Mr Tiger Pants and the Big Red Pepper
We've got a garden going on the deck again this year. No big deal: just some tomatoes, peppers and squash (which is doing surprisingly well). But the little people love the garden and are more than happy to pose with anything we produce. This pepper is only a little over two inches long, but next to Mr Tiger Pants, it reminds me of Organic Gardening Magazine - and I'm talking about the Organic Gardening of my childhood, with outsized vegetables and their proud growers on the cover. The pepper goes so nicely with Mr TP's trademark red T-shirt, don't you think? The Goddess of Mushrooms
Welcome back to Plastiqueville! Recently we realized - with horror - that we have not updated things around here for almost five months! Things were so quiet that some ne'er-do-well posted a huge pile of garbage links in our guestbook, just to see if we were paying attention. Well, we are. We took out the garbage, and now we're back. This summer, thanks to our beloved CSA farm, Terra Fauna Farm in Northampton, PA, we have been receiving vegetables and mushrooms every week. The mushrooms are actually through Keystone Mycology, and they're amazing! So amazing, in fact, that I am trying to post a mushroom picture on Facebook every week. We might have skipped a week or two in there, but this week, when I opened the paper bag and pulled out a handful of pink oyster mushrooms as big as my head (yes, really), I knew you'd all want to see them. Their lovely spokesperson, by the way, is about four inches tall. So, if you're still here, we are grateful! New residents move into Plastiqueville all the time, and the locals, like Mr Tiger Pants, are happy to see them (for the most part). Check back again soon, and please stay in touch. I have to go cook up some mushrooms! The adventures of Keychain GuyLet's start today with an image from Trapped, an illustrated novel about to come out from Parisian Phoenix Publishing. This image, above, is one of the "Easter eggs" you will find scattered throughout the book. I was told later that this image is a little like one by Irving Penn, titled "Theatre Accident, New York". This image co-stars The Skunk, a major character in the book, and Keychain Guy, who is well known in Plastiqueville for his ability to walk around with a bunch of keys hanging from his hat. (Or is that a helmet?) While Keychain Guy is not in the story itself, he does play an important role in the photograph - after all, who doesn't have keys in their purse? But, most exciting for Keychain Guy - his twin brother has been located, and is alive and well, and living the good life in a garage in Jim Thorpe, PA. He may have other relatives, but in the meantime, here's his long-lost sibling.
Spring thaw in PlastiquevilleHere in Plastiqueville, we are having a sort of "false spring". We all know that there's still a lot of winter to be had - it's not even Valentine's Day! But when the temperatures are livable, and the afternoon light is pretty, who wouldn't hit the trail? Or go in search of the perfect spot for fresh air and conversation? It's all out there and waiting for you! (But hurry! It could be colder when the weekend gets here.)
Sometimes you need a skunk
A couple of months ago, the citizens of Plastiqueville were commissioned to provide some photography for a new contemporary romance from Parisian Phoenix Publishing. Trapped, (cover with blurb above) will be available to eager readers sometime around Valentine's Day. Not only does it come with a beautiful cover, shot on location in Plastiqueville Park, but there are B&W images sprinkled throughout the book like Easter eggs. I used to love that in a book when I was a kid (quite the bookworm I was), so it's refreshing to find it here. Here's hoping that Parisian Phoenix chooses to do this with future titles. Of course, now that means that the skunks have come to Plastiqueville, but they don't seem to be much of a nuisance so far. After spending $21 on a fancy plastic skunk from Bonsai Outlet (pictured above), I realized that we did have some native squirrels, and with a little paint, they could easily be repurposed as skunks. I even toyed with the idea of an albino skunk. All this madness can be viewed in the pages of Trapped.
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