Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

I had the first mariglobe tomato today. I’ve never grown them, but they are a popular tomato to grow. For Texas, (remember it’s hot here) they did crack a bit–couple of fairly deep cracks and we’ve only hit 90 a few times. Nothing major. They were pretty firm, with perhaps just a bare touch of mushiness. They ripened well, very little green left on the shoulders. Taste? Pretty dang good. This is a pretty slicing tomato–nice and round, good definition. I’d put it up there in taste as very close to that of the Celebrity, which is a good standard tomato that does well in home gardens. So far the Celebrity cracks a little less, but I do have the Celebrity in half shade this year–that helps. The mariglobe has full sun until about 5 o’clock. The flavor is worth growing again, but I don’t think it’s quite a prolific as my Celebrity plant. The size and taste would make an EXCELLENT BLT. Juicy but not overly watery. Really, overall, the flavor is something to write home about. It’s got a nice touch of acid that bursts in your mouth with a tomato shout.

It probably does even better in cooler climates, but that is the case with just about ANY tomato. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Tags: tomato plants

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

Scamper is still feral, but she’s getting a little more leisurely these days. We can’t get near her and giving her a pat on the head is out of the question. She comes inside after it rains. Not while it’s raining, mind you, but after everything is all damp, she likes to hide under the couch where it’s nice and dry. And sometimes these days, she’ll even sit in the relative “open” of the magazine table. She seems particularly fond of perusing the tomato magazine. Or maybe it just seems that way because it’s the one that’s always on top of the pile.

She’s come a long way since the beginning.

Tags: project - cat

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

So. The infamous patterned skort/shorts have been … completed! They’re a little big. I’m not used to wearing a skirt and of course they are kind of skirt-like, but even so, the waist is…rather roomy. Maybe they will shrink a bit in the wash. They’re pink knit. I do not look like a giant pink elephant, at least not very much like one.

And if you must know, I sewed the pockets inside-out because I was following the instructions. So the rough edges are inside the pocket instead of outside. You can’t see it, but one pocket is a little misshapen. Well, very misshapen. Still, they’re mostly intact and almost my size.

I asked husband if he would go to a restaurant with me if I wore them. He said, “Sure.”

“And you’d sit with me? At the *same* table?” I know the man. He’s an engineer. He can parse words quite well and leaves himself plenty of wiggle room should he need it.

He nodded emphatically and then…his head cocked to one side as he inspected my person. “Which restaurant?” he asked.

VEEEEERY funny.

Tags: home

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

Okay, a BLT can’t solve all the problems all the time (you need chocolate for that), but it sure was nice to bite into the first BLT of the tomato season. I meant to take a picture of the first big boy tomato and some of the juliet grape tomatoes for the blog. But I was so overcome by greed at the mere idea of eating a juicy BLT, that I had that tomato sliced before noon. Well before noon. I picked the tomato in the morning and despite having French toast for breakfast, I felt I needed to eat a BLT at 10:30. So that is just what I did. Yes, the big boy could have ripened another day if I hadn’t been in such a hurry…maybe the next one. But I am not complaining. We had a fresh cucumber from the garden as an appetizer and a wonderful BLT for lunch. Next time I’ll try to take pictures.

For dinner there will be zucchini, beef and onions stir fried in a light soy/sugar sauce over rice. Dinner might be served rather early too.

Tags: home

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

So, this time, I decided to buy a pattern before trying to make a pair of shorts. Hmm. At first glance, I don’t think it’s going to help. First off, I read the instructions. Most of it…doesn’t make sense. I can live with that. I never follow instructions anyway. But. Next I looked at the size chart in order to figure out how to cut the pattern. Huh? Did I buy a barbie pattern by mistake??? NO ONE is 36/23/33 UNLESS you are a barbie. Worse, according to this pattern, I need to cut the waist between a size 6 and 8 and according to this pattern my butt is a size 14 or 16. Okay, look, I may not know how to sew (it becomes more obvious every day) but with those measurements, I’d have to cut the pattern straight across, take a left for a mile and then jump off a cliff. Sure, sure, we all know I’m not perfectly proportioned. But the angle I’d have to cut at doesn’t even EXIST on this piece of paper. I’m not building a Corvette here, people. We’re talking a pair of shorts. Shouldn’t the pattern sort of LOOK like shorts?

