tid bits

I walk with trepidation through the clover-filled lawn, wary of the honey makers buzzing around my feet, unable to talk myself into putting shoes on every time I go outside- it is summer after all!- and also understanding so well why the bee sting works, how it protects the hive and keeps its members safe. Yes, whereas before my bee sting (pre-bee-sting) a few weeks ago, I would have been respectful of the bees, I am now hyper-vigilant, uber-respectful, ever protective of my feet and their tiny stinger-filled bodies, hoping to create a yard where bare feet and bees can coexist peacefully. Perhaps if I told them how many flowers I plant in their honor? I am also much more aware- thanks to the bee sting and to Albert who loves to eat clover- of just how much clover is growing in my yard!

Mmmmm- there was finally some kale in one of my CSA baskets. I cooked it tonight in olive oil with squash, tomato, garlic and red pepper flakes. (Another word for this would be saute but I usually avoid this word, particularly in the past tense, because I can never remember how to make the little mark over the "e"...) I served it over sprouted grain pasta which was good but sort of a stretch to actually call pasta. This got me thinking and I looked up pasta, which, as it turns out, is "dough with flour, water and/ or eggs," so maybe sprouted grain pasta is not such a stretch after all. It would have been lovely with some Parmesan as well.

We have discovered that our guinea pig Albert loves strange singing and high pitched whistles and squeals and will make his happy purring noises over and over again when he hears these noises. Yesterday Eva was making high pitched squeak noises while blowing on a leaf and Albert sat on my lap purring again and again. It is great fun for all of us. He will also march right up to a plate filled with watermelon and begin eating a slice all on his own. Why wait? He is currently in his cage with a slice of watermelon Eva must have put in there with him, dubbing it "Albert's slice" and he is beside himself with guinea pig enthusiasm, jumping about, bubbling over with chirps and chortles, eyeing the watermelon from over here, from over there. Guinea pigs appreciate abundance as much as the next species.

Yesterday evening I was in our back yard checking on the garden after another hot day and I decided to check out Momma Yellow Jacket in the shed. I was surprised to see that after all that tug-of-war with her a few months ago, she was nowhere to be found. Her nest was gone and there was not a yellow jacket in sight. This was particularly perplexing to me because there have been a number of yellow jackets flying around the apple tree lately, presumably eating the tent worms living there? I had just assumed they were from Momma Yellow Jacket's brood and that the arrangement between us had worked out quite nicely after all. She had a safe, sheltered spot in which to raise her um baby yellow jackets and I had yellow jackets eating the tent worms. (Not a great proposition for the tent worms, I realize, but they seem to be maintaining their numbers regardless of the yellow jackets. At that level I chalk it all up to Mother Nature. What, really, can I do about yellow jackets eating tent worms, after all? Wait- if you use insecticides and other forms of whatnot, don't answer that question!)

Of course I also noticed the four large spider webs spanning the shed door in various permutations. There were two across each azalea bush, one higher up and one across the um lawn mower itself. The number and size of the spider webs and the fact that one was actually using the lawn mower as a web anchor really illustrates just how long it has been since I mowed the lawn. I had been thinking about mowing at least the part near the garden that keeps growing due to watering (It doesn't rain here during the summer, at least not enough to support a lawn, and I don't water the lawn. Whatever part of the lawn that survives the summer has to make do with what little rain we do get. This makes for very little mowing during the summer months, something I enjoy after the twice-a-week mowing in the spring.)

Like I said, I had been thinking about mowing the lawn but what with the spiders and their webs using the doorway and the actual lawn mower, I guess it can wait a few more days or weeks or gosh, how long is spider season again? And what about the clover? If I mow the lawn, there goes the clover and what would the bees think of our treaty if I mowed down their clover? Yes, I think the lawn can wait. I can use my energy to pick more blackberries, which I am hoping to do tomorrow!