Barbee's Blog

A Book

2013-01-28T14:45:00.000-05:00

I finally have something to post about. I first learned of this book over on Inger's blog Desert Canyon Living. I found that our library had copies, even a large print edition, which I borrowed. I am always happy to find large print editions which I can read without as much eye fatigue especially if it is a good book that I cannot put down. So was the case with this book. I read it in one day. Next day my husband read it. Needless to say, I do recommend this book, especially to people who care about animals.

Wesley the Owl, The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien (Free Press, 2008) is a memoir of the nineteen years Wesley and O'Brien were together. The relationship was much more than scientific observation; from the moment baby Wesley opened his eyes and looked deeply into hers it was love. O'Brien spins the true story of their daily life together. A story of bonding, love, and sentience between a human and a wild animal, a barn owl of complex abilities and sensitivities who smelled like maple syrup, and who first viewed her as mother, and then later as mate... making it necessary to pretend to eat the mouse he brought her everyday.

O'Brien shares with readers the emotions and mental telepathy present in their communicating. She wrote of Wesley as: "a pioneer on this journey of exploration into the intelligence and sentience of the creatures with whom we share the earth. There is so much more to be discovered, and I'm sure in decades to come we will look back at this time as one in which we were emerging from the dark ages of understanding animals, their intelligence, and their emotional lives."

There is a website with photos: http://www.wesleytheowl.com/

and better reviews than mine. I noticed Temple Grandin in the list.
http://www.wesleytheowl.com/OwlComments.html

Horses again

2012-04-30T13:31:00.002-04:00

It's that time of year! Keenland has finished running here in Lexington until the fall meet in October. We are approaching Kentucky's "holy day"... the Kentucky Derby will be run this Saturday.

I decided to re-run an old post I wrote about the horse industry in Kentucky. It is as follows.

Not everyone is interested in horses, but of those who are, most know about the legendary Kentucky horses.

I was reminded of a post I wrote for my website when I picked up our local newspaper one day this week. Front page featured an article about opening day at Keeneland's January sales, including a four column photograph of the beautiful mare Azeri, who was 2002's Horse of the Year.

Apparently the economic recession has reached even into the pockets of the rich and famous in horse-world circles. This week the high and final bid for Azeri was $4.4 million, but that did not reach the seller's reserve... therefore, no sale. Last year her first foal, Vallenzeri, failed to sell at a bid of $7.7 million.

If these prices intrigue you, or if you just enjoy reading about the horse industry, you may be interested in reading the post I referred to. The post was written for a group of approximately thirty friends who were coming here to attend a day at charming Keeneland thoroughbred race tract during beautiful October. They had never been to a horse race before. The post served to prepare them by giving background information.

If you are interested here is the link: Horses.

Blotanical Site is In Trouble

2012-03-10T17:31:00.002-05:00

This is a heads up for all you who love and appreciate the website "Blotanical" and its thousands of links to gardening blogs all over the world.

Lona has written a good post about the latest happenings over on Blotanical. I will give you a link to her post so you can read it yourselves.
Lona's blog A Hocking Hill's Garden and her post about Blotanical.

Exploding Head

2011-10-31T12:46:00.002-04:00

Hmmmm, it has a name. I can add this to the list of my syndromes. It's not a joke; you can Google for it, and read about it. Of course, my head doesn't really explode, but it does sound like it sometimes, and it gives me quite a jolt. It interferes with sleep. It appears this is a syndrome, and no one knows for sure what causes it.

The first time it happened I was in the car with all my family - six of us on vacation. I must have begun to be drowsy. I heard a sudden huge bang! that sounded like a shotgun fired inside the car close range. I asked, "What was that!!!" "What was what?", the others asked. No one else heard the unnerving blast; I was glad I was not the one driving.

I have a sleep disorder, and with this in addition, I'm frequently grumpy mornings, because the noises happen when I am falling asleep. Of course, I jump nearly off the bed, nerves Zinging, heart pounding wildly. Recently, I thought a light bulb had popped. It sounded just like one had popped loudly, but when I asked my husband about it, he hadn't heard anything.

During hot weather this past summer, my garden helpers and I started our workdays at 7:00 A.M. My personal morning routine takes me two hours, so I had to rise at 5:00 A.M. to get everything done. By lunchtime everyone was gone, so I usually took a nap down in our cool basement-level family room. One day just as I fell asleep, a loud sound startled me, I jumped, my heart pounded, etc. It sounded like an old-timey tin penny-whistle given one loud blast. I calmed down and was going back to sleep - it did it again! - this time waking me a bit more. I thought maybe I could still get to sleep, so I tried... it happened again! I was so angry I just gave up and got up.

Those few are the sounds I am able to describe. I don't know how to describe most of the sounds that happen. But, they are loud and keep me awake. It can take me as long as five hours to get to sleep. Due to the fact that I have a terrible time getting to sleep, I am not a happy camper if anyone, or thing, makes a sound that wakes me before I have slept enough - because it is almost impossible to get back to sleep. The alarm clock is not my friend! I am sorry to learn that other people are cursed with this "thing", too. Hope it isn't you, or is it?

Jade Plant

2011-07-08T16:26:00.001-04:00

A few years ago our Aunt Winnie gave me a small sprig off her Jade Plant. Because Winnie reads my blog I am posting a photo of it so that she can see how large it has grown. It has become so large it is now top-heavy and soon will be put into a larger pot.

It certainly is a Pass-Along plant. She has enjoyed hers several years; I have enjoyed mine all these few years and enjoyed watching it grow. Now, I am trying to downsize my life including my houseplant collection. I may keep two or three plants including the one that was given to my mother before she married. Our local daughter and son-in-law have a lovely home with a very large bay-window full of their interesting plant collection. I am passing the Jade on to them. It will have a wonderful home, and they are delighted that it came from their Winnie. Thank you, Winnie!

I placed that half-gallon carton of milk near it to give the photo some sense of scale. Seeing it reminds me of a joke I played on myself recently.

I had been using diluted fish emulsion plant food on a number of outdoor plants. It smells just as putrid as it sounds. Then one day I was sitting at the table and started reading the list of ingredients printed on the side of the milk carton. I was reading down the list then I read: putrefied fish oil... WHAT!? Backing up I read it again a little closer, this time I read: purified fish oil. Oh! That's much better.

Hanging Gardens - Part 5

2011-06-25T20:03:00.001-04:00

I know this is what you have been waiting for. Thank you for being so patient.

Last year the iris plants were already needing dividing, but as one of a million tasks that needed doing, it didn't get done. So, we went from this in 2010...

... to this in 2011.

I have so many photographs of this area from this year. I did delete some, yet I still have too many, and I know some are almost identical. I couldn't cut out any more, because it was like throwing away my babies. You will just have to bear with me and keep scrolling down.

Growing on the slope with the wind and storms we have caused Holly Hocks to always fall over. They were moved into one of the fence bays.

Iris and young Holly Hocks

The section we call "Wings Over Water" is at the bottom. This was the largest clump of Siberian Iris in bloom this year.
Just past it, we enter the Woodland Garden by this path.

And, yes, there is a bench back in there for sitting...

... and looking back at this, and watching that Barbee' woman deadhead the irises.

*** The End ***

Hanging Gardens - Part 4

2011-06-20T14:36:00.003-04:00

Hee-hee-hee, if you thought that was the end of the project, you don't know me!

So here you can see plants waiting in their holding station on the back steps... waiting to be planted into the next stage of the project.

If you remember these photos you might have noticed the following things:
In August of 2006 a portion of the old worn path is still there. In relation to the fencing for climbing plants the progress of construction is still below the fence.

