Watermelon

After years of failed watermelon crops, some dating all the way back to those I planted in childhood from seeds spit from summer desserts, I have finally enjoyed my first successful harvest. Last week I moved from the juicy ranks of watermelon eaters to the fecund class of watermelon growers. I am the proud producer of a 10-pound Crimson Sweet watermelon. Doubts swirled around me even as I harvested that melon. Was it ready? Was it ripe? Was it rotten? Compounding my concerns was the fact that this was actually the second melon to emerge from the garden.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Research Refuge will sponsor a night hike for children 8 and older with an adult, from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. tomorrow. Participants will look and listen for nocturnal animals on the guided walk. A bird tour for ages 16 and older is planned from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Participants will search for early fall migrants on a guided van tour. Binoculars and field guides are recommended. Bayscapes and Butterflies, a program on attracting butterflies to a bay-friendly garden for ages 8 and older with an adult, is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

NOW THAT I have gone out and bought a watermelon plant, my gardening season can officially begin. Every gardener has something he can't grow but keeps planting it anyway. For me it is watermelon. Each spring for the past 10 years, I have dutifully put a watermelon plant in the ground. Every summer it had failed. Some failures have been more disappointing than others. A few years ago, I actually saw an orb before some critter - two-footed or four-footed - made off with it. Most years my watermelon plants live lives of quiet desperation.

Juicy health tip Sure, watermelon is a refreshing summer treat, but now there is a new reason to enjoy a slice. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that watermelon contains high levels of lycopene - an antioxidant that may help the body fight cancer and prevent disease. Freezing point Fill containers almost to full when freezing food, a recent issue of Cooking Light recommends. Putting a small portion of food into a large container captures air that could allow ice crystals to form.

Thrillers provide a guilty pleasure, much like a drink before lunch. That's why they make such great "beach books." They're the perfect companion for that cruelly brief annual period of all play and no work, when a drink before lunch (and even a nap after it) are permitted. They are pure entertainment, literary potato chips unburdened by even the understated morality of a good murder mystery. These may have you saying to yourself "just one more chapter" well past happy hour. Nicci French divides her "Beneath the Skin" (Mysterious Press, 378 pages, $24.95)

Low-fat parfait for fast-food folks Here's a high-five to low fat at McDonald's. Customers now can find an alternative to those tempting but fat-laden Big Macs and Quarter Pounders with a new Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait. Made fresh daily, the cup of strawberries, blueberries, vanilla yogurt and granola has only 5 grams of fat and costs around $1.99. Egg tips Easter may be over, but those pretty pastel eggs may still be lingering in the refrigerator. If the eggs are refugees from a holiday hunt, don't eat any that are cracked, advises the Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston.

Editor's note: A hungry bullfrog hops into town and tries to eat everything in sight. Once there was a bullfrog who hopped... a stagecoach and rode far away. After many miles, he came to the town of Ravenous Gulch. Bullfrog was hot. He was dirty. He had not showered in many days. And he smelled... ...PIZZA! Bullfrog was HUNGRY! All he'd eaten for days was one horsefly. He followed his nose to a sidewalk cafe where a man sat eating a large, hot pizza. "Name's Bullfrog," said Bullfrog.

Editor's note: A tale of alliteration and three friends that's written by Pamela Duncan Edwards, a featured children's author at next weekend's Baltimore Book Festival.One warm Wednesday morning, the sun winked through Wombat's window and woke her up. "What a wonderful day to wander the world," she thought.Wombat went to ask Weasel and Woodchuck whether they would go with her.So they set to work, wondering what to take with them.Wombat wanted watercress-on-whole-wheat-bread sandwiches, walnut wafers, waffles and whipped cream, wedges of watermelon and her walking stick.

ROME, N.Y. -- So what if there's a cyber village? Who cares if there's an official credit card? What does it matter that TV crews are as plentiful as the pot?At Woodstock '99, like Woodstock '69, they're getting filthy, hippie style.Those wishing to maintain some level of hygiene during this extended weekend of sweat, dirt and baking sun had the numbers against them: 225,000 concert-goers, one single shower facility."I feel so dirty, I can't even deal with myself," said Sharon Bevacqua, 27, yesterday.

It sits on my plate looking brown and harmless. It is scrapple. But I am not sure I have the courage to eat it.Facing a slab of fried scrapple at the breakfast table is a defining moment. You either love it as many natives of Maryland do. Or you are scared of scrapple, especially if you are a "come here," someone like me who moved to the state.This is especially true when you learn that pig parts are the crucial ingredients in this cornmeal loaf.But I am beginning my final day of eating my way through the Eastern Shore with a brave portion of scrapple and grits.