MATH AND VEGETABLES

John Olson cracked Moi up recently when he shared this in response to my bemoaning how middle school math has eaten up all my extra time, time that I could have spent going to the movies! John noted some movies about math -- Proof, A Beautiful Mind, Good Will Hunting, Pi, Sneakers, Stand and Deliver, October Sky, and Infinity -- and then shared this speech toward the end of Proof, when Anthony Hopkins reveals his great mathematical formula in his coveted notebook:

"Let X equal the quantity of all quantities of X. Let X equal the cold. It is cold in December. The months of cold equal November through February. There are four months of cold, and four of heat, leaving four months of indeterminate temperature. In February it snows. In March the Lake is a lake of ice. In September the students come back and the bookstores are full. Let X equal the month of full bookstores. The number of books approaches infinity as the number of months of cold approaches four. I will never be as cold now as I will in the future. The future of cold is infinite. The future of heat is the future of cold. The bookstores are infinite and so are never full except in September...”

A prose poem indeed!

Meanwhile, I'ma about putting away this garden, preparing for an upcoming winter garden. So this is probably my last summary for this particular garden, and it proves what earlier "harvests" prove -- my Brown Thumb (which got its training in New York City from putting gifted plants on top of overheated radiators) is still reigning strong -- I mean, this is all I can grow on an entire mountain?! But I shall persevere and Go Green before I go totally white, I tell ya! So here's my latest Relished W(h)ine List:

CITY SLICKER'S SPRING/SUMMER/FALL GARDEN HARVEST (Final)
14 bunches of yellow table grapes
37 bunch of red flame table grapes
23 bunches of Concord grapes
132 green figs
27 black figs
41 red cherry tomatoes
217 golden cherry tomatoes
274 red heirloom tomatoes
56 yellow heirloom tomatoes
4 peaches
5 artichokes
125 green onion stalks
14 onions/scallions
92 strawberries
43 yellow squash
31 zucchini (2 the size of infants, 2 the size of canoes, 2 the size of my arm beneath the elbow)
360 basil leaves
76 lemon cucumbers
28 cucumbers
25 pepper leaves
19 green bell peppers
32 jalapeno peppers
30 mint leaves
30 yellow squash leaves


PUBLICATIONS
FORMS OF INTERCESSION, poems by Jayne Pupek (a poet new to me, but whom I immediately recognized as a master. Check out this book!)

BIRD EATING BIRD, poems by Kristin Naca (so lovely to see young poets blossom -- wonderful poems here that make it a cut-above-the-usual-first-book)

AT THE PULSE, poems by Laura Carter (wonderful music with verve and nerve!)

e.s.p., poems by Michael Leong (smart, witty poems that are deceptively philosophical!)

DELIVERED, poems by Sarah Gambito

TERRA LUCIDA, poems by Joseph Donahue

A CONCISE BIOGRAPHY OF SIN, poems by John Samuel Tieman

GLAD STONE CHILDREN, poems by Edmund Berrigan

HOUSE ORGAN Fall 2009, literary journal edited by Kenneth Warren

THE ANTHOLOGIST, novel by Nicholson Baker (lacks the deft dexterity of his VOX. I have to say -- though I think being a poet colored my POV -- this was an excruciating read)

THE FACE OF DEATH, novel by Cody McFadyen

JUDGMENT CALLS, novel by Alafair Burke

DEAD CONNECTION, novel by Alafair Burke

ANGEL'S TIP, novel by Alafair Burke

NEVER TELL A LIE, novel by Hallie Ephron

EVEN, novel by Andrew Grant

HOTHOUSE ORCHID, novel by Stuart Woods

ORCHID BLUES, novel by Stuart Woods

ALL NIGHT LONG, novel by Jayne Ann Krentz

WHITE LIES, novel by Jayne Ann Krentz

THE PENNY PINCHER'S CLUB, novel by Sarah Strohmeyer


WINES
2003 Smith & Madrone cabernet NV Spring Mountain
2005 St. Helena High School red wine
2006 St. Helena High School red wine
2006 Ma(i)sonry NV "Illustration
2006 Duckhorn merlot
2003 S__blow (sp) "Mariage"
2006 Whitehall Lane cabernet
Schramsberg sparkling wine
2007 Melka
1999 Behrens & Hitchcock Cuvee Lola
2002 Dead Letter Office Shiraz
2006 Aubert Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
1996 Torbreck "Run Rig" Barossa Valley
1994 Dow
1997 Philip Togni Cabernet
2001 Serpico Dei Feudi Di San Gregorio