Terrible Week! But Good Harvest

Grapes! Tons of grapes! 84 squash! (count 'em... Bob did!) Lots of green (and yellow) beans in the freezer! Quite the bountiful harvest. And all of Nature's goodness offsets some of the cosmic shit swirling around. Sometimes it helps to just stop and count the squash...
I don't even want to dwell on or dive into why this week (past couple of weeks, actually) were so atrocious but I guess it starts with discovering a co-worker doing weird- and potentially dangerous- "research" on a work computer and the management not dealing with this in any way at all. Or my not getting a raise... and then we all get our hours cut. So work sucked!!
I guess I am dwelling on why things have been awful. And we get politics; yes, it all seems to devolve back to The Orange Menace and his evil agenda. A bit of lying and bragging to the UN and (more) insulting our allies. Supreme Court picks that are less than Supreme... triggering more than just a little PTSD in yours truly. Let's talk vegetables, please!

Well here's a bright spot. My sister Cathy gave us an exciting Day of the Dead decoration that, for all of it's being a dead person, looks pretty happy. Probably because it's not following the news. I do seem to be incapable of not listening to the horror story that is our current predicament.
Here's a happier note: I've been working my butt off in preparation for being included in a couple of shows and I'm receiving good feedback on my work.  For City Wide Open Studios this year, I'm pushing my "WTF" theme which has become a series and will be featured in my "WTF Emporium". Many colorful WTF items will be for sale and I just recently had a curator call me and rave about my work and wonder if  they could cluster a stack of my WTF pillows in a window. (They can't as I'm still making them!) But it was nice to know someone is thinking of me and my work!

Here's a small one I finished. My work was also put up on Instagram (in a promotional posting for a anti-gun show I'm included in) and called "quirky" which I think is just fine. I myself have been known to be "quirky" so I guess it's a good catch-all.
Today was a better day all around. Not only did I get good art input, I seemed to cross paths with better people who semi-restored a tiny bit of my (lack of) faith in humanity. If there are so many good/nice/reasonable people out there, why do all the bad/evil/insane people get into politics!??!

Bob Appreciation Post #2

Bob's been busy! Look what he did to the far corner of his studio... added a new window. It makes the whole space not only brighter, but look so much bigger. This was a dark and lonely-looking corner; sort of remote and Bob stored things he didn't need too often there. But now, it feels so much usable. And he has a nice view of our back swamp. Bob also relates that he has a resident chipmunk that lives beneath the window. Free entertainment!

And the grapes have been lovingly tended to. Bob saw a video that recommended placing sandwich bags over the newly forming clusters of grapes to protect them from birds and the weather. This particular vine- a white Niagara- is making something like 17 clusters! We'll have quite a harvest. People who have used this method of grape protection have mentioned that the ripen more sweetly.

And here's a shot of one corner of the vegetable kingdom. Bob has (as usual) done a bang-up job of planting, thinning, transplanting and housing the seedlings in the vegetable garden. And we're already reaping the rewards in the form of delicious tender salads.
I'm kind of behind in the garden world. I'm still planting and trying to figure out what to put into several holes that have appeared. Not to mention that I have weeds and haven't edged yet. Bb tolerates my presence in the vegetable garden where I have an unruly cut flower area... I try!

Grape Expectations

We've been busy in the Agricultural Triangle. Grapes became this weeks obsession and we bought two Concord grapes (dark purple), a Niagara (white) and a Reliance (red and not pictured above as it was just purchased today). Bob dug holes large enough to plant a grand piano or two assuring that the roots will have plenty of space to expand. Bob has planned poles and wires for trellising and possibly an arbor someday. We've both always loved Concord grapes but the other two seemed like a natural: a color for every taste and mood! It may take a few years, but we're already anticipating all the fun things we can do with them.
Here's a shot of Bob climbing one of our three compost piles. (This is what we do for fun, mind you).

That other pile in the right front is raw manure and available to any and all who want great fertility this year. You, too, can have a compost pile to climb on...
And while on the subject of the vegetable garden, Bob re-thought some old metal work he had and fashioned four gates for the garden. Each garden face now has a gate. That makes it really convienient to water and off-load manure and tend to the grapes! Here's a shot of one of the gates:

You will, of course, notice that there is no fence on this side. But at least we have the gate! We did buy the fencing to finish the perimeter and that next weeks project. (Last year we made do with bird netting. We didn't want to erect permanent fencing as Bob was taking down a few trees.)