I just harvested all my remaining basil leaves from the plants in the garden and made a whole huge thing of pesto, a slight variation on this recipe. My house smells completely amazing.

I also have huge pots with my pineapple sage and lemon verbena, and also a little pot of cinnamon basil that I've just rescued from the garden in anticipation of our first freeze of the year.

I did some internet research on winterizing the herb garden and hope that I've prepared adequately with layers of cloth over many -- though not all -- of the plants. I'll see tomorrow how everything looks. Perhaps I should have clipped all the parsley too, but I'm hoping that a couple layers of cloth will be sufficient for the night.

I have discovered a couple quite nice low-sulfite wines they sell at Trader Joes now for under $6. Which is pretty awesome for someone with a sulfite sensitivity, because up until recently, the only drinkable bottles were $11-13, which meant that I didn't drink much wine. But tonight I brought a bottle over to my friend A.'s house after teaching and taking care of a few quick items of business at the university, and we visited for a bit, drank some wine, and ate some cheese before I came back to my cottage. We might make it a Friday routine. :)

Good news to report, I've been very productive in my work recently, and I'm finally getting back to being on top of things. After a very difficult year, that's a huge relief. Now I just need to get a handle on my dissertation project and get some grants written convincingly enough to get support for my research abroad . . . no small feat. (fingers crossed)

Fall has settled in here in Michigan, and it's stunningly beautiful. The air is crisp and fresh, and when the sun is shining it's glorious to be alive, with the leaves turning and the foliage thinning just enough to give an even more spectacular view of the river when you drive Huron River Drive. I transplanted most of the zinnias in my garden so I now have a charming and cheerful pathway lined with pink blooms and a profusion of mint that leads to my cottage. I ate the most tart, crisp, delicious local apple this morning while I took a break from gardening.

Somehow I don't even mind I have almost 30 papers to grade. It's nice that they're about literature . . . it's a welcome change to be thinking about Pushkin and Lermentov for a semester.

Bipartisan Approach to Hotness

Hah!!!

"The Other Hawaii"

Interesting stuff about Hawaiian independence movement.

Media pics

James Hill of the New York Times has just created an interesting photo essay about Russia and the way of life of rural farmers, called "Russia: The Land". It's a bit romantic at times, but the images are beautiful and give a picture of Russia we don't get to see much anymore in the West.

I also highly recommend the SNL parody of an interview with Sarah Palin. Brilliant.

Oooh, a film that walks the line between fiction and reality, dealing with contemporary French teenagers. MUST SEE . . . . (I had a dream last night that I moved to New York that involved corruption and time travel and a whole lot of baggage. . . sometimes I so wish I could be in the place where things always happen first. . .)

Lazyman's paradise

YAY! A simple program to put my Google Calendar into my system tray. Even works for me with the dreaded Windows Vista. And Yahoo Widgets, hooray.

Battles over democratic citizenship in Europe

The European Commission has come to the bewildering decision to support the mass fingerprinting of Roma in Italy, a decision which the European Roma Rights Center and the Open Society Institute Justice Initiative have challenged the EC to defend.

I am so disturbed by this whole situation in Italy.

(See also EU Roma Policy Coalition.)