May is confusing

Hey, so forget what I said about summer never coming. My last post broke the weather. It's been in the 90s here ever since. And hazy. And humid. I'm pretty sure we've set records this month for both low AND high temperatures, but at this point it's (maybe)(I hope) safe to say that summer is here.

And I am glad because I've been chomping at the bit to get my herb garden going this year and the late freezes were bumming me right out. But when the low temperatures are higher than the high temperatures were the week before (I know, right?), it's time to plant. So I did.

The cast of characters on the Table of Joy so far this season: garlic chives, regular old chives, Greek oregano, cilantro (about to bolt), bay laurel, German thyme, fernleaf dill (eaten almost to oblivion by a swallowtail caterpillar who disappeared yesterday, possibly into the tummy of that robin up there), Thai basil, spicy globe basil, German thyme, kaffir lime, Mexican marigold (a tarragon substitute), stevia, flatleaf parsley, sage, some ancient mint I've had forever that is threatening to jump its pot, rosemary (not pictured as it lives elsewhere in the yard), and my dad tells me I can eat that portulaca up there because portulaca = purslane. I think this is the most rabbit food I've ever grown at one time. So that's exciting, eh?

Also exciting: there is a plum on our plum tree! Every day we go out and fondle it to see if it's ripe. It's not. I hope we get it before the birds do.

I don't think we'll get any pecans this year, and the berry patch is dead, but my fig tree tree that I THOUGHT was dead has chosen life and is leafing out like gangbusters. We probably won't get any figs this year either, but maybe next year. If it doesn't die again.

(You would think the child of a master gardener and an extremely green-thumbed plant lady would not be such a murderer of flora, but the dead snake plant on my kitchen windowsill begs to differ. Also, he -- his name is, or was, Eggbert -- would like some water. And a new home.)

(See also: Arnold, the half-dead aloe vera in my office.)

(The not-quite-dead/getting-better fig tree's name is Ferdinand, in case you were wondering.)

(I feel like this post has gone horribly off the rails.)

Let's see, what else is going on?

H has four days left of school after today, and then she will be a sophomore, holy crap. C is trying to get me hooked on multiplayer video games and it's kind of working. P is my hero for pulling a splinter out of my left index finger the other day because splinters are my kryptonite and I'm pretty sure the neighbors thought I was dying and/or giving birth while all that screaming was going on. I scored a pair of Banana Republic olive green linen shorts for 99 cents at a thrift store yesterday while shopping with my parents, who know all the good places to go.

I am ready for summer. No really, I am. Bring it.