I {heart} tomatoes

Funky pods

My backyard garden is pretty small, and after 10 years, it's getting full, so I haven't been adding lots of new plants like I used to. One new perennial I did add this year was swamp milkweed, which is apparently different from regular milkweed. It seemed to do pretty well over the summer; it grew to about 3 ft tall, and one of the plants had pretty purply-pink flowers on it.

After the flowers had faded, I thought about deadheading it, but then I got distracted by other things. So just the other day I was looking at the plant and noticed these really funky-looking seed pods. I wonder if, when they dry out, they'll split open and be full of kapok, like regular milkweed? It will be interesting to see.

And "Funky Pods" would be an excellent name for a rock band.

Highland Laddie

This past Saturday I went with some friends to the Wisconsin Highland Games. This was the third time we've gone to this particular Games, and it's always fun to get a little taste of Scotland. The weather was absolutely perfect--a nice sunny day but not too hot. I managed to see a little bit of everything going on--some of the Heavy Games (I missed the caber toss but watched the weight toss over the bar. Competitors would throw a 56-lb weight up and over a bar--kind of like a high jump--with the bar being raised each time. Oof!), as well as women's rugby (those girls are tough!). I watched the Highland Dance competitions and remembered the days when I could actually dance a Fling too. There was a Scottish dog parade, but they were a little shy on actual Scottish breeds (just deerhounds and shelties) so they filled in with golden retrievers and bull terriers. The bull terriers were actually really cute; a couple of them were wearing little doggie kilts, and one, who must have still been a pup, marched through the whole parade with his rubber ring toy in his mouth.

The people watching is fantastic too. The Games always draw such an interesting mix of people, from the RenFest/Tribal Celt crowd to the more straightlaced clan/pipe band group, with everything in between. My favorites this year were the Pirate Queens. I don't think they were part of a group, or even knew each other, but they all looked like leftover extras from Pirates of the Caribbean. One young woman was all decked out in head to toe in various skull-related garments. From her purple corset to her blue overskirt, from her teardrop tattoos to her dreadlock extensions, from her striped stockings to her skullhead skimmers (from American Eagle Outfitters; I saw the label when I stood next to her), she was a sight to behold.

There were fewer vendors this year, which was disappointing. I especially missed the CD guy. I did find a pretty cashmere scarf for my winter coat, and I splurged on some Welsh cookies, but I passed on the "Under Our Kilt" calendar featuring "naughty" photos of kilt wearing men (a la "Calendar Girls"). I was tempted, but in the end, I just couldn't do it!

The day ended (for us) after the pipe band competition with the massed bands. As always, the sound of bagpipes thrilled me. And really, it's always good to see so many men in kilts.



And I think "Discount Sporrans" would be an excellent name for a rock band.

So sweet

They look so sweet when they're asleep...hardly evil at all.

Summer days, gone too soon

Autumn is definitely coming. The sky is dark by 8 o’clock now, and I’m seeing geese and starlings flocking. I can hear birds singing that I haven’t heard since the spring, which means they must be on the move from north to south.

I don’t know why the transition from summer to fall is my least favorite. I do like fall, with its warm days and cool nights. I love seeing the leaves change color, and I get back some of the energy that the hot, muggy days seem to steal from me. Still, it feels like I’m saying goodbye to the better part of the year. Fall into winter isn’t so bad—November can be so bleak and dreary that it’s nice to see the snow brightening things up. And winter into spring—well, how glad are we to see the trees bud out and green shoots come up through the earth? And spring into summer is so beautiful—the lilacs and peonies blooming, the happiness of warm, sunny days.

Summer holds a promise of freedom for me. Although I haven’t had a whole summer off since I was a teenager, in my head, there’s still the idea that it will be this wonderfully langorous time, lasting forever. I want to spend my days swimming in pools and lakes, the feel of hot concrete or grainy sand under my feet as I race into the water. I want to take afternoon naps in a darkened bedroom while the wind blows the curtains and slaps the window shade against the sill. I want to eat BLTs and pik-nik sticks for dinner because it’s too hot to turn on the oven. I want to walk through sunny fields with the spicy scent of flowers rising around me. Ah well, there’s always next year.