We just picked our first two melons of the season and enjoyed them with our dinner. I couldn’t remember what kind they were so it was kind of thrilling to cut into them and find out what was inside. The outside looked nothing like a cantaloupe, but that’s exactly what the inside looked and tasted like, only not quite as sweet.
I think the melons were a little overripe—I tend to err on that side rather than cutting into them before they are ready to eat; doing so yields nothing but chicken fodder. I was a little disappointed in the flavor, but still, it was fun to grow something different for once. There are two other fruits on the vine so I will be sure to harvest those a few days earlier and cross my fingers for a better flavor.
After I took the dinner scraps up to the hens and collected three beautiful eggs, I spent a bit of time standing on the back patio watching the sky.
There were three small bats fluttering about. They are one of my favorite animals and watching them is so amazing: how they can alter direction on a dime, change altitude with a wing flap and pause mid-flight to scoop a flying insect into their mouths. It’s another fine example of nature’s everyday miracles.
I remember as a kid we would go to a family bungalow on the weekends and all the kids would gather on the volleyball court at night and watch the bats. It seems there were lots more of them those days, and I know today they are suffering from a deadly disease called white-nose syndrome. I can’t help but think what a pity it would be if my son’s children never have the opportunity to watch the twilight acrobatics of a little brown miracle.
