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I walked outside and on the front step was this little guy. The pattern on his abdomen was so different….so I snapped a picture and my phone identified him as a Dolichovespula or yellowjacket, a small genus of “social wasps”. He didn’t seem to have any friends around. A social wasp outcast perhaps? That’s okay, we have an anti-social dog. You are welcome here.

The Bears apparently don’t play until Monday night this week but it IS football Sunday so I decided to go ahead. I have no idea what a real helmet looks like but this has got to be pretty darn close. This is my son’s mini Chicago Bears helmet that sits on a bookcase in his room and collects a nice layer of dust. On his 9th birthday it was the centerpiece of his birthday cake.

For all those football enthusiasts, may the odds be in your favor today! Go Bears!…. tomorrow.

The lint roller. An invention that didn’t really need to happen. I still sometimes will just wrap masking tape around my hand if I can’t locate the lint roller. And I have yet to find one that has tape strong enough to truly get all the dog hair off of clothing. Another clothing device that this reminds me of is the sweater shaver! Remember the device that sucked and shaved all the pills and lint balls off your sweater? Are those still a thing?

This is an Ikea enamel white pitcher that is just the ideal size for floral arrangements. I have a larger one in matte black that I love just as much. Right now it is sitting on my coffee table full of hydrangea cuttings from outside. They turn the best pink hue in the fall.

What is a “Closed Bottle Gentian” you might ask? I was not aware of it until my Uncle Alan posted a picture of this plant on his Facebook page. He was sharing photos of all the flowers that are blooming in his garden in early Fall and this was one of them. The bottle shaped blossoms are a rich blueish purple and their closed shape allow only certain species of insects entrance to access the pollen or nectar. There you go.

Over the weekend, my son had a violin performance at a corporate event. As a token of appreciation, they received a box of “swag” and this was one of the items inside. And so began the explanation of letter openers. A long lost office supply that I would suspect is a rarity in most homes today. This particular letter opener was from an insurance agent. Yes, that tracks… lots of letter precision opening happening there.

Tonight is orecchiette a-la vodka night in our house so my garlic bulb is sitting on the island. Nothing better than the smell of minced shallots and garlic simmering on the stove in pancetta grease. Delish!

Gulp. I am days behind on my drawings… life has gotten busy. BUT today! Today, the children are feeling artistic so I had a chance to get a drawing done too. One is working in the kitchen with acrylic paints and one is in the dining room with oil pastels. And I drew our garbage bin. I actually took a picture of it on garbage day (two days ago) and meant to draw it then. Better late than never!