thinking out loud

summer blooms
one of the most wonderful things about portland is that it is verdant, lush, and generally green all year. i remember the oppression of texas heat that turned summer brown, and the dry winters that massacred plants even in absence of intense cold. despite portland freezing, raining, and then turning dry in the summer, things grow well here on their own, and even better with a little care.

we have some planters on our patio that the owner had offered to remove, but we asked them to be left, since the owner had in some way indicated she'd get the dead crap out of them. that didn't happen, but it turns out, neither was the crap in them entirely dead. the two huge ones started flowering during the spring showers and don't seem to mind continuing to flower all through the summer, as long as they get some water. the trees and grass seem to do ok without such intervention, maybe because they're in the ground and not in pots with no natural water sources? anyhow, when i can remember to water the plants, they do well. so i got a couple more--a basil plant (which i bought to make dinner with, and have gotten two meals out of already, with a third coming on easy), and a rosemary plant--after all, the rosemary bush outside my house in texas was invincible, so i figure that's within my powers to keep alive, and i hadn't seen any rosemary growing *anywhere* here to go steal from. it's damn near omnipresent in texas, so i'd never really been without it when making pasta or really anything that could use a little zest. i've missed it!

went to the farmer's market this morning with

ruthiemoves_rss for the first time...wow, that kicks the ass of any market i've ever been to before! came home with tomatoes, artichokes, green onions, cherries, blackberries, and the rosemary plant. my mission this week is to eat all my damn cheese so i can buy some of the divine goat cheese they sell there next week. i'm overcheesed! eek!

so spent a few minutes emptying the least-flowery planter (ok, it was mostly dead grass and a ton of little saplings-to-be which i guess blew in from a nearby tree) and transplanting the rosemary, which i expect to grow huge if i can remember to keep watering it. took the uprooted/removed bits down to the compost bin, and on my way there, i stepped over a huge rosemary bush that i'd never noticed before. growing in my side yard. hah.

anyway my little gardening expedition still made me feel pretty productive for a pre-10am-saturday activity, not to mention the kitchen cleaning that went down (whew!). i guess being alive enough to enjoy all the morning activities was an okay consolation prize for sleeping through the midnight mystery ride last night..