The figs are still green

… but the leaves on the forsythia are turning, I’ve switched to warmer clothing, and it looks like fall is upon us. Back on September 9th last year, we had lots and lots of ripe figs that were turning black on the trees. Heck, last August we had a crop we were harvesting. This season the ripening started later — we’ve had only 5 or 6 ripe figs to bring into the house (and we have 2 trees, filled with green little bullets).

Since there’s nothing I can do to make the figs hurry up and ripen, I’m drinking my coffee and musing away to myself. Wonder if the figs will ripen before hard frosts turn them to goo?

Saturday is so short

Here’s a goofy list of things that might be more worthwhile than mowing the lawn (which is what everyone else is up to, according to my ears):

• Prepping a door for painting (apparently not enough of a break in the humidity)
• Walking to the library (planning on doing this in a few minutes)
• Going to a museum
• Baking cookies (there’s a break in the humidity)
• Go to a park — it’s SUNNY
• Photography (the first sunny day in a week)
• Sketching (ditto)
• Knitting (this can be done in the evening)
• Reading a shirt pattern (again — can be done in the evening)
• Go on a mad and crazy road trip
• Cleaning projects (UGH, but necessary)
• Hacking at the evil shrub (yep. did some of this)
  

Some of these are limited by the lack of water pressure today. I’m reluctant to come into contact with potential poison ivy in the evil shrub if I can’t wash off the itch.  I nearly broke the glass coffeepot this morning with the blast of air as I tried to fill it (no worries, I do have a little bottled water for essentials), so I’m reluctant to start washing things.

If I prep the door for painting this AM, maybe I can do a quick bit of lawn mowing to appease the neighbors. (mowed the lawn) Eh, if you had a beautiful, sunny day after a week of thunderstorms, which would you choose?

Yellow Art Deco

This is an interior from a theater. Yellow walls, ochre curtains, and an amazing metal Art Deco motif.

I wish I had gotten some of the faux tortoiseshell torch light fixtures on my camera, but I had to leave and didn’t have time to figure out how to get the lighting right.

The only other thing I seemed to have done that is blogworthy is attack the krynoid-hedge that’s making the back fence into a horrible mess. And knit more on my PS4 project from the green cycle (the back is up to 8.15″ and counting). It looks like PS4 yellow cycle will be mostly photos, unless I manage to finish one of my projects that’s been on a backburner since I was first on Ravelry.

A sketch for Green

A quick sketch for Project Spectrum in a park

Just Call Me a Tinker

I just tinked back to the 2nd row of the pattern on the Honeycomb sweater. I couldn’t keep going forward without fixing my error. The only other vaguely interesting thing I did today was a morning spent cleaning up the yard and pulling out English ivy (darn invasive plant). So I’ve been filking along in my head with “Tink so good. C’mon baby let it tink so good. ‘Cause sometimes knits don’t go as they should so baby, rip so good.”

I know this is riveting stuff.

Gift Ideas For Gardeners

Specimen of a jade plant on the rocks

I’ve been shopping for the Gardener, and there are some gifts that are garden-themed (and not that expensive). Here are some ideas [NOTE: all links are shown as examples of the item, not a sample of the end-all and be-all of garden tools, plants, etc, so let the browser be aware]:

• Dirt (well, actually potting soil) may be welcomed, if accompanied by fancy pots and seeds for a window ledge herb garden
• Tools* — check your local hardware store or garden center for trowels; small hand pruners; whimsical, practical, or inexpensive gardening gloves; garden kneelers to protect the knees, and plant identification stakes (for an example of what these look like, check here — you can make them from wood, with hand printed labels in indelible ink)
• Books — search used bookstores for out-of-print gems [I once found a huge tome on plants from the 1930s], or pick up something new on the plant your gardener is mad about (there are books that focus on grasses, salvia, bulbs, cacti, rhododendrons… you name it)
• Pick up a green houseplant, like a jade plant or Christmas cactus
• Consider geography — for instance, if the ground is frozen, the gardener won’t be able to plant roses** right away, but you can catalog order plants and bulbs for delivery at the right time and give a card (or just give a gift certificate)
• Try this cute idea — get a flower pot mug, and place a chamomile seed packet or a small plastic liner with dirt and a mint plant inside (or fancy tea or coffee)

*Many companies make kid-sized garden equipment and gloves, too

**Apparently, January is considered a good time to plant roses in Tucson, AZ. Who knew you could grow roses in the desert? Not me. Guess that’s why I’m not The Gardener.

