Happy Summerween!

I'm not sure exactly why this is an important milestone but it keeps coming up in my searches. Is there an algorithm somewhere that thinks it could be significant to me? It's also a great excuse for a Summerween post, because that keeps showing up, too! 

Out in the weedy, over-grown garden, the wasps are having quite a party in the pumpkin blossoms. It seems the bees weren't the only ones to benefit from the no mow spring. Those guys need to get a move on, that flower only has 100 days to turn into a pumpkin!

Some years, pumpkins can be a challenge to grow and you never know what will come up, especially with the white varieties.

We have one Ghost Pepper plant (Bhut Jolokias) but it already has produced seven good-sized peppers and there are at least that many more forming. Considering they're three times as hot as an habanero, that should be more than enough to keep us in agony for the next year.

There are always a few places in the garden that look autumnal. Actually, these were acquired by mistake and since they're not visible from the house, they got to stay. At least they were handy for adding some seasonal color to a this post.

Each year around the beginning of July, our garden center puts out Halloween-themed chiminea and it's a  struggle not to bringing one home. They always make me smile and even though they're mass produced, no two are alike. Three would look great clustered together, wouldn't that be a blaze, ha! One would look good, too. That said, being chiminea, they weight a TON, so they will probably stay at the store, unless I change my mind.

November used to be the best time to shop for Halloween decorations but that's a thing of the past - just like this plasma orb! His Madness is conjuring up memories of the 1980's . . .  he's at the mall, now he's walking into Sharper Image . . . whoooooo . . . look at that! 

On a more practical note, Ivy just found some spooky fabric and was thinking it would make a snazzy suit for Burt.

Burt liked the fabric but prefers something with more color, so he doesn't look washed out.

Ivy is looking forward to some serious "Halloween Decor Hunting", although technically we started in April. The Toad Witch is still holding court on the piano and is very happy to have gained a posse and a few fancy pumpkins. It's not be too early to start decorating, is it?

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend! 

 

It's Fruit Fly Season!

No, Kibitz is not doing an impersonation of Mike Pence. We have suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a fruit fly infestation. They're not something we have to deal with very often but every once in awhile they just show up and refuse to leave.    

Mostly, the little pests seem to be concentrated in an area of the kitchen where a lot of half-full liquor bottles have ended up. So Ivy has decided the only thing to do is to clear the counters and do a deep clean of the entire room. Burt hasn't noticed the flies and thinks she's being overly dramatic. 

Why do these little buggers appear out of nowhere all of a sudden? They probably catch a ride on garden produce, like this heirloom tomato His Madness bought at the Farmers Market. Who knows what could be hiding out in those deep crevices, ha! Since tomatoes aren't supposed to be refrigerated, in order to preserve their flavor, there's a good chance that whatever is currently residing on them is going to multiply in the summer heat. Basically, these tiny pests get into your house, find somewhere to lay a gazillion eggs and in less than a couple of weeks, they're flying up your nose and floating in the milk.  

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The current situation is all my fault. It's what happens when you set a fresh pineapple out on the counter to ripen and then forgot about it for a couple of weeks. It was probably the best breeding ground ever! 

At least there are plenty of solutions on the internet for getting rid of the tiny pests. What worked best in our kitchen was an open bottle of Prairie Fume with a half an inch or so of wine left in the bottom. It was hands down their preferred mode of demise. Yuck! 

Now that the flies are more or less under control it's time to scrub everything clean so it doesn't happen again. Burt was put in charge of finding somewhere to put all those bottles of booze we have been collecting during the pandemic. About a year ago, HM discovered a series called "Cocktails with a Curator" produced by the Frick Collection in New York. Each week one of the curators would talk about a piece from the gallery and pair it with a cocktail that had some relevance to the artwork. Since there was nothing else to do, we got in the habit of trying out different cocktails when we watched a new episode. They would list the ingredients of the actual drinks on their web site along with a non-alcoholic version but we only tried a couple of them. Eventually, the bottles started to accumulate and not being able to invite anyone over to help us drink it up, the countertop got very cluttered.

