Sculpin

Our jack-o-lanterns are all carved and glowing. I’m happy with them. And we grew all the pumpkins ourselves!

When Josh said he wanted one of the jack-o-lanterns to be a skull, I all but raced to my computer to bring up a gallery of work by Artemio Rodriguez from La Mano Press. There’s a lot of neat stuff at the La Mano Press website - check out the gorgeous “Muerto Rider” art car.

I’ve just harvested 8.8 pounds of acorn squash. No idea what to do with them. I’m not really a winter squash person, I think; a neighbor gave us a seed start, and the vines just grew like crazy. My friend Ian suggests that I start by building a really big slingshot.

These squashes are such satisfying objects that I’d like to learn to enjoy eating them.

Fava beans are coming up well; gorgeous scarlet runner seeds have almost all ripened; harvested six pumpkins in various stages of ripeness, the largest of which is about 43 inches around; brought in the tiny Swallow eggplants, all of which together came to about 8 oz.

In other news, I started coughing on September 7 and still haven’t quite stopped. It’s just been relapse after relapse. Very annoying. I think I’m finally on the tail end of this. Of course, I’ve thought that before. If you’ve wondered, “Where’s Cam?” the answer is, “Hacking up a lung.” So attractive.

Sometimes I just can’t keep from rubbernecking.

I made rice pudding last week with some leftover rice, and it was good. It’s basically an excuse to eat half-and-half and sugar:

Rice pudding for two

1 cup cooked white rice
dash of salt
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup milk
scant 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Bring rice, salt, sugar, and dairy products to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pot, then reduce to low and cook, stirring frequently, for about half an hour or until the mixture is very thick. Add vanilla and cook a few minutes more, then serve.

I’ve read that rice pudding is generally eaten cold or at room temperature. But I learned to eat rice pudding in Thai restaurants, so I like it nice and hot.

Our second pumpkin, my favorite, is curing on the dining room table. It’s forty inches around, with a rough skin. I keep going up and petting it. When it comes time to carve it into a jack-o-lantern, I don’t think I’m going to be able to watch.

There are two more big pumpkins and a medium-sized one in various stages of ripeness, plus some little guys that probably won’t ripen at all. Shouting, “Ripen faster!” in Vendetta-like tones does not seem to actually get them to ripen any faster, unsurprisingly, but it’s satisfying anyway.

I’ve put in about half the fava beans. My conclusion: chitting is kind of tedious. And if you happen to get a bad cold when it’s time to plant out the seeds, well, sucks to be you: you’ve got to get those seeds in the ground before the root gets long enough to be fragile.

Next up: moving some plants around. I’ve been planting some silver-foliaged plants in the walkway alongside the house. I haven’t generally been a fan of silvery plants, but they help me see the path better in the dark, so I’m coming around. (Especially for carnations; I love the scent, and they remind me of our wedding.) The volunteer lambs-ear that’s been coming up in back will fill in some spots nicely.

Josh and I had a bunch of volunteer pumpkin plants this year, courtesy of last year’s jack-o-lanterns, and we just let them go to see what they’d do. Become huge and produce pumpkins, that’s what they do. If we don’t lose any to rot and squirrels, we’ll have about a half-dozen of our own squashes to carve for Halloween. Some are orange now; some are still green. I brought the first one in to cure today — maybe a little early, but it was in a dampish, cooler spot and I was a bit concerned about the rot potential there.

It’s very satisfying to watch these guys grow. Next year I’d like to tear up the front lawn and plant it with great big ornamental squash — maybe have some Galeux d’Eysines in the mix.

In other garden news, I’m chitting a whole lot of fava beans for green manure. Every year I mean to do this; finally this year I’m getting around to it. Gives me hope for the other umpteen things I mean to do every year.

My buddy Stan Chalicki has entered the P-I’s Bob Dylan imitation contest. He’s good! So I’m shamelessly shilling for a vote on his behalf.

As Josh said of his competition, “Man, some of these folks are good musicians, but they’re just way too in tune for a decent Dylan impression. Stan’s come closest to the whole nasal atonal thing.” Plus, he’s got the guitar impression down solid. When I was living with Jay, I heard Bob Dylan at least once a week and sometimes daily. So I feel like I know Dylan’s guitar work better than a sane person really wants to.