Today

There's a large spiderweb outside our bathroom window. It stretches from the edge of the roof over to one of the Crepe Myrtle trees beside the house. The trees are currently in bloom, so when the wind blows the lavender-pink flowers fly around and get stuck in the web. It's truly a work of art. I tried to take a picture, but my phone camera just wouldn't do it any justice.

Here's a close up of one of the blossoms. The flowers are so pretty, suspended in the intricate web. You'll just have to imagine.

I woke up this morning to an eerie looking sunrise. It cast a pinkish-orange glow in rooms with windows facing east, and when I stepped outside everything was awash in color and strange shadows. Once again, my camera doesn't do it justice.

Today would have been my dad's birthday. He would have been 72.

I don't remember this date bothering me too much last year (the first one after he died) but today was different. I'm okay, just kind of sad. No matter how busy I kept myself at work (and there was plenty to keep me busy) I just couldn't shake it. There was just this...heaviness. 

Delayed grief, maybe?

I'm beginning to realize I didn't get a chance to really mourn my dad when he first died. Things quickly got so bad with my mom and me that it kind of took over  And now that my mom and I have severed ties, it's like she's died. Recently I started to realize that all of a sudden (it feels all of a sudden) I went from having two parents to none. 

At first when my mom and I agreed we were "done" with each other, all I felt was relief. Things had gotten that bad. Now that I've had some time and some room to breathe, to process...some of the delayed/buried emotions are coming up. At least, I think that's what's happening. 

It's okay. I'm okay.

It's just been one of those tough days, you know? 

Heat Dome (or, some random circle of Hell)

This summer has been the worst I can ever remember for terrible heat. It's been truly awful, and there's no end in sight.

Okay, I know I complain about the heat every summer. It's just part of living in the Deep South this time of year. But. This is ridiculous, even for us. They say we're under a "Heat Dome".

From The Weather Channel's website:

What Is A Heat Dome? Explaining The Deadly Weather Pattern Behind America's Most Dangerous Summer Days

These expansive areas of sinking air can push temperatures up to 30 degrees above average during the summer while increasing the threat of heat illnesses.

They're known by many names: Heat dome. Ridge of high pressure. Death ridge. Blocking high.

But do you really know what these are and why they can produce deadly weather?

These expansive bulges of warm air can stretch for 1,000 miles during the spring and summer months and provide sinking air over much of the country.

It's that sinking air that is often problematic.

Descending air compresses and warms as it drops closer to the surface. Temperatures can often reach the century mark in the eastern two-thirds of the United States. In the West, these death ridges can push temperatures into the 110s and 120s in the desert.

Days-long heat waves are often the result.

This sinking, warm air also dries out the ground and the air above it. Thunderstorms have a tough time sprouting due to the suppressive motion of the air. Drought can begin or worsen under ridges of high pressure that last for longer than a week. The air directly under such a system can become still with little to no wind.

During the middle of the summer, this can become a vicious cycle of warming and drying.

These domes can strengthen and expand during this cycle until something comes along to push the high-pressure system elsewhere.

Heat is the No. 1 weather killer in the U.S., with hundreds of fatalities each year. Many of these fatalities occur under heat domes.

We've had weeks on end of daily temperatures reaching up to around 100 degrees (37C) with the heat index "real feel" of up to 112 (44C). With the humidity factored in, it's hellish. There's just no other word for it. And there's been little to no rain. Even the nights are unbearably hot. We've been under extreme heat warnings every day since the beginning of the month, and we have a least another full week to go. 

I can't tell you how much I've grown to despise summer!

Now I understand

Just a minute ago I clicked on a headline: US Supreme Court lets Trump Remove Consumer Product Safety for Now. Before I knew what I was doing, I yelled "WHAT THE FUCK?!" at the computer screen. 

I realized as soon as it flew out of my mouth that I do that on a regular basis these days when I read upsetting news stories. It's my go-to expression of outrage. Marco, of course, was right there beside me, listening. 

You know what this means, right? 

It's Donald J. Trump's fault that Marco has learned to drop that particular F-bomb! lol

Neighborhood Watch

 

Yesterday afternoon Poppy caught a glimpse of our neighbor dog, Alvin, getting a walk past our house. She went nuts, leaping around and barking and racing from window to window to try to get another glimpse of him.

George woke up from a nap and joined in the hubbub even though I don't think he even knew what he was barking at. It was chaos for a minute! 

And in the midst of all this noise, Marco watched calmly from the top of his perch, and then finally said:

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

!!

Never a dull moment.

Summer visitor

Taken in the zinnia bed early this morning. 

Wrapping up the (summer) garden

My summer 2025 garden is officially done. With the exception of the pepper plants (that are still cranking out a few peppers here and there) we've harvested everything. Yesterday we pulled up and discarded the worn-out plants and gave everything an initial tidy up. I know those of you from even slightly more northerly climes are probably scratching your heads right now, so let me explain. By this point in the summer, the intense heat and humidity have started doing a number on pretty much all vegetable plants. Our last frost date is early April, so we plant out very early. The plants have been growing and producing for three months already, and now with day after day of sweltering heat, they're just giving up the ghost.  I don't blame them. I'd be ready to die out in this heat day and night, too! Plus, the f*cking stinkbugs have shown up and tried their best to attack and ruin the last of the tomatoes. (I seriously hate them, much more than the hornworms which are much easier to control). 

