Lovely Holiday Weekend

The evening of the 4th, we had good friends and neighbors over for dinner. I served hors d’oeuvres of hummus, pita bread, grapevine leaves with homemade avogolemono sauce, and spanakopita. Then, pasta with garlicky shrimp in a white sauce, zukes in custard with lots of herbs. Woody helped me cook and made his ‘famous’ Caesar salad. We had a wonderful time and stayed up way too late. Of course. Dale made a delicious lemon blueberry cake.

I pulled the salad bowl lettuce, leaving all the rest, both green and red of various kinds.  I start salad bowl inside as it transplants easily and gives us lettuce long before the six or seven types I start from direct seeding.  I also weeded my vegetable garden and the pollinator beds and finally deadheaded the pansies on the front porch. It was pleasant for several days and I worked outside whenever I could.  It turned hot and muggy then, so the only way I can work outside without suffering inordinantly is to get up super early and get outside as fast as I can.  I started sleeping at least half the night with air conditioning.  Willow seems to enjoy it also. Schwartzie suffers the most from the heat, as he is a very longhaired black cat.

We enjoyed the Stevie Van Sant documentary on HBO Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I have been watching the track and field events and the gymnastics. Woody likes diving but I don’t like it as well as I have no idea what makes a good except they shouldn’t splash too much.  The one thing I was good at in grade school was running.  I understand most of the other track and field events.  Ever notice how gorgeous all the Black women runners are? And how large and strong the discus throwers are.  All those events make sense to me. Many other Olympic event just leave me puzzled. Rhythmic dancing with ribbons or whatever they call it. The swimming where they make patterns. In general, I like to watch the women more than the men, but they’re good too.

I am making steady progress on the book.  I have inserted the major changes as far as I’ve gone – about 40%, I’d guess.  I am having Dale put in the small corrections done on the paper manuscript. It’s going slowly, which worries me.

We’re going plenty of zucchini but not too many for us to use and an equal number of pattypans. Still harvesting lettuce – we can’t guess when the plants will bolt, usually not all at once.  Still good as of today. This weekend I hope to get outside early and pull the arugula that’s gonzo and replace it witih new seeds.  The one crop that has been disappointing so far are the cucumbers in Woody’s garden, that haven’t done thing but put out leaves. Woody has successfully protected the pole beans from the rabbits and they’re beginning to climb their teepees.  Some years we have to replant many because the rabbits eat the tender seedlings.

Route 6 is terrifying.  I hear sirens every half hour and occasionally a crash is so loud I can hear it across the marsh. This is a banner mosquito year.  Ever since the Bay broke through the dune at Duck Harbor, that whole area floods and is prime mosquito habitat. In spite of OFF, I was bitten 5 times this week. If you can’t stand mosquitoes, don’t come to the Cape this summer.