urban hiking

Now, I'm using the term "urban" loosely here.  This isn't a major metropolitan area by any means.  My point, though, is that we went hiking this weekend on a lovely wooded trail that's adjacent to my town's biggest commercial center.   You can go to the mall, and then a fraction of a mile away you can hike for a solid hour.  No joke.

You can hear cars going by, but visually you'd never know you're still remarkably close to civilization most of the time.  We even watched as an owl flew across the trail in front of us, landed on a branch in a nearby tree, and stared at us for several minutes.

overheard

"... Sure, honey.  I guess it does sort of look like the opening to The Simpsons."

Happy weekend, all!

earthquake!

If you live in New England and have any connection to social media at all, I'm sure you know already that we had an earthquake this evening.

If you're not familiar with New England, I'll say this: New England is not earthquake country.  Most people I know thought a very large truck was driving by.  And then, oh wait, that's no truck; perhaps the furnace is malfunctioning?  I think it took us all collectively several seconds to figure out what was happening.

So now we're all rather proud to have this badge of honor.  We -- my state, even! -- had an earthquake.  4.6 on the Richter scale!  We're no San Andreas, but that's not too shabby.

from the garden: sweet potatoes

And when I say "from the garden," I mean "from a grocery bag that sat in the driveway all summer."
I grew sweet potato slips by suspending one in water at the end of the winter.  Then I planted a couple slips in a grocery bag filled with soil, watered infrequently, and crossed my fingers.
What do you know, we have usable sweet potatoes to show for it.  Next year I might put in more (or any) effort and see if the results are even better.

persistence

 

 

Nice try, strawberry plants. Nice try.