Too hot...

And Australia and Kerry were like "WTF?"

Honestly.

I'm telling the story of my evening in pictures. Words exhaust me. So this will be like interpretive dance, but with a camera. Picture cool indie music here ?

I decided to go upstairs to see my view from the roofdeck.


Sweet right? Well it was for a minute. Check out mah tobago hot peppers paw!

They are going to be so good.

And yes, there are cayennes in there as well. They are leaning over from the cayenne plant next door. Even though it looks like 2 kinds of peppers on the same plant, "that is highly unlikely" according to HN. We discussed it at length on his last weekly call from Alaska, mostly because I was convinced and wouldn't drop it. Oh yeah, HN is fishing again. I'm seriously considering trying fish again, just because it seems like I should.

Anyway, the roof garden.


I take a big puff of pride in the peppers, and then I pan left to gaze admiringly at my super lush tomato plant and I see this shizz.


It was definitely not like that this morning. I feel sure I would have noticed.

This much damage can only be done by a real asshole, so I knew there was an asshole around somewhere and I went looking for just that very asshole. It was this dude. Well, these dudes. 2 hornworms, which I had been reading about JUST THIS MORNING while I was surfing the web instead of working.

I'm sorry but that shit is from space.

It's like Jabba the Hut with 100 eyes. Retch. And I'm pretty sure this is his ass, but the other end was just grossing me out. It was like foreskin. Sorry dude, but it was.

And they're huge. and pretty strong too, it's gross.

Here they are being all Swedish painted gold men gymnast act at Canobie Lake and holding a cherry tomato suspended in midair. And sort of maybe doing worm sexy times, I couldn't tell. Notice how they're on a tomato plant branch. They were really unwilling to concede, which is kind of respectable. I had to take the branch off to get them off.


They would not let go. It was fucking SKETCH dude, and awfully creepy too. I mean honestly. And on America's birthday weekend no less. RUDE.

and then I put them down the garbage disposal and went to make faces at myself in the mirror since I went black raspberry picking today and am all dirty lipped:

and happy.

So much to tell

which inevitably means I won't bother to try right? Here's a brief summary of what's shaking here at casa la vista.

1) My sunflowers continue to be ridiculous. 9 ft tall, no flowers in sight yet.



Cool puffy butterfly plants thrive in HN's other garden. I like to go hang out in his other garden while he's away.


JG came to visit and we rocked the ASS off of lunch. We also rocked the ass off some beer, a bottle of Prosecco, and a couple of bottles of wine, but I digress. Back to The Great American Summer Lunch of 2010. Amazing BLT's (Bacon, L, T and bread from the farmer's market), homemade lemonade and cheery cobbler (local cherries) from the hallowed pages of Cook's Illustrated. It turns out we both like cherry, and also that being able to read and following instructions is very important to baking. This explains why I fail at it and why JG excels.


This could be from the show, but it's not. Notice the pinky, that's how you can tell this dessert is highbrow. And she ain't fooling. Those dumplings were homemade too.


Tomatoes and peppers are shuffling along, and I still expect big things. I made ratatouille yesterday with only things from the garden. A zucchini, a green squash, tomatoes, onions and an eggplant. I ate the whole pan too.

Then this morning I went to check on my prize BLT tomato, who I have been eyeballing since it's debut last month. It was all yellow and sad and I spent a few minutes wondering why until I remember I planted Lemon Boys. Which makes it not sad, but ripe. BLTs again!

Fist for scale. And demonstration of raw power.

Flickr for more

What's new pillowface

Good nap?

Things I'm about to be awesome at

-replacing chipped or broken grout. I'm going with this dude's answer, simply because I like his style. Yes, I will go have a beer. "honey, I know it's early, but look he says it right here!"

-being a co-homeowner. Yes, HN and I bought the house. The deal is DUN. No, we are still not talking about getting married. You're welcome.

-being better about talking to my asian contingent. Seriously, I had no idea I was so big in Japan, but every day I get like 20 comments in Japanese. Now I know how David Hasselhoff must feel in Europe. It must be because I have a Japanese best friend. Don't all Japanese people know each other? He was probably bragging about me to his parents again.
konnichiha bitches!

-cooking with tomatoes and hot ass peppers. The garden is out of control. Here's a before and after just to remind you all. These pictures are about 2 weeks old, so there's more craziness going on but I can't keep up. Use your imagination and know that I've already picked several tomatoes and stolen a smallish eggplant. Better yet, here's a link, go see it for yourself. The first comment on both will take you back to the before pictures. I can't find the original files and I don't feel like downloading and re-uploading.

Here's a picture of Kitty, overseeing the madness of J&T from a safe place instead. This corner is now his new favorite place to sleep:

Overheard in Hampden

Girl 1: you whore! I can't believe you slept with my boyfriend! I hate you!

Girl 2: I hate you too. I know you've been stealing my weed. I'm calling the police!


Me: oh please, please call them from right here!

Breaking the seal

Oh man. The past 2-3 weeks my life has been consumed with receiving house guests from all parts, partaking in all manner of touristy activities and random outings, readying the house for social gatherings, and naps when I can get them. It's all a bit like living in the Great Gatsby, except that I have to do the cleanup too. And I don't live in a mansion.

It went to the point where I should tell you enough to catch you up, and then right past it to "forget it, there's just too much". Let's just pick up and carry on shall we?

I have some pictures to show, but should check in with work after the long weekend and make sure nothing's going crazy. Check back later.

My garden is awesome out of control huge, on all fronts. The roof garden is the p double o! My Jalapeno plant in shitting peppers, my first Cayenne busted out today and the remaining 4 plants have enough blooms to make me laugh when I think of how much I'm going to get from them all. I think beets and carrots are going to eek by, but I'm mentally writing them off so anything I get is a bonus. I blame it on soil conditions and vow to do better next year.

The tomatoes are going to be ridiculous. Everyone (HN) scoffed when I threw caution to the wind and planted them outside in March, but who's laughing now? Me, that's who because all 4 plants are producing fruit already, at least a month ahead of everyone else around here. The earthbox tomatoes continue to make a compelling argument for chemical fertilizer, while the organic plants do their best to impress not with foliage or size but with the clusters of tomatoes already showing up. I've just made a couple of small changes in placement today that I think are going to improve sun conditions for everyone. I'm obsessed and it's awesome.

HN has been slaving away like a madman on the backyard and it shows, and our ancillary garden has caught and things are on the way there as well. Later I'll put together a bunch of then/now pics. For now, to work.