Gardentime

Time to report in I guess, I always vow to keep this journal up but as Willie Nelson sings, "Funny How Time Slips Away"

Right now we are in the midst of garden chores, if they can be called that..to me, planting, watering fertilizing and picking [both flowers and food] are anything but burdensome.

We have had the first broccoli and the little cucumbers will be ready next week, I see a tomato turning already and the flowers are gorgeous this summer. We have had horrible slug and snail problems but other than that every thing except the New Dawn rose looks great. The roses were just beautiful, but some pesky bug turned the leaves into lace curtains.

The deer have also been the usual problem but they are not as bad as some years, probably because I have been using Shake-away which has coyote and bobcat urine in the formula, and also instructed DH to make a late night pit stop around a few of the most vulnerable places.

Tomorrow night is a class reunion with friends and fun and good food, must find something to wear..nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Tags: deer control, roses, gardens, flowers,

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Back Home Again

Sunrise at Back Beach Rockport, Cape Ann, MA

We got up at 6AM to get to the beach just as it started to get light and before the tourists and dog walkers were out.

What a great trip..mostly sunny, not too hot and found some sea glass on a couple of days. took a trip to Marblehead and the beautiful day turned cloudy, windy and cold so we headed back north to Rockport but will try again next year..found the old Burial Hill with some of the earliest graves in New England and managed to get a few decent photos, see below.

 

Another Death Head marker, these are very old, mid 17th century.

 

View of stones, homes and Atlantic harbor at Marblehead from up on the Burial ground.

And of course, I had to add a flower box from Mt Pleasant in Rockport..the flowers are unreal out there, always a million beauty spots to enjoy.

 

Now I have to try to lose the 2# I gained from those fantastic breakfasts at our B and B and fish sandwiches from fish caught the same day..and the best fries I have EVER eaten...good thing we only stayed 4 days!!!

Tags: Rockport Ma, old cemetery, Cape Ann, window box, flowers, Marblehead

Too Darn Hot!

This weather is just too much! Too much heat, too much humidity too much sitting around waiting for it to cool off.

However, complaining won't change it and so I will get on with life. My patio garden is full and I still have a ton of things to plant.Found a great sale after I thought I was about done and brought home about 4or 5 more flats, mostly annuals that need to get into containers post haste!

I try to go out early in the morning while it is cooler but it is so humid that I can only work a few minutes at a time, better than nothing I suppose. Hope Norm will get out and spray the tomatoes, I see signs of early blight and have been hoping for some really nice tomatoes this year. Had Swiss chard tonight along with sweet corn, sweet potatoes and strawberry mousse' Another veggie night...healthy and good!

Took Twerpie to Dr. West last week...the reason he seems to have lost his balance and is blundering into things is because he has lost almost all of his sight in the past couple of months. Poor little guy, he had such a miserable life before we got him and I had hoped to make his last years happy. Well, guess they will still be happy as he is always walked on a lead anyway and he can still smell the chicken in his food dish.

 I see now why he jumped off the couch into the coffee table about 4 times in the past few weeks! Muffin went along for the ride as she needed to be weighed..she has gained a whole ounce!!! Heart murmur no better but she seems to be doing well so far.

Tomorrow will be a fun day...Debbie and I are going to spend the day doing something nice, we just don't know what it will be. Antiquing, shopping, maybe drive up to Cooperstown or down to Binghamton and go to some favorite stores and of course EATsomething good and unhealthy somewhere along the way.

catch up later, still have things to do tonight.

 

Is it Spring AGAIN???

I can't believe it's Spring again. Not only that but it's almost Summer and I just finished getting the last of the Christmas things put away..where do the days go when they fly by so quickly? I always think of those old movies that indicated the passing of time by showing a calendar with the months flying off and swept into a passing wind.

I will be celebrating a birthday soon and some days lately have been beginning to feel my age. I hate growing old but know that the alternative is worse by far. Maybe someday I will feel that I have lived long enough but believe me, that is in the distant future [I hope].

The gardens are weedy and overgrown, I just can't seem to keep up with so many so this year [as in the past]  I have vowed to cut back and I fully intend to do so this time. I have several flats of annuals waiting, 3 new Clematis, a Honeysuckle vine and a flat of perennials and a couple of dozen tomato plants waiting to go in as soon as I'm sure the danger of frost is over. The past couple of nights have still been cold enough for most of them to freeze so I'll hold back on the most tender until after June 6. The pansies I planted in April are doing better now and I still have more to plant.  My best gardening fun this year so far has been taking digital pictures of whatever I can find that looks interesting and making new albums.

