A Tale of Two Basils, and Two Cats

I have finally given up on The World's Most Pathetic Basil Plant, which has been barely surviving on my kitchen table for months now.


See? Pathetic.

I just don't get enough direct sunlight for it to be happy. I remembered to water it regularly, which is an accomplishment for me, but still. "Not thriving" is probably the kindest way to put it.

So I got a small planter pot, and a healthy new basil plant, and am going to try keeping it outside, where the sun is. My neighbors didn't mind the idea of my leaving it on the shared stoop, so on Sunday I potted the new guy:


With help!


I haven't seen this guy around before, but his tag said "Marcel, outdoor cat", and as you can see he was super-friendly. He came meowing up just as I was finishing, and stayed around for the photo shoot, purring.


I looked out a few times after I went in, and he was still there.


Cute cat! And speaking of cute cats, I have one of those inside as well:


The face! The paws! He kills me with the cuteness.


Either you're a cat people or you isn't, and I is.

A nice Sunday, in garden and hockey

Well, my goodness, the Bruins won today. What a surprise. It was already a good day, but there's icing on the cake for you.

It was a good day because I went on a little trek, out to Wellesley College to visit their greenhouses, and my word I enjoyed it. Warm and damp and the plants and flowers, ooh, lovely. I walked around smiling. Just what I needed in the middle of winter. I highly recommend it.

When the weather has given you a lot of this:


You need a place that gives you this:


And this:


And this:


Also these:


And these:


I loved these:


But most of all, this:


Being warm because you're sweating under five layers, while your face feels like frostbite, is just not the same as being warm.

A lot more photos are on Flickr. If I did it right, you can see the set by clicking here.

The brighter side of being unemployed.

Well, hey, who am I kidding, if the pesky money issue wasn't there, I'd love to not work. I'm not one of these people who, upon winning millions in the lottery, keeps their job down at the plant.

But specifically, being out of work right now means that I can finally go to the local farmers market, which has always irked me by being during the day. Although fall weather is coming, it's still pleasant, and I walked into town to see what they had. It's a small market, but I found a few things:


For seven dollars, I think I made out. Don't you love those carrots?


He said he planted them too close together. Carrot love!

I passed a nice garden on the way. If you look closely, you can see tomatoes among the flowers:


And cucumbers climbing onto the porch. Nice!


This bush had to be ten feet tall.


And the flowers were beautiful.


I went up to my former place of employment yesterday and had lunch with a few people, then visited my little garden plot once more. There were still a few tomatoes, and a bunch of green beans (past peak, most of them).





And I picked basil, catnip, and mint (because it was there).


Now I'm off, for my second night of twin-sitting this week. The other night was fun, but whew! Thirteen-month-old twins negate the need for a gym membership. Fortunately, dinner, play, and bed was followed by several hours knitting and reading on the couch. I needed to recover! It was fun, but they move so fast I didn't even get any pictures!

Where I went on Friday

Yesterday, I was looking at the tomatoes that I picked on Monday, and thinking wistful thoughts about how I used to be able to see my garden every day, you know, before I was laid off.

Monday's tomatoes on Monday

Monday's tomatoes on Friday

And I thought, perhaps tomorrow would be a good day to visit the garden, and see how it's doing, sad and lonely without me.

Then last night I dreamed that I went to the garden and all the plants were gone, and in the way of dreams I was trying to tell if I was in the right place and I wasn't sure and it got very confusing, but this morning I decided that I should go. I wouldn't be able to see my former coworkers, who would be off at the sales meeting, but I could visit the tomatoes anyway.

They missed me. You can tell, can't you?


I don't know why these photos unrotated, by the way. Computers are perverse.

I also picked 20 green beans, which made a nice healthy snack this afternoon.

It was so odd, driving back there. It felt at the same time familiar and a bit illicit. I somehow expected to be questioned. (I wasn't.)

And finally, may I introduce you to Basil Winterbourne the Sixth.


I uprooted one of the basil plants, in hopes that he will find a pot in my kitchen to be almost as nice a place to live and thrive as the great outdoors. His leaves got a little (ahem) limp at first, but I'm hoping he'll recover from the shock.

And if not? Pesto!

Today Could Have Been Worse

I picked a bunch more tomatoes today. See?


Yes, some of them are only slightly red. But seeing as I was laid off today, I wasn't sure when I'd next get up to the garden to pick, so I took everything that was even slightly red.

And more basil, and some catnip.

And three green beans, but they were gone before I was in the car.

Yeah, yeah, laid off. It wasn't a shock (they're restructuring the whole office: good-bye to 40% of Marketing), and it was almost a relief to know, after the weird and worrisome weekend of wondering.

Harold greeted my lunchtime return with open arms:


He actually was glad to see me; this was after he got used to the idea. Yeah, Mom's home, yawn, whatever, nap time.

And best of all by far, I got to bring the baby home. He's no worse than he was*, which is a huge relief given my black fears and visions.

*I mean, plerual effusion doesn't even sound as bad as congestive heart failure, right?

He's home.


Today could have been far worse.

Anyone in Greater Boston need a proofreader/copywriter/copy editor? Anyone? Bueller? I haz mad word skillz, y'all! Seriously, keep me in mind, would you?

Weekend Highlights, in pictures and words

Harold is going to help me by keeping a watchful eye on the length of this post--oops, sorry, he's too busy watching a bag blow by. Heaven help you!


On Friday, I picked a bunch of the mint that was growing, mostly wild, in my garden. Here it is forming a bed under the tomatoes:


I made mint ice cream, which turned out good if not to die for. The confusing part was that, although the recipe told me it would be "emerald green", it was more a slightly greenish yellow.


That isn't a problem in itself, but we used to make lemon ice cream when I was a kid, and this stuff was so much more yellow than green that my taste buds kept expecting lemon. But still, with some chocolate chips, it was pretty darn good.

As promised, the heart baby blanket is done, washed, and photographed:


I'm quite pleased with it, and I hope the recipient will be, too.


Which leaves me back with my sock. I tried it on, and it's a wee bit loose. But given how I seem to shrink socks, I think that's all for the better.


Pan and Harold reprise their roles in the regular show, Ignoring each other from as close as possible.

Other cat? What other cat?


I went for a walk today, this morning when it was lovely as opposed to this afternoon when it stormed for so long I forgot what Harold looks like.

I saw pretty flowers:


And what is this? Tiger grass?


This afternoon I did laundry, and changed the sheets, which Pan never tires of helping with.

Let me hold this sheet down for you.


Me? Playing with the sheet? Me?


Oh, well, maybe.


But only because you think it's cute.


Can you tell what's under the sheet?


Hint:


Did you hear that?


I never like to see the end of the weekend, but this was a nice relaxing one, and I'm doing okay with it.

It followed me home, can I keep it?

Another victory for the "stick it in the ground and see what happens" gardener. Look!


I didn't pick the little one; it was on the ground. But that ripe one, I just touched it and it fell into my hand. It did not want to wait until Monday. How about that?

There are dragonflies in and around the garden every day. For some reason, I mostly see red ones. I loved this blue one!


Star flower?


Just pretty.


I almost don't believe it's the weekend. It seems too good to be true. Off to be a vegetable now. Later!