It’s raspberry season!

We stopped by the farm up the road from us yesterday, just to see what’s in and if they had anymore strawberries (they did). M remarked on the way that the raspberries should be coming in soon. And there they were, in the little market: freshly picked raspberries.

I’m not usually a big fan of the raspberry, but I popped one into my mouth to try it and the next thing you know I was having a bowl of mixed berries for lunch.

Hilgert’s farm has, by far, the best berries in the world. They have lots of taste, flavor, and juiciness. Tons better than anything you can buy in the grocery store.

Last night’s trip up to Cleveland to see Jersey Boys was fun. M and I both enjoyed the show, especially once we moved to different seats. The State Theatre, where we saw the show, has horrible seating in the balcony (the cheap seats which, by the way, aren’t all that cheap). You can’t see over the heads of the people in front of you. Well, I couldn’t. There was a man who must have been well over six feet tall who was about four rows down in front of us and his head was blocking pretty much my entire view of the stage. The only time I could see anything was when he leaned in towards his wife/girlfriend/whatever-she-was. The music and dialog were still quite enjoyable, but I wanted to see what was happening on the stage. I don’t think that’s unreasonable considering we paid to see the show.

At the intermission we moved to some empty seats off to the side and at the very back of the balcony where we had a straight-on view of the stage. Much better!! My thanks to the usher who let us move over there. (I did thank him in person.)

All in all, good show. M read a review somewhere that said to ignore the storyline as it’s inaccurate and just enjoy it as entertainment. Since I don’t know the storyline, it didn’t matter to me that it was inaccurate and I had no trouble at all enjoying it as entertainment. I especially enjoyed the music (boomer that I am).

I don’t recommend it if you’re easily offended by colorful language (including the F bomb). I thought the language made it all the more authentic, but I’m from Jersey. What do I know?

Fresh from the garden

(Freshly picked scallions.)

The garden is doing marvelously well. Much better than I expected since this is my first experience with gardening. I owe much of my success to M who is our master gardener and spent many a summer growing some lovely produce for our table. He’s a fine teacher and helper. My go-to guy.

I think the garden will do much better next year now that I’m learning what works and what doesn’t. Plus I’ll have a chance to better prepare the ground during the fall and early winter months, something I didn’t do for this gardening season as it we were already well into winter when I decided to garden this year. The ground was frozen solid and it was too late to turn the ground, add in mulch, etc.

We’re going to Cleveland tonight to see Jersey Boys. M has wanted to see the show since he saw it advertised in a San Diego paper during our November trip. I’m looking forward to it. It should be fun and I know we’ll enjoy the music.

Breakfast

(Oatmeal with fresh strawberries.)

Food!

(Cherries in a bowl.)

I’ve decided to give July’s theme for NaBloPoMo a try. Food, after all, is a very good theme, and it will give me the opportunity to hone my photography and Photoshop skills. To be honest, I don’t really have any Photoshop skills at the moment. I’m struggling to learn. The best way for me to learn how it works is to use it.

And now, the long awaited Move 2008 update for Weeks 25 and 26.

• Mileage for Week 25: 20.65
• Mileage for Week 26: 22.39
• Total for 2008: 551.37 miles

I did fine with the strength training (twice a week for both weeks). Not so fine on the yoga. I only managed a couple of yoga workouts.

The goal this week: More yoga!

Yoga really does make a difference in how I feel, especially with the back and hip pain.

Rain, rain

(Today’s view of the pond.)

I resisted the urge to continue that title with “go away.” It’s always a good idea to be careful what you wish for even if we have had rain every single day for at least a week. Heavy rain and thunderstorms blow through every afternoon and evening. We wake to rain early in the morning, enough to make the hot days steamy.

But we had drought conditions last summer so I don’t want to complain. Too much.

M has been off from work for the past week, and is taking this upcoming week off, too. It’s his 2-week stay-cation. He’s been working on projects around the house and property, keeping pretty busy. Sometimes keeping me pretty busy while he’s at it.

