Recent Lapse in Posting

It's been a weird few weeks for me in terms of blog posting, and I guess by that I meant that I haven't done much of it, for two main reasons:

• My stupid wrist is acting up again. In fact, this week I got my first ever cortisone shot (yowza), as well as a new wrist brace that better immobilizes my right thumb. My doctor, who's been terrific about all this, also wants me to start some physical therapy. While all of that stuff should help, the primary treatment is not using my right hand, which gets a little complicated for someone who spends the majority of her days typing. So I'm attempting to do as little non-work typing as possible.

• While I do have some additional photos of the garden to post from September, it's been tricky to stay motivated about anything gardening-related. Although Minnesotans have been lucky with warm temperatures until this week, it's also been ridiculously wet. And since you're not supposed to work the soil when it's saturated, there hasn't been much I can do out there lately. My rain barrel is completely full of water, but the last thing my plants need is more water at this point. So it's been hard not to feel some general frustration on the gardening topic, which, let's face it, it pretty central to my blog postings.

In the short-term, I'll try to concentrate on getting some of the recent backyard photos posted (along with some T-day photos from recent years!), as that requires a little less typing.

Playtime for Polar Bears and Sled Dogs?

You read it right. The two species demonstrated all the behaviors and postures associated with playing together, according to photographer Norbert Rosing, who captured images of polar bears romping with sled dogs every night for a week. Check out the audio slide-show -- be sure to turn your speakers on!

The Pepper Harvest

I'd been looking forward to harvesting our "Red Beauty" bell peppers for a while, and decided recently that the time had come!

Unfortunately, a caterpillar decided to munch on this inside of this one. Ewww.

The others looked lovely, so I sliced them and (along with some sliced onions) tossed them in olive oil and salt to get them ready for the grill.

I figured they'd be a perfect compliment to some steaks and mushrooms.

The finished product looked great...

... and the taste?

Meh.

They were perfectly fine, but nothing special. This was my first foray into pepper gardening, so I was really surprised to discover that home-grown peppers taste exactly the same as store-bought peppers. (The complete opposite seems to be true of tomatoes.) And while I like the idea of growing the food I eat, our in-the-city backyard has pretty limited growing space for something that tastes the same as store-bought.

So as I review this year's blog postings six months from now to plan my 2008 garden, note to self: Forget the peppers and devote the space to something more interesting.

Enjoying the Evenings

At the start of September, the Star Tribune reported that we'll lose one hour and twenty-three minutes of daylight this month. I'll be honest, that makes me a little nervous. It's really disconcerting to think about the long, dark Minnesota winter, no matter how much I love the snow. So we'll try to make the summer last as long as possible by enjoying our favorite room -- the backyard patio -- even in the dark.

Charlotte and the Sunflowers

Charlotte has been turning up in assorted spots lately (perhaps she realized that George wasn't the right place for her?), but none so often as the corner of our driveway near the Awesome NeighborsTM garage. One recent evening, we found her sitting contentedly (okay, I'm anthropomorphizing) in the center of her web, which was strung between the garage and the sunflowers that Awesome NeighborTM Sarah planted.

In addition to providing a great photo-op, this location suits me a little better, as I'm less likely to stroll right into her web.

On a semi-related note, I finally watched the 2006 film version of "Charlotte's Web." I was sick on the couch for a couple of days, and it seemed like a nice "sick-day" kind of a movie. I went in with pretty low expectations, because a) I realize that, for me, nothing will live up to the book, and 2) Julia Roberts was the voice of Charlotte (what exactly was the logic there?). And it was fine. Very well made, but not terribly moving. No surprise there.

What was a surprise? How very very unpleasant it was to see Charlotte for so much of the film. A spider's face is fricken' creepy, I don't care how nurturing said spider is supposed to be. The nice thing about the book is that, with the exception of Garth William's few illustrations (all delightful and subtle, like this one on the book's cover), your imagination supplies the visuals. And chances are, your imagination is not going to zoom in for a tight shot on what is, let's face it, not a very snuggly creature. The movie, on the other hand, makes sure that Charlotte's face -- including multiple pairs of black beady eyes, in all their detailed CGI glory -- is right up in your face. (The many close-up shots of the rat weren't much better, although Steve Buscemi does terrific voice work as usual.) So I think I'll stick to the audiobook, wherein I can enjoy the wonderful characters without being face-to-face with them.