If you are particularly clever (pat your back!), you may have guessed that there was a bit of chainsaw work going on around here today…although this photo is from another time and place.

Breathe a sigh of relief: no trees on house!

The sign said guinep.

I saw green ovate-roundish yellow-green fruit somewhat like squished pingpong-ball-sized limes loosely clustered on woody twigs.

Against the rules, I nabbed a snapshot.

Thanks to online reference materials, I have learned that I was looking at Melicoccus bijugatus, which has a plethora of common names, with mamoncillo perhaps more familiar than most (I’ve seen it in Mexico). Guinep is the Jamaican name. I guess the species is native to the New World tropics, maybe mostly the Caribbean.

Inside it’s not at all like a citrus, but has a salmon-colored or yellowish pulp around a hard kernel/seed. And the skin is thin and leathery.

Apparently, there are sweeter kinds and not-sweet ones.

I’m lame, I didn’t buy any to try.

Frame your yard with a low decorative brick wall. Positon one section under the shade of a modest magnolia. Revisit in several years. Look for shade- and moisture-loving colonists. Grab a cold one. Come back in several more years. I’m wondering how old this particular colony is, maybe three decades?

Now you know how lichenometry works.

I’m not sure exactly why, but I have a soft spot for tendrils, both the word and the thing.

This example is, I suspect, greenbrier or Smilax.

I’m not sure exactly why, but I think of sunflowers as a later thing, more autumnal. Maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me. But the heat we’re having now, although now decreased to reach highs only (hah!) in the upper upper 80s, is a clear indicator of mid-summer….

Some Fridays by this time of day I’m energized, looking forward to the weekend pacing of life.

Some Fridays I feel kinda dull and logy.

Every once in a while I feel like it’s just another day.

Today I’ve cycled through all three. Right now, I think I’m transitioning back to having more-than-usual energy mode.

The unopened hibiscus bud is from the groc store run this morning, among the freshly watered plants out in front of the store and still in the shade (not for long). Among the myriad menu choices, we opted for cheater BBQ, in which there is no open flame just a crockpot, so it’s not really BBQ, merely an BBQ sauce flavored imitation.

All I can figure is that we’ve had enough rain that the tomatoes are blooming again. They quit for something like three weeks. My neighbors’ said their plants did the same thing.

Mystery.

It’s not rose season, but I had to catch the light coming through the stained glass this afternoon. The sun-angle that does this means that we’ve passed mid-summer and we’re headed toward the equinox.

Last week I watched one last gardenia blooming where I could see—and smell—it.

Another harbinger of season-change.

Today’s pop-up shower came early and surprised me. Usually they arrive in the mid- to late-afternoon. Today’s was noon-time-ish.

When I checked the garden early, however, it was still damp from Monday’s evening downpour, yet I’m very glad to have more precipitation. Still, most of the tomatoes are being lost to squirrels and black scummy mildewy nastiness that gets inside them.

So, to distract you (and me!), here’s a picture of Ek’Balam, a famous lowland Late Classic Maya archaeological site on the Yucatan Peninsula. I was there seven years ago today. In the foreground is the ballcourt. Beyond the trees is the highest structure in the civic-ceremonial center, and is the part of the settlement where tourists are welcomed. The residential area, however, expanded outward, I dunno how far.

While the signature vegetable of Sicily is the eggplant (especially the smallish white ones), the signature dish, I have read several places (although I’ve also seen it ignored), is peperonata. Peperonata is sauteed sliced peppers (various colors) stewed with onions and tomatoes, a few green olives, and flavored with basil and red wine vinegar (salt and pepper, too, of course). Well, that’s one version.

Vegetable stews that are heavy on tomatoes, onions and peppers are big all around the Mediterranean. Add eggplant and you’re headed toward puttanesca or caponata….