Playing in the Dirt

• blooming Vanda, always reliable but always a thrill
  
• Desert Rose, my show off that will hold through the summer
  
• almost ripe tomatoes that I haven't eaten right off the vine yet
  
• a bean sprout from the beans planted just days ago
• the first of the new caladium bed unfurling
  
• summer portulaca ('moss rose') for the turtle
  

I spent most of the day in my garden today. I started early, early enough that I tried to keep the noise down since I would like to continue being friends with my neighbors. I started out with all the heavy work that I simply can't do in the afternoon or early evening heat. But, I still didn't quite beat the heat. I was out front late-morning, pulling grass, when a neighbor walking her dog gently advised me to wrap it up. Or at least get out of the sun. So, I took her advice and went to the nursery to buy more plants!

I really did go buy more plants, but I only planted what I could work on in the shade and then waited until this evening to put in the rest. I mostly bought plants to fill in pots and then a few for the front bed, which still desperately needs plants since January's landscaping project. The bed still looks bare to me, but many of the plants in there are spreading plants and I need to give them a little time to fill in. Patience is a virtue. And, of course, I bought a few vegetables since I seem to have a serious weakness for them. Its almost past tomato season, but I put in two new cherry tomatoes since they'll last in to the heat yet. And I couldn't resist a couple of zucchini plants for my zucchini loving husband.

After all of that, I gave myself a pass on the gym work out today.

Campfire Knitting

I'm a little late telling you about it, but that camping trip I keep mentioning was great.  I grew up camping 9 times a year or more.  I have great memories and great stories of the trips that weren't so great.  We don't often have a chance to camp now, and I really miss it.  So, that was my birthday request this year.  And my family came through in spades - my parents, my sister and her fiancee, her future in laws, and two of the families we camped with during my childhood.  

It was unseasonably cold, though, and we spent the nights and mornings huddled in our coats and around the fire. But, it warmed up during the day and was great. We did some hiking, and some laying in the sun with the dogs. Just look at this pack. No question who is Alpha, is there?  (Trying to count the dogs? Four.  And a husband.  And, look, they are using the picnic quilt I made!)
And when the gloves came off, I sat around the fire visiting with people I love and knitting on the Ribby Pulli.  Heaven on Earth - and some serious progress on a beautiful sweater.
The yarn is definitely not my favorite.  Its stiff, and therefore unforgiving, but more annoyingly each skein has at least one knot and most have more.  The color is beautiful, though, and I think the sweater will look good on.

Wet and Muddy

It was a dark and stormy night...

Some nights you can't get that infamous line out of your head. Just this morning, I was thinking it was worthy of a post to tell you there is not a storm out in the tropics trying to drown us. I apparently forgot just where it is we live. We do not need a tropical storm to get a thunderstorm big enough to turn our streets in to creeks.

All this rain has turned our parks in to mud, too. Sunday I decided that I just had to get out in to nature for a bit. Between the soggy weather and a cold-turned-sinus-infection it had been weeks since I'd done anything more than pull dead plants out of my garden. Gwen was my reluctant partner in the adventure.
As soon as we entered the park, she got suspicious. "Mom, that water looks alot closer to the footbridge than usual. Are you sure about this?"

And she was right. Our normally lazy little creek was more of a stream with a definitive current.

The path, naturally, was mud. She managed to ford it without too much fuss, though.

Eventually, she was simply resigned to her fate. After an hour of my insisting that we cross through mud patches, she gave up and accepted that she would be wet and muddy. Just look at her standing there in the mud! I might turn her in to a real dog one of these days after all.

I came home with mud splattered up to my knees, scratches on my hands and a grin on my face. I needed that adventure in the real world, and I'm so glad we went. It might just be enough to get me through another rainy week.

A Garden Tour

July is always when summer starts getting unpleasant around here, and this year has been particularly hot and wet. (Hot and wet, despite what you might normally think, are not a good combination in this context.) As a result, this is also the time of year when my yard gets the barest maintenance from me.

And yet, a trip through the garden very early in the day always reveals some of my plants are simply a riot of flowers. It is always a great pick me up, so how about a mini-tour of what's happening in my garden this week?
Here's a Vanda hybrid - a low maintenance orchid that has been holding its bloom for a month now. It hangs in the grapefruit tree and greets you as you pull in to the drive. I love its cheerful yellow blooms peeking out of the tree.
And the Portulaca has sprouted in all the beds around the front drive, just volunteers from pieces the birds and squirrels broke off the plants I had in a basket last year. Its almost a weed, but since a weed is only a plant you don't want, we'll call it ground cover. I may even spread some more this fall, if the birds don't do it for me.
The Crepe Myrtle is still in heavy bloom by the drive, too, and though it makes a huge mess and keeps Alex's car filthy with spent blooms I love it.
Oh, here, if you come down by the street,you'll see the Penta still blooming in my butterfly garden. The white is almost done, but the red is so well established I think it may bloom well in to the fall. Isn't it lovely? I saw a butterfly flitting around it just the other day.
Come on around to the backyard, and you can see the sweet Cuban Buttercup blooms. Its a good thing you're here early; they close up to hide from the heat by mid-morning. I thought I might have killed it last year, but a ruthless pruning this spring has brought it back to life. Hopefully next year it'll be robust again.
The bromeliads are starting to bloom, and they'll stay out all day and night for sure. I'm excited to see all this pink emerging, since they didn't bloom it all last year. I took a chance and let a bit of fertilizer fall in to the cups this summer and it seems to have worked.
The Mexican Bluebells, on the other hand, have been reliable every summer and this year is no exception. They, too, are in better shape, though, thanks to the tip my father-in-law gave me about the drastic pruning they prefer.
The peppers, of course, I can't seem to keep up with them. They are pretty, but I don't know what to do with them all. Would you like a few to take home? I could even give you my vinegar pepper sauce recipe, if you'd like.

