A change of light

[mrissa]

The light has changed. The temperatures are not really any cooler yet than they have been on average this cool summer–the highs were in the 80s today–but the light has shifted, this last week or so, and my hindbrain says, yes, fall. Here we are. Fall. We are home.

One of the strange consequences of this is a complete hindbrain unwillingness to wear things without sleeves. This is fine–I have many shirts and dresses with short sleeves that are fine for this weather. I just haven’t noticed it in previous late summers or early falls. It’s…a bit quirky. I reach for a sleeveless dress and it is clearly the wrong thing. Oh, brains. What I really have the urge to wear is my real clothes, tights and sweaters and clogs, but I am willing to wear your summer person drag a bit longer so I don’t roast. Well, sort of. I’m wearing tights* right now, actually, and I wore clogs outside with them. But the sweaters would be a bit much. I do admit that. This part is not new, it’s only the sleeves that are new. The urge to start wearing sweaters early and often is one of those traits that may be either genetic or environmental–hard to tell, because it wears a big ol’ sign reading “MOM.”

*The tights are bright blue and black plaid. You should be impressed with me that I held off wearing them this long, and by this long I mean a full three weeks of August non-tights weather since I bought them. You should be impressed with me that I did not sit down on the floor of Target and put them on right then and there. These tights called my name, people. They said, “Helllooooo, femme person!” And I said, “Present.” And they said, “You will wear us every time we are clean until it is cold enough that you only want to wear SmartWool. SEARCH YOUR FEELINGS YOU KNOW IT TO BE TRUE.” And I said, “Why do you not have siblings in maroon-and-black and hunter-green-and-black and purple-and-grey also?” And they said, “You are an only child, too, so stop quibbling and give the person a surprisingly reasonable number of your American cash dollars.” So I did, and here we are.

Another strange consequence of the change of the light is that the farmer’s market has plenty of parking again. It’s like the minute it’s not Officially Summer, people think there are no more vegetables? Or something? Half the food trucks packed up and left, too, so it was actually mostly the vegetables. It was the people selling things you cook, instead of things they’ve already cooked. I bought the king of daikons. This daikon will not fit in our fridge straight-on. I have to tilt it diagonally to get it in our fridge. You should not try a home invasion here (in general because it is very rude and also illegal but particularly now) because we have this daikon and we haven’t cut it up yet. It’s still an entirely feasible bludgeoning weapon. It cost $1 and had a luxuriant crown of leaves I had to cut off so it wouldn’t take up even more of the fridge. This daikon, people. I got tomatoes and corn and peppers and two kinds of long beans and all manner of goodness, but this daikon: it is a prodigy. For $1.

Yes, I am frivolous today.

Originally published at Novel Gazing Redux

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Ooh. How did the luxuriant crown of leaves compare to regular radish greens? (Wait. Am I the only person who tastes all the root vegetable leaves in case they're delicious?)

ETA: Not potatoes, I know about those.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

They were extremely prickly. Ouchily prickly. So I did not taste.

[zelda888.livejournal.com]

I have taken to doing up radish greens the same way I do kale or beet greens-- caramelize a suitable quantity of onions (more for kale, less for radish), then toss in the greens and cover to steam over low heat. This knocks down the prickly quite effectively.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, but then you have something full of onions, so you see my hesitation.

[zelda888.livejournal.com]

You are not a fan of the caramelized onion?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am not a fan of onion, period. Sometimes I need to put onion in something like chili so that it tastes right, but then I make sure that it's a pearl onion and markgritter gets the actual onion.

However, I find that garlic is also good with greens, so.

[jenett]

The third paragraph of this is a paragraph I deeply needed in my life tonight. Thank you very much for it.

(The other paragraphs are also excellent, but they did not make me attempt to snort chocolate gelato.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We aim to please.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

That equinox thing? It is right around the corner, getting ready to throw out an equinoctical gale or two as it flashes by.

Here in Nashville, it will probably keep on being summer until October, but it's not going to be nearly as committed and passionate about its business as it was.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, the littledog has already been disgruntled by several thunderstorms.

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

Here in Houston it will definitely keep on being summer until October, but I likewise have some hopes about it being less passionately so.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering what the Bay Area is going to do, since summer has been wandering in and out all summer long, instead of showing up in October like it normally does.

Also: are there any pictures of the daikon prodigy? With something suitable to convey the scale?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Not so far. We'll see if I remember or if I get into the peeling-and-chopping rhythm too much. (We have kind of a lot of vegetables that need handling around here. Tomatillos to roast, corn to husk, my wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it. Swamped.)

[laurel]

I think I know those tights! Yay!

I miss wearing tights. At least now there are finally some plus size options for them, but they're still mostly boring (according to my definition at least) and not the fun tights I want to wear. But then my favorite tights in my youth had realistic pictures of fruit on them so . . . yeah. I like bright tights, okay? (And black and burgundy and plum ones too, of course.)

I got hired at Sox Appeal pretty much on the spot when I applied because, um . . . awesome tights.

And it should've occurred to me before now that when I see some really awesome tights on Amazon or at Target or wherever, I could actually tell you about them or send a link and perhaps you would understand (or at least say, "well, those are different.")

[laurel]

I couldn't see the icon for my comment when I selected it and was having difficulty remembering it, but dang-- the print on my fruit tights was very similar to that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's awesome.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I will absolutely be your tights discussion buddy.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

You're fun when you're frivolous. And when you're not, but this is a cheerful and happymaking post.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Also, I saw a pair of goldfinches today and said, "First goldfinches of the year! Wait, it's August." Neither of these are true. Apparently today was the right kind of light for me to think 'spring'.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Heh, awesome. Opposite here: I wore a new light sweater for the first time, so it was definitely fall.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Yup. I've been wearing layers this week. I can do that because my office is cold - but it was just as cold last month, when I wanted to wear summer dresses and just keep a jacket on hand. In fact, someone at work complained about how Fall-ish my outfit was the other day (shadowy knitted wrap over a light gray sweater and darker gray skirt) though since she raved about the wrap (made by me) first I can't really complain.

And my recent clothing purchases for Fall included a sleeveless unscratchy wool tunic that I can wear now alone and later over a shirt, so yay for wool! (This (http://www.titlenine.com/product/140975.do?sortby=ourPicks&refType=&from=fn), which I mention because it's comfortable and looks like something I can imagine you in despite being sleeveless.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That is cute, if only it wasn't pink in bits!

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

Now I'm craving radish/turnip cakes.

Alas, home invasion is not one of my skills. Plus the 850 miles away thing. So I guess your daikon is safe from me.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You could just knock. I'd let you in. But timprov might expect you to leave 50c for another daikon if you made too much radish cake out of what we have.

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

So that's what I could do my stash of Canadian pennies...! *schemes*

[sprrwhwk.livejournal.com]

You know Daikon-Sama from Spirited Away? I'm picturing him.

King of the Daikons! King of the Radishes! Long Live the King!

After a summer in Boston in which it was mostly fall, it is now summer in earnest, because summer wanted us to miss it, perhaps.

(You can tell it was a cold summer because my friends who are cold-seeking are only just now complaining about the temperature. I'm just enjoying being warm for approximately the first time since last September, excepting the weekend I was in Puerto Rico.)

But I have pulled out the sweaters anyway, because New England weather is capricious like that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes! Like that! I have matchsticked Daikon-sama.