Dry spell (on a couple fronts)

Do I know my NC summers or what? The gardens are severly bummed...birdhouse gourd vines - dying, zucchini - dying, tomotoes - sun-dried on the vine. Sigh. Since our gardens are new this year, and this being the land of red clay, our dry gardens aren't surviving well with only a morning watering. The not-so-worked clay has hardened and when I water in the morning it merely runs off and barely soaks the soil. A friend and lanscaper has recommended Perma-till which I plan to use to help counteract the clay issue. I've also had a compost pile and a leaf mould pile that I hope will help for next year. Chicky's garden of sunflowers has made the Goldfinches very happy. There are two pairs that are regular feeders. When the wind is blowing it looks like an amusement park ride for birds. The little darlings hold on to the stems while they bob and sway and when the wind dies down a bit they snack on a few seeds. I haven't been able to get close enough for a good photo op, but I'm trying.

Knitting lull over here. Several projects, not much time. The kids are back in school and now that I have custody on week nights we spend all our time doing routine life stuff. Actually, it feels like I spend all my time in the kitchen, either preparing food or cleaning up from the most recent dining experience. On occassion, I let the kids help with either end of the process, but having a galley size kitchen is a hinderance.

I have been reading before I konk out at night, though. I just finished John Irving's novel Until I Find You. I really adore that man's writing. He doesn't write wholly likeable characters, but that's a lot like life, right? This one had a more somber tone with less comic relief than most of his other work, but I must confess, I didn't want it to end. By the end of the eight hundred and some pages I wanted to know what else happened to Jack Burns.

Right now I'm reading William Least Heat Moon's book Blue Highways. This was recommeded to my dad by a friend, and my dad mentioned it to me, and I mentioned it to another friend who read and enjoyed it, and now it's my turn. Part on the road adventure, part history, it's a great wandering through the back roads of the US in the late 70's.