by the rivers of Babylon, where he sat down...

This summer, partially as a crusade against boredom, but more so as an attempt to live more in my body than in an ever-increasing variety of machines, I planted a garden. This effort began in May, when I tore up a 6x6 plot of grass in my backyard (the grass is ever-encroaching, as you may well see from the above photograph) and spent about a day getting all the rocks out of it. When people talk about how rocky the soil in New England is, they really aren't exaggurating. It is. Then when my dad and I hauled ass out to Home Depot, we picked up a couple of tomato and pepper plants, and also a tiny new rosemary bush to replace the one that had suffered a gruesome death by dehydration in its cute little green pot thing. (I tried to transplant it to my fledgling garden. My efforts promptly failed.

This is my new and improved rosemary plant, which happens to be flourishing in the ever-so-clumpy soil. Sometimes I think that stuff is about 60% weird-as-shit clay. The basil (see skimpy little green plant abovee) is also doing quite well. It smells better than it looks.

My ever-fruitful tomato plant. It's scarcely a foot tall yet, but it's growing well, and.....

IT BE PREGNUT! No, but seriously. That's a baby tomato in between my fingers. It used to have an adorable little white flower covering it, but it outgrew that and so it dried up/fell off. Hopefully, this tomato will grow up big and strong, and is also a good omen that I will have other tomatoes in the future. Normal reaping season is August anyway, so this little one is pretty early.

I always give this one extra water because it's eating for two. Teehee. I have another tomato plant too. I don't judge it for being a late bloomer, and neither should you. I also have a rather leafy bell pepper plant, which has of yet shown no signs of bearing fruit. I also used to have a jalapeño plant, but i think a deer ate it. (Boo! Hiss!) As I am currently off on a tangent, I will now show you my flowers.

My boyfriend's favorite color is purple. I used to think this was really weird until I realized one of two things: first, that he looks really good in purple as a function of having black hair and tan skin, and second, that purple is the color of irises, which are only the most architecturally striking and cool flowers ever. Therefore I am reminded of him a little every time I see them, as he's abroad for the summer and will not be home for, like, a month. (If anyone is curious about where he is, my post title is your hint.)

Hydrangea is my mother's favorite flower, and these are some very early blossoms that we have in our side yard as they usually don't bloom until August. Something interesting: hydrangea flowers function as a kind of natural pH counter; that is, the blossoms are blue if your soil is acidic (pH <> 7). I suppose my soil is a tad acidic, as we've never once had pink flowers. I'm not sure what happens if your soil is perfectly neutral - if anyone knows, feel free to tell me!

Ah, pansies. I tend to these mostly every day, as they can be a little high-maintenence if you want them to bloom all spring and summer. My favorite thing about pansies is that exact thing, though: if you pull off (gently) the dead petals, they'll grow back all season. We've had these since May.

When I was a really little kid, these daises were my absolute favorite flowers. (Once they were fully matured, of course. Eventually they become this really stunning fuschia.) My parents always gave me bouquets of them after I performed in one of those ballet recitals that little girls are so fond of. Somehow they ended up in our garden, and now I have around fifty of them to look at whenever I want to.

This is my secret hideout. The couch used to be covered with a cornucopia of random shit, which I cleared off and threw somewhere. I then proceeded to sweep the floor - and walls! - furiously, and beat the hell out of the cushions so as to get the dirt out. I also put the covers in the washing machine, as that tends to work better than exorcism.

Today, though, the sun was smiling, the trees were trembling, and the creek was chuckling, so I emerged from the Batcave and sat in a chair. Just a chair, in the middle of the lawn. The chair you see above is the exact one I sat in - not a replica, not a reproduction. You can also buy neither of those on the Home Shopping Network. I don't know where I'm going with this, except that since the weather was very good, I decided to try something I hadn't done yet but had extensively prepared for: coloring my hair lighter with lemon juice.

The above is a lock of my hair. My hands still reek of the lemons that I used in my semi-futile attempts - It kinda looks like it worked, but i'm also pretty sure that I'm just trying to reassure myself that my efforts were, in fact, worthwhile. At any rate, I still have my curls.

Your summer work assignment is in no way related to the American colonial experience, like mine is. (Although I do enjoy a good Samuel Eliot Morison! But don't tell anyone or they'll call me a geek.) Yours is to listen to at least a few (if not all) of these songs:

thewarmthofthesun mixtape

"Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay,

"Remember the Mountain Bed" by Billy Bragg & Wilco,

"This Will Be Our Year" by OK Go,

"Not Fade Away" by the Rolling Stones

"The Sound of Settling" by Death Cab for Cutie

"All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar

"July, July!" by The Decemberists

"Tick of Time" by The Kooks

"June" by Pete Yorn

"Photobooth" by Death Cab for Cutie

"Daylight" by Matt & Kim

"California Stars" by Billy Bragg & Wilco

"Rivers of Babylon" by Sublime