Food Then Frills

always.

There is so much to write about at all times: my studio move, my apron pattern project for the apron book, and my garden. Oh, not to mention chronicling my craziness* and how hard I find parenting... Today the garden gets top billing because I can barely stand to think about the awful work of moving everything from the store without wanting to crawl under a rock for a month and only come out when the tomatoes are ripe.

Why have I waited so long to grow tomatilloes? I love them. Yes, I L-O-V-E them for their delicate paper lantern appearance. I love the way they look so empty yet are going to fill up with tangy fruit. I love the purple veins on this variety, which if I was any kind of decent gardener I would have remembered it's name so I could share it with you. I had wanted to find a purple tomatillo variety but none of my local nurseries had any.

The lanterns dance around when you brush by them to get at the bean bed behind them.

Does anyone remember my feelings about wind chimes? How they fill my heart and soul with dark emptiness and make me want to throw hot sauce on my eyeballs just to distract me from their tortuous noise? We had a garden fair downtown yesterday. Since I was busy packing my store and building lego race cars for Max to keep him happy, I didn't get to spend a lot of time there. But let me tell you, there were chimes. Of course there were chimes, because ALL gardeners LOVE chimes. It is required that you love all tinkly noises if you're already airy-fairy enough to be all into plants and flowers.

Instead I talked to a new acquaintance named Kieth who makes adirondack chairs painted in gorgeous cheery colors like lime, melon, and cherry. Since I am in no condition to buy yard furniture right now (though his prices are very reasonable) I probably wouldn't have met him if it weren't for my mom who purchased a set of two chairs and a little side table. As it turns out, Kieth is an avid baker, cook, gardener, dahlia enthusiast, and he and his partner are really into canning food. (Is it possible he's a long lost brother? I wouldn't rule it out considering that I do have at least one other long lost brother in the world).

This is the first of my three Zinnias to bloom. I should have six of them (which I planted for my mother's enjoyment), however, due to several very sad run-ins with various garden dangers such as my recalcitrant hose, and some oozing legless enemies, I now have only three.

Here is another of the survivors opening up. Uncurling very slowly. Even though I prefer dahlias to zinnias, I can't deny that they are beautiful and strong.

Penstemon is a must for attracting all those thirsty winged bugs who do so much work for us in the garden. You might say that penstemon is like a little snack bar for bees and wasps. Not that I would say that.

Finally...my border collarate dahlia shining bright. I think it's trying to tell me something. Perhaps it's telling me I need to believe that life is going to loosen and open up in unexpected happy turns and that this week is going to fly by in absolutely no time at all. July will be a time to work on (and send in) my book project, nest for the first time in a year, organize, and yes...yes...yes...tune up the brain and body. Shed the fat suit and work towards being a happier me. Doesn't it look like that's what this dahlia is saying?

More likely it's saying "Hey lazy-ass, what the hell are you still doing on the computer? Get gone! Go pack and unpack! If you eat lots of crap and drink lots of beer you'll get through this week no problem... Fat ass." Flowers can be so mean.


*Yes, I realize that my mom and a couple of my friends dislike my free and frequent use of this word to describe myself. Seriously though, I think if you crawled inside my head this week it would be a great time to find out why I use this word so much. Personally I think it's a great word and totally harmless. If you still think craziness is a bad thing, then obviously it will make you uncomfortable. Oh well. It's not like I'm comparing myself to Sybil or anything. Crazy comes in all degrees.