Charlottesville VA

31 July 2013 The Castle Was Ruled by a Boy in a Black Hat

Aug 2, 2013

30 July 2013 Our Favorite Lake in the Summer

Aug 1, 2013

Walnut Creek, south of Cville.

28 July 2013 Spoils from Two Gardens

Aug 1, 2013

Chinese red noodle and blackberries from our next-door neighbors. Tomatoes, pepper and cucumber from ours!

27 July 2013 Mystery Squash

Aug 1, 2013

Our volunteer squash plant yielded two squashes before I took it out this weekend (massive squash beetle infestation too– ugh). Any idea what these are?

26 July 2013 Chinese Red Noodle

Aug 1, 2013

Courtesy of our next-door neighbors’ garden. They grow up to 2 feet long! Taste more or less like a string bean and are delicious sauteed with garlic and Thai basil.

9 July 2013 Swimming Out to the Dock

Jul 10, 2013

The day before we head out of town on our European odyssey. (Gosh, I hope it’s nothing like THE Odyssey.) Updates to Monsterfool may be sparse over the next few weeks. Pictures and stories when we get back!

8 July 2013 Blue-Tailed Skink

Jul 9, 2013

Sam was thrilled to discover this blue-tailed fellow in a bucket outside. After spending an hour or so building him a habitat, she was then crushed when he ran off into the wet grass.

7 July 2013 Rainy Day at the Pool

Jul 8, 2013

Look closely at the ground and you can see that it was teeming. We were happily swimming in the downpour (water was warmer than the air) until the lifeguards booted us from the pool because “they couldn’t see the bottom.” (My read: they were ready to close up and go home). But really, this is the wettest summer we’ve …

6 July 2013 Neighborhood Spoils

Jul 7, 2013

It pays to be around when the neighbors are away on vacation! In addition to chicken-sitting, we are keeping an eye on two different gardens. We’ll get to repay their generosity, however, because I suspect that our tomatoes and peppers will start ripening while we’re away for two weeks.