BEAUTIFUL
It is that time of year again: nasturtium season. Although it is not a bountiful blossom harvest this year, they are appearing, one or two at a time. Not sure why I love them so much. Something about their appearance catches at me, snagging an emotional reaction that is completely absent when viewing an iris or a daisy. Yet I know people who have deep attachments to those flowers: it is just some mysterious individual matter of taste I suppose.

BIG DISCOVERY
Paul Downs, local homeowner, digging a level base for a forthcoming swingset, has made a startling archeological discovery: a big whomping chunk of concrete. "Seems to date from about the mid-1960's" says archaeologist Downs, "Our best guess is that we have uncovered evidence of another civilization's attempt to erect a swingset on this uneven piece of ground, IN THE VERY SAME SPOT!" When asked if he had any insight into why this particular plot of ground keeps getting chosen for children's play structures down through the ages Mr. Downs only shrugged and offered, "Must be some sacred underground river magnifying magnetic pull to this point. That, or the fact that it is the spot furthest away from the house.

RED TOMATO
Next year I think I'll try to grow Brandywine tomatoes, which are very delicious in flavor but not as delicous a color. More of a pinkish hue. I always think of this glowing red with an orange underlay as true Tomato Color!

YOUTHFUL ENCOUNTERS
H gets in J's face and J tries to grab H's nose. The Two Stooges? My friends Alastair and Lindsay are visiting from Scotland with their 5 month old J. He is the cutest thing and P and H are very into him: a touching sight to witness. Henry on the other hand is completely oblivious, except that he is interested in some of J's infant toys and makes off with a certain orange squeeze toy whenever he can. The flip side is that we have mountains of baby and toddler toys here as I buy them for Henry at yard sales and resale shops constantly (11 year olds are innocently hard on toys intended for 18 month olds) and sometimes get them from kind friends who think of me when they are clearing out the toy chests of their growing children. Henry's autism has made unending his interest in flashing, whirling and musical toys. So for J it is like taking up temporary residence in a toy shop! But now where DID his orange squeeze toy go?

OLD BEANS
From the garden. Lumpily interesting but not very delicious. Food though!

A COUCH IN THE KITCHEN
Seems the height of comfort and luxury to me. "La, tout n'est qu'ordre et beaute: luxe, calme et verite." Maybe not exactly what Baudelaire meant when he wrote those lines, but oh well! I was touring the big old historic farmhouse of which my friends Helen Mangelsdorf and Roman Tybinco are now the caretakers.

GEOMETRIC SANDWICHES
My mother-in-law has a natural flair for arranging food attractively. This snack was almost too pretty eat!

MATURITY
I think you feel mature for the first time as a child, when somebody gives you a new baby to hold. Somehow holding that fragile new life in your puny little arms makes you aware of your own (comparative) maturity and strength.

WATER RING
Iced tea on a hot day.

DIVINE
Despite having lost his arms down the centuries, one feels the intense force of this divinity. Certainly the sculptor had a divine talent. How did the artist convey the powerful feeling of sublimity in such a restrained and calm manner? In my own way, I feel like this is what I am trying to do (but so often fail) with my much humbler paintings. I took this shot at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, but forgot to jot down the name or sect of the divinity or even his country of origin. None of that seemed to matter at all.