JACK, FRESH FROM HIS BATH

After tangling with the resident groundhog, Jack needed professional care. Tim, the Pet Groomer gave him three baths, removed six ticks, and cleaned out his ears. When I brought him home, he smelled good and looked nifty, so I took his picture. It is a good thing that I did.Thirty minutes later, he was in the garden wallowing in red dirt and giving little yips of pleasure.

TOMATO PIE CHEF

Folks, this is Mary Wilson, the Appalachian Tomato Pie Chef. She is one of my best friends and we have been sharing an interest in "provocative topics" for about fifteen years: Day of the Dead art, foreign film, Nina Simone, Tom Waits, Mickey Rourke, Leonard Cohen, and really bad movies. Mary lives in North Wilkesboro, the Tyson's Chicken Capital and works at the local library. We don't get to see each other much ... maybe a couple of times a year and she usually stops when she is on her way to a film festival, a blue grass concert or an art exhibit. She has been bringing me tomato pies for a long time.
This one she baked from scratch and we sat on my deck with Jack and listened to the pitter and pop of distant fireworks (4th of July!) while we ate and watched the groundhogs destroy my garden. Jack makes a valiant effort to catch them, but they are long gone before he gets to the garden. This was a wonderful july 4th. We listened to the sirens on the Cullowhee road and watched this bird convention that hung in the trees like Christmas decorations and we ate and read seed catalogues. Next time, Mary is going to use yellow tomatoes and some jazzy herbs. Thank you, Mary.