"The chatter RHUBARBed and overlapped."

— H. Sawler · One Single Hour · 2004

RHUBARB is almost as cool as a word as it is as a vegetable — especially as a vegetable with lots of sugar, butter, pie crust, and whipped cream.

English actor Cedric Hardwicke (1893-1964)
Image from: always1895.net

Everybody knows I adore the O.E.D. (and rhubarb pie). Not everyone knows that according to the O.E.D., "rhubarb" is a verb, meaning:

—  "trans. Air Force. To strafe (a target) opportunistically," as in, "Butch and I rhubarbed a French freight train bound for a Channel port."

—  "trans. To mumble (one's way) through something."

—  "intr. orig. Theatre. Of an actor or actors: to repeat the word ‘rhubarb’ so as to represent an indistinct conversation or the noise of a crowd," as in, "Cedric Hardwicke as a Blimpish general rhubarbing into his lunch about the evils of bottled horse-radish."

My Rhubarb Pie

I'm fond of horseradish, too, by the way. Especially with Baltimore-style pit beef like you get from Boog's Barbeque at Camden Yards.

But back to rhubarb. The two bulbs (or rhizomes, actually) that I planted last spring eventually died to the ground (in November), but they came back this spring, heartier than before. Quite nice, actually. If I had a few more plants, I'd have plenty for a pie. As it is, we'll have to see what happens later in the season.

Here's the early development: 2/17, 2/22, and today (3/30).

17 February 2012

22 February 2012

30 March 2012

Click here, here, or here to see my earlier posts on rhubarb or rhubarb pie. Mmm.

Snow on the Mountain

Backyard View

It was in the upper 50°s here today, but lots of snow stuck on the mountain after last night's rain. (Bird must like the view as much as I do!)

Fall Wildflowers (Deukmejian)

Birthday Cupcake

Ever since 1992 (or maybe it was '93) when I kept ruining Bradley's photos of Trajan's Column in Rome by poking my head into the frame at the last minute, he's been hellbent on revenge. Here, I was trying to capture the poetry of this solitary red velvet birthday cupcake (from Auntie Em's, my favorite), when BP dove in, almost breaking his ribs on the dining room chair. Later, I got the picture I wanted (sans hubs), but I ended up liking this one better. (Maybe he feels the same way about all those Trajan's Column pics with my little head in them, too?!)

Green Lynx Spider

I'm pretty sure this is an adult female Green Lynx spider, Peucetia viridans. She's humongous, with an abdomen the size of a grape, only shaped exactly like the buds on my Rose of Sharon, where she resides.
Green Lynx in North Carolina (Eastern variation): http://bugguide.net/node/view/10094.
Green Lynx in San Diego (Western variation): http://bugguide.net/node/view/33666.

Green Lynx Spider on my Rose of Sharon bush.

Green Lynx's abdomen = same shape/size as flower buds.

Green Lynx in her original position.

Before I noticed her, I was marveling at this strange web nearby. I don't know if it's the Green Lynx's or somebody else's. Weird, isn't it?

Web of the Green Lynx spider?

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Adult male Picoides nuttallii. "A small woodpecker confined primarily to the oak woodlands of California." — Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Nuttalls_Woodpecker/id.
You can listen to the "Typical Voice" of Nuttall's Woodpecker there, too.


When this guy started pecking at the tree over my head where I was sitting in the back yard, I thought at first that he was an Acorn Woodpecker. We see them pretty often. The white markings on his back gave him away, though. Now that I look at the images online, the Acorn and Nuttall's don't look very much alike: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Acorn_Woodpecker/id.

Frog on a Lily Pad

Bradley took this picture of our medium-sized frog sitting on a lily pad this morning before the frogger hopped into the water, making a little mini-croak as he/she did.

Green Grasshopper Nymph

I believe this is a Bird Grasshopper (Schistocerca) Nymph on my Mum plant. Its body has the same velvety texture as the Mum's leaves.