Scenes from Lake View Cemetery
Posted: April 30, 2010 Filed under: Adventures in art, Local Tourists, Photography, Spring, travel | Tags: Cleveland, Lake View Cemetery 8 Comments
I’ve been going through some of the photos from our visit to Lake View Cemetery and thought I’d post a few. I like the way the clouds seem to outline the tree in the next one.
M and I are off on a short adventure tomorrow. Have a great weekend!
Bars and birds
Posted: April 28, 2010 Filed under: Adventures in Life, beginnings, Earth, garden, Healthy Living Plan, home, life, nature, Photography, pond, Spring | Tags: birds, killdeer 7 Comments
(Potent potable.)
M and I went to Akron yesterday to meet up with friends and have — judging by how I feel today — a little too much fun. I’m pretty sure it was the Carrot Cake Martini at the Barley House that did me in. It was delicious but I should know better than to mix it up, especially by bringing something sweet into the mix. That said, it was a good dessert drink.
I think it would have helped if I’d ordered something more substantial than a salad for dinner. I had the “Hearts of Plenty” salad. I should have taken a picture as it was a pretty salad with the artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, beets, and corn arranged nicely on top of the salad greens.
(Watching the Cavs.)
After parting with our friends and moving to the Barley House for dinner, we hung out for a little while, watching the Cav’s game. On the way home I played around with the camera, capturing a few abstract type things.
When we arrived home it occurred to me that I’d forgotten to harvest the asparagus so M and I walked out to the garden to pick it. I would have left it until today but an overnight freeze was predicted and that would have ruined the spears that were ready for picking. As I approached the garden a killdeer flew by, landing in the wildflower meadow where I thought she had a nest. Turns out the nest was in the garden. There were four babies huddled around one of the asparagus plants. I’m glad I wasn’t harvesting by moonlight. M found the babies with the flashlight while looking around for asparagus spears that might be ready to pick.
We got a photo of one this morning. They are so cute. Our first spring here we had a family of killdeers living in what was to become the wildflower meadow and it was entertaining to watch the babies following the parents around. The garden is a good place for the babies since it’s fenced in and might keep the other animals away from them.
(Monday’s view of the pond.)
The much-needed rain finally moved through. It’s cool and breezy today but expected to warm up into the 70’s over the next few days. Nice.
(A springtime shot of the flamingos.)
As you can see above, the dandelions are doing quite well this year.
(Red-winged blackbird.)
Well, the garden chores and housework await. I should get to it so I can spend a little time lazing around on the porch later today.
Warm and humid
Posted: April 25, 2010 Filed under: Earth, home, nature, Photography, pond, Simplify2010, Spring, water, weather | Tags: flowers 7 Comments
(Today’s view of the pond.)
Things are finally greening up here in the Bogs. This weekend’s rain helped. There must have been a freeze while we were traveling. Some of the plants look as though they started to bud or bloom and then got hit with some mighty cold weather.
Most of the apple and crabapple trees that were protected are blooming pretty nicely, though.
I’ve finally gotten back to work on my Simplify2010 Project. M and I have both been sorting and cleaning today. The idea is to eventually have less stuff because having more stuff generally means more to take care of. It would be nice to live a little more simply.
Garden notes: M planted the sunflowers today.
Who wants to volunteer?
Posted: April 24, 2010 Filed under: Adventures in Life, beginnings, home, Photography, Project Patio, Spring, strength training 7 Comments
(Ye olde patio.)
The special (heh) delivery arrived yesterday afternoon and work on the new project will begin any minute now (or once the rain stops). The old patio, pictured above, has to be taken apart first. The patio isn’t old in terms of age. M built that a summer or two after we moved into this house (which was in 2002). The bricks were once part of the kitchen that we gutted and had remodeled. Their sole purpose (besides taking up a good amount of space) was to house a “built-in” oven. It probably looked pretty cool when it was new but it was outdated when we bought the house and that space is now occupied with cabinets and shelves, a much more efficient use if you ask me. And we got a patio out of it.
(The Stuff.)
M took a masonry course last fall to get ready for this project. Hopefully he now knows what he’s doing. I should take that “hopefully” out. I have great faith in him, especially when it comes to these marriage-testing projects. From first glance, I’d say the thing we’ll need the most help with will be moving and placing the flagstones (you can see those sitting to the right of the cinder blocks). All volunteers are welcome. Feel free to sign up in the comments section of this post. 😉
What you don’t see in either picture are the rocks (mini-boulders) I bought for my garden. There really aren’t that many of them but they will take a little work to haul up to the garden. Once we realized how cheap they were, M and I both later thought that we should have bought more as I will likely need more for the garden and any leftovers can be used to line flowerbeds around the house or something. We can always find a use for them.
