The Things I Love, Monday Edition

Among the things I love:



Ladybug larva like this one that was hanging around the patio this afternoon. The Japanese have a word for something that is cute and ugly at the same time, busu-kawaii. (Busu from ぶすっとする busutto suru, meaning "look sullen/sulky; be unfriendly/unsociable" and kawaii meaning "cute.") And that so perfectly describes these little darlings, no?

And I also love:


 Praying mantis babies like this one. This little inch-long manty was hanging out by the front door this afternoon. I hope s/he makes it!

And I also love:


The new raised beds on the patio. Those are the ones I made yesterday and Dave filled and planted them. The crab apple tree at the back and the trumpet vine were already there but became enclosed by the new patio wall, so in order to isolate them to better water them we built a small retaining wall with pavers a few weeks ago. (You can see the pots of colorful gazania sitting there on the left of the photo. Both the tree and vine were cut back so severely when the wall was being constructed that I was doubtful they'd come back. Luckily though, they have. No buds or blooms on them, but they're putting all their energy into growth and holding back from reproduction.) Yesterday, I built up the wall and added the middle and lower levels.

The middle level holds the herbs Dave bought at AGRA greenhouse and the lower level is our new "lawn" which we actually did seed with grass which we hope the cats will find palatable. We were considering a much larger area for the lowest level, but as I was building I thought, I love where the wall meets the ground. I love it. So I preserved that stretch between the lawn and the gate (which is just off camera to the left).

That's a strange thing to love, no? The bare part where the wall and the ground meet. But to me it's New Mexico in a nutshell.

Gray Kitty loves the enclosed space under the crab apple tree. It's like his own little fort. I hear him rustling back there and chirping to himself all the time. If I call to him, he springs out at me all wild eyed.

Today some things I did not love:

• Finding out that our mown down broccoli plants are probably due to cutworms. I staked the plants as per the instructions of people in internet gardening forums and we'll see if we lose any more.  We're at 50% survival right now for the broccoli which cutworms prefer. When they're done with them however, they're likely to move on to destroying the kale, radishes, tomatoes, and pretty much anything else they feel like. They're the corporate raiders of the garden pests, the worst of the worst--so far.

• Plucking cabbage worms off the broccoli and kale. I didn't have the heart to crush or drown them. I am not wrecking my karma for the sake of broccoli. That's not even a fair trade. So I put them on one of the recently deceased broccoli plants and put them in the garbage can.

In other news:

I signed up for a booth at the Celtic festival. No, you're right, I'm definitely not of Celtic descent, but two of my friends, Chris and Lu Ann, are active in the local chapter and facilitated my entry into the show. I'll be sharing the booth with two other potters from the studio, because I really don't have the quantity of ware necessary to fill a big booth.  Since I got a great deal on the cost of the booth, I'll be donating a piece to the silent auction (I'm thinking of the redheaded skully plate I made last year) as well as a cut of my sales to the greater fundraising effort.

I had dinner, too, with Chris and Lu Ann tonight at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Kokoro. They have been following the Paleo diet for several months now and consequently got high after consuming the white rice that came along with their meals. (Apparently you give up sugar and grains and all other things that make life worth living on the Paleo diet. You can only eat what you forage from empty city lots and along ditch banks. Or something. Something? Anyway, all I know is that I couldn't do it. Sugar is my best friend in the world.)

After dinner, I stopped and bought a couple of Ritter Sport chocolate bars with cornflakes in them and a bear (-shaped bottle) of honey.