Bird Breakfast Bar

The latest attraction for the birds (beyond the starlings’ amazing capacity to scarf down figs) are the red berries on the yew tree outside the office window. Latest diner: a female cardinal who sat and messily ate her lunch in front of me. Yes, it’s a tree — two stories tall. The shrubs have this potential, after 50 or so years of no trimming.

So far, these berries are quite a draw for the nuthatches, finches, black cap chickadees, and sparrows. Yes, I’ve tried to get pictures. The birds are used to me in the office by now, but they can’t help freaking out over the eye of the camera (it’s a zoom lens). Which is a shame. Think of the holiday card I could make with a bunch of these visitors to the bounty in the green branches and red berries.

I think this is the first year the yew provided such a spread — possibly a reaction to some good rains this summer and some sort of care from the Gardener to cure the yellow leaves this spring.

“H” Is for “Herbs”

Bees like catmint too

The southern and western sides of the yard yield amazing herb plants — shrubs of rosemary, fresh sage, many different varieties of mint taking over the yard, thyme for omelets, catmint for the cats, and oregano. They’re mixed in with flowers, so it’s a beautiful, decorative accent, as well as providing lots of good scents and good cooking opportunities. The Gardener really loves flower gardening, and I’m really happy that’s the hobby chosen since I enjoy looking at flowers.

Different varieties of mint grow by the back door

“H” is also for “hedge”. I live in a house with a garden that other people might be envious of, if they could see beyond the giant crynoid hedge-o-doom in the front. Everything’s populating that hedge, and I dream about razing the whole thing down to the ground. But unfortunately (or fortunately) the hedge provides an ecosystem that shelters the yard from high winds, the birds from predators, and the butterflies from high winds and rainstorms. I’m a softie, fueled by amazing levels of apathy. I think it’s also keeping the hill/old creek bed from dropping onto the sidewalk. I know for certain it’s hiding a particularly hideous wire fence.

Ginger and Fig Conserve

Refrigerator preserving is a grand thing. I have lots and lots of figs in the freezer and the refrigerator for my friends.

But I look outside, and notice the figs still outnumber us. The cats don’t like fresh figs, and 3 other families in the neighborhood aren’t enough to help us devour them.

Possible recipe salvation: 1-3/4 cups sugar and 1/4 cup maple syrup to 2 cups (plus) figs, a little water to cover, lots and lots of simmering, adding in chopped candied ginger, and when the thermometer says 200 degrees Fahrenheit = something really close to fig jam. Eventually, with enough canning apparatus, I could solve the fig problem. And what a grand, sweet problem to have.

(I know this is a day of remembrance. Best of wishes to everyone who marks this day, and best of wishes for those who are just keeping on….)

Non-Spaghetti Songbirds

Otherwise known as “Non-Sparrow Songbirds” after I’ve had my morning cup of coffee. Sometimes it isn’t really a typo, just my eyes and brain refusing to talk to one another. What a lovely special effect provided by being undercaffeinated while waiting to let in repair persons.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t done any pictures of knitting for a while — I have one item blocking and waiting for its photoshoot. Another item is a gift for someone (once I mail it, I’ll wait two days then reveal the finished photo).

Other than these two wee gifties, it’s been too hot to knit. When it isn’t too hot and humid, I’ve elected to mow the lawn instead. The Gardener has done such a lovely job, it’s a shame when the lawn grows too weedy for anyone to see the rudbeckia and the pretty Delft blue asters (I think they’re asters). We even have a chaste tree (Vitex) that is awaiting its permanent location. Our neighbor has one, with beautiful blooms that the bees like.

About the name:

The common name ‘Monk’s Pepper’ refers to the medieval belief that utilizing potions made from the berries helped monks maintain their vows of chastity. Vitex is still an ingredient in herbal remedies for a variety of conditions. — http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/newsletters/hortupdate/jun04/Vitex.html

If you look at the leaves of a chaste tree, you’ll understand why I thought our neighbor might have some “herb” growing in her yard. It was totally out of character, and so I thought it was odd.