Friday Cat Blogging

I know there's a special interest out there in cats in sinks. In fact, somewhere I have a picture of my cat in the sink. I've taken pictures of Tang in lots of places. He never misses a chance to climb into a box, drawer, suitcase, etc. But this one was new. When I started the laundry yesterday, Murphy took the opportunity to relax in the empty hamper. How relaxing could that be?





I used to grow these Gladiolus (-es? -i?) in a raised bed in the vegetable garden.

But trying to reclaim the space for vegetables, I created this bed outside the garden fence. And I'm glad I did. What a gorgeous approach to the garden. And deer - even rabbits - don't eat them.

Tomatoes, Datura and Beetles

Yes, tomatoes are starting to ripen. And, sure enough, the Wayaheads were the first full size tomatoes ready. And this year's new variety is the Black Cherry - not truly black, but pretty dark. And, of course, the Snow Whites aren't really white but pale yellow.

This Datura is one of my favorite flowers. They're five or six inches across. The huge buds take their time opening dramatically over two days.

And I found this critter on it. The trick here is to ignore the brown stuff on top. That is apparently feces and shed skins. The flat, oval, leaf-green, thing underneath is a Tortoise Beetle larva. I don't know what species, but some commonly feed on eggplant. Datura is related to eggplant and the leaves look very much the same.

Random Thoughts

I think Jessica Vitkus is onto something here. A network of crafters would be a powerful thing. I know Leendalu will want to be first on her block with a campaign fundraising scrapbooking party. Hat tip: Spyderkl on Big Brass Blog

I like reading Brad DeLong for lots of reasons but Dark Wraith has the most lucid explanations of economic concepts I can imagine. Read his Pulp Economics to see what I mean. It's long and complex but that's life (if you're lucky.) It's a good investment of time 'cause when you finish you'll understand it.

Birthday 2.0

It was birthday v2.0 this weekend. Maggy was vacationing in Montana on the actual birthday, so we celebrated again this weekend. A large proportion of these packages are related to my innocent request for bamboo sushi mats. Maggy tells a funny story about searching unsuccessfully for a sushi kit. So she set out on a treasure hunt around New York for the perfect sushi ingredients . Then Saturday while we were shopping for dinner in Wegman's, she found the sushi kit she had wished for with nearly all the ingredients she had managed to find in New York.

There's the Nori, wasabi powder, pickled ginger and dipping bowls. There's crab and avocado in the refrigerator and Maggy wisely settled for carrots and cucumber from the garden.

They're delicious.

Zucchini

Tired of Zucchini yet? Try these Zucchini Oven Chips Maggy and I made last weekend from a Cooking Light recipe.

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Combine first five ingredients.
3. Dip zucchini slices in milk then in breadcrumb mixture.
4. Place zucchini slices on a wire rack coated with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until brown and crisp. Serve immediately.

I swear I wrote this and yesterday's post before I read that zucchini and sushi are Leendalu's least favorite recipes. I didn't even grown zucchini this year. I got some from David. But I'm guessing I'll be using this recipe with my summer squash soon.

Blogthings

This morning on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Liz Mair linked to Blogthings Are You a Feminist?. That seems like a no brainer but how about this one? What Art Movement are you?

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own. It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy. You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society. You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.

Hmm... Yep.

I should add that I'm naturally trippy. My drugs are pretty much limited to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and the occasional aspirin.

Vegetables

Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and squash

This is the season when my garden seems to be throwing things at me. I'm not complaining about too much food. But this is a garden for one person plus giveaways for friends. Tomatoes, onions and beans are staples I can store for winter. They each get about 48 square feet of garden space - about 10% of the total. Cucumbers and squash are primarily summer treats. They each get about 16 square feet and sometimes that yields too much.

Despite rabbits' depredation of my lettuce, I've met my long time goal to have lettuce ready at the same time tomatoes are ready. (There were ripe tomatoes but I ate them before I took this picture.)

Bluejays learned the wrong lesson last year when I netted the blueberries. Instead of learning to stay away, they learned to eat them a bit underripe. So they got quite a few before I put up the net this year. One bluejay, who cursed me loudly as I was putting up the net, has no trouble getting in (or out) under the edge. So, he's still getting some. Note to self: next year when putting up the net, don't wear a shirt with buttons.

There should be sound effects with this picture. Can't you just hear the storm coming?

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera? The birthday fairy brought me a new Canon EOS and it's incredible. Photoshop says that the original of this picture can be printed at 48 x 32 inches. Of course I don't have that kind of printer but it's tempting to take it to a lab to see if its true.

This butterfly is cropped from a picture about ten times the size. Yet I could print it 16 x 20 if I wished.