And another thing. Why, by all that is holy (holey?) is the pocket 12 inches??? Seriously. I set the cutout pocket up against my pants pocket. It’s more than twice the length of my pocket (and it’s a pocket I didn’t make. It’s a real pocket.) Am I supposed to store my shoes in there?? Or is there some secret to pocket making and this extra sized pocket is going to be sewn into the … waistband or something. Maybe it will shrink? Maybe they know I’m prone to mistakes so they…hey. Maybe I am supposed to fold it over? I’ll try that. Yes, I already cut four pieces of material. I told you the instructions didn’t make sense!

Hmph.

Oh. I forgot to mention. The fabric is FABULOUS. Lots of potential in this gorgeous fabric. If I could only sew…

Tags: quilting

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

For those of you who purchased Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom anytime before January 2012 (this year) the update that includes illustrations for each story is FINALLY available for download. You do not need to repurchase. Just go to your Manage Kindle page, locate the book and the pull down menu should have an option to download the update. I believe you’ll lose any notes or highlights so you don’t have to get the update if you don’t want it. The stories are the same other than I added one illustration to the top of each story and added a bonus, unrelated children’s story.

Sage contains stories about plant magic; it’s a cozy fantasy read. There’s a little bit of sword and sorcery, definitely mysteries to be solved and some interesting characters to keep things lively.

If you don’t see the update for some reason, let me know. I’ve been working with Amazon for several months in order to make the update available seamlessly. And, if you have a different reader (ePub) the update is not yet available. When it is available, it will probably only be available through my own website. Doing illustrations in the various formatting required for each retailer is simply impossible. There aren’t enough hours in the day!

Tags: home

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

Frank Tuttle’s All the Paths of Shadow, the first in his cozy fantasy series is on sale for $3.99 today. This book is normally $9.99. I have no idea how long this price will last, but the book is a good read; kind of a bit of steampunk, fantasy, mystery. If you read any fantasy at all or love cozy mysteries and have been eying it greedily, here’s your chance!

Tags: home

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

Friday evening was beautiful; a balmy 70 or so. We decided to take a walk. We sometimes do short walks in the evening, just a mile around the block. There was a nice breeze, kids out practicing baseball with their parents coaching…yanno, far be it for me to tell people how to play baseball, but it seems to me that if you’re going to have kid 2 throwing the ball back to Mom in her chair that Mom might not want to sit Right In Front of the SUV. SUV has nice big windows. Wonder how long they are going to stay intact with the kid throwing a ball right at them for all he’s worth? And that house that is in front of the kid swinging that bat…well, it’s mine. And I don’t want my garage door dented. I don’t want the side window to have to be replaced either. Just so you know.

Around the block we went, minding our own business. On the second corner turn, we noticed a lady coming towards us on a bicycle. She turned with us, wobbling along. Her lack of balance was probably because she was tilting her head against her shoulder so that she could talk into her cell phone–while riding a bicycle and trying to hold onto a twelve pack of beer. Yeah. The cars trying to get around her didn’t seem to appreciate it either.

We kept walking, she kept wobbling along. Until she dropped the beer. Then the bike sort of went sideways and she disappeared behind a parked car as she hopped/fell off. Hope that beer was in cans. She was in front of us now, but by the time she managed to pick the beer up again, we had almost caught up to her. She didn’t try to get back on the bike, but she was having a hard time carrying that beer and holding the bike up while she walked. We went around her.

Little while later, she crossed to the other side of the street. She appeared to be trying to slide the top part of the cardboard beer box over the handle of the bicycle. Uhm.