Construction has now reached the top and final run. These next two photos show the fencing is now below the top edge of construction.

(The fencing is at the right hand edge in this photo.)
We still have a problem. The top run is completed, but there is still slope to slip and slide on. This was my solution:I am bad about getting my own shadow into my photographs. In this case it is helpful. In my shadow there sits the neighbor cat I call Shadow sitting in the shadow as he normally does. Beside him is the top and final run of blocks. Above it is a random scattering of two loads of limestone blocks ordered from a quarry in another county not far from here. They were cut from the same vein or layer as the stone from which our house was built in 1955. I am extremely color conscious and I find the color compatible with that of the terracing blocks (man made) and the stone of the house.

The following photos cover from June through October 2007.

In the left side of this next photo we can barely see how the large stone blocks were placed so that they dwindled out into the trees and shrubs to the right.

Husband/Best Friend/Chief Photographer said what I was doing was like 'taking coals to New Castle' considering that this used to be a limestone quarry, and I was now bringing limestone back into it.

I decided to plant a collection of several varieties of Coreopsis into the gaps between stones, and a few other plants. The next spring the only Coreopsis that came up was the good-ole workhorse, the old form of Threadleaf Coreopsis that we transplanted from E-Bed-3. All the others, including 'Moonbeam' died. I did not replace them.

October 2, 2007

October 31

The ideas were mine, but the skill and muscle were Neal's to whom I am so grateful!

To Be Continued

Hanging Gardens - Part 3

2011-06-15T12:32:00.001-04:00

This party continues - fun and games. Welcome back. We are getting there... slowly. Work is still in progress: stone jumbles, flags, wheelbarrow a-tumble.

In this photo (upper right) notice that the old cement blocks forming the little nursery bed were being replaced with stones to match the new Hanging Gardens. I know, with the shadow it doesn't show up well, but so far these are the best photos I have found of that area.
I show you this next one, because I want to point out something to you. Looking down: there are the Hanging Garden beds; then a gravel path that runs from the bottom of the steps parallel along the beds to a path far to the left; then a small (very small!) Meadow with a tree shadow across it; then there is a brown looking section with a path of black path-fabric across it going toward the garden hoses. That brown looking area is now planted with Siberian Irises and columbines. They are still young and do not present much of a show, yet, but I have high hopes... if I live long enough.That area is named "Wings Over Water".
White Flower Farm's catalog showed a group of white, purple, and blue Siberians which they called "Wings Over Water". The idea is that they bloom together and the white ones could be seen as gulls flying over the blue and purple "water". I ordered it, Neal did the installation, then later added more to it. Because the plants were so young and small I decided to inter-plant the short lived perennial columbines. My idea is that as the iris plants increase in girth, the columbines will be dying out. Hope it works. Husband/Best Friend/Chief Photographer says: You and your bright ideas!

Try to remember this long brush pile, more about it later (across the middle of the picture). It runs along the base of The Bank, between it and Wings Over Water.
Drainage: All the beds have drainage tubes buried behind and running parallel to the front wall. They are covered with landscape fabric to keep soil out of the tubes. Those tubes empty into other tubes that run downhill. Some are buried under paths where we see path-fabric on both sides of the climbing plants' fence. Others are farther away more into the curve of the bank. They empty under or into that brush pile area.
Here is another view of the brush pile, The Meadow, and Wings Over Water. There is a path that runs along the front of the brush pile, between it and The Meadow then on into the Woodland Garden. A spur off that path runs through The Meadow, and Wings Over Water to the grassy area which has a scatter of daffodils planted in it. I love laying out paths and projects! The long brush pile is the focus of our current project: It is being turned into a long bed of clumping varieties of daylilies. The collection of limbs, prunings, and pullings have rotted down over the years. Last year we tramped on it over and over to mash it down and smooth it out enough to plant into it after bags of potting mix were spread atop the whole length.

During the project called "The Wheel of Thyme" we had to remove daylilies from E-Bed-2. We also took out most of the ones in E-Bed-1 in prep for another project yet to come. This former brush pile is where they were planted. This spring we are weeding them. Vinca minor was growing into them in the E-Beds so that is our worse weed for now; it is all down in the crowns of the plants, and it is hard to pull out. This will be an ongoing task until it all dies out. Vinca minor or V. major will take over a bed and choke everything else out.

Then the daylilies will be mulched with flakes of old straw - straw simply because I have some bales that need to be used to get rid of them. The daylilies should do well with all the moisture draining out of the Hanging Gardens and from above.

Weeding. Forever weeding. Someone should write a book about the zen of weeding. I love to weed. During one of his recent visits here, Neal gazed about and said, "I wish I had time to come here and just weed."

(May 9, 2007)

(May 15, 2007)

Dame's Rocket, Hesperis matronalis
(a.k.a. Damask Violet, Dame’s Violet, Dames-wort, Dame’s Gilliflower, Night Scented Gilliflower, Queen’s Gilliflower, Rogue’s Gilliflower, Summer Lilac, Sweet Rocket, Mother-of-the-evening, and
Winter Gilliflower)

From The Meadow looking uphill.
I can make that climb about twice a day, then I'm drained. That is my limit.

(July 6, 2007)

What a difference a few weeks make in The Meadow. When one helper left for a few days off, The Meadow was mostly white. When she returned a few days later and started off down the hill, she stopped and said out loud with a voice full of surprise and wonder: "It is yellow!"

(July 13, 2007)

One problem we still encounter is extant perennial weeds - well they aren't all weeds, but they are plants in the wrong place, so they are weeds; I have "keepers" and "weeds". Some examples of especially persistent ones are this Iron Weed, plus common milkweed, apple tree suckers, and yucca.

I would love for the milkweed to be down in The Meadow, but I know that it wouldn't "take" if we tried to move it. At least we have the Honey Vine milkweed down there. The monarch butterflies find it and the common one up in the hanging bed. Their babies really eat them up and make them look ragged and terrible, but that is what they are there for.
Our original idea for this area, Neal's and mine, was to have trailing, "dripping" plants. Some would be creeping phlox; this one has taken well and seems happy here. It just needs more time to grow and creep and cascade over edges.
So... what do I have? Erect plants! But, it was an emergency, the irises had to have some place to go. I thought it would be temporary, and would eventually be replaced with roses and with cascading plants falling over the edges. Sigh, I doubt if there is a more erect plant than iris.

(October 2, 2007)
Note the beans growing on the fence: White Half-runner beans.

(October 31,2007)

(November 5, 2007)

(April 11, 2009)

(April 25, 2009)

If you wonder why all the areas are named, that is addressed in the post "Student Helpers".

To Be Continued

Hanging Gardens - Part 2

2011-06-09T14:56:00.004-04:00

It is April 2, 2006. We are standing just inside the edge of the Flagstone Terrace that is mulched with crushed limestone (visible in the foreground). The Terrace Path of crushed limestone dead-ends at the old worn downhill path. In the distance is evidence, still, of the February 2003 ice storm damage, plus the disarray of cleanup and work areas - that storm just about did us in. This photo also gives one an idea of how steep The Bank is. The fence is where we have grown vining plants such as sweet peas (the flower), and string green beans (the food vegetable), blue morning glories, and vine-form nasturtiums. The pink flags on The Bank are marking Lycoris bulbs that I hoped to protect from weeding blades. The tree stump has now rotted away.

(April 2, 2006)

For years the head of our driveway has been a storage area for supplies used in several projects - to our neighbors' dismay. Here shows a small amount of the blocks used in this one.

