The Farmer's In The Dell Today

After my walk with Porter, Skully & Maggie I'm swinging by Stein's for a few bags of soil to use as top dressing and then it'll be home to plant the farm-ette.  (isn't that a dumb-looking word? I retyped it about 4 times.)  We went early yesterday and picked out 6 tomato plants, 2 bell pepper plants, and one spaghetti squash.  We like to find one viney plant that we can train on the fence behind the garden patch, this year we're trying spaghetti squash.  Butternut did well but melons are too heavy and self-pick (that means they fall off before they're ripe) which is frustrating, so it's back to squash-type items.  Cucumbers make too many (Durwood's not a big fan) as do zucchini.  I tell Durwood if he can figure out a way to plant half a zucchini, we'll do it, but I hate loathe and detest those giant baseball bat size ones that aren't good for anything.  Last year's patty pan squash made some but then last year was a bad year for gardens around here.  We're hoping for better this year.  (fingers and hoes crossed)  Our lettuces and spinach are almost big enough to eat., maybe we'll pick some for tonight to make sure, and soon the Farmer's Markets will start and we can buy fresh tomatoes, etc.  Won't that be wonderful?  DD & DIL2's markets in Lexington have already begun, the lucky ducks.  I hate having to relearn good habits over and over.  I've been lax in tracking my WW points and have been uber-frustrated about not losing weight, so after my meltdown 2 weeks ago and then spending at least a week deep in the doldrums, I talked with Durwood about it (god, he's a good listener) and have been back being dedicated about it for the last week.  The outcome is that I've tallied a small but steady weight loss since last Friday when I got back into the tracking saddle.  Keeping track works, I know it does, why do I stop and then imagine I'll remember when I can't even remember what day of the week it is or what I was doing the hour before?  *head, desk*  Did you ever watch The Pioneer Woman on Food TV?  I started reading her blog a year ago or so, she lived in the wilds of Oklahoma, home schools her kids because they live so far away from town, and cooks for her family and the farm workers.  She's been food blogging for years, I remember finding a recipe of hers and sending it to DS and DD a while back, and published a couple cookbooks of her recipes.  All of it looks to die for but holy Moses does she use a lot of butter, cream, and whole milk.  I guess if you're feeding a family that's spent the day on horseback rounding up cattle and doing other strenuous work you can do that but if I did (or rather Durwood did) I'd look like Jabba the Hut in a New York minute.  She's fun to watch, tho.

May 29--Edward Hopper, Office in a Small City.  George sat at his desk in the new office.  It was a corner office so he had two windows.  The desk faced Adams Street and he was up high enough to see behind the facade of the Meyer Theater over there.  It looked like someone had built a hide up there on the theater's roof.  He saw what looked like the fort he and Roy had built out of broken pallets and some scrounged plywood down in the hollow behind the house.  They must have been ten and eleven when they decided to move out there for the summer.  Mom had shrugged and made them sandwiches when they told her their plans.  George's reverie was broken by the sight of a youngish man with dark hear, wearing jeans and an old overcoat slip over the parapet and lift a box of supplies over like he was moving in.  George knew he should call Kiran the theater manager and get the guy evicted but he kind of wanted to watch what happened, kind of wanted to do a little spying.

Now I'd better get a move on, gobble up some Cheerios, and get going.  It's cooled way down and is sunny and breezy; a perfect day for a walk along the river.  Adios, muchachas.
--Barbara