Close In in Everyday Ramblings

Foraging. The blueberries are from the bush in my plot. The raspberries are poached. Yesterday there weren’t as many and I pulled only one of the golden raspberries off the bush in the sister community garden and it was perfect, sun warmed and sweet.

I am waiting for the passion fruit and blackberries. The blueberries are hitting their prime right now. Catch the moment.

On Tuesday I pulled up the biggest cauliflower plant and harvested the head. I roasted it with olive oil and parmesan yesterday. I used it as show and tell in class in the morning. I also pulled up the last of the rainbow carrots yesterday. They were all misshapen and covered in root spikes and I took photos of them before composting them. I left the tops for the wild bunnies two blocks away.

I would have had to clean and peel and cook them to eat them with my current mouth situation. Learn by doing. If I grow carrots again, it will be in a pot.

As Jinn recommended, I have seeded zinnias where the carrots were, but it looks like a big lopsided hole in the plot. Both store-bought and seeded at home marigolds are not doing well this year. I will try directly seeding them. I did that last year.

Everything else is good here. Most Honorable got his forearm cast off this week, and Mrs. Sherlock is resting comfortably and getting better care. The cats are rowdy, which is a good sign.

On Sunday the book group was about sharing writing that made us laugh or feel good. It was a small midsummer group but there was a lot of laughter I read Forgetfulness by Billy Collins and a poem by Jane Kenyon about walking the dog after an illness, which is the favorite poem of my morning yoga group.

We heard from the writings of Dave Barry, and an excerpt from a children’s book by Daniel Pinkwater that made me laugh out loud called The Magic Goose. We talked about Nora Ephron, Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, David Rakoff, Trevor Noah, Alan Watts, and Ursula LeGuin. Andy Borowitz was brought up. Needless to say, it was fun.

Covid is still on the rampage here. The deaths counts are sadly going up.

I, at least for the rest of July, will be staying close to home…