Isn't it great to have a garden?

My hand is feeling mostly better, after several days of virtually no knitting, periodic doses of ice, overnight splinting, and regular Advil. Where two days ago, I could bend my left hand forward about half of what I could do with my right, and that with pain, now the two hands are on an even keel and the left is without pain! Hurrah! Let the knitting commence!

Last night, I cast on for a felted slipper (Fuzzy Feet, actually) which I've been meaning to make for a long time. Since the needles are large and gauge is less important, I figured it would be a good way to ease back into knitting. I'm working on the heel currently; it goes quite fast. I'm also hoping to get back to the PNW Shawl soon, for which I'm still on the seagulls. I also am planning to cast on for Soleil - another belated project, I know! My tradition of having way too many things on the needles continues, but hopefully, since I'm without hand pain finally, I'll actually make progress on them!

I don't have knitting pictures today, as there really is very little to show. Instead, this is what happens when you ignore a vegetable garden for about half a week (due to rain and wanting to avoid the aphids). We'd planned for the pie pumpkins (left) to sprawl across the yard; it's only June. I think that by October they will have effected a mutiny!



We finally have flower buds on our eggplants! They have had a rough fight with some beetles, but we seem to be winning that fight. We also had two more giant zucchini. I'll have to keep a better watch on th further reaches of the plants! On the right is the forest that is our tomato jungle, fronted by some cilantro that has gone not only to seed, but to sideways as well.


And it's only June! Yes, it's late June, but oh my goodness! The vegetation in the backyard is very much alive! Luckily, it gives me lovely fresh things for dinner such as the following: yellow squash, parsley, and (what's even better!) the first green bean harvest!

And speaking of harvesting, for the past few days, I've been spending most of my time reading and skimming Sydney Ahlstrom's A Religious History of the American People, a 1,100-page tome that is a classic in my field. Every so often, when he's not offering paeans to America's Puritan heritage or celebrating the evangelical tradition, he talks about other groups, such as the Amish, the Amana colonies, or other types of German pietists. As I plucked the green beans from the vines, I pictured women in bonnets and skirts on theikr farms in Pennsylvania somewhere, living off the land. Realizing full well that I like my modern comforts (like the Internet!) simply felt grateful that I have this fresh produce, that I don't need to run to the grocery store to get it, and that, despite the aphids and the beetles and the imminent takeover by nearly sentient vegetation, it's great to have a garden.