Saturday in the Garden | Eating My Own Weight in Corn, Cukes and Tomatoes

OUTSIDE

I got the yard cleaned up last Sunday, at least somewhat, and my neighbor foisted all kinds of vegetables on me for which I am NOT complaining.  She gets more sun, she's in her eighties so spends most days puttering in the garden and she grows enough for 20 people.

It's officially August in Iowa.

My garden continues to be weird.  I appear to be headed for a bumper crop of peppers but my tomatoes are really sparse and I've only gotten 4 to ripen so far.  My "experimental" crop this year were Lima Beans (which I love and didn't realize most people hate until I was like 35) and they are producing pods like mad but the pods aren't fattening up.... That will be a serious bummer if they stall at this stage without producing the beans.

The view out of my office window continues to provide a show.  The Monarch was enjoying some Ironweed and the Giant Swallowtail was enjoying the Bee Balm (sorry for the horrible pic - he was being very fluttery).

And some other random photos from being out in the field this week.  We've actually started finding some Monarch caterpillars which is a relief.

Fun Leafhopper

4th Instar Monarch Caterpillar

Ever wondered what being in the middle of an Iowa corn field looks like? Probably not but here you go anyway.

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching 

I'm still making my way through Agents of Shield and haven't gotten to any new episodes yet.  I still love May an insane amount.  I am most drawn to female characters who are bad ass and really good at controlling their emotions.  I am NOT good at controlling my emotions so I think it is a trait I envy/admire the most in other women.  I'd forgotten just how much I hate the mostly ruined dynamic between Fitz and Simmons and how changed Fitz's personality is - I love the two of them and hate that everything about them in this season is mostly grim and that most of the blame for that is piled onto Simmons.

The near future will probably be all about the Olympics!

Reading

Finished Last Week:

• Magician's Gambit (Belgariad #3) by David Eddings: See above!  Book 3 reread from a muc beloved series.  
• Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6) by Ilona Andrews: I swear this series keeps getting better and better!

Currently Reading:

• One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein: A gardening book about maximizing food production in a small space.  An ARC from Netgalley (though I think it's an older title).    
• Lost Stars by Claudia Gray: My first Star Wars book and it's sooooo gooooood!  
• Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2)  by Libba Bray:  I had an actual Love-Hate relationship with the first book in this series but there was enough love to make me curious about where the series is headed.  The bad news?  The first sentence Evie utters contains the dreaded "Posi-tute-ly!" Ugh....

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week.  It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

• Trials of the Earth: The True Story of a Pioneer Woman by Mary Mann Hamilton: I think the title says it all!  I love frontier/pioneer stories and if they are true all the better! 
• To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey: I loved The Snow Child by this author and this second book of hers has historical Alaska as a setting again. Both this one and the one above were from The Capricious Reader's blog.
• The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen:  This sounded like an interesting mystery/southern fiction story that was recommended on the Get Booked podcast from Book Riot. 

Blogging 

On the BLOG LAST WEEK:

Two Reviews!  Look at me being a real book blog;0).

SUNDAY:  Review | A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
TUESDAY: Top Ten Tuesday | Let the Book Avarice Begin!
THURSDAY: Review | The Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!