Around the Greenhouse: Avoiding Diarrhea Lettuce and Saying Goodbye to Summer

In an effort to avoid the Diarrhea Lettuce (which also could be any produce because apparently no one knows anything these days), I’m trying to shop for produce locally. And since my tomato plants had one huge production and then gave up the ghost, I’m not growing much in the way of my own food right now.

(Unless you're in the market for seventeen pounds of basil.)

Anyway, I stopped by Bell Urban Farm, and it’s just lovely there.

Then we immediately celebrated our local produce by ordering Mexican takeout covered in shredded iceberg lettuce. What can I say. We’re too tired to be consistent, even during the Great Diarrhea Lettuce Era.

This place was an absolute joy this summer. I had no idea how restorative it would be to spend a couple hours floating around reading horror novels while a six-year-old cannonballed nearby. I’m now officially a fan.

And at one particular juncture, a kid twice Gabriel’s size was trying to cut in front of him at the water slide, and Gabriel pointed at him and said, “Hey, you better watch your moves.”

So there was comedy as well as swimming.

Hats off to you, local community center. We will miss you.

Speaking of Summerween reads, I've become a fan of this author. Rachel Harrison writes horror, but it’s funny, and if you’re like me and absolutely require some humor riding shotgun with your terror, she’s a good bet. Although this particular book didn’t scare me at all, it was super entertaining, and the psychology between sisters was interesting.

I give it 3.5/5 stars. BUT her book Play Nice, about a haunted house, scared the crap out of me. That one gets 4.5/5 stars.

Charley is in the process of building a deck, which then evolved into expanding the concrete patio with pavers, building a retaining wall, and then a French drain. I mostly supervise from the window and every now and then yell out the back door, “ARE YOU DRINKING GATORADE?” Also I bought him a hat with fans built into the brim, which offended him at first, but now he’s in love.

There is nothing this man can’t do around the house.

And there is nothing Gabriel thinks he can’t do, also.

I love watching them out there together.

And this fall I will love having a deck.

Annnnd then, circling back around to the Summerween horror genre, it would appear my love of all things spooky has fully imbedded itself into Gabriel's DNA. This is his latest art project. He wanted to put it in the front window. I said no.

Have I shown him any actual horror movies?

No.

Stop looking at me like that.

Also Jane is learning how to drive. But I dare not post pics about that, or talk about it too much, because she wouldn’t love the publicity and also I cannot. She’s supposed to still be a baby with overly large satelite bows in her hair.

So anywho. That’s us. Swimming while we still can, raising tiny horror enthusiasts, buying local produce, and as always, praying we avoid the Diarrhea Lettuce outbreak of 2026.