Take That, Cancer!

So today was the Race for the Cure, and I did pretty well. I finished in 28:47, which put me in 181st place overall and 23rd out of 31 in my age division. Considering I've been running for less than 6 months and this was the first actual race I've ever been in, I'd say that's a decent showing.

Thanks to everyone who donated! Maybe if governments spent the kind of money on good medical research that they do on wars, organizations like this wouldn't have to ask for donations. Until we can manage to put such a government in place, though, folks like you make a huge difference to people in need.


Strange Symbiosis



I've noticed this summer, that my crowder peas have been especially attractive to yellow jackets. As near as I can tell, the plants seem to be secreting something at the base of the pods that the wasps find irresistible (see the photo). I can't tell if it's maybe a tiny amount of fluid or what, but the effect is specific for yellow jackets. I've seen mention of the phenomenon on some gardening forums, but no scientific treatise on the subject that I've found, as yet. It does appear to be a symbiotic relationship, though. The wasps get something they want while the plants get some serious protection - I've seen zero predation on these plants, and I've been very careful myself when picking the pods.

Miscellanea

The First

David recently finished up his fall wholesale catalog, which caused his summer to be filled with much blood, sweat, and tears. Especially the tears part. The end result, though, is freakin' gorgeous. My husband is incredibly talented.

Anyway, one of the alpaca photos used in the catalog came from Homestead Geek, to whom we are much obliged. Thanks to her, and VUBOQ, I expect that I'll probably opt for the nook when I travel down the e-reader path, but that's not what this is about. What this is about is that I highly recommend giving her blog a read. Also if you're in her area (which is I'm-not-quite-certain-where), you might also consider purchasing some of her homemade pickles to help her help her mom.

Miscellaneum, The Second

I signed up this week to run the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5K. The race is actually this Sunday, so I set my fundraising goal very, very low. Donations of $5 or $10 (or even more, if you can spare) would be zOMG-so-very-greatly!!! appreciated and can be made through my ridiculously-difficult-to-find fundraising page (srsly, somebody needs to give the code monkeys a swift kick for their barely-navigable site), which I did eventually manage to find here.

Miscellaneum, The Third

I actually picked up the needles for the first time in a couple of months and started back in on the plait-cabled tennis vest I'm reworking from a WWII-era Red Heart booklet. I'm only slightly farther along than I was here, but I still love the yarn and the pattern. Perhaps one day I'll actually finish it, and maybe even write up the updated pattern.

Gardening, Accidental and Otherwise

I harvested my first butternut squash today.



The funny thing is that I never intentionally planted any. The composted alpaca manure I used to fill the raised beds for raspberry and sweet potato just happened to have some squash remains that had been thrown on the pile. So I ended up with three totally unplanned vines that have spread over a big chunk of the sideyard and over the compost pile. This one is growing between the slats of one of the pallets we have to enclose the compost.



Not quite sure how I'm going to cut it out of there. And then there's the third variety.



I also have a little stand of sunflowers that I think were planted by our resident chipmunk.



One crop I did plant that's been going at it gangbusters are my crowder peas. The description says they "have a tendency to vine in rich soils". Apparently my soil is very rich! They've been rather Jack-and-the-beanstalk-ish, and it's been sort of a constant effort to keep them trained up the rather strained poles I put up, rather than sprawling all over the walkway. I've already saved some early seeds for next year and expect I should have a decent little crop for eating by the end of season.



My tomato plants are also loaded with green tomatoes. I set them out a bit later than planned, so they've needed time to catch up, but I'm expecting they'll ripen up before frost hits. Long season crops are always a bit of a challenge here, but being by the ocean and having a south-facing hillside keeps us effectively as a USDA zone 7 microclimate, even though we're nominally zone 5 or 6, depending on which version of the map you reference. Since that designation only looks at minimum winter temps, though, we still run into the issue of a short season, but as with knitting, it's more about the process for me than the final product.

Time with the Nieces

My sister's girls (aged 6 and 8) are up visiting their Gram & Pa for a few weeks, so as I was planning to head to my grandmother's on Schoodic Peninsula for a too-short visit while my aunts are up from FL and NC, I swung by my parents' and picked the girls up to get a taste of what my childhood summers were like. We made the trip downeast on Thursday, which was also the peak activity night for the Perseids.

Since the skies were clear and perfect for some spectacular viewing, we fished out a couple of old Army surplus quilts to lay on the ground in the back yard and covered up with a quilt I had in the car. Alison (aka Ash), the younger, decided to stay up with me and we saw some amazing ones before Mary, who is not a night owl, was roused from her nap to come watch for a while.

The next day we headed across the road and down to the shore, where my uncle Brad lives. He was going to take the girls for a little ride in his inflatable raft but decided once they headed out that the water was too choppy for it to be enjoyable and took them for a somewhat longer ride in his big boat, which is moored out in the natural harbor.





The view of Mount Desert Island and the Porcupine Islands was particularly nice.



And the girls really enjoyed the boat ride.



Then we threw together a picnic lunch and headed to Schoodic Point.





And then on to visit cousin Miriam Colwell, who lives in the colonial farmhouse where she was raised by her grandparents and who, at 93, is remarkably spry. While I enjoyed visiting with Miriam and looking at the paintings and sculptures done by her late partner, the artist Chenoweth (Chennie) Hall, the girls were more interested in being kids.



Then we headed on to Corea village, so we could take some photos of the ever-picturesque harbor.





