Patty Pan

Hey ya'll happy Monday, marauderin through my day after baking six-dozen unhealthy and gritty (yet fluffy and delicious) sugar/butter cookies for my students at the request of one of my bosses, I am proud to come home and chop up some real food. Patty pan squash roasted with golden beets, elephant ear garlic, beet greens, lettuce, and spinach. Rosie and I are waiting outside for our nutritious friends in the oven to come to a tender finish and the Pacific wind is cooling our little bones to a downright chill.

Meanwhile, check out this new music from SBTRKT that I got in my inbox the other morning.

The neighbors to my job in Temescal left two pretty cool looking moss plants outside in pretty ceramic plants which directly coincides with my voiced concern over the lack of green things growing in my room. I have a rescued orchid from work that keeps getting white film on the leaves, I have tried just wiping them off but will now resort to rubbing alcohol - not really feeling replanting especially since I have never cared for an orchid before and don't want to disturb its fragile root system - this flower is way too high maintenance for me.

Wanted to share another blog with you: a friend, Jeri, who I met as she trained me for my Administrative job. She is the Bug Lady and bubbling with buggy information and other cool content over on her page. Speaking of lesser beings, I read in my gastropod book that there are 284 species of snails in California, not including an additional 110 subspecies - aaaaaand how to savor these mollusk marms in a tasty meal. Anyone down for a dinner party?

This is my Sedum rubrotinctum and my arugula flowering.

Bringing living things in

In an ideal world, we could all sleep under the stars nightly, live on tree fruit and toads, and learn how to chirp to the birds to find what adventures lie along their migration path. To compensate for this serious impediment I like to bring the living things inside to die alongside me, roses from down International Blvd, loquats from the neighbor's tree, tiny cherries & peaches (?) from Jeff's old backyard, and large clippings of mint from the Wiggly House's overgrown effortless garden. Summer is bursting with female parts, fruits and pollen and bees lookin' all plump from nectar and brown ladybugs falling in my hair.

At Urban Ore today I found a seemingly limitless stack of Joan Baez vinyls: Rosie is actually mimicking her operatic croon.

The trees they grow high,

the leaves they do grow green

Many is the time my true love I've seen

Many an hour I have watched him all alone

He's young,

but he's daily growing.

Father, dear father,

you've done me great wrong

You have married me to a boy who is too young

I'm twice twelve and he is but fourteen

He's young,

but he's daily growing.

Daughter, dear daughter,

I've done you no wrong

I have married you to a great lord's son

He'll be a man for you when I am dead and gone

He's young,

but he's daily growing.

Father, dear father, if you see fit

We'll send him to college for another year yet

I'll tie blue ribbons all around his head

To let the maidens know that he's married.

One day I was looking o'er my father's castle wall

I spied all the boys aplaying at the ball

My own true love was the flower of them all

He's young, but he's daily growing.

And so early in the morning

at the dawning of the day

They went out into the hayfield

to have some sport and play;

And what they did there,

she never would declare

But she never more complained of his growing.

At the age of fourteen, he was a married man

At the age of fifteen, the father of a son

At the age of sixteen, his grave it was green

Have gone, to be wasted in battle.

And death had put an end to his growing.

I'll buy my love some flannel

and I will make a shroud

With every stitch I put in it,

the tears they will pour down

With every stitch I put in it,

how the tears will flow

Cruel fate has put an end to his growing.

Secret Slugs

Wow, it's been a busy two weeks complete with friendly visits, trips to many beaches, moving into a new home, getting a bike, and visiting Seattle! My new home is whimsical, magical, and my sun roof lets in blazing sunshine beginning at six o'clock in the morn, and does not dim until eight o'clock in the evening. It is a sunshine paradise for a homeless orchid, one squawking conure, and a plethora of dusty novels. I woke the other morning and had to bury my face in a pillow because the light so badly interrupted my dozing!

Photo 1: Dinner tonight was red leaf lettuce, sauteed mushrooms and red bell pepper, pine nuts, cucumber, basil leaves, and chipotle hummus!

Photo 2: Found this book in a knick-knack shop in Seattle, down by the water front, hidden behind carved wooden figurines and postcards to send to loved ones back home.

Photo 3: Strung some lights to nest a metal bird in, a gift from my Grandmother when I saw her in January. Hung some photos of friends and family to remind myself that this great big country is not so small. I did trek it in under a week, you know.