Month: July 2011

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First Harvest: Guaranteed To Offer a Big Shot of Serotonin and Adrenaline

When you’re the smallest of small vegetable gardners, and your veggie garden consists of a 10′ X 4′ bed, every little thing that happens in that space is the most earth-shattering event.  Every leaf, every flower, even every weed is big news.  Seriously.

And when you see the very first flower turn into a veggie after days and days of watching and watering, well, your joy knows no bounds.  Which is what I am proud to report is the state of my mind at the moment!  A state saturated with a terrific combination of mega doses of serotonin and adrenaline– two brain chemicals, I am told, that contribute to feelings of great joy and excitement.

So, may I proudly present my Ichiban Eggplant that is majestically hanging from one of the two plants.  I’ll be harvesting it with the greatest care later today, and it may take another couple of days of admiring it on my kitchen counter before I decide on cooking it, but for now, let me offer to you these wondrous pictures taken early this morning.  Pictures that will preserve the glory and beauty of this most magnificent of vegetables for posterity!  That last picture, btw, is how tiny the plants were almost six weeks ago.  Is this a great show, or what?

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Monkey Bread: Made By Monkeys For More Monkeys

That’s right:  it’s called Monkey Bread, and it’s the easiest thing to make.  If you have all the ingredients, that is.  Frozen pizza crust, mozarella cheese, pepperoni slices, some marinara sauce, some melted butter, and most importantly, a bundt pan. 

Check out the pictures below for a recipe story.  Brought to you by my firstborn and her sister– both of them being the cutest monkeys this side of the Mississippi.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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101/365/01

An exquisitely pretty-in-pink daylily.

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101 F: Temperature Hits Triple Digits Today!

Washtenaw County saw three 100 degree days in 1988 – June 25 and July 6 and 7 – according to the National Weather Service.

Before that, the mercury hadn’t hit 100 degrees since 1966. That year, it reached 102 degrees on July 2 and hit 100 July 3.

The highest recorded temperature at the University of Michigan weather station of all time was 105 degrees, reached in 1934, according to the NWS.

The weather station entails meteorological instruments encased in a small shelter on U-M North Campus.

Dennis Kahlbaum, the U-M weather observer who gathers local data for the NWS, said he won’t know the official high temperature for the area until he visits the station at 6 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, the heat wave became official today. It’s the fifth straight day over 90 degrees and the third at 95 or above, which is how the National Weather Service officially defines a heat wave.

And that 101 temperature? It actually feels like 114, due to the heat index calculations.

via annarbor.com 

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Ann Arbor Art Fairs: The Annual Amazing Show In Town

If it’s the middle of July, you know it’s Art Fair time in Ann Arbor.  Three fairs over four days that take over almost every street downtown, come whatever weather may.  And a beautiful show it is:  the largest of its kind in the country, I am told.  A show that cannot be missed each year.  For more on the fair, check out this Wiki entry right here.

And so we made the pilgrimage to South University Road, the section that we usually like best, to take in the most gorgeous sights of art:  everything from paintings, etchings, and photography, to pottery, metalwork and ceramics, to huge outdoor installations and the most exquisite hand-crafted jewelry.  And even a show of the new Fiat automobiles.

Check out the photo album below, and a few other pictures posted separately that you need only scroll down to view.  That’s a lot of lovely art for one evening!

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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For The Love Of Mirrors, Another One From Mexico

This was another one of my finds– found in Texas, made in Mexico.  A work of art every which way you look at it, and especially when you see your own reflection in it!

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Even In The Eyes Of All Posterity…

Wm Shakespeare’s Sonnet 55:  Not Marble, Nor The Gilded Monuments

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover’s eyes.

Peachyroses

Note on picture: roses that my sweet husband gave to me one very cold Saturday in January 2011– for no apparent reason.

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100/365/01

A close-up of the impossibly perfectly shaped bell-like purple flowers (sorry, I still need to learn its name!)  Also, a nod to marking my 100th post on this 365-day project. 

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