Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Odds and ends

John and Bernie at Avellino's
At the Farmers' Market on Saturday, I bought this Bernie Sanders cookie so that I could present it to John on Monday. John is an avid Bernie supporter and I knew that he would appreciate it. Sure enough: he won't even eat Bernie until after he's conceded to Hillary. It might be stale by then. John doesn't look like the usual millennial youngster that Bernie attracts, does he? Just goes to show that you can never judge a book by its cover.
First zucchine blossom
And look! I spied a first blossom on my zucchini plant yesterday when I went out in the morning to water. I smiled when I saw it and was reminded that a few years ago, when I saw that flower and the next day it was gone, I was dismayed, thinking that something had eaten it. And then slowly it dawned on me that the flower is the first stage of the zucchini itself! Boy, was I surprised. And now I'm an old hand and mentally translated this blossom into a zucchini by this time next week.

A few of my blogging friends have asked me about the name of the county in which I live, Whatcom. I remember wondering that myself, long ago, so this morning at the coffee shop I asked John and Gene if they knew the origin of the name. They didn't, so I looked it up (the link above). And I learned that its name ultimately derives from the Lummi word Xwotʼqom, meaning "noisy water."

A nearby table was occupied by a man who was busy grading papers. I learned that he is a professor of river ecology at Western Washington University and asked him if he knew the origin of the word. He smiled and told me yes; in fact, it's the bonus question on the papers he was grading at that moment! What are the odds of that happening?

Odds and ends: it seemed like an appropriate title for today's post. While writing this, I thought about the oddity above and the ending of this phase of the political scene. Even more appropriate.
:-)

13 comments:

  1. I suppose I have told you before that when the zucchinis ripen here in Minnesota...that is the only time we lock our cars:)

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  2. i love bits of kismet that occur in our lives.

    the bernie cookie made me smile. john is a cutie holding his cookie.

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  3. What an amazing co-incidence.
    And don't zuchinnis grow fast. And hide well. I don't like them when they reach gargantuan size (which they can do overnight).

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  4. Erik grades his classes' papers at Starbucks also! Talk about 'odd'...or a coinkydink!!

    Love the cookie!!!

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  5. When someone wears glasses, it is a lot easier to make a cookie look like them. Bernie's campaign is down to the crumbs I think. Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoy my writing blog. Yours is just ducky with me as well!

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  6. Odds and ends posts are very interesting. The only problem is you use up topics for a longer post, but maybe you have lots of ideas. I'd be with Gene supporting Bernie Sanders and I'm older than Sanders.

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  7. Odds and ends are nice!

    I bought two zucchini plants this morning. They are about three inches long. The cucumber plants are smaller. I won't be harvesting as quickly as you will, Jan.

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  8. I don't look like the usual millennial youngster that Bernie attracts, either. ;) Love the pic!!

    So, zucchini gone wild is just around the corner. With this early spring I bet your will have a plentiful garden this year. :)

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  9. Coincidences are many times fun!

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  10. I like to stir fry some shrimp and zucchini now and then. The pink color of the shrimp and the green color of the zucchini really contrast very nicely.

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  11. I love the "noisy water" coincidence! No blooms on our zucchini yet, but they were started from seed. Funny about all the prolific producer jokes about zucchini.

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  12. Your meeting that professor was an amazing coincidence. I've never grown a zucchini plant. This will be terrific when you start harvesting tons of zucchinis.

    By the way, I read on the Internet that not watering my garden in the evening will cut the snail gathering by 80%. But what if it rains? Hmmm...

    And oh yes, that is going to be one stale cookie. It's awfully cute though.

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