Stella Helps Sewing a Hammock...

"Exactly what part of my stitching is bad???"

Daughter Rem came over tonight to sew her hammock.
Stella decided Rem needed help.
Stella's idea of helping was to sit in the middle of said hammock-to-be.
I asked Rem if this was a good idea.
Rem said it really wasn't that good of an idea.
Stella indicated she really didn't care what Remy thought.

So Stella slept in the middle of the hammock for the entire evening.
And the hammock was sewn the following night.

The end.

~~~

xoabb

expect giggles!

P. S. We love our Stella!

Leafless Gutter System...

That would be a ~fail~...

~~~

xoabb

Needless to say, I'll not be recommending the Leafless Gutter System any time soon. The amount of leaves I took out of the downspout would have done a tree proud if I could have reattached them. Total waste of money. Most unfortunately.

Blueberries!

One of my dearest friends - you know her as Mental Pause Mama - is now residing in a charming condominium complex (a town that is FAR removed from me, dammit!). I have never seen a more beautifully landscaped place! My Sunday's photo was of the hydrangea bush just outside her front door. The above blueberry bush is just before that hydrangea.

Whoda thunk blueberry bushes were landscaping plants?? I surely didn't!

All I know is...I expect a blueberry pie about a month from now.
(MPM...are you listening???)

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Sunday Serenity

Nothing more calming
Than gazing on lovely blooms
My thoughts...just slow down

~~~

xoabb
expect peace!

BumbleBee & a Bonica Conundrum...

My Bonica rose bush is just beautiful from year to year. But this year I'm alarmed because the blooms have been so heavy, the entire rose bush has flopped over. What do I do??? Prune the entire thing back or just let it flop?? I am really at a loss. Help!

~~~

xoabb

Above rose bush is actually one from my parents' MO garden summer '09.

You can go here to see photos of my bonica before it flopped.

Missouri Sunset

Callaway County, Missourahhh

4/20/10

~~~

xoabb

Skywatch Friday

do join us!

Hands of a Master Gardener

Hands that love this earth
Create sustainable land
That nourish us all

~

We've begun a lecture series at our Fodor Farm Community Garden and the first lecture I was able to attend was given by a gentleman who is a Master Gardener. Wow! In the hour and a half he spoke, I learned more than I thought possible! Did you know you should use shredded newspaper beneath your tomatoes so they're protected from splashing water and because they're also a good form of nourishment? Me neither! And that we who live by the shore are lucky enough to be able to harvest our very own oyster and crab shells - free of charge - that when crushed are wonderful additions to our gardens? Or to plant your tomato seedlings in no less than a 5" pot and when it's ready to be transplanted, strip all but the top leaves off, then plant it horizontally in not-so-deep (amended always) soil, then cover it with a section of banana peel and then soil? WOW! Whoda thunk? He taught us about the whole nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium conundrum, which I wouldn't possibly remember if I hadn't written it down. Hopefully that'll be on his web site soon (hint!). Then, to top off a most excellent talk, he walked to all our plots and told us what we were doing correctly and then also told us (quite gently) what we were doing wrong (that was just about everything for me...sigh).

A very loverly, most wonderful Saturday morning!

~~~

xoabb
expecting good garden things!

P. S. - Here's the most bizarre thing that happened at the lecture/talk: I raised my hand to ask a question of this master gardener, (who had an accent and told us he, too was an interloper like many of the species we find in our gardens). He said: "Yes, Ann, what is your question?" I thought I knew I'd never seen him before so convinced myself he said "Yes, ma'am, what is your question?" He never said another word, we went on our garden tour, I showed him my plot (totally overplanted the carrots, among other things), he gave me tomato and other advice and I took his card.
Flash forward 4 hours. I finally looked at his card so I could go to his website and get the formula for sterlizing seeds. And found out:

His name is Nick Mancini.
The very gentleman who cut my hair for years, years ago...
Before he disappeared off the face of the earth.
Now I know, it was to become a Master Gardener.
(And also lose quite a bit of himself.)
He looks just wonderful - and seems so damn happy!
He recognized me after all these years and I had not a clue!

Strange how paths reconnect...
Wonder if he'd give this old mop of mine a new do...
Boy is it ever needed!

You can visit Mr. Mancini's gardening site here.

Drip drip drip

Sunday Serenity

Bridges cross the main

Arteries of our driving life

Connecting with our good


xoabb

Overplanted Wonderland

Do you also have a small 4' x 12' plot that's being eating to the quick by the marauding bunnies and such who are chewing holes through the chicken wire (what's up with that?) surrounding your community garden? Really...you do?? Me too!
My solution, unproved tho it is, is to totally over-plant my little plot...I'll let you know how that goes...and to heavily spray it with bunny-be-gone... I'll let you know how that goes, too.

~~~

xoabb
expecting bunny nightmares

On another very happy note, 26 years ago today George and I welcomed into our world the most wonderful son any two parents could ever hope to be blessed with. The happiest of birthdays to you, Bly-Guy, you are the very very best and loved more than you will ever know!!

Setting Sun

Manhattan Sunset

6/12/10

~~~

xoabb

Sky Watch Friday

do join us!

O yeah!

Come to mama!

~~~

xoabb
i have the very best parental units EVER!
thank you for an incredible gift!

The Boys go Fishing

Yesterday after school Connor-man gave his Uncle George a call to see if they could go fishing. That was just fine with Uncle George so off he went to pick Connor up. They gathered up their gear and headed out...to our pond that's about 20 feet from our kitchen door. After putting down their poles, off they went to various places around our house in search of earthworms. For whatever reason, earthworms have been in very short supply this spring. (Son Bly and Connor were looking for worms over the weekend and found not a one. Bly was convinced they'd either all died off or there had been a mass worm exodus outta our yard.) Connor-man and his Uncle George spent more time yesterday looking for worms than they actually spent fishing! But with the 10 or so worms they found, they caught a bunch of sunnies and had a grand old time!

(He and Uncle George also fished Father's Day in 2008 {here}.)

