November 13, 2026
On September 28, I took a picture of a Gulf fritillary on the verbena. The wings had just started to open, so only the right wings are visible.
On September 29, I snapped a picture of a Gulf fritillary with ragged wings.
The spineless caper bush had several blooms. In the background, you can see peppers on the pepper plants.
There was a chrysalis on one of the willows.
The radishes in the former potato bed had sprouted.
A few days ago, in the morning after we woke up, Bruce told me he had a dream. “You came in from the garden with a big smile. You said, ‘I’ve harvested all the sweet potatoes.’ I was so happy in my dream.”
After he finished telling me his dream, I laughed at him. I understand why he dreamed about the sweet potato harvest. After his experience with the fire ants while harvesting the sweet potatoes, Bruce didn’t want to harvest the rest of the sweet potatoes. He was trying to talk himself into finishing the harvest with me.
It felt like a good day to make his dream come true. I went out and harvested the rest of the sweet potatoes. I filled two 5-gallon buckets overflowing with sweet potatoes.
When I started to dig up the Okinawan sweet potatoes, I was surprised by the root clustering. They made me think of a hand under the plant.
The Okinawan sweet potatoes are thinner than the orange sweet potato varieties that are usually grown in the South. The Okinawan sweet potatoes have a yellow flesh similar in color to the Yukon Gold potato. The pictures show the white skin as well. They aren’t very sweet, but that could be due to a mistake in curing them.
When I went inside, I was smiling as I told Bruce, “I’ve made your dream come true. I finished digging up the sweet potatoes.”
He didn’t remember his dream about the sweet potatoes and I had to remind him. The point was lost, but the sweet potatoes were harvested.
I went back out and checked the blue tub to see how the tadpoles were doing. Some were swimming around and others were eating algae.
I stopped in the shed to look for something. I found a bird’s nest in one of the boxes.
Bruce said he had seen birds flying in and out of the shed a few weeks ago. I removed the nest.
While I was taking a picture of the sunset, a bird photobombed it.
