As of this morning, Ethan has reached the lower end of our goal – 38.0lbs (by his birthday). We were aiming for 38-42lbs, so we’ve still got the month of August to plump him more (though it won’t be much since we’re going to Maine and then we’ll be at camp for a week and I expect he’ll not gain any weight during that).

My yarn arrived today (3 days earlier than tracking said!!!) and I’m completely gobsmacked with one of the two yarns I ordered. I intend to make a light lace shawl for myself using a lovely heathered grey yarn. The photo I took doesn’t quite cover the depth of the colour – the camera doesn’t pick up all the tones that are there, but it’s a lovely yarn. I’ll be making it into a Haruni shawl (exactly like this one because it’s gorgeous – same yarn btw).

That’s not the yarn that has me entranced, though.

Again, the camera doesn’t pick up all the tones and heathered shades. There’s a whole depth of colour that *you* can’t see but it’s SO THERE. The pic I took makes it a bit lighter than it is, too. Imagine a heaping pile of blue sapphires and then look right into the heart of it, with light and dark tones and refractions of blue everywhere. That’s how awesome this yarn is. I’m going to design a scarf for myself using it – something lightweight and long and (hopefully) stylish while still showing my admiration for classic lace. I’m going to get started on it right now!

Today started off rainy – nice because rainy days tend to mean more quiet and relaxing than otherwise.

The peak of summer, which we normally have the last two weeks of July and the first week or two of August has already passed and was barely a blip on the temperature radar (drastic change from other years). We sleep at night and can leave the house open all day to let lovely breezes blow through. Naturally my instincts are telling me to start knitting – I seem to have an innate ability to prepare for the cooler temperatures with advance knitting desires. I’m already planning my projects and right now trying to get done a top for myself (summer top, ah well) to free up needle-space for other knitting. I’ve yarn being shipped for a lovely shawl and another scarf, and then I’ll be picking up more cold weather things like hats and mittens and sweaters for the boys. I love knitting season!

Yesterday I put up 4 pint jars of tomatoes. Not a huge amount, to be sure, but it’s something…. and nice. Kinda sucks that we’ll be gone and there’ll be foods from the garden we won’t eat (but others will, so all’s not lost), but I’m glad we’re going.

Today’s also the last day of rest before the travel-crazy-busy starts. There’s the more intensive planning and clothes washing and packing and organizing to do.

It’s going to be a blast, our trip to Maine. The weather looks beautifully perfect, the bugs shouldn’t be too bad (Maine being notorious for black flies), the only day of rain will be the day we head into Boston to visit the big aquarium for E’s birthday (hopefully). The boys are going to *love* the beach, I just know it. Ken worries they’ll get bored after a few days and I think he’s batty because seriously. How do you get bored of the beach? Sandcastles and rock collecting and splashing in the waves and flying kites and there’s places to walk and see and souvenirs and playgrounds… plus sleeping in a tent at night with the whole family. It’s going to be awesome.

Watermelon! I thought the plant had died and only noticed this little guy because I was yanking some crab grass out of the pot it’s in and it shifted and caught my eye. It’s so tiny, and I doubted it at first, but it’s one of the watermelons I planted this spring. Given it’s tenacity I’ll give it a better start next year and a sunnier location. Who knows? Maybe this little guy will grow to big enough to eat!

The exciting thing that’s happened this morning is floral. I’d planted morning glory seeds – one of each that I have – at the base of the vertical posts in the garden trellis system. They’ve been growing and doing well – the pink ones started blooming about a month ago. This morning I’ve a shade of blue to add, and the new colour is enchanting.

Don’t worry about the side bed being all shaded – there’s nothing but weeds there anyways. I’m working on it.

Here’s a bit closer of the trellis where the blue ones are (on the left):

So now I have 4 colours of Morning Glories:

I’m definitely going to try to save the seeds from all 4 colours, for next year.

We’ll be harvesting the first of the zucchini tomorrow, and today Victor gobbled up an entire pepper on his own. Here’s the sweet peppers:

Doing very well and I’m almost sorry I told Ken’s work-spouse to help himself to whatever’s ripe when he comes to check on the cats while we’re away.

And the Hot Peppers…

That? That’s one plant.

I’d put up a garden update but the rain prevents quality pictures. Suffice that the garden is doing well (most of that opinion is based on the fact that I have tomatoes).

That’s today’s pick. I could have grabbed more peppers but only need one for pizza tonight. The yellow/orange tomatoes are called Dad’s Sunset and I’m going to cut one up later. I’m getting many cherries every day, and a few paste tomatoes every day. There’s some green beefsteak that aren’t ripe yet, too.

This is the largest paste I’ve gotten so far – a bit over half a pound. When I cut up one of the smaller ones it was about 85% flesh, 15% seeds (if that) – the walls are a good .75″ thick (and that was a small one). I think they’ll make great sauce!

