« May 2006 | Main | July 2006 »
We've always been a traveling family, so it's not entirely suprising to have the parents passing through on their way to a new stop in Saratoga Springs, Utah. I hate, hate, hate that they are no longer within quick driving distance. But on the selfish side, at least now I have a free place to crash when I go snowboarding. Kidding aside, I love these two people and credit the best parts of me to them. Bon Voyage!
Yes, that is right, I am eating my very own squash. That I grew (ahem, excuse me)... we grew together. I got it in my head that I needed a summer project and that a box garden was in order. "Small box garden" you're thinking, right? Nooooo, I couldn't let it be quite that easy. So forty 6x8's, piles of screws and about 500 lbs of top soil later, Casa de mattLandia now has a Jardin de mattLandia.
My squash is literally exploding. Who knew that Squash plants were so big, or that each plant could throw off so much squash? On deck, I've got 4 different varieties of tomatos cooking. Further out, I've got canteloupe, watermelon, snow peas, radish, carrots, pumpkins and corn. Jury is still out on whether they'll actually throw off fruit, but as of today my garden was not in vain.
Pass the salt and pepper. I have some buttery goodness steaming on my plate.
Here is a short photo editorial on The Great Box Garden Build Off.
#1 - The 'Before' Photo.
#2 - Construction begins. It took the box awhile to take shape. It also took awhile for me to wrap my head around how much dirt it would take to fill it.
#3 - I took a break between completing the north side of the garden and the south side. Figured Ithere was no rush to get the south side (pictured) completed, since filling the north side with dirt quicky going from 'no big deal' to 'seriously gross miscalculation on the DIY meter'.
#4 - The help. Although I initially thought I could Chuck Norris my way through the build, the project would have ended in garden tragedy if these two knuckle-heads hadn't helped me see it through. With Squash, I salute thee!
#5 - Slowly, something other than weeds starts to take form. This is about 5 week or so after finishing the north side of the garden. About this time, I finally finished ferrying enough bags of top soil in the rockin' Hyundai Elantra to fill up the south side. Yet again, the Elantra GT goes where no Elantra has gone before.
#6 - At about week 7, the squash literally explodes. The leaves are huge, the blossoms are plentiful, and squash literally starts overflowing.
#7 - The moment of truth. A bit like circumcising a friend I suppose. "Really, this will only hurt for a minute!" Buen Provecho!
Sunday was spent on the bike, rolling in no hurry from here to Athens and back. The words of Robert M. Pirsig echo in truth:
"Paved county roads are the best, state highways are next. Freeways are the worst. We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with emphasis on "good" rather than "time" and when you make that shift in emphasis the whole approach changes. Twisting hilly roads are long in terms of seconds but are much more enjoyable on a cycle where you bank into turns and don't get swung from side to side in any compartment. Roads with little traffic are more enjoyable, as well as safer. Roads free of drive-ins and billboards are better, roads where groves and meadows and orchards and lawns come almost to the shoulder, where kids wave to you when you ride by, where people look from their porches to see who it is, where when you stop to ask directions or information the answer tends to be longer than you want rather than short, where people ask where you're from and how long you've been riding.
It was some years ago that my wife and I and our friends first began to catch on to these roads. We took them once in a while for variety or for a shortcut to another main highway, and each time the scenery was grand and we left the road with a feeling of relaxation and enjoyment. We did this time after time before realizing what should have been obvious: these roads are truly different from the main ones. The whole pace of life and personality of the people who live along them are different. They're not going anywhere. They're not too busy to be courteous. The hereness and nowness of things is something they know all about. It's the others, the ones who moved to the cities years ago and their lost offspring, who have all but forgotten it. The discovery was a real find.
I've wondered why it took us so long to catch on. We saw it and yet we didn't see it. Or rather we were trained not to see it. Conned, perhaps, into thinking that the real action was metropolitan and all this was just boring hinterland. It was a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling. "
Wow, wow, and wow! I stumbled upon what is perhaps the best man-show on cable right now. The show: Pinks!. The channel: Speed.
