Here’s today’s farm report: still hot and no rain. That’s all the whining I’m allowed about the weather, because it’s been brutally hot and dry for weeks now, and will continue for quite a few more weeks. On the plus side, I can’t harvest the okra fast enough right now, and three of the four varieties of eggplant have started to give up the goods. I also harvested one very undersized, completely out of season sugar pumpkin yesterday, from seeds that sprouted in the spring compost. Note to self: don’t compost pumpkin seeds unless you want them to sprout up all over the garden.

Last Friday, I met with my new art group. They’ve added a second meeting to each month for those of us who want to work on art journals. Sitting at a table with a dozen other people, and chatting while working on a journal is a genuinely weird experience, but I got the backgrounds for three pages in my little journal for The Sketchbook Project done in no time. It took me just an hour or so to finish up two of the pages this past week. So, background coloring at monthly journal meetings is how I’m going to sneak the time to finish this project before Christmas. The book is due back in Brooklyn in January.

I’m in a little—I hesitate to say this, because it might break the spell—art spurt right now. I have that excited-to-start feeling, and have lots of ideas bouncing around my head that need a good whack to get them out. Perhaps it’s sitting in a room full of people who are interested in creating twice a month. Also, I’m finding Pinterest a very handy way to get visual stimulation, and catalog it for later use. And let’s face it: it’s too damned hot to do anything but hide inside and make things.

Next Friday, we’re altering bottles. Be afraid.