(July 31, 1906)

As usual, I forgot to take photos from the beginning. The project is well underway by now (Aug. 17, 2006). As you can see construction is on-going, but some of the beds have been filled and iris plants moved into them. Some of the worn path is still there. In the right of the next photo the Rockery begins, the Terrace is out of view to far right.

(August 17, 2006)

The fill for these beds was a major project of its own. We used every smidgen of suitable material I had on hand from making on site or saving for this purpose: piles and tubs of compost, leaf mold, humus from rotted wood; we even put in some old rotting branches. Mixed with those were several pickup truck loads of purchased top soil, compost, mulch, plus bags of gypsum, bonemeal, soil conditioner, a little blood meal (not much, irises do not like much Nitrogen; they rot), alfalfa (the best Nitrogen source for irises) pellets (horse food) for slow-release Nitrogen, and honestly I don't remember what all we mixed together - it's been a few years now, and I forget.

I'm not sure how to organize the photos in this post. The next three move from left to right. The fourth is a center view.

(January 3, 2007)

Neal at work.

The steps are in and coming down. Later they were filled in with more block.

Neither of us knew what we were doing. As usual for me, I read up on the subject... a lot. I mentioned the proposed project to a man who came here to trap groundhogs. He gave me a little advice and suggestion. Then I would tell Neal what I had read and heard. Sometimes he didn't agree, and then I would say, "You are the one doing the work. You do it the way you want to." He would give it a try, then start over with my suggestion, example: does one start moving the dirt at the bottom and go up, or, start at the top and go down?! He wanted to start at the top, but once he tried that, he quickly realized it should be started at the bottom. We just took one step/stage of the project at a time and figured it out as we went. It was quite fun, actually.

Looking toward the Rockery with the Terrace on top.

(March 2007)

It just kept growing,

and growing!

I think I will stop here for now, because so many photographs will make the post slow to load. Next time there will be some flowers in the photos, so it will be prettier. See you then!

To Be Continued

Hanging Gardens - Part 1

2011-05-18T17:37:00.004-04:00

A few years ago, my amazingly talented and energetic young helper, Neal, undertook yet another major project - the largest yet. This series of three posts will be about that project.

I will give you a little background: Long before we knew this place, there was a limestone quarry in what is now the lower part of our back yard/garden, the section that I call "The Dell". Previous owners of our house had 600 loads of soil hauled in and put into place, resulting in what I have called 'the bowl effect'. When our friend, Mary, from whom we bought the property, lived and gardened here there was grass on the slope and her husband mowed it with a riding mower. There was a path from the upper back yard going down into the dell.

Here, we are just beginning to walk towards the top of the path. There is a slight curve to the left that takes us to the top.

In the next photo one can see the edge of The Rockery. Neal created the Rockery as per my instructions. Originally, it was just a limestone outcropping with some invasive plants. He totally remade it to the way I asked (another of his large projects).

Part of that project required the installing of a low retaining wall. Day after day as he worked and the little wall grew and grew, longer and longer, the other young men began to jokingly call it The Great Wall of China. The name stuck and I still call it that. In the photo one can see the path that came down the slope running alongside The Great Wall of China. I hope that will give you a sense of how much slope there was.

Here, we are almost down the hill and are looking up toward the top.

Over the months and years of so many people going up and down daily as they worked here, the grass died on the path exposing clay soil. It became quite slippery and because I fell a few times it was apparent something had to be done about it. And too, I needed additional level areas for plants.

If you remember there was that project "Cataloging the Irises" which was preparatory to thinning the spring bulbs that were under the irises. That second stage was described in the post "I Think I Killed It". All of those irises had to go somewhere temporarily while we thinned the bulbs. They went into the new project that I will tell you about in this series of posts.

It was 2008 when I cataloged the irises, and we reworked that bed, moving irises down into the new project. Spring bulbs and iris plants were given away en mass. That left a reasonable amount of bulbs and irises in the large bed, and way, way too many irises down in the dell.

If you have experience with tall bearded irises you can predict what happened. The irises put back into the bed had not been divided since that 2008 project until now. By this spring they had multiplied unbelievably! Especially the very vigorous dark yellow (almost gold color) ones. Yesterday, I gave away 135 plants of that one color to the helper I mentioned above. He worked here as a college student for a few years. Now he has his own water- & land-scapes business. He lives on a farm and has an enviable amount of space. He has planted them on his farm.

This story is far too long to put into one, or perhaps even two, posts, so it will have to be continued. I will leave you with a link for anyone who is interested enough to pursue a tour of Crocker Croft while you wait for the next installment of this story.

For the tour go to my website The Garden At Crocker Croft When you get there find the bee. Click on the bee. The bee will take you from one section of the garden to the next and will lead you all the way around until you come out where you started.

For the rest of you, I will say: Goodbye for now.

To Be Continued

Update and Another Southern Accent

2011-05-10T17:00:00.002-04:00

I have no way of knowing how much my Internet friends all over the world have heard or read of the raging, fitful spring here in the USA. Once again, I am letting you know Crocker Croft is well and unscathed. In the last post I wrote of the storms and deaths that were recent at that time. Since then it has been much much worse. I know other countries have all kinds of troubles and tragedies, several come to mind, and we are having our share.

A few weeks ago, the huge cattle ranching, southern state of Texas was burning with a wild firestorm one hundred miles wide driven by the strong winds that traveled East and turned into terrible storms and tornadoes moving across the southern states. I heard people on the radio discussing it. One man (I don't know the term for his position.) who was managing the men fighting the fire said at one point it was so hot their hair burned under their helmets. (I have heard/read that most firemen who die while on duty, die of heart attacks.) He mentioned the serious decisions he had to make regarding his men. At one point he had them on a parking lot in two lines with their backs to each other with hoses pointed outward. I don't know how many weeks the fire burned, I read mentions of it on blogs written by Texans. An Agriculture Extension Agent was interviewed. He talked about the plight of the animals, both wildlife and domestic, that were caught in the fire. I suspect they shot the ones suffering and too badly burned to save, but those that could be saved were rescued. He said it was all very emotional for him, and the ones that really got to him the most, were the little calves that instinctively hid under shrubs to get away from the fire, only to have the shrubs turn into infernos.

That was the last I kept up with the fires, because the next Wednesday, that day alone (April 27), there were 305 tornadoes reported within twenty-four hours and the last report I heard and read was that over 300 people died and approximately one thousand were unaccounted for. The numbers may have grown or shrunk, but at that point I had to quit keeping up with the reports; I couldn't handle it emotionally. These storms were in six southern states, with most of them in the state of Alabama. Of the 305 tornadoes, one behemoth was a quarter mile wide and buzz-sawed a swath 80 miles long, leveling everything in its path. Whole neighborhoods were blown down and away. One person wrote on YouTube that it was so wide they didn't realize they were looking at a tornado. He had a video of it. The TV weather channel, and others, repeatedly showed videos of some of the tornadoes, especially that huge one. That largest one didn't look real. Looked like something out of a horror movie. It was a living breathing dark monster with fiery lightening in it and parts of houses floating around its perimeter miles way up in the air. Power was lost to a nuclear power plant, but nothing went wrong there. Everything went exactly as planned for such emergencies. Whew!

