Entry the fourteenth: In which I stop writing about bugs for a little while

These are "Bush Early Girl" tomatoes. I tried the first one yesterday and it was really good, but not spectacular. I am still sad the heirloom variety I tried to grow early this summer fizzled, but I am mollified by the fact that no one* had much luck with tomatoes this year.

I shouldn’t fret about the tomatoes, however, because the cucumbers I grew early this summer were amazing, and now I’m getting ready to harvest my second crop of Japanese eggplants. I used this recipe to stir-fry the first batch and now I can’t wait to do it again as soon as these guys are a little larger.



In other news, I’ve started my first knitting project in 9 years. Yikes! It’s going to be a sweater (I haven’t decided yet between a cardigan or pullover) and as you can see, I’m getting some help.



Valerie has been even more help than Sylvie (you're shocked, no?) and is the one who helped** me get started. More about the sweater and where I got the yarn soon.

*”No one” = me, my godmother, a family friend, my sister (in upstate New York), or the guy teaching the “Summer Tomato Sensations” class at Great News.

**”Helped” = figured out my gauge, found a starter pattern, and retaught me how to cast on. My fingers remember how to knit and purl, but I’ve never actually learned anything else. Like how to read a knitting pattern. Or fix mistakes.

Entry the thirteenth: In which Mirabelle helps out with the grasshopper problem

Poor Mirabelle. She can chitter and bat at the grasshopper on the other side of the window but she can't actually nab it. Sometimes life is very frustrating.



You know who can eat all the bugs she feels like? The green lynx spider that lives in the carnations in my windowbox, that's who. To be fair, I suspect a grasshopper might be a little ambitious for the spider at this time, but I've seen new, smaller spiders around and about, so I think this one has chosen my garden in which to raise her family. Eventually la famille verte d'araignée may learn to work in tandem and bring down an entire grasshopper.



I'd say something like "that's a sight I'd like to see," but it would not be true. It's dandy if the spiders eat all the bugs that feast on my plants, but I don't want to witness the carnage personally.

Entry the twelfth: In which I tentatively venture back into the blogsphere

Ack, where did the summer go? The campus is rife with new students who cannot remember a time without cell phones, DVDs, and laptops, and once again, I feel ancient. The school year is upon us.

I promise to come back (soon!) to write about tomatoes, raspberry lemon jelly, my first knitting project since 1997, cats, freezer paper, green lynx spiders, and more, but for now, I'll just share this:

Cookie Monster is my all-time favorite (but I know perfectly well that my personality is more like Kermit's).