quaint vignettes from my charming rural idyll

Bees like hair.
I have come to this conclusion after many years of exhaustive research. Furthermore, bees like hair the later in the year it gets...right around late August-early September, to be precise.
Now by bees I mean these things:

Yes, I know, it's a paper wasp. Fine.
I have really crappy hair and I always have...shattery, thin and flyaway no matter what I do to it. Late in the year I will find that the bees have been hitching a ride in my flyaways, and it always comes as a surprise. An unpleasant one. As in, I scream and flap like a big dork.
Let's say I've been outside deedle-ing around. Whenever I pass through a doorway and the air pressure changes, invariably I will hear one of these things take off with a papery rattle of wings from someplace far too close to my ear, sounding like sheet cellophane. I always wonder if they've been munching on my split ends or just perching there. Either way it's never a fun thing when something that looks as evil and extraterrestrial as paper wasp goes lazing past your nose, long freaky legs hanging down, stinger visibly pulsing. GAAAAH.

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I like beer A LOT. Fortunately for me (although not so fortunate for my expanding butt)I live in the middle of microbrew heaven. The local bounty of craft-brewed beer is mine for the asking, even in the smallest most out-of-the-way quickie mart.

See? I keep telling you people to move here, but do you listen? No.

We have a buddy who could be a very wealthy man if he would just get his ass in gear and market his holiday brew. He makes it specifically for giving as a gift around Christmastime. This stuff is something special. Something a cut above. It's as subtle as a fine wine, full and round but not cloying or aggressive in the least. It's absolutely perfect for pairing with roast meats and cold-weather meals. I have never tasted anything that came close to equalling this stuff. It's a miracle.

The man is a genius of flavor, I guess you'd have to say. He's brought around reds that taste like cedar and rain and crisp lagers that ring like crystal. His porters and ales are thick and full, carmel dark and as delicious as a fat man on a cold night. Take it from someone who knows...that's some hardcore delicious going on.


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My garden came in thick with 'Love In A Mist' this year; thick like I've never seen before. My poor snapdragons and california poppies never stood a chance.

Nigella Damascena is an annual that flowers almost continuously from May until September, throwing a star-shaped blossom that comes a true 'hard blue'. The foliage is ferny and threadlike. The inflorescence is surrounded by further slender, branching threads, almost like an impossibly attenuate snowflake. It is the most ridiculously beautiful thing.

Beginning in June the Nigella begins to form oval seedheads that resemble balloons. Each balloon is striped longitudinally with dark brown, and this darkens as the seedhead dries to tan striped with black. A six-pointed star, open at the points, forms atop these pods once the sun has dried them, and the black seeds pepper out every times the wind blows. When I rive them out I have to stop periodically and empty my shoes; they're that generous.

This flower was introduced from a 'blue bedder mix' that I planted ten years ago. Of the selection, only 'Nigella Damascena' has come back to visit. I couldn't be happier. Blue is my addiction and my fascination, and you couldn't ask for a prettier pest.
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