Then immediately, before all that was over, the flooding started. Record winter snows in the north melted and record breaking rainfall in many places have pushed and changed the wonderful Mississippi River into an unstoppable nightmare. Usually, it is half a mile wide, now it is a few miles wide. The Corp. of Engineers had to blast a half mile long section of levee in order to relieve the pressure and to protect towns such as Cairo, a town of about 2,800 residents at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. That saved the town, but it flooded over 130,000 acres of farmland in Missouri and a hundred homes. More homes and perhaps lives would have been lost in the town. The farmers were given prior notice of what was going to happen. All rivers feeding into the Mighty Mississippi are flooded throughout the midsection of the country from north to south. Towns and cities farther south are being flooded right now. So many homes are lost. To watch the TV interviews and reports from the homeowners is heart breaking. They have lost everything they had... all except one little four year old girl who had just had a birthday, her parents opted to take with them all her gifts and stuffed animals. They left everything else such as their household appliances and furnishings to the Mississippi. The flood walls protecting the city of Memphis, Tennessee were holding (the last I heard) and the crest was moving rapidly on toward New Orleans. Poor New Orleans still hasn't recovered from the floods of hurricane Katrina. Oh, woe! ... Now on to more pleasant topics... some fun humor, then a few pretty pictures to sweeten this grim post.

Remember last time we were discussing language and speech of different accents, brogues, and dialects. I remembered a fun video I had seen so I want to share the link to it. Bill Cosby is one of our U.S. comedians. I have loved him for years for all the fun, giggles, and laughter he has given me. I don't know what the show is that was taped, but in the video he is talking to a woman from South Carolina. Now, if you people in Europe have never heard our deep south, South Carolina accent you are in for a treat. I hope you don't think I am making fun of this cute lady, because I am not. My western Tennessee accent is nothing like the South Carolina one, and I think hers is delightful, and she is charming. He plays along with her and it is fun.

Reminds me of the one and only time (don't go away, I'll give you the link in a minute) I was in Victoria Station in London, England (I have to write 'England', because we have Londons all over the place here in the states.) I was sitting there reading when a dear, poor, rawboned, little woman sat down beside me on the bench. I'm sure she was not as old as she looked; she appeared to have a hard life. She was thin, her dress was short, thin, and had short sleeves. It was a cold morning in late February. She cupped a flimsy cup of hot coffee in her hands. She spoke to me, smiling with sad teeth. I smiled back. She chatted on... I looked at this poor dear little woman and thought to myself: why can't I understand her! I speak English! She is speaking MY language! Why can't I understand her?! I think she was saying something about the warm coffee. I thought perhaps she was a cleaning woman on her way home from cleaning during the night. (I have a wide imagination.) I was miserable because I had to guess at what she was saying... in .. the .. thickest .. cockney .. I have .. ever heard on earth! It was delightful, but I felt so stupid. I managed smiles, nods, and a few agreeable sounds that she could interpret any way she pleased. Soon our train arrived. I will never forget her.

Now for Bill Cosby, and then I hope to have pretty photos below, thanks to Husband/Best Friend/Chief Photographer. The photos were taken yesterday.
http://biggeekdad.com/2010/09/understanding-southern/

Peony

Oriental Poppies

Dame's Rocket and Poppies

Rocket and Soloman's Seal

Tall Bearded (German) Iris in the Hanging Gardens, Rocket along the sides. Down below there is a new project in progress.

Thank you for stopping by.

Upstairs Downstairs

2011-04-25T11:17:00.003-04:00

Okay. Last night I watched the final episode of the three-part followup of Upstairs Downstairs on PBS Masterpiece Theater. I missed a lot of what was said because: (1.) I am loosing my hearing a little already, and (2.) my speech has the soft southern accent of southern U.S.A. which makes it very difficult to understand the British voices and speech even when I hang on to every word.

Therefore, I understood probably a bit over half of the story. Some of it went right over my head. I don't know: Who was the man near the end who was crying, and, why was he crying? Can anyone enlighten me?

Weather Update
The U.S. continues to be battered by storms, tornadoes, and record breaking rain causing flooding. We are doing okay here at Crocker Croft. However, a few nights ago we watched the local weather TV channel as they tracked a wicked storm and funnel cloud traveling into our area, then into our neighborhood, and then went right over us and continued on. I'm sure many people were watching the same channel and sought shelter. If the funnel cloud had dropped it would have been on the ground and would have been a tornado. We are grateful for our basement level family room where we spend a lot of time and where we watch TV and use computers. It was a rollicking storm. Twice when lightening struck there was a loud snap sound in the furnace and water heater area just the other side of a shutter screen. Something was being grounded.

In today's paper was a report that this month broke the local record for rainfall in April. So far we have had over 10 inches with more on the way. Gardeners in many sections of the country are having a really difficult time getting their gardens worked and planted.

Hope someone can tell me about the Upstairs Downstairs puzzle. I looked at several hits on the Internet, but couldn't find anything about that minor character.

Addendum: Later after publishing this post, I remembered an amusing incident. My one and only trip to England I went into a hotel in Cambridge to check us in on our reservation while husband parked the car. I went to the front desk and introduced myself to the young woman working there. Her eyes got big and she fled to the back rooms somewhere. In a moment an older woman came from the back regions to the desk smiling as she came. Apparently, I was the first person from the southern U.S. that the young girl had ever heard talk... she couldn't understand what I was saying, and her supervisor had to come deal with me. It was a lovely hotel, in a lovely town, and we enjoyed our visit very much.

The Time Is Now

2011-04-18T12:00:00.006-04:00

The time of the above header photograph is now. It is one of the views in the back yard, while in the front, the one remaining Sugar Maple tree is in bloom. Picture a huge, beautifully shaped tree with a spread and height of forty or fifty feet, gowned in these fringes of chartreuse flowers.

We have much of the color yellow shining. Interesting how the growing-season here starts and ends with the same colors, usually yellows and purples. It's as if spring opens the show, and then autumn closes it with different blossoms, but in the same colors.

Thursday, bad weather spawned in the lower-mid-western state of Oklahoma moved across the lower USA for the next few days killing at least 45 people across half the country. More than 240 tornadoes were reported with 60 of those within the eastern state of North Carolina. I would guess that we (Kentucky) are roughly halfway between the two. We have had more than the usual amount of rain; four inches pounded us in one eighteen hour span recently. It is still windy here today.

I have two helpers lined up to work this afternoon. Work for one of them will be out in the open, but that planned for the other one would put him underneath trees. I am afraid for people to be under trees when it is windy. I will try to find work for him in safer areas.

It is nesting season here now, so, no more pruning until autumn.

I don't really feel like creating a new post today, so I will give links to two reruns if anyone would like to look.

An April walkabout

Awash in yellow!

Earth's Sweet Breath

2011-04-05T10:40:00.001-04:00

Now is the time that farmers throughout the temperate zone begin their spring rituals.

Farmers are an eclectic group: rule out the cattlemen & women, the horse people, the shepherds, the tree-farmers, the dairy people, and you still have a wide diversity of opinions, beliefs, ethics, habits, and philosophy among the farmers remaining, the good-ole dirt-farmers, bless them.

I was born and reared on a grandfather's farm. He dibbled in a little this and a little that, but mostly he was a homesteading dirt-farmer. And, I loved it there!

I remember that first plowing, the ritual that began our farming year, a near spiritual rite which in another culture might have been preceded by a blessing celebration. Seems to me there should have been one. There was not. Such as that was reserved until harvest and Thanksgiving Day.

The farmer just started with bent head carefully watching his furrow as he went - blades slicing into the rested earth, releasing her sweet, moist breath - an unmatched, unique fragrance. Farmers know that breath, they breathe it in deep, only in spring. Someone said it is for that, that farmers farm - the addicting, rich, sweet, satisfying fragrance of the first plowing on spring days.

To this day, when the winter weather breaks enough for me to walk out of the house into the garden and onto the lawn, I cringe, I can hardly bear to step on the soil, that wondrous living thing made up of so many live organisms. It feels like stepping on flesh. It is alive.