The guy that delivered the goods was kind enough to bring his truck around to the back so we won’t have to spend the next week hauling bricks, mortar, etc. Three cheers for the delivery dude!
I’ll leave you with a pretty picture. Enjoy.
Garden notes: We’re getting some much needed rain today. Supposed to keep raining for the next few days. Did some chipping and shredding this afternoon, adding to our large pile of mulch. I was hoping to harvest some asparagus but it’s still not ready. Might be able to get about 6-8 spears tomorrow.
The trees are finally bursting out with leaves. The apple and crabapple trees are blooming. The azaleas and lilac buds are about to pop.
Let the fun begin
Posted: April 23, 2010 Filed under: Adventures in Life, beginnings, celebrations, Earth, grandparenthood, home, Madison, nature, Photography, Spirit, Spring 2 Comments
First things first: Maddy — our youngest granddaughter — is one year old today. Happy Birthday, Maddy!
We were thinking of going to see her this weekend (the plan being to go down there today) but Maddy is going on a birthday trip with her sister and parents this weekend so we’re going to shoot for next weekend.
I’ve been hanging around the house today waiting for a delivery of items needed for M’s latest project. The delivery consists of gravel, concrete, mortar, sand, stones, bricks, and flagstones. The stones are for me to use in the garden. The rest will be made into walls and a patio. Since they can’t dump the stuff where we need it, M and I will be getting our weight workouts by moving it around to the back over the next week or two.
Good times. 🙂
Garden notes: Planted a row of spinach today. No asparagus ready to be harvested.
Earth Day
Posted: April 22, 2010 Filed under: Adventures in art, Adventures in Life, Earth, food, garden, gardening, Harvest, home, movies, nature, Photography, Spirit, Spring | Tags: flowers, orchids 2 Comments
One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’
~ Rachel Carson
M and I watched the documentary Food, Inc. on PBS last night. It was a good reminder of why we have been changing the way we eat as well as how and where we buy our food. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it at pbs.org until April 28th.
Garden notes: This afternoon I planted a row of mixed lettuces. I finished out the row with a few spinach seeds. Harvested a whooping 6 (lol!) asparagus spears. It’s a start.
Gardening
Posted: April 21, 2010 Filed under: Adventures in Life, Earth, garden, gardening, Harvest, home, nature, Photography, Quotes, Spring | Tags: flowers, tulips 2 Comments
(Tulips at Hershey Gardens.)
In a world where conflict and strife seem to surround us, gardeners create a space where peace and beauty reign. In a time of rampant selfishness, gardeners set the example of selflessness. For it’s impossible to garden only for yourself. The colors and textures you splash upon the ground are soaked up by all the birds, butterflies and passersby in your neighborhood.
But mostly, it’s important to be a good steward of a small patch of earth and to know that you are one among millions who are helping to heal a wounded planet, one garden at a time.
~~ Paul McKenzie, Article on HGTV.com
I’ve been busy in the garden for the past day or so, as well as unpacking and getting caught up with things around the house. But that’s not the real reason I haven’t come back to finish posting about our trip east. The real reason is this: I killed my keyboard.
It seems I had not yet learned the valuable lesson regarding liquids, computers, and keyboards. That lesson is firmly learned now. No more tall glasses of iced tea will grace the top of this desk. I am very grateful to M for the spare keyboard.
The weather here in the Bogs is perfect for gardening. Sunny but not too hot. I worked on a small section of our veggie garden yesterday, getting it ready to plant spinach and some lettuces. I should be able to plant the seeds today.
We harvested the first of the asparagus on Sunday. Because there wasn’t much of it I chopped it up and put it in a vegetable stir-fry I made for dinner. I should be able to harvest some more today. It doesn’t look like it will be a bumper crop, but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m not sure how fast the spears will come up or how prolific it will be now that we’ve started harvesting it.
I don’t know if or when I’ll get back to posting about our trip. I do have tons of photos I’d like to share (including some more from Orchid Mania and our trip to Lake View Cemetery) so I’m going to try to get a few out every day.
(Entrance to Hershey Gardens)
Life in the Bogs 