2b clean gravel, anyone ?

driveway gravel !

great for draining under sheds !

(this was a post to easily shrink up a gravel photo for the gahdens website. i decided to keep it instead of deleting it !)

lady lythrum.

back in the brink of summer's sweltering sea of air, i discovered a swamplands-rampant perennial flower popping up all along the back of the property at the garden center, across from the irrigation pond.

a customer on hoffmansville road had let me dig up some plants at her house last year, and one of them was this pinkish purple blooming perennial. either she didn't know its name, or she told it to me, but i forgot it at the time or since then. i noticed that while i planted just one sprig of it in my garden last year, about two or three new versions of it jumped upward in places far off from my original relocation spot.

matt told me a few months ago that this little lady is named lythrum.

apparently there are some domesticated forms, but with the wild breeds, when let to grow in wetland types of areas, it spreads like wildfire. there were pink petals stretching stalk-wise and upward all over out back.

and lythrum nearly sounds like a drug. i guess i'm remembering the name lithium ? i suppose though that it is its own little nature-spent drug, in a sense, for moist soil spaces.

oceanic yarn.

this yarn reminds me of the ocean but in the colors that are often secluded to special spots away from highly used waters.

acrylic ocean

dry and synthetic, acrylic
sings the taps of needles

and metal in rhythms like
haiku but stretched lengthy--

each stitch births from two
or three taps, and each one

of those taps, a squeezing out
syllable so sea-swished and woven

into yarn, only of a history
knitted as soon as hands hearken.

jrh.

the pumpkin almighty & oven work.

in the season of the almighty pumpkin, food mistress amy strauss of apples and cheese, please dropped off some baked love at my house yesterday afternoon.

this ensemble included milk chocolate chip pumpkin cookies & pumpkin fluffs with cinnamon brown butter icing.

here perched a whole wheat pumpkin pie pocket. i was nomming the hell out and ate all the sweets by nightfall.

bamboo berries booming of orange ways.

even bamboo produces fall fruit. although i don't think all bamboo do this, but at least some ornamental and domesticated varieties do. it boasts so loudly of orange, but the good way.

and lavender is a perennial, not in any direct relation to bamboo, but any plants that are still brave enough to share their beauty when the cold nights start to hit are well worth some eye-made exposure. not to mention, lavender is busy with its sedative effect, so it ends up being relaxing to take in its scent. plus, i figured my momma would always appreciate some throws of purple, so here is one for today.

i'm still getting used to the scent of lavender. i used to be quite anti-anti to it in relation to nose-speak. but it's growing on me, very slowly. it probably has to do with me valuing the relaxing qualities of it.

november is upon us ! hark.

gt's kombucha is back on shelves !

thank lordisaaaaaaaaaa ! seriously.

gt's kombucha is finally back on shelves and ready for the glug-glugging. 

i wrote a review about the half-bizarre bevvy at the beginning of the year via apples and cheese, please.

but a few months ago, the bottles were pulled from shelves after independent testers charted its liquid makeup and discovered that beyond the fermenting process involved to make the drink, it continually fermented in bottles while being shipped and sitting in stores. each label notes that it does contain very low levels of alcohol, given that information. but the amount is so measurably minuscule that it's not considered an alcohol beverage by legal standards and can be sold in ordinary grocery stores.

and as the fermentation process is bound to continue once the kombucha is bottled (due to the nature of the drink itself) while perched on shelves, this became the big loud issue. but now they've resorted to incorporating sooner drink-by dates to work around this legalese debacle. it's still okay to sip after the drink-by date, but for the sake of saving this line of products, the legal end wins out for technicalities.

and the lids now express the new, shorter-ruled life dates on them, reminding us to enjoy the fizz-happy way of each bottle.

i ran into kimberton whole foods and grabbed six bottles, all of what would fit in my little reusable bag i finally remembered to bring in with me. the running was literal. i had to jog back to my car to get the bag for carrying the shake-sensitive drinks because i wasn't certain there'd be any left when i arrived on the j'ai soif scene.

i'm just so glad it's finally back in stores after months of none being available. the next most readily available brand is not up my taste buds' alley. 

and either you like kombucha, or you don't. i'm happy to likelike it.