I returned home from the farm yesterday, laden down with wonderful organic veggies and fruit, but still I had a yearning to drive out to nearby farm country and visit Larry’s Produce stand in Suisun. We’ve been having such lovely, mild fall weather and I’m sure it won’t last much longer. I asked Mum if she’d like to go along and she was up for the trek. It’s a nice drive past the different wineries and vineyards. The day was warm and cloudy and it was difficult to imagine that the clouds were formed from the smoke of distant fires in Southern California.
My mother is a radish addict, so we fixed her up first, bagging up a couple of pounds or so of the veggie she finds so irresistible. She also picked out some pears and asparagus. I chose a coconut and some raw peanuts.
This was a first fall visit to Larry’s for us and we enjoyed strolling through the pumpkin patch. There many varieties, shapes and sizes, all nicely displayed. I chose two standard orange variety pumpkins, one large and one small. Maybe I will get creative with some carving this weekend. Maybe I’ll make a pie.
Click here for Flickr Slide Show of Larry’s.
Its a sad commentary on our society when the winner of the $10,000 prize on America’s Unfunniest Home Videos is a clip of a family enjoying a karaoke night while their pet dog humps Dad. It’s been building up to this for a while now. Time to rename the show “America’s Trash on Parade” and then just get on with the toilet humor, the farting, the belching, the toddlers with coins stuck up their bare butts, the peeing and the puking and the snotty sneezes, the false teeth falling out of heads and the drunks falling all over the place.WHAT HAVE WE COME TO that this passes as humor? Who are the idiots that voted for the humping dog on last night’s show?
AFV showed a lot of promise, once they hired Tom Bergeron to host the show. No more annoying drippy hosts and a lot more getting on with the funny videos. But it’s less and less of the funny, and more and more fodder for the sickos out there. If you’re going to film your toddlers for public viewing, for the love of God put some clothes on them! It’s a crazy world out there now, you can’t be that naive.
The show makes me squirm and I think I’m done. Is it just me, or does anyone else miss basic common decency?
When it rains it pours. As well as my job on the farm each week, my famine streak with the transcription ended so I find myself extremely busy - not a complaint, mind you, but I don’t like neglecting my website, especially when there’s things going on, like Ellen having a meltdown on T.V.
I just know there’s some kind of great punch line about Ellen and Portia’s dog being ousted from their home because he didn’t get along with their cats……. damn!
No one wants to see Ellen cry, especially when it appears that the tears might have been a last resort to try and get things done her way, but then again, what’s with the “Dog Nazis” who took the dog away and gave him to someone else? Wasn’t that a little extreme? I guess they showed Ellen. What a messy power play. Never mind about the poor dog who is now having to endure a third upheaval since landing on the doorstep of the pet rescue agency. All that fuss and not a single winner.
Want more? Check out Ellen Degeneres Fears Iggy Will go to Michael Vick.
You know what you never see? A squirrel holding a rose. Well, at least I had not seen that until today. I’m very fond of this particular squirrel, because her summer home is in the large tree in my backyard. On the last day of August, the squirrel started packing for her winter home. It was the same day I started moving my office to the back of the house, my winter quarters. It was 90+ degrees but the squirrel and I knew the weather was about to change. I watched the squirrel and realized that her odd little suitcase was a baby squirrel, neatly compacted, a little bigger than a tennis ball, and then one more and the move was complete.
The squirrel has been coming back to visit her old neighborhood, and there she was when I rounded the corner in front of the house, just standing there with this large rose that must have been almost a third of her size. She kind of twirled it and then ran off scattering rose petals as she went. I can only think she has rather advanced tastes in squirrel home decor. The rose was deep pink and I’m sure it will brighten things up on the dark winter days ahead.
I was at the grocery store with Mum yesterday and she was picking out some cans of Fancy Feast for Corky, her best buddy and lone house cat. She asked me to look for the beef, not grilled, just regular. I wondered why anyone would feed their cat beef – or why the cat food industry even makes beef dinners for cats….. oh, well that’s probably just greed. Mum says Corky really likes the beef, but it doesn’t make sense. I mean you never see a pack of domestic cats out in a field taking down a cow. Or do you?
Last night I had a craving and went out to buy a Giant Bird of Paradise. Sometimes you just gotta have, what you just gotta have. Here he is, my Strelitzia Nicolai all tucked up in the ground and standing proudly at two feet tall. Give the picture a mouse click to see a bigger image. I’m a little concerned about planting a tropical plant at the onset of winter, but I’ll figure out how to keep him protected from the elements, before the real cold sets in. He’ll probably need a tent.
Success at last! I’m finally in the Avocado Avocation game! I felt rather invasive taking the picture of this guy’s little shooter, but I’ve been trying to get a rise out of an Avocado seed since 1976.
I’m hoping to have the same success that Will and Susan have had with their Avocado project. Click here to check it out.
Burger Hot. Coca-Cola Cold.
Taste Bold, refreshing, never too sweet.
Ummm! Burger never better.
Things go better with Coke.
Top of the page: Don’t miss RAWHIDE and PERRY MASON, weekly on CBS-TV
The highlight of my time at the farm this week was lunch in the bamboo grove. I remember when my farmer friends first planted the bamboo, several years ago. There was no privacy around the house then, but that’s changed. It’s like a little jungle.
We each took trays of food out to the grove - sauteed chicken and vegetables and a fresh salad mix with heirloom tomatoes and tiny blue and orange edible flowers in the mix. An apple was picked off the tree and sliced for our dessert. Sometimes life is really good.
This is the morning glory vine that is growing outside my bedroom window - it loves the cooler temperatures and I love waking up to the amazing display it puts on each morning. I’m off to the farm and I’ll update when I return.
