How does your garden grow?

Happy Canada Day to those who participate, which should be none of us. I admit my (brief!) all-in nationalism this spring dwindled to nothing, at around the halfway point between our centre-right PM centre-righting his way clear through Indigenous land rights, and some twerp calling Canada “the greatest nation in the world” on the back of Elbows Up, right across the street from my house. When embattled, it’s easy for a country to come together and remember that we are all Canadian and we like that far better than the alternative; as soon as the embattling starts to recede, one recalls that only the worst people on the planet stand behind nationalism as though it were some kind of a “thing.” So anyway. Back to normal in the 5th-freest nation in the world (?!), I guess.

I started writing a Star Wars story again, instead. I know, I know. But I have a take on the Jedi that I haven’t seen expressed anywhere, and while it’s not even the fulcrum of this particular story, it led me in a direction and now it’s a thing and who knows, maybe I’ll publish it on the blog someday en route to finally pitching that Jecki mystery novel I still want to do. Although there’s a Jecki mystery (?) novel coming out in a few weeks, so, maybe that race is run.

Meantime, I’ve got Zuccatastrophe 2025 happening in the communal plot — that heat wave last week acted on my crops like nuclear fallout — and a loaf of croissant sourdough proofing on the counter. I’ve got the Star Wars story (which is truly just a lark, don’t worry; I’m not working on it much) rising in the back of my mind; and in the mid-brain, I’m waiting for the misty outline of the next draft of my screenplay to coalesce into something like a shape before I actually tear the guts out of the Final Draft file and start putting it into place. Everything, right now, is alchemy: sunlight and heat; yeasty esters making bubbles; the formless, reaching — subliminally, subconsciously; Lyra’s rungs in the dark — for shape. It feels a fecund time.

Fine, fine, the garden

I’m growing:

• 3x tomatoes
• 3x hot peppers (jalapeno; Thai; green)
• 3x spinach
• 2x zucchini (yellow; green)
• 1x pirate red pepper
• Basil
• Dill
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Sage
• Rosemary
• Chives

Are you satisfied now? JESUS.

On the subject of dill, a couple years ago when I was dill-rich and recipe-poor, my friend Sameer slipped me this recipe for spiced lamb and dill yogurt pasta. I don’t use lamb, obviously, because lamb’s disgusting; but it’s great with tempeh. And friends, it is a dill-rich summer once again.

While we’re passing around recipes, here’s that croissant sourdough. Three whole-ass days! But I’ve been lazy lately with my no-knead, so it was nice to get my hands dirty (and then, buttery) again. Thank goodness my grandmother loved me.

Go outside!

• It was the 50th anniversary of Jaws a few weeks ago; here’s Richard Dreyfuss’ kids talking smack about Jaws. (Mother Jones)
• This account of the sheer, merciless strain of being undocumented in America was really worth pondering. (Culture Study)
• I did a long-ish YouTube video a couple weeks ago, which went (the Star Wars collector community equivalent of) viral; I followed it with a video about Darth Plagueis, who I’m treating as an Acolyte character for the purposes of my collection. (Giant Green Space Hand)
• The story of what went on behind the scenes of Elio, Pixar’s latest (and now, lowest-performing) movie, is heartbreaking. (Hollywood Reporter)
• Never bet against Jim Cameron (Deadline)