He knows something

Wry, originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

(There's a large dead cricket under the geranium)

Late summer garden

zinnias, originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

What is with the tomatos this year? I must have two dozen big beautiful GREEN tomatoes on the vines, and very few have turned red all summer long. Either we're going to have fantastic tomato sandwiches in October, or we're going to have hella lot green tomato salsa frozen for the winter.

Zinnias didn't go crazy like they did last summer, and of course the three best plants are in the vegetable garden, where nobody can see them. And I guess I'll never see a marigold like this crazy plant that grew from seed in 2004.

Last year was the Year of the Gourd, with giant vines of snakenecks and angelwing gourds taking over the entire yard faster than I could beat them back. I didn't plant them, and I didn't plant the few gourds that are growing this year either. And this year's gourds aren't the same as the ones from last year... gourds are an enduring mystery.

I was all excited about the tomatillo I planted this year - it sprawled, it self-rooted, it has many little flowers... but until now there have been no tomatillos, and the ones that are there now are the size of acorns.

Luckily I always have chili peppers, and plum tomatos, sweet peas, nasturtiums, rosemary, and for some reason I have good luck with these plain ol' zinnias.

Go to D.C. buy me things

All right, I saw these, called Damned Dollies of course, at last year's Bazaart, the annual crafts fair at the American Visionary Art Museum (this year, November 25), and to date nobody has bought me one. Even though I have dropped hints as broad as, "See this? I want one of these!"

Now she's going to have a booth at the Crafty Bastards fair in D.C. this weekend. I think that I must not go to this event, oh there's not enough disposable income in the world for all the plush baked goods and hand-painted vinyl wallets I need.

Not to mention this beautiful skirt.

This amazing ring.

A case for the craft supplies I gaze longingly at but hardly ever use.

Big soft heads you can wear on top of your real head.

Pirate baby clothes.

A lamp made of cocktail umbrellas.

Ok that's it, we're goin'.

Big Man after being bombarded with "vita-rays"

Big Man after being bombarded with "vita-rays", originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

"Vita-rays." Is that not the lamest origin story of any superhero?

Steve Rogers, patriotic illustration student, tries to enlist, gets rejected, and some general just happens to overhear him grousing about it. Says, "Oh hey we've been looking for a guy to be this huge giant hero - how's about it? Would you like to be excellent?"

What's really mystifying is that Cap is still with us. And apparently still appealing, judging from this picture.

New look, and not just for the Kleenex

Jeez, all I wanted to do was to have a little more width here so that I could post my pictures larger... and look what happened!

It's kind of a little, uh, contrived for my taste, but I like the brown wallpaper, and in fact it ended up being really hard to do, so I have this big sense of accomplishment right now.

Hoo-choo!

suckered!, originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

I usually try pretty hard not to get suckered into paying more for an ordinary item just because somebody's designed it up. I realized I was susceptible to this kind of marketing ploy when my ex-husband ridiculed me for buying a Wolfgang Puck frozen pizza - a product I ordinarily eschew. He correctly observed, "Just couldn't pass up that color scheme, couldya?" It was purple and grey, very nice I'll tell you.

Not, of course, edible. It was frozen pizza after all.

The "Method" liquid soap stuff at Target falls into this category - yeah yeah you're so grapefruity and ya got the iMac colors, you're still just soap.

But Jesus, I will pay whatever they want for this Kleenex - AND I will thank them for it! It's not even THAT attractive, but I ask you, how motherfucking long have we had to wait for a Kleenex box that didn't look like it belonged on top of the teevee at the nursing home?

Good god!

If you're freaky and you like it say "Whee!"

Ever'body say "Whee!"

"Whee!"

Big Man, Mr. Three, Train Man, Big Friend, Big Friend's Little Sister, and Girl Friend

Bob: Kid magnet

Kid magnet

Big Man, Girl Friend, Mr. Three, and Train Man (aka "Juicy") decompressing after a tough day playing the in hay maze, exploring the Boo Barn, picking apples, and getting friction burns on the hay slide.

Ol' Chalk-face

Ol' Chalk-face
Originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

Hangover Street

Hangover Street
Originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

It's the late 80's, you can tell by the hair. It's Easter, you can tell by my dress. I'd say it's the first beer of the day after a late night, and there isn't a person in this crowd over 25. Joe and I had just started dating, and we clearly had a lot to say to each other.

Someone Googled a guy who isn't in this picture (he was in Colorado at the time) and wound up here and left a very nice comment, and I'm pretty sure she's the girl in the shorts.

If that's you, hi Cobi!

UPDATE: No, actually I know exactly when this picture was taken and why I'm in that dress. It was 1988 and Bob was visiting his brother Joe in D.C. (yes Bob husband Bob). I left work on Friday, dressed like that, drove to D.C., made eyes at my future (12 years in the future) husband across one of Joe's famous deck parties, spent the night there, then drove back to Baltimore because my boyfriend Joe and his roommates were having a barbecue the next day. And this would be the barbecue.

Regardless of the fact that I'm having a pretty good time in this picture, that night in D.C. pretty much ruined me for any other boy. I bombed back up 95 devastated. But he was leaving the next day and he lived in Seattle.

It took many such meetings (this wasn't the first) to convince us that we should throw over our otherwise lives in order to be together. Come to think of it, even then, our otherwise lives had ditched us first. How stubborn can you be?