Camera Girl and I journey today to the southernmost border of New England where the smoldering ashes of what was once Gotham City color the horizon with a somber palette.\u00a0 But we will be celebrating family and life and all that stuff.\u00a0 This week will be Camera Girl’s greatest challenge.\u00a0 She will be besieged by teeming hordes of berserk descendants desperately trying to fend off thoughts of the impending school year.<\/p>\n
It will take all her powers to occupy these desperate young’uns and divert their attention from the impending horror.\u00a0 Of course it will really help if somehow we can avoid torrential rains for the week.\u00a0 That will provide us with so many more options for activities than being stuck in the house with the boob tube and my feeble wits.<\/p>\n
But once the week is complete, it really will be fall.\u00a0 And it’s been a very strange summer.\u00a0 So much rain and so little sun has destroyed the vegetable garden.\u00a0 Other than some tomatoes and what looks to be a decent crop of eggplants it has been a disaster.\u00a0 I think we’ve gotten one zucchini and so far no butternut squash.\u00a0 And while we’ve gotten a few red razzberries from the plants I put in last year and the plants have increased and spread, I can hardly say they have been a success yet.<\/p>\n
And as far as the blueberries, whereas I managed to get a few handfuls of berries last year, this year the birds perfected their technique of picking the fruit precisely before I myself judged them ripe enough to eat.\u00a0 And it was a bumper crop.\u00a0 I guess if I’m really serious about eating any of this fruit I’ll have to start using netting over the plants.\u00a0 Who am I kidding?\u00a0 I’m too lazy to do that.<\/p>\n
And likewise, the rain put a serious dent into the flowers in the yard.\u00a0 The butterfly bush died back to the ground because of the lack of snow cover during the coldest part of the winter.\u00a0 It sprouted from the roots eventually but was a mere shadow of its size and bloomed very late.\u00a0 And many other plants were late and stunted.\u00a0 The only pleasant surprise was the Inula helenium (elecampane) \u00a0that I put in last year.\u00a0 The stalks were seven feet tall and there were plenty of bright yellow flowers.<\/p>\n
Also there were very few butterflies this year.\u00a0 Probably the sparse snow cover again.\u00a0 Well, complaining won’t do any good so best to just move on.\u00a0 I’ll just chalk it up to experience and hope that this year we get more snow.\u00a0 Wait, more snow?\u00a0 What am I saying?\u00a0 Oh well.<\/p>\n
So fall in Dunwich is a busy time for me.\u00a0 We’ll be pretending to re-elect First Selectman Cthulhu which is always a painful process involving the loss of several bureaucrats in his entourage when he becomes aggravated and therefore hungry.\u00a0 My part in the process is also, let us say, delicate.\u00a0 I’m required by tradition and statute to second the motion for his unanimous re-election by acclaim.\u00a0 If I hesitate by more than a split second after the original motion is exclaimed my fate will be sealed.\u00a0 Therefore I have perfected the “echo method.”\u00a0 As the motion is being spoken I echo the words coming out of his mouth almost simultaneously.\u00a0 It sort of sounds like that scene in the movie “Pride of the Yankees” where Gary Cooper is saying, “But today … today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”\u00a0 And so I can keep each word going just that little time extra needed to detect the last word and begin my sentence without any noticeable pause.\u00a0 Actually quite ingenious.\u00a0 It’s quite remarkable what fear can do for your IQ.<\/p>\n
Well, it’s time to get going.\u00a0 The sun is shining and nothing has burned down or exploded in the news yet so I can wish everyone a nice day with at least the hope that it’s possible.\u00a0 Adios amigos.<\/p>\n
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