Winter Sky: Nighttime

2011-03-20T14:11:00.010-04:00

So. Last night was the night of the big moon - the first and last one for several years. In spite of good intentions I forgot to go out and see it at sunset. I missed it. At 9:45 p.m. I walked into the kitchen and found it flooded with moonlight. I scooted away a chair and looked out the back window: "Hello, beautiful old friend." (The moon and I go way back. Way back.) Ah, the memories she stirred in me, the cool moonlight.

Not all memories are moonlit; some nights didn't need the moon. I wish you could see what I see. To do so you will have to go with me… back in time, almost seventy years ago to a rural area where winter’s nighttime skies are extraordinary by today’s standards.

There to a place where the air is so cold it smells and tastes bitter, and it makes your face glow so cold and red it sends your blood rushing warm through your body.

Walk with me where the grass clothed with ice and frost complains underfoot with each step we take. First a step up, then down, feel the slight resistance, then the snap of the grass landing your foot on the frost-heaved sod so honeycombed by frost and freezing that it gives way underfoot with a definite sound of crunch, crunch, with every step, crunch. Not easy walking, but it is that time of year.

It is dark; we go our way by starlight to the barn to check on the animals just to be sure they are alright. We hear them moving about slightly; the sound of munching meets us as we go inside where their body heat has warmed the stalls some. Their breath is steamy; the lips of one flutter with strong exhaling, acknowledging our presence. They stamp in protest of the cold. Sleepy sounds, mostly quiet, they are okay for tonight. They are enjoying their extra ration of hay. Add more straw to the floor, pile it high in hopes it will help them be warmer. Close the barn door as you leave, slip the wire loop over the post, you are going back out into the winter night. Drink the silence.

By now well adjusted to the night, your watery eyes enjoy the cold and humbling beauty, how beautiful the heavens where stars appear to be just beyond fingertips if you should reach toward them. Endless variety of sizes, many large, many huge, and dazzling bright as they appear to be suspended in various heights and depths between you and the soft- plush-looking night sky, a night sky surprisingly bright with an awing milky-way splashed like whitewash across an unbelievable space. It is not easy to tear yourself away, to leave it, and go back indoors where the spell will be broken. No lantern, flashlight, or torch needed here where the air is so pure and clear… and unpolluted by artificial lights.

"Insulated from the natural world, few of us nowadays stand silent beneath a starry sky that remains unblemished by artificial light. Yet the eternal nightly show is one of nature's most subtle and moving experiences.

It is a spectacle that arrives slowly, changes gradually and then slips imperceptibly away, night after night, year after year, in utter silence. It is an experience our ancestors knew well, and it provoked in them, as it should in us, deep questions of meaning, of origins and of destiny."(1.) (David Malin)

“We are made of stardust. It’s not just a poetic sentiment; it’s a fact. In a young universe built mostly from hydrogen and helium, the self-immolation of stars in supernovas forged almost all the other chemical elements and spewed them into space. Over time, they congealed into other stars and solar systems, and eventually into life itself. So, in a sense, the urge to understand stars is woven into the fabric of human existence.”(2.) (Karen Wright)

Preserve the night sky: http://www.darksky.org/

Hubble Site: http://hubblesite.org/

From a cell in an oak leaf to our universe:
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

(I have forgotten how to do footnotes.)
1. From: The Invisible Universe By: David Malin, Publisher: Little,Brown, 1999.

2. Karen Wright, “We Are Made of Stardust”
Discover, Jan. 2000 by Karen Wright
From Discover via Reader’s Digest, Nov. 2000, pp. 83

Splip, Splat, Splop

2011-03-05T16:48:00.008-05:00

I have always been in love with winter skies. I am not saying I do not love the blue skies of summer and spring; for one of my everlasting memories from childhood occurred when I stood beneath my grandparents' peach tree and looked upward through peach-blossom-pink blooms. The scene: rich pink against the deep blue April or May sky of western Tennessee. The beauty was shocking, never to be forgotten. And, there are few things more beautiful than stacks, piles, wisps, drifts, and billows of playful, floating fluffy clouds caressing the blue skies of May or June.

During wintertime I very much enjoy the variant colors. I used to think of them as egg shell colors, but most people know only two colors -- the two colors of commercially produced eggs: brown and white. Most do not know of all those multi-Easter-egg-colored eggs from the domestic heirloom chicken breeds, and maybe not even robin egg blue. I thought that might be a problem if I wrote about eggshell colored winter skies.

Then this winter it occurred to me that the many colors of winter skies actually were more like the colors of pearls. The Colors of Pearls: Gorgeous grays, silvery white, white, cream, peach, yellow, pink, rose, salmon, red, copper, bronze, brown, purple, green, lavender, gold, black, black with a green overtone, and blue. I have seen all of these in the moody and sometimes stormy, threatening winter skies and sunsets. I love looking at the sky. I gaze.

Our last snow was a few weeks ago. It was such a wet snow that the flakes were stuck together in such large, sloppy clumps that they made Splip, Splat, Splop sounds on the car's windshield where wipers were running rapidly. I was the one driving in spite of feeling the misery of a fresh, one-day-old cold and the twinges of myofascia pain that is frequently triggered by bad cold and other viruses. I had absolutely no business in the world being out there in that beautiful, windy, wet, cold snowstorm.

The reason for it was that: Husband-Best Friend-Chief Photographer had lost his wallet, and as he runs most of our errands it is imperative that we keep him behind the wheel legally. I was taking him to the office where they issue and renew motor vehicle operators' licenses, and to places he had visited recently to look for the errant wallet. Every chance I got I looked at the sky - a beautiful white winter sky - and thought: I must write about this sky. Now I have.

His Spoonerism Made Me Smile

2011-02-21T15:00:00.005-05:00

No mail today. Federal holiday called "Presidents' Day" celebrating George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. Ha, ha -- My husband came up with a good spoonerism: He said "Today is birthington's wash day, or something like that."

Interviewer: So.... Barbee', how have you been?

Barbee': Well, just so-so.

Interviewer: Where have you been since your post last May; we notice you posted only a few times since then and those only recently. Have you been away?

Barbee': Yes, we did some holiday traveling to visit family members in other states south of here, but I have been here most of the time. I do not travel well, and that trip each year becomes more challenging, and the recovery time takes longer each year.

Also, we had a few days of house-guests, and then other holidays took priority several times. We get to be with our grown children when they come visiting, or we go over to local daughter's home to share a celebration. I am fortunate to be able to do that. The problem is: I'm so terribly slow of mind and body these days it seems the holidays are stepping on each others' heels.

Interviewer: Then, if you were here most of the time why haven't you been posting to your blog? That was a long time.

Barbee': There hasn't been much to blog about. Gardening has become far more challenging for me physically. Then there is always the weather to blame. I was outdoors very little last summer due to the heat which I can no longer tolerate. And then, once the autumn rains begin, that is the end of gardening for the helpers, too. Lots of snow this year has made for beautiful views out the windows, and Local Son has kept the bird feeders going, so we've been grandly entertained.

It is so hard for me to write these days. When I first started my website (not this blog) a few years ago I was that many years younger and would stay up and write into the wee hours of morning. That is my favorite time: after everyone else has gone to bed; the phone and doorbell have quit ringing; the refrigerator being the only electrical appliance running; the furnace has kicked back to its quiet, low nighttime setting; and the house is quiet... then finally, I can think. Now that I'm older, I cannot stay up during the night, and then keep going during the day.

