Day of Daylilies
8:09 a.m. - 2008-07-01


We have been rushing around doing a lot of fun and not fun stuff. I picked an incredible number of cucumbers, but the spouse took most to the office for distribution. I bought the peppers and spices and am ready for a session of relish making when the next big batch of cucumbers appears. The spouse also picked the golden plums from the front yard and there were lots more than we thought there were going to be. I froze up 3 prepared batches for future jam making, and spent the rest of the afternoon giving the rest away. A box went to Melissa to take to her office of underpaid minions because everyone likes free fruit. I always include a stack of paper lunch bags to facilitate the giveaway. I gave a big bag full to the J's. Jason had asked me to grow pattypan squash for him this year, and when I was looking for some to pick in the garden, I found one that had escaped notice and grown almost as big as my head. I took it over to my dad to surprise him and got a good laugh from him. He is going to try and cook it, but I don't know how good it will be.

We have been suffering for more than a week with the heavy smoke from the many California wildfires. This meant staying inside or wearing a mask outside, not hanging up the clothes, and keeping all the windows closed. It is finally starting to clear up and the air is beginning to smell normal, that is, not to smell smoky. In spite of the smoke, we took a drive up to Plymouth on Sunday to see the daylilies in bloom at the Amador Flower Farm. Totally worth the drive! It was gorgeous there, and so much better to see the blooms in person to pick out some for the yard since the pictures in the catalog were deceptive. One that looked dark and boring in the catalog (Aztec Chalice) was in real life a bright red that you could spot from across the field. We ended up getting six different ones, yellow and orange and bright red, and one pink/orange one called Mauna Loa. Now the spouse has to dig up the flower bed in the front by the driveway that gets lots of sun. Nothing has ever grown well there, but he is going to add lots of compost and make it a good place to grow.

This week is Melissa's birthday. She wants to get a small loom for herself, having been impressed with the scarves she saw someone making on a blog (Cosmicpluto), and has asked for a monetary birthday present to help pay for the loom. I hope she gets skilled with weaving very soon since scarves and placemats would make great gifts to dear-not-so-old Mom.

I am making another hat for the mission that is boring me with its complexity. I need to finish it off and get back to knitting something fun. I am mostly a product person, not so much into enjoying the process the way some people do. Which makes me wonder why I haven't finished up the Must Have Cardigan. While the crochet and knitting is going on, I am listening to books on tape, most recently, Dead Heat by Dick and Felix Francis. I really like this book since it has a culinary side plot, food poisoning and a bomb. Mayhem to knit by.