Allyson Whipple

Tag: summer

  • The Best of It: Poetry and Pie Edition

    Gorgeous and Delicious
    1. Cherry pie and coffee for breakfast
    2. That the BookWoman open mics are still happening virtually
    3. All the work that Cindy Huyser does for the poetry community
    4. Cold dinners on hot summer nights
    5. Harvesting my first Thai chilis

  • The Best of It: Mostly Poetry Things Edition

    When you don’t have a specific photo in mind, just use an old dog photo!
    1. Cherry pie in the oven
    2. I had an amazing time in the Wingbeats workshop hosted by Dos Gatos Press last night.
    3. Signing up for the Two Sylvias Press online poetry retreat
    4. The satisfaction that comes from sending out poems
    5. Feeling confident enough to send out work again

  • The Best of It: Easygoing Tuesday Edition

    And with that, my living room is complete!
    1. The Thai chair I ordered before quarantine happened finally arrived!
    2. Cold soba noodles
    3. When Astrid gets her zoom on
    4. Breakfast tacos. Forever and always.
    5. Getting my minimum goals reached early in the day

  • The Best of It: Monday Miscellany Edition

    Last night’s pasta and foccacia
    1. The versatility of pasta
    2. Fresh, homemade foccacia
    3. Getting my closet cleaned out
    4. Harvesting beans from my garden
    5. Implementing a new exercise in my technical writing class

  • The Best of It: Weekend Miscellany Edition

    You wanted more Astrid photos, right?
    1. Picnics
    2. Clearing the air
    3. Solar Opposites
    4. Feeling inspired to join online poetry gatherings of all kinds
    5. Dogs wearing bandanas

  • The Best of It: Some Activism and Some Domesticity Edition

    I love her face so much.
    1. The Americans of Conscience Checklist is a free resource that provides helpful actions you can take for social justice.
    2. This list of 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
    3. This document of vetted organizations you can donate to in order to bail out protestors
    4. I did not want to clean my bathroom or kitchen this week, but I mustered up the will to do so, and now I am glad that these tasks are both done
    5. I have a great design for the quilt I’m making my aunt and uncle for Christmas

  • The Best of It: Miscellaneous Tuesday Edition

    Sunday’s dinner
    1. How Astrid gets grass stains on her face when she rolls in the yard.
    2. Caetano Veloso’s 1971 self-titled album
    3. Eating vegetables I picked fresh from my garden
    4. Sourdough bagels
    5. Pineapple smoothies

  • The Best of It: Almost Forgot to Post Edition

    Astrid loves her new squeaky fish.
    1. The lizards on my living room window, hunting bugs.
    2. Getting a pull-up bar for free. (Now will I use it?)
    3. Planning my next quilt.
    4. The pesto pasta salad that John made on Sunday.
    5. Astrid got a clean bill of health after her checkup today!

  • A Spider Summer, Continued

    About two weeks ago, I woke up to find an egg sac attached to my bedroom window. I was amazed. I’d never seen one up close before, and now here it was. I’m happy that the spider finds my house safe enough. The abundance of wasps, bees, mosquitoes, and chiggers probably helps.

    img_2196

    But wait! There’s more!

    Yesterday as Simon and I were coming back from our walk, I saw another egg sac attached to the side of the house. I hadn’t realized that spiders would create multiple sacs in a season. The thought occurred to me that it might be from another spider, but this second sac is close to her web. And Arigope are pretty noticeable. I think I’d have seen a second spider.

    I’m just amazed she’s thriving enough to lay a second set of eggs.

    Apparently Arigope aurantia is also known as the Writing Spider, because of the zippers they weave into their webs. I’m quite happy to have a writing spider hanging out with me.

    img_2445Yesterday there was also an amazing double zipper on the web. I didn’t know that happened, either!

     

  • A Spider Summer

    A black-and-yellow garden spider set up shop outside my bedroom window last month. While she might look scary, she’s in fact harmless to humans. I’ve enjoyed watching her weave her web in the morning. It’s also quite a show to see her kill and wrap up a bee or cricket when it flies into her nest. And the process of watching her eat her prey is fascinating.

    I’ve taken quite a few videos of her this summer. If you’re not arachnophobic, check them out! And even if you are, just watch. You might discover there’s nothing to be afraid of.