At least that’s what I heard on All Things Considered a little while ago. The reporter was trying to get columnist Anne Applebaum, who was on vacation in the Polish countryside, to prognosticate on what horrendous August disaster might be around the corner … to follow those in the past, such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the beginning of World War 1, Nixon’s resignation (wait, wasn’t that a good thing?) … etcetera doom doom dee doom …
Lots of stuff really HAS been happening this month, don’t get me wrong. Haven’t even had time to spend on the beloved blogosphere. I’m so far behind that I can see the back of my own head. But I do have a bunch of nice photos for you to look at. And the usual drivel to go along with them. I managed to get out for a bike ride last Sunday. I took the automatic Henniker-Hillsborough route, the one I can do with one cerebellum tied behind my back. [sic] I found some random items on this ride. Roadside Detritus August 2009.
I brought these items back and photographed them on the cellar floor.
An empty bottle of happy pills. The TV commercials have that pretty music …
This piece of rusted exhaust shielding really caught my eye. See?
And then a busy week flew by. Lots of hot hot weather. Finally! The garden has really exploded. Corn is ripening and will be calling for a day of its own very soon.
The corn plants are short and sturdy this year. So far they’re unmolested.
The winter squash vines work their way between the cornstalks. Deer tracks and chipmunk holes appear regularly between the rows, but so far only we humans have eaten of the ripening ears … it’s all going to be ready at once. Next Saturday will be The Day Of The Corn, if not sooner. Today I bought a big box of Ziploc freezer bags.
Spent much of today indoors. I think Dr. Seuss would have loved these leek flowers, don’t you?
He would have liked this fancy orchid too I bet.
Yesterday I went on a nice long bike ride up to Grantham. I was thinking it might be cool to try to bike up to Lebanon and have lunch with my daughter at DHMC, where she works. But I didn’t make it that far. That would be an 80 mile day, and yesterday was a 50 mile day. When I got home it was pretty hot and I had a lot of mowing to do. Which is why I did almost nothing today.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Squash vines have completely enveloped both compost piles.Volunteers. Probably cross-pollinated.
Apples have begun to ripen and fall.
The sun sets on August 16, 2009.
I love your header!! Is that peaches and cream corn? mmm….
And that rusted piece of tin or whatever, yes I can see why it caught your eyes, it looks like a fish except there should only be one eye on each side for the fish…lol 
Thanks Romi. Not sure where you saw the peaches, but whatever. It’s an ear of raw corn. The metal looked like a face to me. When I first rode past it I thought it was a page from a magazine with some supermodel face wearing a glamorous headscarf or something. But then, I see faces in the random patterns of linoleum or curtain folds. Funny I’ve never seen Mary or Jesus in ANY pastries of ANY kind! Which means I’m going to hell I guess …
By: Romi on August 16, 2009
at 8:52 pm
It seems like all of us bloggers have been taking breaks this summer. I hope you are good, and I love that horse photo and the orchid one of course.
Thanks ghetto girl. I’m good, just ridiculously busy at work and all this stuff that happens in August …
By: thegirlfromtheghetto on August 17, 2009
at 11:30 am
HAHAHA, are you getting fresh with me?…’cause there is a certain kind of corn called “peaches and cream”, titled that for being “bi-colour” or yellow and white, hence your header!…In other words YES, I knew that was an ear of raw corn…do you take me for a fool blog-dad?!??!
http://www.humeseeds.com/cornpc.htm
I would never do that Romi. I am the fool here. I didn’t get that “peaches and cream” was a variety name. Double DUH!!
The corn we planted is a variety called “Luscious”. And yes it’s a bicolor corn. Jeez I feel like a idiot.
Yeah. A idiot.
By: Romi on August 17, 2009
at 3:12 pm
OMG I have drool trails running down my computer screen and I can’t read the print. Gimme that corn.
Drool trails you say? Yes, the corn is good this year, which makes up for the tomato debacle, sorta. Bet you had some pretty yummy corn up there in VT too! See you soon!
By: vermonter on August 18, 2009
at 6:31 am
@ROmi: it’s sugar & gold, I think.
Variety is called “Luscious“, an organically grown hybrid from Johnny’s Seeds of Maine. It’s fully ripe now, and living up to its name. This weekend will be the weekend of the corn.
By: vermonter on August 18, 2009
at 6:32 am
How early do you plant your corn? Ours is still pathetically short without much chance of getting anything from it this year.
Looks like we planted the corn in late May this year. Johnny’s catalog says it’s a 75 day variety.
By: undergroundarchivist on August 18, 2009
at 10:51 am
That corn looks absolutely delicious!! Drool!! Butter, pools of butter, salt, pepper, munch, slurp!!
You got the recipe!
By: PiedType on August 18, 2009
at 2:08 pm
awesome!
By: Care on August 18, 2009
at 7:05 pm
If you turned the exhaust shield into a mask you could pop a cymbalta and listen to the Eagles. Great orchid pic. An orchid lover friend of mine will go crazy for it.
I like your thinking! I’ll have to ask my doctor (Seuss) about that.
My wife bought 2 expensive orchids from a local grower and that is one of them. They’re sorta like lady’s slippers. Testicular looking. No lady would wear slippers like that.
By: boundandgags on August 19, 2009
at 10:52 am
When we had cows, we used to plant a bunch of people-corn around the edge of the cow-corn field. I would get home from work, go up to my kitchen and put a pot of water on to boil, and then go out to the cornfield. I would pick four ears & husk them while I walked back to the house. By the time I got upstairs the pot would be boiling. I would throw the bare ears in the water, turn off the pot and do something else for 10 minutes or so. Then have dinner. Best. Corn. Ever.
Mm hmm. Yes, that is the best corn ever. It’s been SO good that it doesn’t even need butter. I’ve taken to eating it in an ultra-nerdy way, row by single row. I have a memory of my first love eating it that way. Is that frackin weird or what?
By: vermonter on August 20, 2009
at 6:29 am
Are the apples really that red? Or did you paint in a little.
The horse looks scary, and the piece of tin looks like an old world map, which is what I thought it was at first, and since my geography knowledge is zero I first thought it was Europe.
I have not yet looked up what squash is, but that plant or something very similar is used here to cover up asphalt or the tiles of large terraces. It forms like a thick carpet of leaves all around some planter.
Yes, I painted the apples. They are small and scabby in real life. They fall on the ground and rot. The deer eat some of them too.
The horse can be scary. He’s neurotic and spends many hours a day chewing on the barn. Squashes are many and varied.
By: cantueso on August 20, 2009
at 9:35 am
hi! August to me, mean crabgrass in the lawn…
The weeds love August!
By: IdeaJump! on August 26, 2009
at 1:04 pm