So anyway, the garden is mostly kaput. I've kept careful notes, and this morning I sat down to "compile my data" :) Here are my results and takeaways from this year's garden.

Tomatoes:

This is always the most important part of the garden to me. I love good tomatoes eaten fresh, and when there's extra there are lots of things you can do with them. Since I really hoped to have some extra this year to can, I tried something different. Instead of growing all heirlooms (which taste great but often struggle with production in this climate) I divided my tomato-growing space in half: room for 8 heirloom indeterminate plants that I started from seed, and 5 bushy young determinate plants I bought at Lowe's. Determinates, of course, set a lot of fruit all at once, early in the season, and then they're done. Perfect for having big batches of canning tomatoes that are ready by the time our hellish South Carolina heat scorches the garden! Check out my results:

Determinates

Bush Goliath: 

2 plants, 

28 individual fruits

Total: 10.55 pounds

Better Bush:

1 plant

10 individual fruits

Total: 2.61 pounds

Heatmaster:

1 plant

11 individual fruits 

2.86 pounds

Roma:

1 plant

24 individual fruits

5.05 pounds

Determinates

Eva Purple Ball

3 plants

43 individual fruits

10.05 pounds

Hillbilly Potato Leaf

3 plants 

8 individual fruits

2.95 pounds

Berkeley Tie Dye

2 plants

14 individual fruits

2.45 pounds

All told, I ended up with 36.5 pounds of tomatoes! And that's not counting the one cherry tomato plant that's given us probably around 2 pounds of fruit (I didn't keep track of those)

Yesterday I also finished up some canning and preserving!  I'd already made 6 12-oz jars of salsa and 6 half pint jars of pickled mixed peppers, and I added 2 12-oz jars of pickled jalapenos and 2 12-oz jars of pickled cowhorn peppers. I also whipped out the dehydrator and made a big jar of dried tomato slices and dried cherry tomatoes. I also dried some tiny, fiery tabasco peppers and crushed them into a jar for pepper flakes.

Picked early to save from stinkbugs, put to ripen on the windowsill. 

In the dehydrator...

Hooray! Ready to squirrel away for winter!

Sadly, these are the last of my (homegrown) slicing tomatoes for this year, along with some zinnias I cut for a centerpiece. 

One of these tomatoes will be sliced within the hour to top cheeseburgers we're cooking on the grill.

Family ties

There's a small herd of deer that live in our neighborhood. Since we're close to a creek and a city-maintained system of hiking/nature trails, there's no shortage of wildlife to see, but the deer are the most familiar. They come out most nights as the sun is setting, and since we usually walk the dogs around that time, we see them pretty regularly. Usually they'll freeze if we walk past them and as long as we're not too close, they won't run. Even the dogs have learned to be very quiet so as not to scare them. 

Last year a female deer kept showing up in our front yard with two little fawns. It was the cutest thing, but I never managed to get a photo. This year, another female (or maybe the same one) has been coming around, but this time she has just one baby, and a young male is often with them.

The other night, I happened to look out the spare bedroom window at dusk and the little family was back! I grabbed my phone and took a picture, and although it's not very clear (taken on a zoomed-in phone camera, through a window and screen, at dusk...) I really, really like the shot:

Doesn't it look like mom and dad are kissing, with the baby between them? 

I sent that photo to my niece, Melissa. I knew she would love it. In return she texted me photos of an "owl family" who live near her home on Whidbey Island. 

We miss Melissa. She flew to the East Coast for a visit last fall and drove down from Raleigh to spend a day with us. We love her and it's so rare to actually get to see her in person these days, that I nearly cried when she had to leave after a few short hours. I'm grateful, though, that she makes time to see me and her "cool uncle Gregg" (her words) whenever she's on this side of the continent. We have so few family members left these days, and the ones we love best are spread out all over the country.

Getting the job done

I don't feel much like celebrating my country today, but I wanted to share this song with you from the brilliant Lin Manuel Miranda. 

THIS is a big part of what truly "makes America great".

In my summer kitchen

It's my summer vacation! I've been off since Thursday afternoon and I don't go back until next Monday. It's nice to have some time away from work, even when you like your job as much as I do.

I've been busy. I blogged about my new stainless-steel cookware the other day, and several of you asked me to let you know what I think of it. Well, I love it! I'm really glad I took the time to research how to properly use and care for stainless steel, because I've had zero problems! It cooks like a dream, and I've had zero issues with food sticking. The first thing I made was braised short ribs, and they turned out great but it's way too hot for such heavy food. Speaking of hot in the kitchen, and the new pans..

I've taken this from my garden:

 

And this:

And turned it all into this:

I'm ridiculously proud of these jars of salsa and pickled peppers!