Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

Live from...a 1973 Airstream Land Yacht

I've made the plunge.

Yesterday morning I woke up to a defunct AC unit.  In late July.  In the southeast. 

Since the Airstream's AC unit works great - I somewhat irratically decided that last night was the night - and I spent my first night in the Airstream.  With three dogs.

Two things of note: 

1. I'm no longer used to living on 'the ground'.
2. It's really weird to hear something walking on your roof.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well.  But I think I needed to make the jump - and today I have my TV and computer in the Airstream and hooked up to cable and the internet.

So this is my first official post from the Airstream.  It all started here.

Life is an adventure (or so I'd like to think).

 

~they're everywhere~

~the writing spider, Argiope aurantia~

~the first tomato of 2009~

~the first tomato of 2009~

~~~~~

I neglected to post the photo of my first tomato of the 2009 season a few weeks ago - to be precise, it was harvested on the 16th of July.  That's late for my southern garden - but the fault is all mine.

It's a Big Mama (and might I add that I don't think the bowl of paste tomatoes on the Cook's Garden website are Big Mamas?).  The plant that bore this lovely fruit was grown from seed by my Father, the world's greatest Big Mama fan.  I brought it back from Virginia early in the spring - but neglected to plant it for weeks that turned into months.  I should be ashamed (and I am, sort of - but my life has been a bit nuts, so I'm fairly certain that the tomato Gods will forgive me).  Eventually it made it into a large pot - and it is now tall and happy and covered in fruit.

My Father's love of Big Mama's began several years ago, and I first mentioned it in this post back in April of 2006.  He and my Mother were visiting - and we had gone out to the then Pete's Herbs (now Sea Island Savory Herbs, as mentioned in the spring by Compost in my Shoe) to buy tomato plants.  From that 2006 post: 

My brother and I have been saying for sometime that we should've been writers for Jerry Seinfeld, or at at least consultants for the shows that included his parents.  Today, still less than 24 hours into their visit, we drive to Pete's Herbs so my Dad could stock up on tomato and pepper plants that he can then brag about to his friends and neighbors back in Virginia...the conversations, once back home, will go something like this:

Dad:  "Did you hear?  We found Big Mamas down in South Carolina when we went visiting our daughter."

Random Person (it could be ANYBODY):  "Big Mamas?  What's a Big Mama?"

Dad:  "Oh come on, you know (with a wink).  Anyway, I couldn't find any Whoppers though.  I really wanted some Whoppers.  There was alot of other stuff, just no Whoppers.  And I don't like the Wonders.  Really glad I found the Big Mamas though."

(By this time the Random Person has walked off, confused.  Dad doesn't care, because the next Random Person has showed up.)

~~~~~

I'll write again about my Dad and his love of growing tomatoes - but tonight I'm tired and still have some work to do.

~~~~~

~nourishment~

~black-eyed peas, fresh from my Aunt's farm~

~~~~~

Last Wednesday, on the drive back to Charleston from Virginia - I took about a 7 mile detour off of I-95 in southern Virginia to visit my Aunt's produce stand.  She and her husband and son are real farmers, not pretend farmers (like me).  By the time I left, my car was filled with bags containing canteloupe and watermelon, blueberries and yellow squash, freshly picked ears of sweet corn and eggplants, a few tomatoes, and black-eyed peas.

This Aunt is my Mom's sister - and of my Mother's family, she probably reminds me the most of my Mom.  There is something about the way she runs around, always busy, and always feeding people or doing something for someone that reminds me of her.  She wanted to feed me lunch that day, but it was a bit early - and instead, she put some homemade blueberry bread and chocolate cookies into separate bags for me to take with me.  She thought I needed caffeine for the drive, so she also grabbed a cold Pepsi from the fridge.

~~~~~

  

~~~~~

 I don't think it matters how old we get, it always feels beyond good to have a Mother send us on our way with food to nourish us.  My last visit to Virginia to visit my Mother, the visit before the one when she passed away - was Easter weekend.  The Monday morning that I got up to go back to Charleston, she packed me snacks to take with me - and a sandwich for lunch.  She also grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge in 'case I got sleepy'.  She died a few weeks later.

My kitchen is still filled with wonderful vegetables tonight, grown by my Mom's sister.  It feels wonderful to be nourished with such produce, but it makes me really miss my Mom.

~~~~~  

~a perfect day~

Two Saturdays ago, my friend Jeff and I travelled three hours to visit a lovely field of crinums at Lushlife Crinum Nurseries, Beech Island, South Carolina.  It was a nice and sometimes hilarious day spent on backroads in rural South Carolina.

~~~~~

~an unveiling~

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

~The opening lines of Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez~

~~~~~

Tonight at the Taco Boy on Huger Street - there was a festive unveiling of an art piece that was a collaboration between Charleston artists' David Boatwright and Jeff Kopish.  I stopped by on my way home from work, so I thought I'd share a bit of the unveiling with you...

~~~~~

 

~~~~~

"You gonna eat that?"

~Crocisma, burning bright in the garden~ 

~~~~~

Handsome Stan and I have returned from our brief Pointer Sister vacation - after a nice visit with my Dad in Virginia.  The infamous pseudo-sisters have been released from the Paw Plaza Hotel and are happy to be home.   More about my trip later...

 ...because for now - I'd like to let you know that a much-loved local poet, Richard Garcia, is the week's Guest Blogger over at The Best American Poetry.  Go and read a bit.  It's great stuff.  Richard is the spouse of the Microbial Lab's very own Poet Laureate, Katherine Williams - and has been mentioned in these pages before (and before that and before even that).  Plus, my ever-charming and interesting lab is mentioned in the comments of his post titled Dogs and Poetry - and a commentor includes this wonderful dog-poem in her comment (sorry Katherine, but I had to see it before next week's lab meeting...):

A Poem by Karen Shephard's Dog, Birch in 'Unleashed: Poems by Writers' Dogs'

"You gonna eat that?
You gonna eat that?
You gonna eat that?

I'll eat that."

~~~~~ 

'Hannibal's Dwarf'

~Crinum 'Hannibal's Dwarf'~

~~~~~

I couldn't resist posting one of my crinums that I brought home from yesterday's visit - it's my first dwarf crinum (and this one has nice foliage), and I was told that it would do well in a pot.  So last night I quickly potted it up - but I plan to divide it in the fall, and to have this crinum in several pots in a row - I think it'll be beautiful.

(Some of the flowers got a bit beat up during the car ride home yesterday - but this one has a wonderful rosette of flowers).

~~~~~

~a Saturday roadtrip~

~a water lotus, in a small pond off a road between Charleston and Aiken~

~~~~~

Today my friend Jeff and I took a short roadtrip to a gathering of crinum lovers in Beech Island, South Carolina.  It was the home of Jenks Farmer's Mom - and a place where he grows and propagates his crinums (visit Lushlife Crinum Nurseries).  It was a beautiful day, and an interesting 3-hr drive through a million rural South Carolina towns - ending up in a lovely patch of flowering crinums.

I'll post more about it in a few days.  As for now, I need to pack and get some sleep since tomorrow I'm heading to Virginia and a short visit with my Father.  I'm looking forward to seeing him.

~~~~~

Blossomtime in Grayscale