Because, I am a "non-screener"; I cannot screen out distractions around me. Right now the clothes dryer is rumbling nearby; the refrigerator is roaring at the top of the stairs; this computer fan is braying at me; my ears are ringing and screaming; and Husband-Best Friend-Chief Photographer is working on his computer which is about two feet away from me on the adjoining table. His computer is repeatedly making that musical sound that Windows makes (when booting up or something like that - I keep my computer's sound turned off, because I am super sensitive to sounds among other things thanks to my Fibromyalgia). Being an extrovert, he thinks by talking - saying his thoughts out loud he is able to think through things. Nerves on end, skin prickling, I feel like a cat looks when it bushes its fur and tail. So, that is part of the problem and reason of why I haven't been writing much during last summer, autumn, and this winter.

Interviewer: I am sorry you have that problem. I know your readers probably miss you.

Barbee': There are more ways of being "away" than physically. During the heat and other days of bad weather I tended to read other people's work. There are an amazing number of good writers out there, good writers, entertaining writers, writers with very interesting lives whom I enjoy reading very much.

One of the best things about Blogger.com, in my opinion, is its "Follow" system. My own life is dull and boring with nothing to write about: there are no cute pets or other entertaining animals here; my writing ability is minimal; other people's are so much better and more interesting, so I've done a lot of reading instead of writing.

I'm glad I stayed with Blogger.com throughout its ups and downs over the past few years, because its feature called Follow has been a wonderful boon. At last count I am following 224 blogs. Of course, I can't possibly read that many every day. Some bloggers are no longer posting, some post only occasionally, some once a week, or once a month, etc., and yes: some post every day. I haven't deleted the inactive ones, because they are a part of my "collection" where I sometimes delve back into their old posts and read again. I have noticed that I tend toward a lot of blogs featuring animals. I enjoy a vicarious pleasure reading about other people's animals.

Interviewer: Two hundred twenty four blogs! That is hard to believe!

Barbee': Blogs in my collection are from all over the world; are on different topics; and written in different languages. There are many writers far more skilled at writing than I am; I read them because they write so well, an example: Benjamin Vogt's is only one of many. I like my collection, but I feel most insignificant when I read such interesting, well written works.

If you are interested, or just curious, about the collection there is a list, and this is the way to find it. On my blog: look in the sidebar for "ABOUT ME" (above my avatar photo), just below that paragraph find: "VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE", and click on that. Doing so will take you to my page where the last thing on the page is a list of the blogs I follow.

Each title in the list is a click-able link that will take you to that blog. If your blog is not in the list I hope you won't be offended. The truth is, I very well could be reading you, because when I visit other blogs I frequently click titles listed in their sidebars. I guess that's what they call surfing the Web. I'm sorry I don't leave comments, but most days I simply do not have strength enough for it. Chronic inordinate fatigue takes a toll, and most times it's strength of spirit that I am lacking. That's when I leech from other writers.

Tomorrow I get to have a cataract removed from one of my eyes... isn't that exciting and interesting reading... sigh. At least the Eranthis have begun to bloom.

If you want to see pretty pictures, here is one post from a few years ago about our Eranthis.

What to Post

2011-02-05T14:46:00.003-05:00

It is a bit challenging for some gardeners to post to blogs when it is the dead of winter. We have written about the weather, birds, food, and this being the perfect time for "clearing out". I will follow suit with that last one.

Let's skip the weather for now. Too much of that being batted around already. Birds? I've done that before. Food? I did a little of that recently. That leaves clearing out. A few closets have been attacked and rummaged.

Out went the last of the baby and child furniture; that was painful. The crib, the little chair, the little table with matching seats had been mine when I was a child. I remember using all of them, and writing out my spelling words over and over while seated at the little table. No more small children in the family, now. Life moves on.

Out went the dolls, doll clothes, paper dolls, metal detector, stamp collection... among other things. Magazines and children's books went to a doctor's office waiting room. Miscellaneous toys and clothes landed at the Goodwill Industries store. A slight culling of books went to our library.

Six or seven large bags and boxes of pretty ribbons from the weddings of our two daughters were advertised on Freecycle and were claimed by several people getting married or helping with wedding plans. Considering that both daughters now have college aged children, I told myself: If you haven't used them by now, you never will. Pretty as they were, out they went!

This past fall we had some electrical upgrades done which means we no longer use electrical fuses of any kind. A bag of fuses, assorted sizes and shapes, went away via Freecycle. As did about twenty three-ring binders. (Where did all of those come from?!)

Four stacks of garden catalogs went out to four people. I know where they came from, and I am trying to stanch the flood. Canning jars were grabbed up quickly. And, on and on... stuff went out the door. Stacks and boxes and drawers and file cabinets were lightened of their loads. I began to worry about the dinky-looking axles between the wheels of our recycle containers as their paper loads became so heavy - repeatedly, week after week.

Freecycle is a terrific resource. Its purpose is to put people in contact: those who want to get rid of something - with those who can use it. There is no cost to anyone, and the main goal is to keep all this "stuff" out of the landfills. I have even heard of people offering and receiving sod, dirt, clay, manure, mulch, spoiled hay, etc. Some of that I have taken. It's wonderful to read the daily posts to see all the stuff that has passed from one, to another person who has a use for the things advertised. Here is the link to our local chapter, but you can browse and click around in there and find one near to you.

For the past twenty years I did gardening and garden planning here at Crocker Croft. I spent a lot of time searching the internet for the exact plants I wanted (genus, species, variety). I have enjoyed numerous beautiful catalogs all these years. Now, that I have slowed considerably both physically and mentally, I do not need catalogs. I notified companies to explain my situation and requested they not send any more. I am keeping the latest issue of each one in my garden file for reminders. If I need anything, I can always go to their websites to see current prices and to order.

I will close with a list of some of them.

1. A.M. Leonard's Gardeners Edge
2. ARBICO Organics www.arbico-organics.com/
3. Brecks brecks.com
4. Brussel's Bonsai brusselsbonsai.com
5. Burpee burpee.com
6. Charley's Greenhouse charleysgreenhouse.com
7. DavidAustinRoses.com
8. Drs Foster & Smith drsfostersmith.com
9. Duncraft
10. Dutch Bulbs dutchbulbs.com
11. Exciting Gardens/Richard Owen Nursery excitinggardens.com
12. Forest Farm forestfarm.com
13. Four Seasons Nursery 4seasonsnurseries.com
14. Gardener's Choice gardenerschoice.net
15. Gardeners Edge
16. Gardener's Supply Co. gardeners.com
17. Growers Supply
18. High Country Gardens highcountrygardens.com
19. Honeycreek honeycreeknurseries.com
20. J.L.Hudson, Seedsman jlhudsonseeds.com
21. Jackson & Perkins jacksonandperkins.com
22. Johnny's Selected Seeds www.johnnyseeds.com/
23. jungseed.com
24. Kinsman Garden kinsmangarden.com
25. kitchengardenseeds.com
26. McClure & Zimmerman
27. millernurseries.com
28. McClure & Zimmerman Bulbs mzbulb.com
29. Netherland Bulb Co.
30. New Holland Bulb Co. newhollandbulb.com
31. Park Seed: perennials & shrubs; annuals & tropicals;Trees & shrubs. parkscs.com
32. Rare Find Nursery rarefindnursery.com
33. Paul Zimmerman Roses
34. Select Seeds selectseeds.com
35. Snowpeak Iris and Daylilies
36. Spray N grow spray-n-grow.com
37. Springhill springhillnursery.com
38. Territorial Seed territorialseed.com
39. The Pond Guy thepondguy.com
40. The Vermont Country Store
41. Thompson & Morgan Seedsmen tmseeds.com
42. Van Bourgondien's dutchbulbs.com
43. Van Engelen vanengelen.com
44. Vermont Country Store vermontcountrystore.com
45. Walt Nicke's Garden Talk
46. Wayside waysidecs.com
47. White Flower Farm whiteflowerfarm.com
48. Wild Seed Farms wildseedfarms.com
49. Sunshine Farm & Gardens
50. Heirloom Roses, Inc. news@heirloomroses.com

Charivari (sha-ree-va-rée)

2011-01-30T15:28:00.004-05:00

Today I was reminded that we have a great-niece and a great-nephew getting married this winter and coming spring. That triggered memory of a conversation I had with a couple of friends some years our senior. She told the story of their wedding night.

