Terminal Length

I've been doing a somewhat unofficial hair experiment for the last several years, and for the last 2 years especially. 

How long will my hair grow?

A) To the hip
B) To the bottom of my butt 
C) To mid-thigh

If you guessed any of those, you would be correct!  Different portions of my scalp appear to have different terminal lengths. 

A) The shortest hairs in the middle have been stuck at hip level (hem of the shirt) for the last 2 years, refusing to budge. 
B) The majority of the hairs have stopped just about at the bottom of the butt ("the underbun" as a friend calls it). 
C) On the left and right, it reaches the middle of my thigh if you pull the waves straight... and about 5 of the hairs on the left reach just 3 inches above that crease in the back of the knee! 

Strange hem shape:  upside-down V?

Result:

It looks like my happy long-term length with a thick hem is going to be somewhere in between hip and butt.  It's a little shorter than I was expecting, but I'm okay with it.  I will admit that it's definitely easier to wear down when I don't have to avoid sitting on it, and it's easier to brush when it isn't longer than my hands.

To commemorate the end of a long experiment, I chopped off 10 inches and plan to do a very deep overnight henna treatment.  I've been waiting for this batch of super strong Fall 2016 Red Raj henna (3.22% lawsone content) for about 3 months, and it finally arrived today... it is currently cooking in the yogurt maker!  I will update with the results once the treatment is complete. 

Picky Eater

This is how Torin eats grapes now. 

He leaves behind the yucky attached-to-the-stem parts.

That is all.  Thanks for listening.

Gettin' Dirty

This was the first tomato of the garden, plucked from the plant in the background.

Yum.

After 3 hours of barehanded gardening, I was feeling pretty blissful!  I really need to squeeze more time out of my day to spend puttering about the garden because it's good for my soul.

I ceremonially divided the tomato into three pieces, and my husband and toddler all had a taste of that special first harvest... the adults loved it, but the kid (as expected) spat it out.

First real harvest!

We have had our first ripe tomato!  And then another 10.  <3

The First Harvest, July 30th

I also harvested about 4 packed cups of basil leaves from just one giant plant, only from trimming off all the flowers and then picking random leaves off of the trimmed parts.  There's still a LOT of basil on that lone plant. 

The ratio of basil to tomatoes is a little off for a salad... so I put some on a pizza, in omelets, in taco meat, everywhere.  There are still 3 cups left, so I think I'm going to have to make my first basil-based pesto. 

Even though I've been picking off tons of volunteer flat-leaf parsley all spring/summer, I'm going to count this as the first real harvest.  Yay!  It is awesome that the few surviving tomato plants are starting to be successful.