Feel tired tonight so "Good night, Journal", 'til next time.

Another Year

Another year has slipped away, much of it spent in political thought, study, reading and writing. As grandma always said, no sense crying about spilt milk but I feel a sense of despair as I see the America I grew up in slipping away ..turning into something that looks like another country and not a very nice one at that. So much hatred and anger, and a war that grows more disheartening every day.

We don't own the world and the sooner we admit it, the better. Everyone does not want to be like us, even though most Americans do not believe it.

Fall is nearly gone now, the skeletons of the bare hardwoods are gray and drab, dull and dreary  on some days but at least a few days have still had the brilliant blue skies that make even those empty branches seem beautiful. Kinda like an old movie star with wrinkles and graying hair who goes into a makeup room and is transformed for a moment in time into a breathtakingly beautiful  young goddess again...Elizabeth Taylor turned 29 for the day!

Speaking of bright days, I finally broke down and ordered a goLight which I hope will help me combat my S.A.D. this winter. I am so tired of feeling as though I am under 8 feet of water from January until Spring's sunshine days are back again. I KNOW I need to get up from my chair and clean, exercise, work on my hobbies, cook and bake and DO things but it is as though I am caught in a vise. Once the bright sunny days appear, I am back to my old self but our long gray  winters are stealing precious days and  I need to do something about it. Hence, the litebox, on sale at Costco and hopefully on it's way to NY State.

Spent 3 hours today shampooing that darn living room rug and it still looks spotty but the Christmas chalkware collection goes up in here next week and on the last Monday of the month, 2 of our daughters and maybe our grandaughter will be here to trim at least 1 or 2 of the trees, set up the Christmas Village, put out Santas and Snowmen on the shelves over the dining room doors and on the hutch, bring out the fabric Santas and set them up in the living room and laugh, talk, drink tea and eat and laugh some more..I look forward to it every year. The teddy bears of Christmas are waiting to take their turn as soon as I get the teddy bear room cleaned out and pack away the summer and fall bears. Everyone in the bear family has to spend at least a few months a year in the "Vacation Houses" [really big tupperware tubs] because I have so  many. A few of them have gone to new homes and a few more will be going this year...somebody else will have somebody to love!

That's all for tonight, want to finish reading "Skipping Christmas" [even though I think I can guess how it will turn out] before calling it a day.

Food, Exercise and All That Stuff

Well, here it is March..No I didn't forget you dear Journal, but time flies and I have so much to do and so little time. This month I am back checking my scales quite frequently because I am with my usual wintertime weight gain. We have had so much snow and so many cold, windy and  just miserable days I have not been walking. I did finally start my "house walks" which consist of 6 to 15 minutes walking from one end of the house and back with several detours around tables, benches, more tables and so on interspersed with some marching in place or walking in place in front of the clock in the kitchen. I try to do this twice a day if I can stand it. [Boring !}

Along with a few stretchs every day and an occasional half day spent cleaning these darn off white [now dingy tan] carpets those walks are my main exercise for now.

I am afraid I will have to resort to cutting back on carbs for awhile to lose the 10 # I gained since last November but I just can not do one of those Atkins type things. I am not terribly fond of meat, too much fish is tough to force down and I expect to start laying eggs any day now since chicken seems to be the meal of choice around here.

I have been dutifully eating more bran flakes and less candy. I did great on the 2 apples a day for awhile but now have decided that red grapes  and bananas are filling my fruit cravings [along with OJ] on most days. The 5 a day usually is no problem but I do have days when I can eat 6 or 7 servings of fruit and veggies. I found a couple of old notebooks from 15 and 10 years ago, I only weigh about 5 pounds more than I did then but of course none of my old clothes fit.. I have turned into a marshmallow I'm afraid!

Well, my mom should have published a book about weight control, she had it down pat: "Eat a little less, move around a little more". Gol' darn it, Mom, you could have made the family rich if you had only published that 1 page book! Millions spent every years on diet books, diet plans, exercise equipment and special diet foods..people just need to use common sense..Eat Less, Move More.  I will start tomorrow AM....

Haiku for Fall

Now the Russet leaves

Are dancing, swirling gaily

Summer's last Fireflies.