Le basilic

We enjoyed our pesto lunch on Thursday and have some pesto left over for another meal. Before I picked the basil, I took a few photos. It's a good year for basil, the leaves are lush and fragrant. I got the basil from a local guy who sells produce at the farmers markets in our area. In spring he has all kinds of garden seedlings for sale, especially tomatoes. I got one pot of green basil and another of purple. He warned me that they both tasted the same (he also had other varieties), but that was ok with me. I liked the contrasting colors.

Standard green sweet basil. I picked most of the stems that were starting to flower.

There were enough basil seedlings for me to make up three large pots of mixed color for the deck and also plant a bunch out in the ground. I didn't expect those in the ground to do well, but the weather was perfect (for basil) and they've grown amazingly well. They are the ones pictured here.

Luscious purple basil.

There was a little excitement in the loft last night. Right at bedtime we discovered that a bat had flown in through an open window. We must have spent half an hour trying to force it back out by flapping hands and blankets, running around the loft like crazed chickens. Through it all, Tasha just sat and watched in silence. The bat would fly up to an open window then turn and circle back around the rafters. Twice, I think, it actually went out a window only to turn and fly right back in. Stupid bat. At one point it went downstairs where we were finally successful in getting it out through the den. Phew.