Last year, I grew a bunch of herbs in pots on the back deck. I called them the perbs (as opposed to the herbs that grew in the garden and the kerbs that still grow in the kitchen). Winters aren't kind to herbs around here, so at the end of last summer I solemnly harvested everything (but the sage, chives, and thyme) and, y'know, ate them. The sage hung on, and the chives died down and burst forth in spring. I let them flower so I could make something tasty, then cut them back hard. When I did that, I saw that the thyme has hung on, too, just. Here's a closeup:
Even though we don't seem to be having a summer this year, I've decided to try again, so here are the new perbs:
The little pots, anticlockwise from top left (the big pot is the chives and thyme): marjoram, more thyme, rosemary, sage (the survivor), parsley, and then, on the right and mostly out of the picture, oregano.
Say hello. Make your peace. You'll be seeing more of them in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Kelley's latest piece for the Clarion West Write-a-Thon is up: "Bubble."Think of Bubble as a four-legged beat cop.
A single white whisker on a black cat marked a leader, and Bubble the Brave led well. He made his neighborhood rounds twice every day. He rubbed noses and smelled scent messages for status reports. He stiff-walked the impetuous young ones back into right-thinking when they needed it. He rough-tumbled kittens to toughen them up. One memorable week, he and a select crew — Scooter, Pirate, Catfish and Bill — routed a Labrador that had recently moved into the neighborhood. The dog went limping, one eye blind, and never came back. It had to be done: the dog was insane, a cat-killer, a child-biter. It had a taste for blood. One day, Bubble knew, it would have turned on its people. They had no cat to protect them, and Bubble considered them his responsibility too. [more]
I like this one. Just the thing for a cloudy Monday morning. Go read it. Read the others here. Consider sponsoring Kelley: it's all for a good cause. After all, Kelley and I wouldn't have met and you most likely wouldn't be reading this blog if it wasn't for a Clarion workshop. I couldn't have gone without the partial scholarship they awarded me--the kind of financial help you'll be providing when you sponsor the Write-a-Thon.
