Thursday, 29 April 2010
Dramatic sweet william (Dianthus barbatus) blossoms.
Okay, you can get the software that allows you to “bump” iPhones and transfer money. I just wanna know if you can “bump” through fabric (as in: someone’s pocket), and make the transfer. Upon reflection, I suppose not, unless the phone is “on.” Unless.
So, watch it!
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
John made a selection for the garden this year, opting to give a healthy epazote (Dysphania ambrosioides) specimen a home in our (shady) back yard.
We use epazote in our “Oaxaca meal,” which features black beans (pureed) and Oaxacan cheese and hopefully still-warm tortillas.
The epazote goes both in the beans, and in the rewarmed tortillas with the cheese—they melt together.
We use the epazote leaves, not the seeds nor the stems. They have a strong flavor, which is their charm. They have a very earthy plant taste, and I think most people who are unfamiliar with it tend not to like it much.
We adore it.
The name, like many specific references to things native to what is now Mexico, is derived from a native language, with the pronunciation smoothed to reflect Colonial Spanish phonetics. The original word ends with that tricky “-otl” suffix, which, when properly pronounced has no vowel sound between the “t” and the “l” sounds (don’t say anything like “tul”). English speakers can better approximate the linked sounds when beginning a word not ending a word. In my experience.
UPDATE: Our serendipitous visitor escaped Our Fair City just as the pulse of rush-hour traffic was burgeoning, we hope without complications. At least, we know she got on I-75 safely, in heavy yet swift-moving traffic.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
At noon-thirty, the light was as if it were dusk. Then the rains came. The tomatoes (and peppers and many other plants) rejoice. I can hardly believe that the wee plants I put in just a few days back are now blooming (the Rutgers ones). Wonder if I should knock the blooms off, and let the vegetation get the plants’ energy for a bit longer?
Friday, 23 April 2010
You’re seeing sunset light behind these glorious blooms, which I think are flame azaleas (Rhododendron calendulaceum). All azaleas are rhododendrons (botanically); but not all rhodos are azaleas. Good luck if you find this confusing.
These are from the mountains, so are “farther back” in the springtime. Meanwhile, the bright fuschia ones in our front yard are beginning to wilt.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
People respect non-fiction, but they read novels.
—E.O. Wilson, entomologist/sociobiologist/novelist in an interview with Diane Rehm today; Wilson is promoting his new, first fiction publication, Anthill
Okay, the picture is a nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum). You didn’t think I’d spend the afternoon in the woods in the spring on a sunny day, and not give you at least one flower picture, didja? Yes, from yesterday…. (The nodding part is from the flower hanging below the leaves.)
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
What a great day to cast real-world reponsibilities aside and head for the woods, a gentle hike up to Raven Cliffs Falls. We saw the falls. And heard them…. We neither saw nor heard ravens. At dusk, off the trail and over in Lumpkin County, we heard owls hooting, and even a whippoorwill (Caprimulgus vociferus)….
Confirmation: the hemlocks are going fast. The hemlock woolly adelgids are the culprits…. The woods will smell different, and the feel underfoot will change. The thick duff under hemlocks is different from that generated by deciduous leaves.
Monday, 19 April 2010
For complicated reasons, we transplanted a couple of the tomatoes (Rutgers) we planted the other day. I was very happy to see that the roots were already shooting out sideways. Excellent!
We now have yellow/gold globe tomato plants—never found any of the pear tomatoes we loved last year. Wonder what the new crop will be like. Yeah, yeah, I’ll wait and see….
Friday, 16 April 2010
My Friday is basil flavored. Well, the eye candy part.
The dinner menu doesn’t include basil. Bison-burgers (JCB’s with cheddar) without basil. Or a bun. But with oven fries and a big sah-lahd….
Perhaps later in the week, we can pare back the basil a tad, maybe make a bit of pesto. After all, the insects are already sampling it!
Thursday, 15 April 2010
This household needs an executive assistant—part-time, at least. Would help if s/he did windows,* too! (the glass ones, not the MS kind…).
* The only time I ever volunteered to do windows was on a small sailboat with about two square feet of them…. As it ended up, I never did the windows, but I did get sea legs(? wobbly, anyway) when I disembarked! The first-and-only time—of course, it still is the only time I stayed on a small vessel overnight—and geeze, was that weird!
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
I canted the camera skyward to get this view of (I’m pretty sure) a columbine (Aquilegia spp.). So, that out-of-focus object in the upper right is an eave/soffit. I didn’t even notice the insect until I looked at the picture (not at all uncommon for me). A type of lacewing (Chrysopidae family)? Aha, and there’s a second insect…maybe more…maybe I’m better off just looking down at these flowers….