Apparently, in some rural areas of Kentucky in that day the custom of charivari was still alive. During the night following the excitement of their wedding day there was suddenly a horrible noise, cow bells, loud shouting, clanging and banging. She said she knew what it was, but her husband was from a different region. He, waking from a deep sleep, jumped up from the bed, grabbed off the mattress (rolling her onto the floor in the process) doubled it over under his arm and ran out of the building, leaving his bride dumped on the floor. In his own defense while she told the story, he said he thought there was a fire. In his sleep sodden brain, he temporarily forgot she was there.

I Googled the word to see what I could find about the custom. It seems to be a custom brought over from Europe, mostly France, and was (is?) popular with the French settlers including those in Canada, New England, and the Cajun of Louisiana. Want to know more? Go to this site and scroll down to "What is a charivari?"

Now I understand why bridal couples try to keep their honeymoon destinations secret. Funny, the games we play.

Tuna Salad

2011-01-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

I always enjoyed my mother's tuna salad. Sometimes we stuffed tomatoes with it and served it on a lettuce leaf; sometimes we used it as a filling for sandwiches putting a lettuce leaf in there too. I especially enjoyed a serving on my plate all by itself which I forked onto saltine crackers and ate, one after the other -- enjoyed most if accompanied by sweet iced-tea and plenty of lemon. Ah, memories! So many memories are linked to food.

My favorite memory of a meal like that is of my grandfather. Our house was next door to my grandparent's house on Grandfather's farm. I spent a lot of time at their house. More than once I saw Granddaddy (as I called him) eating salmon salad, with crackers, and big glasses of iced-tea with fragrant lemons. They didn't make it with tuna like mother did, actually, sometimes mother made it with canned salmon, too, bones and all, she said the calcium was good for us. Crunchy pecans camouflaged crunchy bones, could hardly tell they were in there.

Granddaddy worked hard on the farm and when he ate his meal described above he ate with apparent relish... and smacking! That fascinated me; we were not allowed to smack at my father's table. Did Granddaddy make it look good! Then I would go home and ask mother to make some for us.

On the farm were a few wild pecan trees that gave the sweetest, fullest, juiciest, though small, pecans. It was an annual ritual to gather them up, and the shelling went on for what seemed like forever. We always had plenty of pecans. I think of that when I see packages of shelled pecans in the grocery store priced at, or above, $6.00 a pound. Mother used them every way she could think of, she even put them in the tuna salad. I remembered that today when I made mine without pecans. Mine was good, but not as good as mother's... the pecans were missing; there is something about the blend of flavors with pecans that makes it extra good.

Mother never put grated onion in hers because my father didn't like onion, but I have eaten tuna salad made by other people that seemed to have a tiny bit of grated onion, and I think a little fresh onion flavor added to it is good. But, today I made mine like mother made hers, except I had no pecans. (Actually, I forgot the pickle, too, but can add it tomorrow.)

Here is the way I like to make it:
16 oz., or larger, can of water packed white tuna
4 hard boiled eggs chopped
A large handful of stuffed olives cut up but not too small (depends on the size of olives, small ones can just be halved)
3 or 4 sweet (cucumber) pickles chopped
1 small fresh apple or 1/2 large, chopped (peeled or unpeeled - your choice)
3 or 4 ribs of celery chopped - depending on size
1/2 cup of broken pecans
Grated carrot (just a little to make it pretty, and it's good for us)
A goodly shake of black pepper - or to taste.
We do not add salt, the olives are salty, and celery is tasty and high sodium.
We use Kraft's Miracle Whip salad dressing, but you use mayonnaise if that is your preference. I used 3 heaping tablespoons.
Stir together well. Then it's ready.

I think it is better the second day. I like it for breakfast. When I went back to college at age 40, I made a point to eat it for breakfast if I had an exam or studio presentation and critique that day. I truly believe it helped. Our four teenagers teased me and told me tuna is an "upper". I thought they were just playing with me and giving me a hard time, but they could be right. It seemed to work.

Marquerites

2011-01-21T14:47:00.002-05:00

To me, the most beautiful thing in the world is falling snow.

Many people are having snowy weather right now, and it has reminded me of a quick and easy kitchen project that might be helpful to someone.

My mother called these Marquerites, and made them for my brother and me years ago. They were delicious, and messy-fun to eat. We loved them! Quick, easy, fun, salty/sweet, and we always had the ingredients on-hand already. She made them for us as a dessert and sometimes as a between-meals fun snack treat. She wouldn’t let us make them for fear we would get burned, but I think we could have managed them without any severe burns.

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: as many or as few as you want to make
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: Under hot broiler - broil until marshmallows turn medium brown

Ingredients:
Saltine crackers
Peanut butter
Large (regular size, not the little) marshmallows pinched or cut into halves.

Directions:
1. Spread peanut butter on several saltine crackers and line them up on a cookie sheet.

2. Place half of a large marshmallow on an equal number of saltines lined up along side the peanut butter ones.

3. Put cookie sheet under a hot broiler. Watch constantly, it does not take long. Remove from oven when the marshmallows turn medium brown. By then the peanut butter will be soft.

4. Place a peanut butter saltine cracker atop each marshmallow – peanut butter side down onto the marshmallow – and press slightly. Careful about the hot sugar from the mallows as it squishes out a bit.

Note: can be messy to eat as the marshmallow strings out with nearly every bite and crackers crumble. Kids love them. A clean, wet bath cloth nearby is a good idea.

Have fun!

Free Warm Hat

2011-01-15T12:16:00.003-05:00

I know. I haven't posted in what seems like eons. It took this cute hat to shake me loose.

The drama leading to this surprising change involves myofascia pain, plus an escalating allergy to wool.

For a few decades I have depended heavily on a certain brown wool hat that was of the up-most importance to my comfort. Other wool hats were worn on trial bases, but none of them fit well enough to meet needs. I lost the good one once in a large medical center and went into a panic until someone turned it in to the lost-and-found desk where I shakily, almost tearfully, retrieved it. Gloom descended recently when I realized my constant sneezing, dripping nose and red itching eyes were a reaction to the little brown hat. I had to resort to wearing a washable, cotton kerchief which makes me look like the old grandma that I am. "Kerchief", as in: "And ma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap." (from poem "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore)

Today, I came across this blog post about the giveaway of a cute, warm-looking hat. I will enter the contest in hopes of winning, and if so, hope it will suit my needs well enough that I can retire the granny kerchief. If not, I hope that I may be on the cutting edge of a new fad: "cozy kerchiefs"!

How do you like her hats? Reminds me of the flapper era.
The free giveaway hat:

More hats (for sale) CLICK HERE

I wear my hair severely short so this style should work well for me.

Thank you for stopping by. Maybe I will start posting again. I don't know...

More Mystery Plants Need Names

2010-05-11T13:06:00.005-04:00

There is a cute little weed that blooms in March with dainty, white, lacy little flowers. Its seed pods burst when touched and throw its seeds in the manner of a touch-me-not. I have looked in a few websites about weeds, but have had no luck finding it. Does anyone out there recognize this little tyke and know a name for it?

