Hiatus Finitus Est

I’m back! It was a total emo-fest through early December, but then things began looking up when I finished my penultimate semester in the MSIS program (Can I get a whoop whoop?). I’ve started knitting again and will update soon, but I wanted to share something else first. My partner made these for me as a Winter Solstice gift:

Charming, no? : )

In Memoriam: Lucinda, Circa 1998-October 9, 2009

 

RIP Moby, aka Mobes, aka the Mobester: 1992-2010

During the past few weeks, it became clear to Mike and me that our dear friend Moby was beginning to show signs of feline dementia and slowed reflexes. He’d also lost a ton of weight, pretty much stopped grooming, and was suffering from renal failure, high blood pressure, and a chronic heart murmur.  I took him in as a stray many years ago, and he was a city cat through and through–he was obviously happiest when he was outside. He was very social  and was well-known by many folks in the neighborhood, especially the children. Because of the recent changes in his behavior, I’d  started keeping him in more, or at least attempted to chaperon him better. I believe what happened to him is my fault, so  I feel enormous guilt on top of my sadness and loss.

Last night before Moby’s  “curfew,” he wandered onto the street and a driver hit him and ran. A community member found him at the bottom of the hill in front of the park and she kindly notified us right away, and Mike and I could immediately see that the injuries to his hindquarters were pretty bad. The vet at the emergency clinic confirmed what we feared, and she recommended we euthanize him–she said it was the most humane thing we could do. He was 18, and I was lucky enough to have had his company for the past 13 years.

Moby was such a character. He could be grumpy, curmudgeonly, even, but he was playful too. He loved to camouflage his all-white body, hiding in the tub or, as pictured above, amongst tissue paper on the floor, and I think he really did believe we couldn’t see him.  He had a big personality to match his large size, and he was fiercely independent, even for a cat. There were times when he was my only friend.  He’d  sit with me when I cried,  and since I’ve been crying all day, his absence is even more glaring.

I know many of you were kind to the Mobester when you saw him prowling around the neighborhood or exclaiming his famously high-pitched meow, and I sincerely thank you. We buried him behind our garden in his favorite sunny spot, and some children have already left tokens of affection and love by his grave.

My friend, I hope wherever you’re fearlessly roaming now is filled with sunshine and wonderment. I will miss you, terribly,  always.

First Shawl Ever

I’m not really into shawls, but the gussets in Coquille by ML Egan in the latest issue of Knitty caught my eye. I’m lucky enough to have two beautiful skeins of Lorna’s Shepherd Socks in my stash, and that’s just a little over the 400 yards needed for the small. I love this pattern, especially how it utilizes two needle sizes for texture and visual interest.  Here’s how it looks with just four gussets completed (three small and one medium):

And here it as just past the half-way point:

It’ll definitely need heavy blocking. Can’t wait to rock it this fall!

♫ Finally, it’s happenin’ to(matoes) ♫

Just when I was beginning to think they’d never turn red and we’d be frying green tomatoes à la Idgie Threadgoode for the rest of the summer, we came back from a weekend jaunt to find these beauties waiting for us:

And this little Roma, too:

The garlic chives are flowering more than ever:

Looks like it’s gonna be tomatoes and garlicky greens for dinner tonight!

Urban Garden, Mid-July

School and work have made it hard to keep up with the insane amount of weeding needed in our organic garden, but last weekend I got into all three beds and filled two 5-gallon buckets with unwanted upstarts and dumped them right into the ol’ compost bin. The next day, every vegetable plant was perked up with gratitude–or with “it’s about effin’ time” attitude, not sure which!

We’ve been harvesting greens for about a month now, but this week our cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen:

Some of the hot peppers are turning red, too–Mike used them last night in a Puerto Rican cuisine-inspired rice and bean dish that was absolutely to die for:

The basil has grown a lot, and we’re going to make our first batch of pesto tonight. The other herb right next to it is parsley, which we’ve been juicing along with the kale on those days when it’s too hot to cook:

Here’s an overall view of where these plants live; if you look really close, you can see the red peppers and ripe tomatoes:

This is the southeast corner of the front plot, and it gets the best light. For the first time three summers, the Swiss chard is thriving; it’s also the first year I tried using starters from the local co-op. The tomatoes, peppers, and some of the kale are from starters, too, but the herbs and most of the rest of the garden is from seed. I hope no one thinks I cheated! It’s been great having food  besides lettuce to harvest in June and early July, so if using starters is wrong, I definitely don’t wanna be right. We’re still hoping the plum and big tomatoes will ripen–so far, they look great, but they looked great last year at this time too.  Fingers still crossed!

She loves me…

I’ve always been a big fan of the daisy. I picked these beauties up at the farmer’s market today; they’re Shastas:

I planted them along the side of the house–which still needs a lot of love, and so far has only spring bloomers.

My friend Virginia gave me these yellow daisies from her yard. She said they’ll spread, which is just fine with me since the yard s so big and we don’t have the money or the time to do everything we’d like to do. We weren’t sure if they were going to make it because it was such a hot day and they had started to wilt, but they seem to be adapting OK. Moby’s already a fan…