On my mind

There's been a lot going on over the past month. Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to.

Portrait of the Lawyer as a Young Artiste:
After the Bar exam my right brain rebelled against too much structure and I immediately undertook two super secret art projects for the annual Burning Man large-scale art festival cum rave. My first project was to create and execute the exterior design for a small museum. The museum director wanted a collapseable structure that would resemble a log cabin. I was lucky enough to be able to collaborate with a professional set designer, and with her advice and plenty of independent research I pulled off a highly representative design that worked really well.

The second project was a fire art project initially conceived by TheRoommate. The core concept was a small scale effigy. We built small man-shaped statues (nothing in size or shape like the Big Man) that would hold their shape while on fire. Some looked like the gingerbread man, and some looked like South Pacific tikis. They're extraordinarily evocative and beautiful flaming sculpture.

Garden Rant
While I was gone, I'd asked the wife of one of my oldest friends to water for me, every other day or so. She expressed no reservations, and I felt comfortable that my garden was in good hands. On returning home, I discovered that her notions of watering missed the mark. My dahlias were nothing but scorched sticks. My bush beans were a mass of withered leaves and woody pods. My barrel of New Mexico chiles were wilted to the stem. Only 2 of 6 cucumber vines survived. Given that this woman has numerous houseplants, all thriving, I'm forced to consider that this may have been deliberate, and I don't understand why.

Meanwhile, we've had terrible squirrel deprivations. The little bastards have attacked the sweet corn and the seedless sunflowers. They got every ear, and nearly every flower. TheRoommate set up some HaveAHeart traps. The traps are empty. I think he should set the coyote traps.

Garden Gloat
Meanwhile, the tomatoes are finally starting to come in. They are red, ripe, juicy, and unfortunately cracked due to the above watering fiasco. I committed three quarts of unripe globes to Fried Green Tomatoes at a surprise party for a dear friend from the Carolinas. Our 4 Crimson Carmello plants are producing abundantly. The cherry tomatoes which didn't get transplanted in time are trying to play catch up.