Cabbage Worms in the Broccoli and all that Jazz

I gave up on the broccoli. I have been putting a mixture of water, dish soap and vinegar on them once or twice each day and the cabbage worms still ate the leaves to skeletons. So, I pulled them all up and put them in the garbage bag and sent them off with the garbage man. The worms should be happy in all the food at the dump.

The white mold is still on the squash leaves. I keep spraying them with the soap, water, and vinegar mixture. They are still producing a few squash.

We have about three or so watermelons that are about 1/2 inch long! It is funny to see them so tiny when they start out.

We have been enjoying some fresh tomatoes, but there is not an overabundance of them yet, so we are just eating them as they ripen.

Our carnival peppers are finally starting to grow. We've got a couple of purple ones growing so far. Mary-Katherine thought there was something wrong with them and was squeezing and poking at them and said, "I think they're dying!" Well, they might now, ha, ha.

I go to Saint Mary's tomorrow for my fall semester return. That month went by awfully quickly. As usual, I did not accomplish anywhere near what I hoped to during that break. Work continues, break or no break, and that still leaves little time for anything else. Work just gets in the way!

MK has discovered jazz and the sounds of the 40's. She plays "Satin Doll" almost constantly. If she's not playing that, she is doing an improvisation version of "Happy Birthday" over, and over, and over, and over, and . . . . She is hoping to play with the LTC Jazz Band as DG suggested that she could . . . only about an hour's drive every Tues. night. No biggie. Right. We'll see.

I am working on an application for a $10,000 music scholarship contest for her. Age 8 is the earliest. I didn't apply last year but we are this year. There are 25 winners, piano, violin, etc. Winners are flown to New York. They appear on radio and on TV on "From the Top." That would be fun and scary . . . well, scary for me. Not her, I'm sure!

She will have to stick to her classical work for the scholarship contest. No Jazz allowed, I think. I'll re-read the requirements. She has to send in a recording of herself.

Looked at a house in Paris. The rent was too high. The basement is extremely musty and the landlord said it tends to get water up to 8 inches. No thanks. No pets allowed either. Otherwise, a pretty nice house. It just isn't the right house, I guess.