Real grease-monkeys, wrench jockeys, and wannebe racers show up at various drag strips around the country, sign over the titles to their muscle cars to the show's producer and race for the rights to both pink slips. Watching the loser see their pride and joy ramped up on a trailer and hauled off is unbelievably satisfying. Does it get any better than that? As if that's not fascinating enough, the host is an intense looking mediator/bouncer host named Rich Christensen.
If you aren't totally hooked by just watching this 5 minute show preview, then check out this Q&A that Rich does. This cat is seriously intense. He strikes me like someone who started out as a really nice corporate sales jockey, then started lifting weights and mainlining testosterone and protein shakes, finally sold a TV show (starring himself) and who might go Point-Break-Swayze any minute.
If that isn't enough, hearing a redneck say he's 'gone race you and yers for pangks' is just plain dixielightfull.
Go to your TiVo. Program it now.
Sorry for the big space before the table below. I can't figure out why it's padding a table tag like that. If any of you MoveableType gurus read this and have any suggestions, let me know.
| I totally flaked out over the new year and failed to put together a new sampler for you. I figured I'd try to make it up to you by putting together another playlist for you, with some of the bands that most interest me right now. You can listen to each track one by one using the jukebox below, or if you like, you can download the whole compilation by clicking here. As always, let me know what you think. Word. |
||
| Arctic Monkeys Fake Tales of San Francisco UK : Sheffield |
I rarely agree with NME, but if you don't have 'Beneath The Boardwalk' in your collection, shame on you. If were local to Sheffield I'd say "Fook'n brilliant mate - it's right fook'n ace." But I'm not, so instead I'll put on $100 dollar headphones and mow the lawn with serious "piss-off" attitude. |  |
| Mando Diao Paralyzed Sweden |
I saw Mando Diao like 18 months ago or so when they opened for Jet, and blew them off stage. What do they feed the children of Sweden? They must have biscuits and tea made out of 100% pure kick-ass. I bet IKEA sells them. |  |
| OK Go A Good Idea At The Time Sweden |
OK Go has filled the whole in my heart that was left when The Cars broke up all those years ago. What's more is my heart now overfloweth with visual OKGo candy in the form of viral videos that tribute the best dance routine ever choreographed. I highly recommend you spend a ton of time watched every one of them here. |  |
| Brendan Benson Alternative To Love USA : Michigan |
It's rare that I get jealous of a singer/songwriter to the point of seething spittle between clenched teeth, but I have serious song envy. Benson conjures up the melodic genius of Wilson &Lennon with the velvet throat DNA of Dando. |  |
| The Sounds Tony The Beat Sweden |
Blondie, meet Peaches. Peaches, meet Pat Benatar. Oh yeah, and speak swedish. |  |
| Goldfrapp Beautiful UK |
I saw them on Letterman and I was completely blown away. I mean, I already had the album, but seeing them perform was unbelievable. Who knew you could blend Spinal Tap and Synth Disco? |  |
| Spoon I Turn My Camera On USA : Texas : Austin |
I got turned on to this album (among others) by DJLight. My taste was confirmed when I saw them on Austin City Limits. Brilliant. There simply aren't enough tall gangly blonde men in rock. |  |
| Conner Silent Film Score USA : Kansas : Lawrence |
As my old college friend reviewed them on 3Hive.com:
|  |
| The Black Angels Young Men Dead USA : Texas : Austin | Listening to the Black Angels gets me stoned, makes me put on black leather pants with no shirt, light candles, and writhe around the floor screaming aburdities about giant Peeps with bullwhips. |  |
| Van Tramp New England UK | The song New England hooked me like rootbeer. One part U2, one part Faces, this is lush, drive-with-the-top-down, scream along music. I ordered a pre-release copy from their site and it was well worth the scratch... |  |
