The Goddess of Gumbo

My girl­friend Betty Jo and her honey, Steve, just got back from New Orleans, and all I can get out of her are sto­ries about the great bands they saw and the food they ate. My bosom bud­dies in the com­mu­nity gar­den, Charles and Kay, are going next week. Charles swears it’s busi­ness, but odds …

So I’ve been hav­ing trou­ble explain­ing to my par­ents why I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m not a com­plete idiot. I do under­stand that, from their point of view, the point of view of African Amer­i­cans who were the first in their respec­tive fam­i­lies to achieve a higher edu­ca­tion, my obses­sion with grub­bing in the dirt …

I’m so moved. Baby and I have wel­comed into the world … well, really, the front yard … our first (sniff) child! This baby hydrangea is the result of my very first les­son in propagation–right after Marc and I started dat­ing in sum­mer 2009. I blogged about a few of those lessons, way back in …

Ants have been the bane of my exis­tence lately. From a minor nui­sance in sum­mer, they have evolved into a year-round annoy­ance, and the sin­gle track of the tribe across my kitchen counter top has expanded to accom­mo­date spur lines to the dish­washer, the base­boards, the wide open spaces of the kitchen floor. … They …