Eulogy for Sigrid

Siggy was a beloved fish

With a life full of adventure.

His love for attention gave us in the pod

Moments which we all will remember.

Although advanced in years,

He attacked like a Beta, strong and sprightly.

His fierce fins and puffed out gills

Were not to be taken lightly!

His life was an example for all of us

Of what eating your vegetables will do.

With much delight he ate his peas

And lengthened the life of his queue.

Siggy was a good pod fish,

But it is time to say, “Good-bye”.

We wish him well in that Swimming Hole

Rumored to be in the sky.

Miss Pepper Potts

I know – another garden story, but my garden this year has been filled with excitement, drama and even hints of comedy.  With these elements, an opera was in the making.  It started with Miss Pepper Potts as a small green pepper, holding the most promise of all the gardening plants.  The aria for her was never completed, but once Phin realized we could name our produce after characters from Iron Man, his interest in the growing process perked up considerably – only to die when I mentioned my opera plans.

Well, after months of waiting, (in which time the whole opera could have been composed, casted and rehearsed) Pepper Potts is now ready to be severed from the vine.  I should mention that the purple tomatoes have long ago surpassed her early promise in size and abundance.  However, having a fully ripe miniature pepper makes me one happy gardener.  She may be too cute to eat!

Soon, I have promised myself to get back to the almost true stories that have nothing to do with fruits/vegetables (even the tiny ones).

Update:

We had to break into our emergency rations and use soup from the can.  Luckily, Miss Pepper Potts was willing to provide sparkle and garnish.  Usually when we are reduced to using emergency rations, we add excitement by pretending to have been stranded (the places vary from Antarctica to life rafts in the Pacific).  By using Miss Pepper Potts we were able to maintain some semblance of elegant dining as we slurped our soup.