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Monthly Archives: April 2021

Frost, on Earth Day

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Wild persimmon Most of the country had unusually cold weather on April 21 and 22. Ironically, April 22 was Earth Day. Here in the South, spring was far enough along that there was considerable damage. Native species are hardy and came through pretty well, with the odd exception of wild persimmon. Most of my persimmon […]

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Greenland

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Preppers love disaster films. And, after Covid-19, aren’t we all preppers now? “Greenland” is a pretty good disaster film. Except that “Greenland” is really more of a family film — a vulnerable seven-year-old boy with diabetes, and a mom and dad (who aren’t getting along very well) fighting to save the family. The film was […]

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Literary novels and other trash

Friday, April 23, 2021

I know that, when something really gets under your skin, it’s a psychological red flag and that one should ask oneself what’s really going on. Whatever. But when I ask myself what’s really going on with my aggressive hatred of literary novels (or literary anything), I think it’s this: Literary novels are not merely bad, […]

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Barley dumplings

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Barley dumplings in tomato sauce I’m on a constant quest to test the versatility of barley. The latest experiment was barley dumplings. I think I can get the grade up next time, but my first effort would get only a C+. The ingredients were barley flour, egg, and seasonings. I ground the barley flour myself […]

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A classic diner returns (I hope)

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

From the 1950s If you’re like me, as things reopen after a year of staying in, you’ve been thinking about how much you’ve missed eating out. I’ve even been thinking about where to go for an eating-out celebration. Until yesterday, my plan was to go to Bernadin’s in Winston-Salem. But I learned yesterday that a […]

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Stars

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Source: Hubble telescope, NASA, Jesœs Maz Apellÿniz, and Davide De Martin via Wikimedia Commons An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. Bradley W. Carroll and Dale A. Ostlie. Cambridge University Press, 2017. 1,342 pages. Quick now: How old is the universe? Answer: About 13.8 billion years. If you were to walk out under the night sky this […]

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Leaves for Lily and me

Sunday, April 4, 2021

This is Lily’s first catnip bouquet of the 2021 season. I already have huge quantities of catnip. I also have quite a lot of mint coming along. I’ve mentioned that one of my resolutions for this year is to eat more leaves, including, and especially, raw leaves as pesto. Apparently mint pesto is a thing, […]

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