Tuesday Tidbits

Being Listless is very liberating.  It's rare, almost unbelievable really, that I've gone for four whole days without one--well, except for the ongoing grocery list, and the Things to Do When the Weather Cools list, and the Fall Chores list, and...oh never mind.

Anyway.

Because I had a few days without immediate chores, I've been able to catch up on some shows I've recorded over the past weeks--and man, do I love Longmire--plus read a book or three, and have some really nice, leisurely hikes with my two fur balls.

On Sunday, after our doggy walk, I detoured downtown to revisit the Courthouse Elm.  In early Spring, I blogged about trees for a Sundays In My City post; this shot was part of that post...

I meant to go back to see the tree in full leaf, then forgot.  The courthouse is just a block from the post office--which is on the other side of the river and across the valley from me--so when a little postal annex place opened up right below my mountain, I mostly quit going that direction.  Until last Sunday...

A beautiful, awesome elm...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During this scorching Summer, I have been watering the garden in the late evenings, but this weekend I started watering in the mornings.  It's a bit cooler--relatively speaking--and frees up my evenings after walking the dogs.

My vegetable garden, as I've mentioned in a previous post, has been terrible this year.  Immodestly, I'm going to say that I was born with a green thumb, maybe even both thumbs.  I've been known to rescue plants from dumpsters and bring them back to life.  In the past, friends have brought me the sick and neglected to heal and rejuvenate.  I'm telling you this, dear readers, because it kills me that my garden has not prospered, and in fact, is the worst veggie patch ever.  I'm trying not to take this failure personally because I'm pretty sure it's really the unrelenting, above normal, endless heat and not anything untoward that I'm doing/haven't done.

Still.

With that in mind then, it's a wonder what few tomatoes I've managed to keep alive are at last ripening and look so very tasty and delicious.

The Six...



Later tonight I'm going to pick the biggest, ripest one and make myself a BLT for dinner.  I love a good, juicy BLT, especially with a homegrown tomato on thick slices of homemade wheat (bought from the local monastery), fresh, crunchy lettuce, crispy bacon, and all stuck together with Hellman's.  Yikes, my mouth is seriously watering...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In May, my mother and sister came for a weekend.  We ate and drank and shopped and had a good time.  At the local garden center Mom talked me into getting this lovely little plant I'd never seen before.  She called it a Purple Fan and said it was a wonderful basket filler.

I planted it with some Lobelia and Alyssum in one of the baskets that hang from the back deck...

This morning whilst watering, I paused for a moment to really look at one of the blooms.  And wow.  Nature just astounds me.

The inner life of a flower...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I've got an overabundance of thoughts swirling around in my head today about the next installment in the serial.  At this point, I can go in several directions, though part of the chaotic jumble is coming from the characters, each one it seems with their own playbook.  I'm going to let things percolate today, then try to act like the writer instead of the typist when I sit down tomorrow to sort things out.

In the meantime?  I'll be drooling for that BLT...