Last night we went to Canton to check out a new jazz club: The Blue Olive. We had a good time. The music was excellent (The Mike Austin Project from Youngstown, Ohio). We didn’t eat there so they’ll be no food reviews this time around. That’s probably a good thing as I’m not nearly as good at that sort of thing as Alto2 who seems to have a real knack for it.

The theme for July’s NaBloPoMo ought to be right up her alley: Food. I’m thinking of using it as an excuse to learn how to take better photos of food. I don’t think we’ll be traveling anywhere in July. I should be able to post every day.

I know I’m overdue with the Move 2008 update for last week. Since it’s so late in the week, I’m going to wait and combine two weeks worth on Monday.

That’s about it from the Bogs for now.

A Prairie Home Companion

Mary, a friend, had VIP tickets to last night’s live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion from the Blossom Music Center. Lucky me, she invited me to go with her.

I’m very familiar with both A Prairie Home Companion (APHC) and the Blossom Music Center. M and I are regular listeners of APHC, and we spend quite a few summer evenings picnicking on the lawn at Blossom before the Cleveland Orchestra plays their concerts.

Blossom is a lovely venue in Cuyahoga Falls, surrounded by woods, and located within the Cuyahoga Valley National Park where there is some lovely hiking year round. Usually when we attend an event at Blossom we have to park quite a distance away from where the concerts take place. That can be attributed to our poor timing (we tend to leave too late and so end up in the outer parking lots). The walk in takes about 15-20 minutes and it’s a good way to add exercise to your day.

Last night, however, Mary had a VIP parking pass and we were treated to parking practically next to the gate.

(VIP Gate at Blossom. June 21, 2008.)

We were able to bypass the walk, the main ticket booths, and the main entrance. Star treatment.

The main feature at Blossom is, of course, the pavilion where the concerts are held. It fits into the landscape quite nicely.

(The pavilion at Blossom. June 21, 2008.)

Mary and I sat on the lawn under a nice, shady tree to have our picnic dinner before the concert. It was hot and a little humid with thunderstorms looming in our future. We were there pretty early and, as you can see from the photo above, not many other people had arrived yet.

Flickr Mosaic

This was too tempting to pass up. I nicked it from Marcia of Are We There Yet?

Here are the rules (so to speak):

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Flickr Toys: mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

And here’s my mosaic:

1. Robin (Erithacus rubecula), 2. A bowl of salad, 3. 2007_12_02_VA_and_DC_029.jpg, 4. End of the day, 5. Angelina Jolie, 6. Chill.NeSs, 7. - Middle-Earth? -, 8. My first strawberries of this season…, 9. The Photographers, 10. Family Portrait, 11. The Lazy Days of Summer, 12. Morning sun

I should be doing other things, but it’s a chilly, cloudy day, the kind where it’s hard to get motivated to do much beyond play.

Today’s view of the pond

(The 3:00pm view)

Did I mention that gardening is hard work?

Yes, I think I did, somewhere in my last post.

The problem, of course, is that I neglected the garden for about two weeks. We were gone for five days. It was hot when we returned. Then it rained. I had all sorts of excuses. And good ones too, so I thought.

The weeds practically took over the garden. The good news is that they mostly grew between the rows of vegetables and not in with the vegetables themselves. I work on keeping the weeds away from the veggies every time I go out to the garden, then attack the stuff growing prolifically between and around the rows. A garden hoe would be an excellent tool for this purpose. However, I’ve found that my lower back does not respond well to the stance and movements necessary to do a good job with the hoe.

Instead, I’ve been using a cultivator, that little hand-held tool with three prongs. I squat or get down on my hands and knees, and cultivate like crazy. My back is happy, my arms and legs get a good workout, but it’s taking a very long time to make any sort of progress.

I’m going to have to suck it up and ask M to hoe between the rows for me. It will probably take him all of ten minutes to have it all finished. Then I can do what I should have done earlier in the growing season: mulch. That will help keep down the weeds. It will also make the veggies happy, especially if we hit a dry spell.

