Jam on ! Tired of PITTING my wits against the harvest (printable label)

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Feel free to use this label on your own homemade jam

The persona of "Damson Plumm Private Eye" was born, Athena-like(?),

from the artistic brain of my friend Judy Shellabarger Gosnell

Though I think that Judy envisioned Damson as a fella

Historical novels always give the impression that jam making is a heap of fun. The proud Victorian house fraus always look so happy in their billowy aprons, corset-imprisioned waists and tidy labor-heavy kitchens. It was a lot more fun photographing plums, designing and creating the above label than pitting plums. Two batches down, two to go. And I don't ever want to look another plum in the face again. Luckily it was a small harvest.

Some kinds of jam aren't worth the making. The store bought kind tastes just as good or better. And don't even get me started on my experiences planting and harvesting Concord grapes. Then all that drip, drip, drip through the cheesecloth for untold hours, to produce what the grocery store produces just as well (and quite cheaply).

The types of homemade jam we appreciate for it's homemade taste are

1) Raspberry Plum, it's new identity as "Damson Plumm, Private Eye". I've made this with Satusumas, Santa Rosas and now Damson plums.

2) Loganberry, from local berry picking expeditions to the San Mateo County Coast. Didnt' get over there this year, I'm sorry to say

3) Peach or Ginger Peach. Regular grocery store peaches work fine.

I have used this Sunset recipe for raspberry-plum jam every summer since I first picked my own plums. Luckily somebody else has put it up on the web. I've also made plum jam without the raspberries and it just doesn't taste like much of anything. When I run low on the raspberries (frozen from Costco) I toss in a bit of blackberry and/or strawberry to fill out the measuring cup.

Also when I pick the plums a little early and tart, as I did this year to avoid a mess of wasp-friendly mucky fruit dropping on the ground, then I cut the lemon juice back by half. The jam still sets up. Slightly green like that, I could probably skip the lemon juice all together, but it's so much work I don't want to take a chance.

Jam on!

And yet I've always preferred wildflowers

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Edgewood Park Wildflowers, San Mateo County, San Francisco Bay Area, California, U.S.A.

I double-checked Jane Austen's original Sense and Sensibility. Marianne didn't actually say this, as she did in one of my favorite movie versions. But I'm sure she was thinking it.

Fragaria Gone Wild

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Ultimate Beach Party Scene, Otaria Z. californianus

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Otaria Z. californianus

California Sea Lions enjoying the

Ultimate Beach Party Scene

This sea lion harem doesn't need to slather on the #50 sunblock I would need if I were going to hang out with them in this perfect fantasy of a California beach day. Not for them the importance of personal space. They prefer the flipper to squid-smelling-jaw safety of absolutely sisterly closeness.

I didn't realize until recently that sea lions can, and do, live in fresh water for short periods of time. They have been spotted snacking on salmon as far as 200 miles up the Colombia River.

My idea of the perfect beach-going lunch to share with this truly comradely bunch of girls?

Sea-Lion Favorite Monterey Bay Sandwiches

* Fresh sourdough baguette

(just tear it with your flippers)

smeared with

* Artichoke and Cream Cheese Spread (Trader Joes has a good one)

* Thinly sliced japanese cucumber marinated in some rice wine vinegar for a couple of hours

(the girls on the beach would probably prefer SEA cucumbers)

* Slivers of smoked salmon

(the gals might prefer theirs raw)

Some sparkling lemonade for me and some brined bubbly for my friends

(photo altered with Photoshop CS4, photocopy over dry brush filters)

Globe Lily, Calochortus albus (CA Wildflowers)

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Calochortus albus is also known as "fairy lantern"

I spotted this fairy-friendly flower in Edgewood Park, San Mateo County on the San Francisco Penninsula

Megaptera novaeangliae, At Home in a Larger World

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Cordata (vertebrates)

Class Mammalia (mammals)

Order Cetacea

Sub-order Mysticeti (baleen whales)

Family Balaenopteridae

Genus Megaptera

Species novaeangliae

Common Name - Humpback Whale

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What am I in a humpback's world? Does she concern herself with the idea that there is life aboard the noisy machines that invades her feeding grounds? Are we something beyond a gust of bubbles and a funny oily smell? Is somebody bigger than a brontosaur, aware of me as a fellow-creature, a presence or with any kind of interest?

I encountered this gal as she was feeding out in the Monterey Bay. We also saw a minke and four distant blue whales, that looked like low-rising dark rocks coming out of the distant bay waters. These are both rare sights. But the humpbacks were all around us. They were lunge feeding, rolling on there sides, flipping their tails up and down, and so close we could hear their glorious trumpet breathing and smell the krill-laden breath that hovered over the water after they dove back down for more underwater chupas.

The krill are populating the bay in higher than normal numbers right now, so there are an awful lot more whales there than we would normally see at this time of the year. Our boat captain said we made forty sightings, of humpbacks. Here’s a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle about this unusual chance to see so many whales.

Araneus diadematurs, At Home in a Smaller World

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What am I in a spider's world? A cloud that passes over her sky? A tremendous gust of air? Is something smaller than the bud of my ear-buds, aware of me as a threat, a presence or with any kind of interest?

I encountered this little beauty hanging out on one of her own silky threads on the bathroom wall. That's usually where I meet up with her kind, right about tooth-brushing time.

She's commonly known as a "Cross Spider". I was so pleased with myself because I recognized her. That's because one of her sisters came to visit my porch on Halloween night. My trick-or-treat Cross spider was much, much bigger than this little darling. I was able to see her markings with my own eyes, but for this babe I couldn't tell what she was until I enlarged the photo in Photoshop. A magnifying glass would have done the trick as well.

I posted pictures of both these girls to the spider identification web site, where both were identified by entomologists who frequent the site. (It's a very to join this site for free, and to post your photos there .) This tiny lady was verified by a charming man, "Bug Eric". He has a great blog (http://bugeric.blogspot.com/) that really brings out the romantic side of insects, spiders and other arthropods, and the people that work with them.

* One of the tricker-or-treaters pointed her out and after that all the kids came to see her.