I’ve been keeping them all on the kitchen windowsill (refrigerating tomatoes is bad for the taste) – they look pretty and the sun helps them ripen a tiny bit more. I’m hoping Ken can find me a food mill at walmart tomorrow so I can make some sauce with them to can. They’re such *big* suckers, and so meaty!

Amish Paste on the left, the small paste-like ones on the right of center are a hybrid “saladette” called Margherita, Dad’s Sunset, a pepper, and some cherries V and I haven’t gotten to yet. For a week and a half’s worth of tomatoes, I’m doing not so bad I think.

I’ve always had the worry in the back of my head… the “what if”. Last night we lived it out.

We’d stayed up later than usual (normally I try to head for bed around 10:30, last night it was 11:45) because Tommy was on and I’ve never seen it (surprising, given how much I enjoy a good rock-opera – I didn’t enjoy it much, actually). It was going to be on til 12:30 and there’s no way I’m staying up that late on a weeknight, so Ken (who’s seen it) summed up the ending and we went up to bed. While we did we were chattting and something got me thinking… distracted… while I was giving my overnight insulin. (Small aside, I take two types of insulin – a fast-acting one for meals/daytime, and a long-acting one for overnights.) When done injecting I looked down to see my short-acting insulin in my hand. Damn. The problem is that I give a large dose of the long-acting insulin, and I’d just given that quantity – a larger dose than I’d take if you added up a whole day’s worth of fast-acting doses. Bad. Very bad. Enough insulin to kill me, easily. So back downstairs we went, trying to quickly figure out our best option. That ended up being honey… a half-cup full (at first) and then testing my bloodsugar every 20 minutes for the next two hours, adding in more honey (another half-cup, all up) as needed. Ken stayed with me the entire time. The thing we’d been talking about and that had me distracted was the sudden death of someone close to you (like keel over and die – he’d had a sales rep bow out of a meeting because someone died in the middle of a golf game). For that reason, Ken refused to go to bed without me.

We got to bed around 2am. I’m alive (clearly), and have a really angry stomach, still. Gonna be a rough day with that and how tired I am. Hopefully it’ll be the kind of mistake I never make again.

That’s one of 9 Thai pepper plants (2 of which were deer-sampled – alive, but if they bloom it’ll be later this year). They are simply *covered* in peppers (or peppers-in-waiting, aka blooms). We worried a bit about having enough pollinators but the bees (and every other bug) are so in love with the mint (flowering) that we’ve more than enough. It’s a good thing these peppers dry well, since we’re going to be overloaded with them!

I picked the first little heirloom cherry two days ago, and today I picked another 7. After living down here for 8yrs and trying to grow, more than anything else, tomatoes, I’ve finally got my first harvest!

They’re delicious!

2wks ago:

Today:

Doesn’t easily look like much has changed, but it continues to do so.

From the back

You’ll maybe notice the gaping holes in that back bed – we harvested all the remaining daikon, turnips and beets. Something keeps eating the turnips and daikon (and radishes in the side bed) – some sort of wormy thing – so we couldn’t keep as much as I’d like. Doesn’t bother the beets though, strangely. I’ll be pickling those beets and with the daikon made our standard relish. Today I planted lettuce where the daikon were and more drying beans where the beets were. Beans being nitrogen fixers has me hoping for a better beet harvest next year (plus the dragon tongue beans produced really well and I’d like to have more). I’d like to put in more beets but ran out of seeds. Zucchini plants (all two of them) have started fruiting also, and hopefully we’ll have lots of that, too.

It’s hard to see anything defined in the garden – it’s such a riot of green. The morning glories, though not as tall as I’d hoped, are starting to bloom prettily. The mint is blooming and attracting every bee, butterfly, moth and flying bug within miles. Perfect since the pickling cucumbers right near it are *covered* in blossoms. I’m almost afraid of how much we may get. The slicing cucs are doing very well and starting to really produce. Ken’s worried that I’ll have too many tomatoes and said, yesterday, “I hope you know how to can stewed tomatoes!”

Those’re all 4-6″ or so long, so in a few days we’ll be overloaded with them.

Tomatoes are starting to blush (those’re Riesentraube – a russian cherry) and should be edible in a few days. I can’t wait!

Since it’s hard to see what the garden is doing, I stepped up onto the hillside and snapped this:

The mess in the middle is all tomatoes (with a few onion stragglers that’re fighting the odds), the leaning trellis on either side is cucumbers, the bushy mess on the right is hybrid tomatoes, improperly “contained” (aka left to go wild) – some of the tomatoes have had rotted blossom ends (not quite blossom end rot, though, I don’t think), but I’m leaving the rest to see what happens. It’d sure be a lot easier to see what’s what if we’d do more weeding, wouldn’t it? Maybe one of these days I’ll figure out the best thing to lay down for the paths (I lean, increasingly, toward white stone)

On the other side of the house…

The raspberries continue their bid to take over the world. I have no idea how tall they are, especially since they arch forward and appear smaller than they are. They aren’t as berry-heavy as I’d like, but they’re definately great for daily pickin’s.