Ivy and Kibitz moved everything the fruit flies might like off the counter and into the fridge.

As luck would have it, there was another spot that had turned into covid clutter where Burt could temporarily relocate all the booze. Taking a cue from the millennials (or our grandparents) we set up a "cocktail" area in the living room. The excess of kitty treats and face masks are now cluttering up the bookshelves but that's a problem for another day.   

Everything looks better on a fancy tray. It's also nice to finally have an actual use for the fancy tray. Apparently, that's why I've been hanging onto it for all these years. Who knew one day a place would be needed to corral a hoard of liquor acquired during a pandemic?

Burt was happy to bring out the skull decanter that we got to serve port from at a Halloween dinner party. Since our current bottle of porto is almost empty, the only thing left to fill it with was watered down grenadine. At least it looks pretty and it shows up, though now I'm getting a jello vibe.

The living room is okay for temporary storage but no place for actually mixing a drink. 

With most of the tiny pests dispatched and a some serious decluttered accomplished, it was time to relax and catch the final episode of Cocktails with a Curator. Tonight we had to settle for Dirty Martini's because the fruit flies finished all the wine.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, thanks for stopping by!

Fireworks & Flowers

Honestly, where does the time go? Now, with most of the planting and garden work done, it's time to get ready to practice some summertime chill. These days that has to take place at night because it's so frigging hot and humid during the day.

It felt strange going to the city fireworks again, although the crowd was only half the usual size. Somehow, our little town always manages to put on a good show.

 

The Skeleton Crew likes to indulge in a few modest sparkly things. Our neighbors make their own very loud and extremely impressive fireworks which is very unfortunate for everyone else and their pets on the block. They started shooting them off before Memorial Day and, if last year is anything to go by, they will keep it up until well into 2022. February, if the Packers make the playoffs.  

Still, the city wins when it comes to blowing things up. Some fireworks are named after flowers, like peony, chrysanthemum and dahlia and I have no idea which one this is. All the photos that came up in my search looked the same but had different names, ha!

If everyone was vaccinated, we would really have something to celebrate!

Now that Summer is in full swing, all I can think about is how much I miss Spring, ha! It's the best time in my garden - not too hot, the bugs aren't overly pesky and all of my favorite plants and shrubs are flowering like crazy. It never lasts long enough but it always puts on a great show.

This year was different. After No Mow May there was a lot of encouragement by environmentalists to keep it up for another month. So in June, I gave the bees the benefit of the doubt and left things in the hands of Mother Nature, once again. What harm could it do, besides driving me crazy? 

Let's just say she got overly ambitious and in a few short days everything was two feet tall. Then all those weeds started to flower and kept on going for the rest of the month! It quickly crossed the line from cottage garden to overgrown abandonment.

Daisies, crab grass and all sort of tall weeds came up everywhere, luckily they were no match for the peonies. So when July finally arrived, it was clearly time for No Mow to go! Who knows if it made any difference to the bees but I HOPE THEY'RE  HAPPY!  

 

 Honestly, it wasn't that bad and it's not like there's a nice lawn underneath it all. It is clover, dandelions, Creeping Charlie, plantain and violets mixed in with some actual grass, nobody's ideal turf but it stays green in the heat and especially during a drought. In any case, a path got trampled down to the raised beds and HM ended up with a daisy or two between his toes. His feet are already pretty ugly but combined with a farmer-tan, they sort of looked like the sandworms from Beetlejuice.

Which, as it turned out, was the perfect movie for a summer evening. How would we find ways to entertain ourselves if we didn't have an overgrown garden for inspiration? If Hallmark is observing Christmas in July, we can celebrate Halloween all year long. Spookiness knows no season! 

Thanks for stopping by! How is your summer going?