GROWING A READER...INSTEAD OF A LEMON

Yes, I am quite delighted that I am growing a Reader--here's Achilles guarding Michael who now reads himself to sleep every night, with No. 2 in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy:


And the reason I'm delighted at growing a Reader is because I can't seem to grow a garden without embarrassing moiself. Here is my latest Relished W(h)ine List with its Final Winter Garden Tally-- I live in one of the most fertile spots on earth but you wouldn't know it by what fruits and vegetables I eke out:

WINTER GARDEN (Final)
4 blood oranges (Uh...I don't know where they came from...)
30 Meyer lemons (Typical Moi the Gardener -- got two lemon trees and the total harvest for the season is a mere 30 lemons. As a gardener, I am a lemon...well, except for growing a reader, but of course!)
88 persimmons
46 green figs & 4 purple figs (they should have been out of season now but Mom managed to eke 'em out)
18 red, yellow and green peppers
141 tomatoes (Mom kept eking them out...)


PUBLICATIONS
AUTOPSY TURVY, poems by Thomas Fink & Maya Diablo Mason

THE PRESENT DAY, poems by Ernesto Priego (in manuscript)

THE BLACK AUTOMATON, poems by Douglas Kearney (loved this wonderful wonderful collection with its fabulous energy!)

(SOME OF THE) BEST LESBIAN POETRY by Amanda Laughtland

LOVE POEMS by Karl Marx (this publication of juvenalia is a bit of a capitalist gesture...but I did enjoy reading it!)

REMAINDERS FOR THE EARTH: POEMS by James Stotts

AS IF FREE, poems by Burt Kimmelman

BOOK MADE OF FOREST, poems by Jared Stanley

IRRATIONAL DUDE, collaborative poetry by Nico Vassilakis & Robert Mittenthal

THE SWEETNESS OF HERBERT, poems by Stuart Krimko

SELF-PORTRAIT WITH CRAYON by Allison Benis White

MY NEW JOB, poems by Catherine Wagner

AT THE END OF THE DAY: SELECTED POEMS AND AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY by Phillip Lopate

HOUSE ORGAN, No. 69, literary journal edited by Kenneth Warren

THE ENIGMATIST, Dec. 2009, poetry journal edited by Mike & Joyce Gullickson

"WISHING YOU A GREEN CHRISTMAS" holiday chap featuring "Wind Farm" by Mark Lamoreaux

POEMCRAZY: FREEING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS, essays by Susan G. Wooldridge

MIDNIGHT ON THE LINE: THE SECRET LIFE OF THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER, investigative journalism by Tim Gaynor

LIVING WITH WINE by Samantha Nester with Alice Feiring and photos by Andrew French

THE CHEATER, novel by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

ICE, novel by Linda Howard

A CHRISTMAS SECRET, novel by Anne Perry


WINES
2005 Dutch Henry Merlot Yountville NV
2005 Dutch Henry "Argos"
2007 Acacia pinot noir
2005 JJ Prum Wehlenur Sonnenuhr Spatlese
2003 Rauzan Despagne
2006 Ojai syrah
2004 Clare Luce Abbey Cabernet
1996 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet
2005 William Downie pinot noir Yarra Valley
2008 Trefethen Dry Riesling
2007 Trefethen Late Harvest Riesling
2007 Trefethen Double T Red Wine
2005 Trefethen cabernet sauvignon
2007 Trefethen Harmony chardonnay
Schramsberg sparkling wine
Vega Sicilia Unico Reserva Especial Lot 019/94