The weather is unseasonably cool today. I’m enjoying it. I had originally intended to work in the garden for the usual 30-45 minutes, but ended up out there for over two hours. It’s amazing how fast time flies while I’m weeding.

I brought in some lettuces and a few radishes to put in a salad for tonight’s dinner. Yummy. M and I also took a ride up to Hilgert’s (the farm up the road from us) to pick up some strawberries. They had some spinach, green onions, and a few other local goodies in the market.

I ought to stop being so lazy and go out to the strawberry fields to do some picking. They’re much cheaper if you pick your own. Today would have been a good day for it. It’s cool, cloudy, and breezy. Those three conditions do a good job of keeping the bugs away.

M the Younger is still searching for a job in Colorado. If you know of anyone looking for a guy with a degree in Geology in Colorado, give me a holler. A few leads would be nice.

The wedding date has been set for June 13, 2009. M the Younger and his fiancee have found a church. They’ve been looking for a place to have the reception. As far as I know, they haven’t decided on that yet. Then there’s the cake, the food, the DJ, etc., etc.

I think I’m lucky I had sons instead of daughters.

Gardening, the Irish Festival, and a Move 2008 Update

(Garden greens. June 2008)

I’ve learned two things about gardening over the past few weeks:

1. Gardening is hard work.

2. It’s best to spread out the hard work by making the weeding a part of my daily routine rather than wait a week and then whine about how hard it is to get all the weeding done.

There’s a third thing, now that I think about it:

3. Nothing tastes as good as food you’ve grown yourself.

Those fresh from the garden lettuces are fantastic. We’ll be eating plenty of salads over the next few weeks. It makes me feel healthy just to think about it.

(Piper at the Irish Festival. June 2008)

M and I went to the Riverfront Irish Festival on Saturday. Martin and Meredith went for a little while, too. It was lots of fun. We listened to some great music by the band Rathkeltair. I bought one of their CD’s but I don’t think it does them justice. They’re very high energy and that doesn’t come across in the CD. Not that the CD is bad. It’s very good. But I liked them better live.

(Rathkeltair at the Riverfront Irish Festival. June 14, 2008)

And now for the Move 2008 update. Week 24 was a good one:

• Mileage for Week 24: 25.85 miles
• Total for 2008: 508.33
• Strength training: x3
• Yoga: x5

Yep, a very good week. I’m finally past the half-way point. 500 miles!

Move 2008

(Maryland Heights trail. June 2008.)

I can’t believe we’ve finished Week 23 already! This year is going by much too fast. It must be all that moving I’m doing, making time zoom on past.

I had a good week last week. The hiking and tubing in Harpers Ferry were a nice treat. It reminded me that I ought to break up the monotony of the “usual” with a little “unusual.” I really should get outside more than I do. I have a million excuses as to why I exercise indoors, weather (too hot, too humid, or too cold), bugs (the mosquitoes and deer flies are plentiful this year), and country dogs number among them. Country dogs are probably the worst for me. Our country block is 5 miles around and it’s a lovely walk, but people let their dogs run lose out here in the boonies. I’ll be walking along enjoying the scenery and getting into the rhythm of walking when all of a sudden a dog is running at me full speed, barking his/her head off, baring his/her teeth as if he or she is going to bite my face off.

Scary stuff.

The cows and sheep are much less frightening.

My numbers for Week 23 (last week):

• Mileage for the week: 21.01 miles
• Total for 2008: 482.48 miles
• Strength training: x 2
• Yoga: x 4

This week should be a good one, too. I’ve started out well and intend to keep going. I have to hit 500 miles by the end of the month if I want to make my goal for the year.

There’s also the little matter of a full check-up to celebrate my 50 years on earth coming up in July.  Although my birthday isn’t until December, I figured I’d get the medical stuff out of the way during the summer when I’m eating better, exercising more, and feeling less stressed.  Well, most of the medical stuff.  I’d much prefer it if the doc would put off that first colonoscopy until next year, when I’m actually 50.