I found another pic from Osborne Seed showing the color variations - will be exciting to see what color you’ve got! Sorry I can’t upload photos, it may be my instance or app bugging out.
https://www.osborneseed.com/products/cue-ball-f1-untreated-squash-seeds
To me it looks like a zucchini or squash. If it lengthens it could be a zucchini “Magda,” the color seems right. But I really think it’s a particular variety of squash (or a mutant) that is globular, called “cue ball.” I don’t know how to share a picture, so this link will have to do.
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/squash/summer-squash/cue-ball-f1-squash-seed-3359.html
The seed catalog I am looking at shows a light green, yellow, and dark green version. The dark green one is sometimes called “Eight Ball zucchini.” Light green is called “Cue Ball” and yellow is called “One Ball.” Curcubits cross pollinate routinely, so it could also be some sort of mutant - congrats on your cross breeding program! :)
I think others have covered the economies of scale and niche products creating the disparity.
But I wanted to suggest that if your grandpa is regularly eating gluten free bread, we have found that making it at home is SO much more affordable than buying a loaf at the store. (Even though gluten free flour is also more expensive.) Most of the gluten free flours have their own sandwich bread recipe, either on the bag or their website. I don’t know what flours you have access to, but they can be wildly different blends, so using their tested recipes is always best.
We’ve mastered our favorite so it takes only 15 minutes of “work” and then just time in the oven. It’s also much better than store bought! I don’t know if that’s possible for you, but it could be a lovely weekly ritual for you and your grandpa.
Also, to anyone suggesting we just eat rice and beans, I’m an old celiac. We went without bread, pasta, cake, pastries, cookies, brownies, pizza, and crackers before these products came to market. These are mostly “fun” foods that I don’t eat regularly, but usually pop up in social situations. Do you know how many sad birthdays with no cake we’ve had? How often we’ve watched our friends and family eat things we could never have? I am so grateful to the “fad” gluten free people who made it possible to have culturally/socially important foods we were missing out on for decades!!
Our 15 year old has a new habit of coming into the kitchen every time we do, and stretching out directly in the middle of the walkway so he is in the way at all times. We have a pretty decent sized space, but he’s a very long cat when he wants to be. I feel like he defies the laws of physics because I don’t understand how he’s in the way literally everywhere. It makes me crazy.
So when we cook, which is usually 2-3 times a day, it’s like, need to open the oven? Cat. Need to get into the fridge? Cat! Sink? Cat. Oh, I need to dry my hands? Cat. We have definitely stepped on him by accident since he started doing this, but he’s still undeterred. He has bad arthritis, so I don’t mind when he sits in front of the oven when it’s on, because at least that one makes sense. (He has multiple heated beds too; don’t feel bad for him.) But it’s like, I would love to be able to grab water from the kitchen or feed the dog or do literally anything in there without almost stepping on my cat.
Willpower IS a thing and there is some really interesting research about how it is an exhaustible psychological “resource” we have! In other words, we can exercise our willpower up to a point, but it’s not infinite. Highly recommend reading “Switch” by Chip and Dan Health which goes into willpower as a concept if you are interested in this.
I don’t know about the notes, but I wanted to say that it takes time and effort to unlearn this idea that we are supposed to be productive all the time. This is a lie that many powerful people want us to internalize so we work ourselves to death, and it’s very insidious and omnipresent. It’s become a perverse “value” in our society at large and something to be proud of.
But you are not a machine. You’re a person. And that means you need and deserve rest and comfort.
You have inherent worth outside of your productivity, how hard you work, or how much money you make.
Those metrics don’t tell us anything about how you are as a person, your values, your kindness, your strengths, the joy you bring others.
ALL of that stuff has value. Real true value. You have to start challenging these beliefs about your worthiness. Because you are already worthy.
Some further reading/resources:
If you can, look into local jewelers who can craft you something handmade with ethically sourced stones. I’m in Seattle and we have Valerie Madison who does great engagement sets and Everling Jewelry who uses recycled metals. A local artist will be able to recommend something within your budget, and your SO can and should be involved, as another poster mentioned.
May I suggest “Don’t Let Me Die in America” by of Montreal? (Confusingly, an American band)
Also “Sunset on 32nd Street” by Strike Anywhere - although you could pull any track off that whole album and it would work.
Me too!!! I still play through it once a year or so and listen to the soundtrack all the time. My favorite game of all time; one of my favorite pieces of art of all time. Guess I’m due for another round!
One of the most intense and fun punk shows I have ever been to - surprised the walls stayed standing!
Literally me thinking of your top 3 also…I guess we have to be friends now. Good picks!!
Actually, I lied, Strike Anywhere is my 5th pick
Discount
Misfits
Flogging Molly
Bikini Kill
Clash or Rancid… I can’t decide!
The practice of deadheading is to prevent the plant from setting seed so that it keeps blooming…so by definition, probably not. Typically with annuals, the seed heads need time on the plant to develop into viable seeds and dry out enough. The flowers with petals still on will almost certainly not have viable seed. Some of the dried out brown ones on the bottom? Maybe! You can crack them open over a piece of paper and see what you get.
I have five new rose bushes in the mail right now!! I can’t wait to get them in the ground. I’ve been slowly adding a cut flower garden to what was once just a big hill full of weeds, and this year I think it will finally start looking more like what I envisioned with the roses coming in.
Ugh yes, nailed it!
Thank you for posting, I never really pursued this but just downloaded Airalo for an upcoming trip and I’m really excited to not pay $10/day with my carrier!!!
I just finished both Tulipomania (about the Dutch tulip craze of the 1700s - not as exciting as I thought it would be, lol) and Inside Out and Back Again (about a young girl’s experience of fleeing Vietnam and landing in Alabama as a refugee). I really loved Inside Out and Back Again. I had been putting it off because I thought it would be long and/or heavy, but it’s all poetry and was a very fast read.
With poetry on the brain, I moved on to Milk & Honey, from “Instapoet” Rupi Kaur. It reminded me of the poems you used to find in zines in the 90s/early 2000s, but without any alt subtext. So…kind of basic “young woman finds out she has to love herself” poems. I guess I would have appreciated that earlier in life, but I found them kind of uninspiring.
Oh! I also just finished The Bear and the Nightingale - a really fun read I stayed up late to devour. It’s a Russian medieval fantasy/fairytale, set in a realistic-feeling household and wider Russian imperial and Christian context. There are spirits everywhere, but also tension with those converting to Christianity and neglecting the traditional spirits - which has a lot of unintended consequences. Spooky, funny, grim, and action-packed, all in one book.
An Assassins Creed game as rich as Odyssey, but set in the Mali empire. Hanging with Mansa Musa? Visiting scholars at Timbuktu? Desert frontier towns, gigantic markets within cities, and everything in between? That period of history is so fascinating and it would be incredible to have the art budget to bring it to life.
Not a “song” per se, but Black Thought freestyling effortlessly for like 10 minutes straight is impressive AF: https://youtu.be/prmQgSpV3fA
For context, that show asks everybody to freestyle and some refuse, some do a few bars, but nobody goes for 10 minutes, lol.
For an actual song, and you wanna talk art, Blackalicious - Attica Black. Really love the sampling and the musicality of it, there are so many layers and it’s fun to listen to. https://youtu.be/qHRxorG8ABs