Dianne left me this Friday

...to go to Paris. She'll be back in the middle of August, but until then, well, it's going to suck. I've got a lot of time to kill, and rather few ideas about what will be the proverbial murder weapon in this uncomfortably-extended metaphor. I could post here, perhaps, but Heather hates it when I do that. (Sorry, Heather.)

One thing that I will do is play a lot of ultimate frisbee. I just joined a summer league in addition to my two-a-week pickup games, and I also discovered a pickup game that plays behind my house on Sundays. There's a big field behind my house and I've seen them there in the past three Sundays, but this was the first time that I had time to come down and ask if I could join in. They were a friendly bunch, though not very skilled or well-organized; they didn't even use a stall count (for the few who would understand what that implies). All the same, it was good to get the exercise and I'd be lying if I said I didn't also get a kick out of being the best player there. Anyway, I could potentially end up playing frisbee three or four times a week for the rest of my summer in Delaware.

Yesterday, I received a check for $475 in the mail the proceeds of the little YDN contact form escapade to which I alluded in my most recent post. The signature on the check was a rather large stamp in garish hot pink and purple, which I suppose serves me right- the few (two? three?) of you who know the story will probably agree.

In other colorful developments, these past two weeks have seen the introduction of a new garden into my life, albeit one considerably smaller than the Hagley garden whose passing I lamented so lugubriously two posts ago. As those of you who have seen my dorm garden can attest, I'm a rather prolific herb gardener- and this summer, I've expanded my collection, covering my family's backyard deck railing with potted oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, spearmint, peppermint, basil and sweet basil.

I've had a chance to broaden my gardening focus this summer, due to the death last year of the large maple tree that had loomed over my backyard. Before then, there had been a raised bed under the tree that we had used for shade gardening, and boy does shade gardening suck- all you ever seem to be able to plant is impatiens. But now, in that raised bed, there was only the butterfly bush that my dad had planted to replace the tree, surrounded by mulch-covered emptiness. So one day I decided to plant a butterfly/herb garden.

That's exactly what it sounds like: many herbs, especially ornamental ones, are highly attractive to butterflies. Moreover, I'm a fan of the French kitchen gardening technique (similar to what was employed at Hagley) that mixes culinary plants with certain flowers that, in addition to being aesthetically pleasing, attract pollinators and repel some pests. Below are some pictures of my garden soon after it was planted. Since then, everything has grown rather nicely, with the exception of the dill, which was eaten by a Jewish rabbit. I've also added a few additional flowers and herbs since the time of the pictures.

For anyone who might be interested, here's a list of what I've planted- I've separated out the stuff I've added since the pictures were taken.
Flowers: nasturtiums, scarlet sage (ornamental), marigolds, creeping thyme (ornamental), butterfly weed, New England aster, giant hyssop 'Acapulco Rose', coreopsis ADDED SINCE: orange cosmos, penta 'butterfly blush', plumbago, lantana
Herbs: lavendar, dill, bronze fennel, sweet basil, thyme (culinary), parsley ADDED SINCE: sage (culinary), oregano