peterography

This morning was cool and damp and gray.   The ground was sprinkled with the fiery leaves of fall.   There was a child’s kickball in my driveway – white and blue and pink.

Yesterday I was returning from a run during halftime of the Patriots’ game and I was eager to get home and treat a blister and to resume watching New England trounce the Jets.   A young black lab I had never seen before jumped out of some bushes across the street and charged right at me.   I like dogs but I used to be a paperboy and a census taker and I’ve been chewed up a few times, too.  I had a split second to decide whether I was about to get hurt or make a new friend and luckily I saw the ball by the side of the road.  I grabbed it and rolled it toward the dog.  He soccered it around a few times and picked it up in his mouth – the ball was slightly soft – and brought it back to me.  The game was on.   We played soccer and catch and  fetch all the way to my house where I abandoned him in my driveway looking sad and disappointed when I went inside.   He must have left the ball there when he departed.

Saturday was humid and in the 90’s – maybe the last really hot day of the summer.  I enjoyed it by working in my garden.  

One of my blueberry bushes has died.  It could be from our recent drought but it also might be BSV – Blueberry Scorch Virus.   Unfortunately here in Massachusetts we have no Agricultural Extension Service to call on.   By “we” I’m referring to home gardeners.   The state, in its finite wisdom, decided to cut back the extension service to only commercial growers.  So even though I’m paying taxes for it I don’t get to use it.    If they had eliminated it entirely then commercial alternatives would have arisen to provide plant testing and parasite and plant pathogen lab services that growers need.    But since the state is skimming the cream of that business they short-circuit those market forces so backyard gardeners are stuck with nothing.

Saturday night we had our friends Connie and Mark over for dinner, which included our pears, tomatoes, basil, rosemary, mint, raspberries, and apples.  They just returned from a bike trip in Switzerland where they were scouting out new routes for a bike touring organization.   When they’re not bike-touring they’re building their new house – with their own hands -  an amazing solar-powered, energy efficiency showcase that they designed.   I even got the recipe for the dessert I made on Saturday from Connie.   They also have day jobs.   Whenever I feel tired and listless I think about them and the inspiration renews me!

In the early hours of Sunday morning a thunder storm kept me awake for a long time.  The lightning flashes were so frequent and the thunder so continuous that I couldn’t count the seconds between flash and boom to estimate the distance.