The blackberry has grown a lot this year

Since a month ago, it’s grown by 3 siding strips! The hosta’s on either side of it are the only hosta that haven’t been eaten by the deer – I figure because they can’t find them in the jungle. I wonder what our best bet for raspberry containment is? When I replanted the one raspberry into the veg garden I tied some twine around the top to keep it contained while I moved it, and then left that twine there because it kept things contained. I wonder if I should do that with these?

Finally heard back from the slowest email corresponder ever. They offered the job to someone else (local, more industry experience) and it was accepted.

We will not be moving to NH/VT this year. Figures.

This past weekend we went up to NY to spend with family. Weather was hoT but we managed. Victor, skin sensitive that he is, got a horrible heat rash and his lower back and scalp are covered in itchy, bumpy welts – they’re getting better, though, and should be gone in a few days.

I’m craving lace. I don’t know if it’s a time of year thing or that I’m floundering in what to knit right now (working on a few baby hats for a shower, but my interest is waning. have a few projects for me but they aren’t inspiring me either). I do have a lace stole that’s been on a far-back-burner for a long time, that I could pick up again…. maybe. This shawl is inspiring me right now…

Garden is doing great, though we desperately need rain. Deer didn’t eat too much of it (instead, feasted on the hostas again leaving little else but stems). I need to harvest the rest of the beets and turnips and replant them, but soooo hotttT.

Whine.

2 wks ago:

Today:

Weedy, I know, but there’s only so much I can do. What you can’t see is the Irish Spring soap I’ve grated all over the paths because the *^(*&ing deer have been snacking. Snacking on the hot peppers, snacking on the drying beans, snacking on the lettuce (which I couldn’t care less since it’s no longer edible). They also got the hostas last night which is annoying since I really like them but I’m confident they’ll rally – I wish I could see them flower, just once this year.

The trellis system from “the back”. You can kinda see what I’m trying with the Morning Glories – there’s 2 planted at the base of each verticle support (and the angled ones for the cucumbers) and I’m twining them around and up with the hopes of some prettyness once they flower. Cucumbers are doing very well and starting to fruit…

The cucs on the other side are doing well, too, though the fruit is smaller and slower growing (which is fine, they’re for pickling).

See how tall the tomatoes are? That trellis is 6′. I can’t wind anymore once they’re above that so they’ll be doing their own thing – along the braces or flopped over and trailing. They have fruit, though!

These are a paste tomato that I’m hoping to make sauce with. I suspect they cross-pollinated with something nearby because of how big they are. *shrug* We’ll see how they taste.

These are a “cherry”, though they’re larger than I’m accustomed to (which are hybrid cherries, so maybe this is normal). There’s lots of them, and so many more flowers yet!

Lest you worry, the hybrids are fruiting, too…

These are a “saladette”, whatever that means – but they’re supposed to be fantastic roasted. I should have put in better supports for the hybrids – a few have cages, but most are flopping and doing their thing (all over the basil and parsley). At least they keep the weeds down.

Even though the deer snacked on the hot peppers, they’re still looking ok (haven’t flowered yet). The bell peppers are flowering and one even has fruit!

2, hard to see, but present in all their shiny glory.

I’d show you the proliferate set of dragon tongue beans, but they’re low growing and hard to see – I can’t lift and photo at the same time. I’ll be leaving them on the plants until they’re dry and storing them in jars for the winter months. The scarlet runner beans, which don’t have an arbour yet, haven’t any beans either – too warm and maybe too dry, I think. I’ll keep that in mind for next year.

They’re back. They’ve been going after the raspberries again, the hostas are all “free” of flower stalks, and this morning I found they’d snacked on several of my hot pepper plants. I’m annoyed, and worried about a repeat of last year wherein we go away for a weekend and come home to devastation.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to keep my garden safe. Our best, easiest method is the Irish Spring soap (which we have strung up around the tomato trellis and on one of the raspberries – the one they haven’t eaten). I think I need to scratch up the surface of the hanging soaps to release more scent, and I’ll hang up some more before we leave. We’re not due for rain until next week, so perhaps I’ll grate some up and scatter it around the garden paths.

I’m thinking I also need to pray and beseech the Gods for help in steering the deer clear of my garden domain.

I had a follow-up this morning with my dr for some bloodwork I did last week. Awe.some. After stopping horrmonal b/c, my cholesterol has dropped 17mg/dL and is at 178 now (Diabetics are recommended to be lower than 170). My tryglicerides dropped from 90 to 69, HDL went up from 66 to 72, VLDL down from 18 to 14, LDL down from 111 to 92. Awesome. Awesome enough, in fact, that she’s going to let me stop taking my statin for a month to see if my vertigo goes away. If it does, she wants to switch me to Crestor (though I might fight that), if it doesn’t I’ll be seeing an ENT.

My hbA1c went down to 6.9, too (had gone up to 7.1 and anything above 7 annoys me).

I’m super pleased with my results.