Husband said, “I don’t think I’d try to transport my beer that way. Bet it doesn’t stay on that handlebar for long.”

Yeah.

We kept walking. Miss Beer Buyer got back on the bike and started peddling away. We stopped for the mail. By the time we resumed our walk, Miss Beer had stopped too. Seems the beer was back on the sidewalk and this time the cans had rolled away. She was holding the bike with one hand and reaching for the beer with the other. One at a time she put them back in the cardboard box. It will surprise you to know that the top of the beer box appeared torn open.

“Be nice to get that home and pop the top on the beer she went to so much trouble to buy,” I said.

“Yeah,” Husband said, “After she waits two hours for it to settle so she can open it without it spraying all over the place.”

Rocket science. I tell you, it’s rocket science.

Tags: walks in life

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

So we took our usual walk this morning. It was threatening rain so we were hurrying along. So was the teenager coming towards us on his bicycle. He was coming up the slight incline in that half-standing-to-pedal-better mode. All of a sudden he slammed on the brakes and stopped. He had to stop quickly because his pants were falling off. Yup, ye old fashion of the day had left his ass not only hanging out, but also put him in imminent danger of falling off his bike because it’s hard to pedal with your pants around your knees. There’s a *reason* belts and suspenders were invented. Couldn’t you at least wear suspenders and tighten them for the ride home? How often do you have to stop on your way? Does it take you an extra half hour of stop time just to adjust your clothing??? And I thought high heels were stupid.

As he took off again, I looked back. Yup, I was mooned by his underwear. I thought he was pedaling fast to make it home before the rain, but as fast as his pants were falling off, I’m guessing he has to get in as many rotations as he can before stopping to pull them up again.

Come on, people! This is not rocket science. PUT YOUR PANTS ON. There’s a “waist” for a reason. The general idea, in case you’ve missed it, is that you pull the pants OVER your butt so that you can KEEP THEM ON and still walk or ride your bike. And we do not want to see your underwear, no we do not. They are called UNDERwear for a reason. Yes, really–they are to be worn UNDER your other clothes! WHO KNEW????

Husband’s take on the situation: “That does not inspire confidence in our leaders of tomorrow. Not even smart enough to figure out how to keep his pants on!” He paused. “Then again, that seems to be a large problem with our leaders of today too, doesn’t it?”

Yeeeah. You could say that. And now you know where it all starts. Not even smart enough to pull up your pants to ride your bike home in the rain.

Tags: walks in life

Originally published at Bear Mountain Books. Please leave any comments there.

I had to pull about 3 snap peas. I should pull them all, but I am loathe to do it. They have mildew and are looking awful. It happens every year; there’s no getting around it. Those two weeks when temps were floating at and above 90 did them in. Sure, the weather is nice now, but it’s too late for the snap peas. We harvested about 5 bunches this year, which isn’t a lot considering the work that goes into watering and staking and keeping them bug free. I’ve heard that Sugar Anns do well in Texas. I’m going to try them next year. I should probably just grow green beans. I know they are easier.

The zucchini looks as though it will generate at least another fruit. I had to kill more moths yesterday. I was not saddened by their deaths, but I know I’m not going to win the war. Dang bugs. I don’t know how the moths find the plant under all that cinnamon.

The tomatoes are trickling in. I have two grape tomatoes on the counter for lunch. Another is ripening. No big tomatoes yet, although a couple are threatening to turn. Once they start I’ll have tomatoes for about two months. If I’m lucky I’ll get enough to can some! It’s a short growing season in Texas even if it is all spread out. I’m picking onions too; they were a decent crop, although not a huge one. Many of the onions stayed on the small side before falling over (when the necks break, the bulbs will not get bigger.) I am getting banana peppers. That’s a nice early pepper and it’s my first year to grow it. The yellow and red bells are on the plants but not full grown. I see philly cheesesteaks in my future.

I’m enjoying the cool and rainy week we’re having. I hope we get several of them this summer!

Tags: home