On the way back to the house, we stopped for one last photo op in Prospect Harbor village.



Mary declared it "the most awesomest day ever since we've been in Maine!"

Queen of Vagina (Almost Certainly NSFW)

My sister flew up with her girls Tuesday night so they could spend a few weeks with their Gram & Pa. Said sister had to turn around and fly back yesterday afternoon, so we didn't get to spend a lot of time visiting. She did, however, share this Ohrwurm, which she was humming almost constantly.



I particularly love how the QoV keeps singing "have sex with my vagina", as if she'd just be a bystander in the whole experience. Reminds me of a David Sedaris story (which I can't seem to find video of).

Damselflies

I took this when we were camping at Hartford Beach State Park with Mike & Sue and their 4 kids, who have grown up so much since we last saw them. This little swarm of damselflies was sprinkled on the grass by the lake's edge like little blue jewels. This one should definitely be embiggened.

Pelicans

Not something you'd typically expect to see in South Dakota, but there they were. These guys were enjoying themselves in a bit of flooded out marsh alongside Lake Poinsett (that's pronounced PON-sit), which is right here:


View Larger Map

It struck me last night that if I just posted one photo from the trip per day, that would provide me with blog fodder until some time in November. I likely won't do that to you, though. Or will I?

Double Rainbow

No, not this one.

This was taken from David's Aunt Lila's front yard in Rapid City. About three weeks ago. Because I'm a bad blogger.

Another South Dakota Postcard

or, My what a big sign you have!



We chanced upon this in Rapid City before catching our flight home. If only the food had been as impressive as the sign. I've taken what would be described down south as a ass of photos and will work on putting together some more coherent posts soon (with luck).

Greetings from South Dakota!

Just a quickie drive-by post. We're in South Dakota on vacation and visiting with the in-laws. We started in Sioux Falls (way eastern side of the state) and are now just outside Hill City (near Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills). I'll try to post more later, but I thought I'd share this photo I took a few nights ago in Leola, which is the town of about 300 people in north central SD where David's mother's family comes from.



Just for reference, this photo was taken at around 9:30 in the evening. Since Leola is at about 45N latitude and near the western end of the Central time zone, it gets dark really, really late this time of year.

Catching Up

So here we are into the second half of June and I haven't posted since early on the first, before we headed south for my grandmother's funeral. Suffice to say it's been busy as all hell since I got home, and I'm just beginning to feel like I'm breaking the surface a bit to catch my breath. So I guess the thing to do at this point is backtrack a little and talk a bit about the trip.

Mostly it was just good to spend time with family and catch up a little with members of the extended family and people who may as well be family, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. It was also nice to be there with everything all leafed out and lush (And HUMID! Sweet FSM, was it humid!). I'm pretty sure I could never live in that climate again, but little doses remind me of my childhood, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Another echo of my childhood came the day after the funeral. I had an errand to run and on my way back to my parents' house I spied this beauty on the side of the road:



As far as I can tell, she's an Eastern Painted Turtle of considerable age and, had I weighed and measured her, possibly of record size. She'd left a small farm pond nearby looking for some nicer real estate, but if I hadn't stopped to pick her up, she'd have likely ended up as a turtle pancake on a hot country road.

So after taking her back to my folks' and snapping a few photos, I took her off to the edge of the woods, through which she could get to my grandfather's pond and the creek. I sat down for a bit to see if she'd come out of her shell for a better photo, but she was having none of it. I did, however, manage to pick up a mess of these:



That, friends, is a genuine chigger, a true Southern institution and a rite of passage I really don't enjoy repeating. On the other hand, there were some ripe blackberries near at hand, so just maybe the pleasure slightly mitigated the ungodly itch.

Mary Merchant, 1919-2010

My maternal grandmother passed away Saturday night. It was expected, as her body had been slowly failing her for quite some time. Her health was, in fact, one of the main reasons for my visit in March, as I knew it was likely that I wouldn't get another chance to see her. Hospice was called in a few weeks ago, and being the phenomenal organization they are, they were a tremendous help in easing her transition from this existence to the next.

As is often the way of grandmothers, my Manana (a moniker that came from a cousin's faltering attempts at saying "my Nana", and which a younger cousin would much later shorten to Menah) was an exceptional woman. She was her high school's valedictorian (a new young state senator by the name of Strom Thurmond gave the commencement address) and star girl's basketball player and, according to my grandfather, was the best bareback mule racer in the area.

The photo above is from just after their wedding in 1936, which was just 5 days after her 17th birthday. They first lived in a cabin across the road from her parents, where they had their first child, and from which she went out the next day to work in the fields. It was the Great Depression, and not working was a luxury they couldn't afford.

A few years later, when they bought land about a mile down the road and built the home she would spend the rest of her life in, she and my grandfather fenced in 80 acres of pasture working side-by-side. Having fenced in a smaller section of that same pasture, I know very well what a feat it was, but their relationship was always one of equal partners, and it was from her that I learned about the grace and beauty of a strong woman. Even as her body betrayed her, she maintained her wit and her ability to laugh, but she knew it was time to go and she was ready for it.

Yes, I will miss her dearly, because how could you not miss someone so fiercely wonderful? But it's a bittersweet sort of loss, because in the end there's so much of her in me and in everyone else whose lives she touched. And I can't think of any tribute more beautiful than keeping that part of her alive and sharing it with everyone in my own life. Because again, how could you not?