~~~

xoabb

Sunday Serenity

The moment one gives close attention to anything,
even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome,
indescribably magnificent world in itself.

- Henry Miller

~~~

xoabb

The High Line (SWF) Birthday Edition

Instead of simply tearing it down, New York City has taken what was a very ugly - and long in length - eye sore and turned it into a spectacular park-in-the-sky. The High Line starts in lower Manhatten's Meat Packing District and will eventually stop at 34th street. Right now it's open to 20th Street. Such a fabulous place! (See here for a wonderful seasonal slide show of The High Line.)

As some of you know, my birthday was last Friday, the 4th and my seeeester came from DC to help me celebrate! I always appreciate help when it comes to celebrating (just about everything). Jules and I met her in lower Manhattan as our agenda for the day included seeing the wonderful ~Claude Monet: Late Work~ show at the Gagosian Gallery on 21st Street and walking The High Line. Talk about beautiful! What a splendid job NYC has done. The meandering path is flanked on both sides with gorgeous plantings that, I understand, are seasonal. There are wonderful benches to sit on and soon there will be a water feature. If you haven't been there, do go!

After we were through walking The High Line, we happened upon The Chealsea Market, another wonderful place! It is full of shops and restaurants - and a grocery store where we discovered the veggies were a lot cheaper than anything we find out here in the sticks of CT.

Then we walked a loooooooong way to The Garage (112 W. 25th St. between 6th & 7th Ave.), a huge flea market selling just about anything you can think of. It would have been a lot more fun if the temperature had been about 20 degrees cooler. Needless to say, we didn't last long there.

After all this activity the three of us were getting hungry so we cabbed it up to the West Side and met Daryl for a loverly lunch. Let me just say that a birthday margarita is about the most perfect thing one can possibly have!

A day of perfection!

~~~

xoabb

i have the best family & friends!

Sky Watch Friday

Do join us!

~~~~

P. S. A most wonderful birthday to the most wonderful dad in the whole wide world!

Happy birthday, Daddy!

xoxannlie

Pure White

In a Missouri garden white iris

Strawberry Bounty

S

We went strawberry pickin' at Jones Family Farms today. My Connor-Man decided to join me and Nurse Nancy, along with son JBM led the way!

Did you know it is possible to pick 8.75 pounds of strawberries in just a bit over 20 minutes??? Me neither, until Connor-Man and I did! Those strawberries were so plentiful it was just silly! You're also free to eat as many berries in the field as you want. I'm quite certain we four had many more than our fair share (where's the whipped cream??).

And the flavor/smell/taste of a just picked sun-warmed strawberry?

Unbelievable!

I never want a store-bought strawberry again!

But...

What the hell am I going to do with 8.75 pounds of fresh picked strawberries???

~~~

xoabb

expect anything!

First Community Garden Kate Bag Harvest!

OK, so I cheated a bit! Along with planting burgundy green bean beans that I got from a friend to plant (thanks Nurse Nancy!), I also bought a burgundy bean plant that had beans already on it.

Voila!

My first harvest!

And probably the last until late July.

~~~

xoabb

expecting good future Kate Bag* harvests!

P.S. My ~Kate Bag~ was given to me by my dear friend Kate (duh) of Chronicles of a Country Girl. I don't recall exactly when (hey, I'm eligible for AARP, so gimme a break! Please??) but since she gave it to me it has faithfully gone with me to my community garden plot. For the entire last summer my Kate Bag carried home our CG harvest. And surprisingly there was quite a bit of it!

So! Thank you dear Kate for my Kate Bag! I love it!
Here's to big harvest days this year as well!

No Sunday Serenity

“I’m not sure there’s ever a wrong time to do the right thing.”

~ MO Senator Claire McCaskill

~~~

abb
my heart is breaking

and I have to cry now

P. S. That isn't my photo and I can't find who took it.

Whomever did, thank you and I'll credit you if you

stumble upon my humble little blog.

The Second Half

Today is the first day of the second half of my life.

Just thought you should know that.

~~~

xoabb

See you at my 110th birthday party!

Happy Birthday...

To me!

~~~

xoabb

DANG! I'm gettin' old!

Le Plot? Planted...

From the bottom up: pepper plants, on left 2 cucumbers and 3 squash, on right along side are sugar snap peas. In the barren area, 2 rows carrots and a whole bunch of onion set, I have no idea how many and I know the rows are far from straight. In the top area, on the left a bunch of garlic sets, two broccoli plants, 3 pea plants and tomatoes. In the middle 2 eggplants and even more onion sets. On the right, German yellow flat beans, burgundy beans, more tomatoes and a bunch of onion sets. (Over-planting at least one veggie seems to be an on-going theme.)

Whew!
Sure hope everyone wants to grow!

As of May 30th we finally have our entire Community Garden (CG) plot planted, and sooner than last year! As you can see, this year we have just four pepper plants, unlike last year when we planted 20 (what were we thinking??). There are lots more different veggies this year - in that big blank area we've planted many onion sets plus two rows of carrots; both a first. There were about a bajillion carrot seeds in the packet...so I planted every single one of them. I understand I'm going to have to thin them. Vigerously. And often. And if all the peas and beans do well, we're gonna have to open a farm stand. Or maybe we'll just leave anonymous bags of beans on front porches. (O how I hope that comes true!)

And now the waiting begins.
I am not good at waiting.

~~~

xoabb
expecting to wait for the harvest!