First tomatoes!

I found this fabric in a hunt for yellows. I made a pair of Jams out of it in 1986 or 1987. I am slightly embarrassed ....A. because I wore shorts out of this fabric and B. because I've had the hideous scraps for 22 years. But, it works perfectly with the tropical blue, red and yellow placemats I cut out.

Monarda and daisies from my garden make a nice bouquet in the bathroom.

Okay, so the tomato was on the plant when I bought it, but it took a while to get nice and yellow!


In other news, I will be taking a fresh shipment of man whore kitchen goods to Paste today. There apparently is quite a demand for man whores in St. Louis, which I am happy to fulfill.

Cranky Yellow on Cherokee Street will also be selling my "men" this week. I'll pop by there tomorrow to drop some off. Cherokee Street has experienced quite a renaissance in the past year or so. It's not the scary neighborhood it used to be. Go get some good coffee at Mississippi Mud, walk a few blocks west to Cranky Yellow and get some tacos on your way.

Don't Mess With My Kids!

I am all up in arms about this news article. This woman is so out of touch with reality, it's frightening.

Sure, I might complain about how annoying my students get by April, and yeah, there's a lot who I honestly cannot stand, but even the worst ones deserve a decent meal. How often have I been asked for a pass to the nurse because she gives out crackers and the asking child hasn't eaten that day? I know how much of a motivator food is. But 7th graders can't work at freakin' McDonald's! In fact, they can't legally work anywhere!
It just riles me when people do or say things that are negative towards or about the students I work with. The "dreaded" inner-city (sort of), poverty-line living kids who know how to do all the latest dances and can text faster than I can blink.

Robin gives several ways to help out with this, if you're as riled as I am.

So, a few photos to relax us all:

1. Current state of the garden. That would be a fence of dill.
2. Current state of cantaloupe/ladder experiment. Need another few ladders, but will mess around with fencing tomorrow.
3. Red monarda (bee balm). I have not seen one damn hummingbird, even though this plant is supposedly hummingbird crack.

4. Watermelon patch. Why, oh WHY didn't I space them out once they got big?

Metro East Pride Fest Tomorrow!

You know you want some male pinup oven mitts, or maybe an apron, right? Half-naked firemen? Half-naked cowboys?
Come find me with the St. Louis Craft Mafia in booth 14 tomorrow at the Metro East Pride Fest in Belleville. It's not that far from St. Louis; don't let the river freak you out. Just look for the banner above!

First Sunflower!

Ahoy, mateys! I'm 5' 2", which makes the volunteer dill behind me..... super freakin' tall!
Please to see the crib, pink monarda and futon/bean trellis in the background.

Pink monarda! I think I planted it last year, after a visit to Walker Gardens (my parents' house) in Pennsylvania. It is deliciously candy pink and I want to eat it.

And here is the first sunflower of the year. It was a volunteer, natch, and may be a Chianti type. Either way, it's wondrous.

Good things: 1. Senora Muertos' bad-idea-having dog made it through the night after eating spoiled dog food. Thank you, St. Francis of Assisi.

2. Matt had a peaceful birthday last night with his scooter buddies. We sat in the backyard drinking beer, visiting with the neighbor's cat Ginny, and watching possums scoot through the hoosier neighbor's yard. I experimented with some nighttime photography, as evidenced by the Monster Dill below.
3. Anyone have a window AC unit they need a new home for?

4. I am up to my eyeballs in man whore fabric. It's being sewn into sassy oven mitts and pot holders, just in time for Pride. I'll be at the Metro East Pride Fest in Belleville, IL on June 20th with some other Mafia girls.

Everyone wants a half-naked fireman in their kitchen, right? For a mere $10, he can be yours. I accept cash, checks and credit cards.

5. Superchick and I put the Chinese coin quilt in the frame this morning. If you need me, I can be found in the freshly-cleaned basement, with Matt's iPod radio thing perched on the washer, playing all my faves.

6. I will be at the Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show on July 31 to August 2. I promise you kickass placemats and whatever man whore oven mitts don't sell at Pride.

7. Senora Muertos and I engaged in some plant thievery Thursday night. If a house is vacant, it's okay to dig up the wine-red lilies, right?
It took the dark of night and a pint of Schlafly hefeweizen for me to get up the courage. Plus, we were rockin' out to some Beastie Boys' "License to Ill". What a stellar album that is/was. When it came out, I was in seventh grade, and had never heard anything like it.

8. Visits with garden and former work friends this week, plus an invitation to Remains on Morganford. A used clothing/textile processing plant? Hells yeah!

9. I have pretty much convinced myself that I would be happier without children. I'm up to 90% now. If it happens, that's cool, but damn if I don't look forward to reading in the backyard with an iced coffee each afternoon.

10. My oldest friend in the world is coming to visit in July and I am panting with excitement. I will remove the Obama sticker from my car before driving down to Elephant Rocks, though. Mustn't upset the rednecks! The sticker is fading, anyway, but I really want to avoid smashed windows :(

Man whores! Get your man whores!

So, I made these oven mitts.
You like?
I ordered $50 more of the same woodsmen (heh heh) and some other varieties of man whore fabric today.
Amy at St. Theresa's Textile Trove was super helpful and dug through their fat quarter bin to find some hot man fabric. She even found some surfer boys for me. What a peach she was! If you are ever in Cincinnati, you must get thee to the trove. It is a mind-boggling explosion of beads and fabrics and wonderment.

I'll be selling these at the Metro East Pride Festival on June 20th, in Belleville. Also, there will be matching aprons, which may or may not have come from the disgruntled art teacher's room at school. She was cleaning out as much as she could, in a "stick it to the man" moment.

I myself had that same moment last Monday, when I was told I would be moving to another classroom. Do non-teachers understand how much stuff we have in our rooms? It's almost like moving the contents of an apartment! Luckily, we had students, so we put them to work carrying boxes and hundreds of books.
A little advance warning would have been nice, but I guess it's better than the last time I moved classrooms---at that time, I came BACK after summer vacation to be told that my team would be moving. We had a week of teacher work days before school actually started to move and get our rooms in order.

But, I digress...In other news, please check out my friend's website, Senora Muertos. She has taken the brave step of quitting her day job and is crafting for a livin'. She'll also be at the Pride Festival with me in a few weeks.

Not much else to report. The garden continues to grow. Very soon, I will be training melons and squash to climb fences and a wooden ladder. Go, watermelons, go!