happy hour at Armistice...

Garden Lanterns

It took forever, absolutely forever to complete these. But finally, finally, finally, I hit upon a way to keep them upright, not sinking away into the ground and stable. Whew!

Daytime

Nighttime

Once More, It's Spring in the Desert

In fact, it's a mini "Super Bloom" for the Echinopsis subdenudata 'Dominos'. Since early spring, it has been blooming, but only one or two blossoms at a time. But today, well today, is a good day.

Even the honeybees seem to agree - 

No Complaints

 Well, it's looking to be a really crappy year in the vegetable patch, but there are compensations: 

LILIES GALORE

No, you can't eat them - poisonous to you, me, cats, dogs, most everyone - but a feast for the eyes!

The Box

It's 9" by 12", wood, probably pine, and became a favorite snoozing spot starting in September, 2021:

It's still is a favorite spot, even though the fit is a bit tight:

Spotless

It sure looked like a ladybug, except it was the wrong color, no spots, and was sitting on this extremely weird bug-esque thing. The sort of thing that you would swat away and then step on, even with our smack-in-your-face insect apocalypse. 

And then it clicked: it's a newly hatching ladybug. Pristine, shiny and still developing.

So I watched it for a bit, got bored and went back to planting stuff. Then I remembered to go and take another look. 

A newly minted Seven-Spotted Ladybug (coccinella septempunctata)!

 

The Sweet Season

Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus) Hi-Scent