Post-Vegas Re-entry

Has it really only been 4 days since we got home? In some ways it seems like longer, possibly because I haven't gotten much sleep since our return. Anyway, the trip was good. David made some promising contacts and got a good bit of interest at the trade show. We went to see Kà, which was David's first Cirque du Soleil show and my fourth. I got to meet some of my favorite musicians. We got propositioned by a whore. I even ended up a few dollars ahead at the slots.

All in all, a good trip, but it was so nice to leave the desert and get back home, where it's beginning to feel downright autumnal. I finally managed this evening to get outside and do a bit of needed work in my raised beds. Mostly I needed to do a bit of harvesting. I picked some noodle beans, which haven't been great producers (nor all of them red), but a little does go a long way.

There were also several roma tomatoes ready for picking and a whole mess of soldier beans and Vermont cranberry beans ready for shelling (I'll try to get a pic of my own when I've got decent natural light). The noodle beans and some of the romas went into the curried tofu I made for dinner, and even more of the romas went into the guacamole I made as an appetizer. Nom, nom, nom.

Among things that still need to be done in the garden are clearing out dead and spent plants, seeing if I can collect any of the mustard seeds either as a spice or for planting next year (though I wasn't thrilled with how fast this variety bolted), planting some lettuce mix for fall mesclun, planting some kale to see if I can get any decent production before we get a really hard freeze, and trying to do a bit of cleaning up in the front flower beds.

We did a garlic exchange with Rain at Green Label Organic (buy their awesome shirts!), so that will need to be planted later in the month. I've also got what appears to be some sort of Artemisia growing in one of my front beds which looks nice enough when it's small but tends to get leggy and flop over late in the season. I'm thinking I may just dig it up altogether and see about replacing it next spring with this rosemary. In theory, at least, it should be able to survive our coastal winters, particularly if it's planted right up against the front of the house, since we're south facing.

Speaking of the house, we're still waiting on the verdict of appraisal #2, which was done while we were away. If it's good, then we're all set and can close in 12 days as planned. If not, which is a distinct possibility, then we have to figure out what other options exist. Hopefully we'll know tomorrow sometime.

And since I've shown no photos from Vegas (there are a few from my phone, but I downloaded them onto the work computer the other night), I offer you a bit of cuteness that I took this afternoon.