The first photo is for the purpose of giving you the scale. It is to the right of the tulip plant; not the broad leafed one, that's Fleabane, it's the little lacy one. Left click on photo and enlarge it so you can get a better look.

And, here is another puzzle:
Can anyone out there help me identify this pest, weed vine?! I need help!
Above: A young shoot growing from an extensive root, that travels underground a long way, putting up new shoots all along its ever increasing length. It is not a morning glory vine, I recognize those when I see them. The blossom is small and not noticeable. Sorry, I do not have a photo of a blossom.

I felt a few moments of panic when someone half-jokingly said: “Maybe it’s kudzu.” I had read that with the warming climate, kudzu is moving northward. It is now in Tennessee and headed for Kentucky. May be here already for all I know. But, I Googled it and looked at the photos of leaves and it is not kudzu – Whew! What a scare!

But what is it?? Like several (no, many) noxious, pernicious growing things, it came over on us from the farm that used to be over the fence. The farm has been developed to a very attractive, high-end neighborhood of large houses. The lawns are well mowed, however fence rows are still infested with bad plants. Hopefully, eventually, they will be eradicated. The problem is that most people do not know much about plants, and do not know a bad one when they see it, if they give any notice to them at all, which they usually don't.

The roots of this species have grown under North Path and Cliff Walk, putting up numerous sprouts over on my side. The vines are twining and quite strong. They twine together (around each other) creating a cord that I cannot break, I have to cut it. The cord grows (going up like a dancing cobra snake) until it reaches the lowest limbs of a tree or shrub and then you know what happens - it heads for the skies!

The most problem area is where it has gotten into my neighbors brush pile area in the back corner of his yard; it then comes over here from there. It grows up his trees, shrubs, and fence at the property line, and over onto our side both above and below ground. He is not physically able to manage the problem.

This is his nice chain-link fence. With his permission I have tried to grow a dark blue Clematis and a rose on the fence, but as you can see the mystery vine invades, takes over and grows so fast one can almost see it growing. Cutting does no good, it comes back rapidly. Our wicked spring and summer 2007 killed the rose and Clematis (I'm hoping the roots are not dead.), so we may be able to spray. But, it has spread to so many other places.

Here it has gone underground under North Path and can be seen mingled with the Virginia Creeper ground cover (five leaves) and some taller perennials forming a matted mess.

Next, it will be up in my trees, too. It causes an enormous amount of additional work. People ask me what it is, and I don't know. Do you?

The bare area inside the concrete blocks is being converted to a bed of large blue Hostas. Since this photo, they have been moved to this shady spot from one where they received too much sun. To the right is North Path.

To the left of the long run of concrete blocks is the steep slope of the bank. On that side the concrete blocks are visible from below in wintertime. Therefore, that side has been planted with a row of small boxwoods in hopes of hiding the unattractive blocks. Just thought you might wonder what was going on with that unattractive space.

Hope you can help with the mystery plants identifications. Leave a comment, please, if you can help. If no one knows, I guess I will give them names. And, in the case of the vine, it won't be a nice one.

LATER: March 28, 2012
The small white flower has been identified as Bitter Crest Cardamine. Cardamine is a very large genus. If you are interested in more information, here is a link for you. CLICK HERE

Sports - Not the Vegetative Type

2010-04-27T21:00:00.002-04:00

We are having the usual series of Winter's returns that are locally referred to as: Redbud Winter, Dogwood Winter,and now Black Locust Winter, with Blackberry Winter just around the corner. Most folks hope Winter won't tarry too long; they do not like it when Winter comes back to visit Spring. Here's hoping Spring sends Winter (in all her snowy ermines) packing for good. This one will be a wild winter to remember, as they used to say: "One for the books." I wonder... did that mean for the records - a record breaker?

I have never been a sports fan. So, it is ironic how many sports events I watched on television this past winter into spring. You know I am surely sick if I watch them, and I was.

First there was the head and sinus cold. Several weeks later there was a flu-like virus (Yes, I had both flu shots which kept me out of the hospital, I think.) that hung on and on and on; as one blogger labeled it "the bad cold from 'the hot place'". I don't like being bored, but when I feel rotten, I tend to collapse, unable to do much, if anything. It is rather bad when one has to depend on television to stay sane, but that is where I turned. Sports was the only thing worth watching, and I don't even care for sports! I even watched one of our local university's football games; it took for evvvvvver! (We are better known for our basketball. I use that "we" very loosely - remember, I don't follow sports.)

Then basketball season was upon us. The University of Kentucky main campus is here in town. It rules the town. Newly arrived citizens are quizzed as to what color they bleed. The correct answer is: blue, Kentucky blue. Rather silly, don't you think, but the locals (and not so local) get a lot of fun and entertainment from it. The hype and competition is outrageous. The place goes wild!

The Olympic games were a life safer. From the opening ceremony through the closing ceremony, I watched every day and every night; I even watched hockey - both men's and women's - I still can't believe I did that. I learned about curling. I became conversant with which team played which teams. I learned athletes by name, first names, too! I cried when they cried. I laughed when they laughed. What would I have done without them all those days and nights.

Let me make a small correction: there were two nights in February that I did not watch Olympic games. Every year we watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show which is staged in Madison Square Gardens in New York City. It is televised for two nights, and is an historic sporting event reputed to be second oldest in the U.S., second only to the Kentucky Derby.

After the Olympic games, it was back to basketball for distraction. Both our women's and men's teams were having an outstanding year and went into final games which were frequently cliff-hangers. I do not know enough about it to write more. I got the impression they did very, very well, almost making it to the final game. Or, maybe they did, I can't remember. You can tell how impressed I was. But, everyone else was really excited.

And now, here we are back around. Football players and coaches are back in the news. And the holy day in Kentucky is upon us. The Kentucky Derby is always held the first Saturday in May. Is anything else happening in the world?! Hard to know around here. Keeneland Racetrack here in town runs first. Then, it is on to Louisville for the Derby.

Guess what! In September this year, Lexington is host town to the World Equestrian Games. Shades of the Olympics! Here we go again, and nothing, absolutely nothing! will be normal around here until that is over.

So much for sports. Here are some pretty pictures from the early spring garden. Now THAT, I do like.

Looks like University colors.
(They were really purple, not blue.)

A Sweet Thing

Helleborus "Lenten Rose"

Chionodoxa "Glory of the Snow"
Stars among the Muscari "Grape Hyacinths"

Toad house (hopefully)

Puschkinia "Striped Squill"
Floating in a sea of maturing Eranthis foliage.

Three photos of miniature Narcissus "Minnow"

The big guys looking south as usual.
Normal size "Daffodil" Narcissus.

An early crocus

Helleborus foetidus "Bear Claw"

What'cha See Is How It Is for now

2010-04-18T16:59:00.006-04:00

The view in the header photo is the way The Garden at Crocker Croft has looked for several days. This has been the prettiest flowering spring I can remember. No frost and no rain, the good news, and the bad news. At least the flowers were not damaged. We have had clouds bringing very few soft, light rains that were not enough to measure, maybe three times in months. News is: We have received 50% of our normal rain fall. For tonight, they are issuing frost warnings. But, for now it is rather (make that, very) pretty. Here are some glimpses of what is out there before the frost hits tonight, if it does.

A neighbor cat. I call him Shadow.
I think he is of the Oriental Shorthair breed.

The foliage of these tulips reminds me of the sensuous curves in Georgia O'Keeffe paintings.

The warmth of the day made him drowsy.

This tulip has a rounded shaped flower. Squirrels replant them for me making them surprises where they sometimes pop up. Compare its shape with the lily flower form of the next ones, Queen of Sheba.

He was tired of tulips.

Click on collage to enlarge.