So, that's my garden in this mid-summer heat. Thanks for stopping by. And remember to take some peppers on your way out!

Another Rainy Evening

Remember when I said I was hoping for the afternoon rains? Mother Nature has obliged throughout the month of July, but not with the brief monsoons I expected. She has brought us near daily rains that start with an electrical storm around 3:30 and last well in to the evening, often raining again during the night. This doesn't leave me much time to work outside, but since its well over 90 degrees whenever its not raining I don't really mind. Florida gardeners don't do much gardening in July and August anyway. And, with all this rain, my yard should be in great shape come September. If a bit overgrown.

Photo Monday (the Tuesday edition)

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(Sorry, S, I know you always check on Monday. But, I forgot yesterday was Monday!)

Photo Monday

Happy to be Rained Out

The rain has finally come. My poor plants are so relieved. A few of them had almost given up, but now that their thirst has been quenched they are much happier. The timing could have been better for me, since it moved our dinner party off the patio and in to the dining room Tuesday night and forced me to re-schedule dropping off a car load of items for work not once but twice. Still, in Florida, you can't ever complain when the rain comes. No matter what.

I can remember as a child that throughout the long summers, you'd have a monsoon every afternoon at 3:00. You could almost set your watch by it. Or at least we said you could. At five till three the dark clouds would suddenly move over and within minutes the skies would just open up. And for fifteen minutes or so it would feel like God had upended buckets over you as the rain just poured down. Hail might very well fall. And then it would be over. The day would be a few degrees cooler, and the humidity would certainly be lower. The plants would be revived and the world would go back to what it was doing. My sister and I would go out in to the front street, a low lying street, to jump in the puddles. If we weren't already out there dancing in the rain, that is. (Some days, the days with lightning and hail, that wasn't allowed, of course. But on the days when the storm wasn't quite so fierce it was a warm rain, and a relief from the sticky heat of the afternoon, that we reveled in.)

We still get monosoons, of course, but its been several years since we've had a summer with the regular afternoon rains. I'm sure if I look someone, somewhere has an opinion of why. And I'm sure it relates to human activities. But, right now, I'm just pleased to be waking up every morning to a weather report that tells me there's a 50 to 60% chance of afternoon rains. They aren't the afternoon rains of the summer season, really, because they are much gentler (comparatively) and lasting in to the evening. It doesn't matter. Every afternoon, as the storm blows in, I sigh a little breath of relief and think hopefully of the afternoon rains of my memory. Maybe this summer will be the year they return?

Neighborhood Powerhouse

Across the street from our house, in the lights of the tennis court, is the nesting grounds for a flock* of ospreys. Every evening you can see them wheeling in the sky and hear them calling, impressive vocalizations of interest and power. Though they are a common bird here in central Florida, its always a bit amazing to see them (and the owls, and the occasional hawk) in my very urban neighborhood. They like to stay very high, but they are so distinguishable that you never have any trouble knowing what it is you're looking at. And if you have a young puppy or kitten in the neighborhood, you need to stick close to it!
Especially at this time of year, when they're visibility (and the noise level) suddenly skyrockets. I think it has just a little something to do with those smaller heads peeking out of the nest. I also suspect the fact that I walked in to the backyard last night in to a shower of soft, downy feathers from a songbird may be connected. But, we won't think too much about that reality of the natural world playing out in my neighborhood.

*There has got to be a better word to use when describing a large group of birds of prey. Flock just feels so...well, sissy. It's the word for the cardinals or the mockingbirds, not these creatures with powerful beaks and huge talons.

Photo Monday

The Desert Rose in my front yard is blooming profusely and making me smile.

Celebrating 50

My Aunt turned 50 last weekend, and so she held a weekend-long birthday extravaganza. Summer comes early here, so where better to have an extravaganza than at a condo on the beach? Friday night was just her and her girlfriends (and sisters), and then Saturday night and Sunday the family descended for our turn to help her party. So, we welcomed her fiftieth decade and summer with a great day on the beach.The dogs came along to keep a watchful eye on those crazy humans.
Point in case, those crazy boys who think its never too cold to go in the ocean. (I may think summer is here and enjoy a day at the beach, but that water isn't getting any higher than my ankles thank you very much.) Alex had his first chance to commune with the waves all summer.
He even took a stab at learning to surf.My sister and I preferred walking on the beach and admiring the art left by nature.
Gwen, not a fan of the sand or the salt, very much preferred sunbathing on the balcony. Of course, she still had several long runs on the beach and 24 hours worth of dealing with two young dogs. When we got home Sunday night, she was so tired she couldn't even go for her walk. She just sat down and looked pitifully at us. You could tell from the way she walked that every muscle in her body was protesting.

It was a lovely way to celebrate 50 years. And even the wildlife came out to wish her a happy birthday.Oh, hello. Happy Birthday to ya.Is there cake around here somewhere? I'd sing for cake.It's your birthday; it's your birthday. We're gonna par-tay, par-tay.

The mockingbird had a little too much sugar. Some people just don't know when to stop with the cake.

Photo Monday

Reflecting on the Three Rs

* This is what my Flowering Maple will look like when it grows up.

When I was a little girl, Earth Day was often a real celebration for us. My mother consciously taught us environmentalism and sustainability, though she called it "respect for the Earth." So, when Earth Day rolled around, it wasn't just another day. We participated in a tree planting ceremony, a trash pick up day or something of the sort. I wonder now where she found those events for us. They are good memories that have stuck with me, and a tradition I followed through college.

My Earth Day this year has been decidedly less deliberate, but its still been on my mind. We woke before the alarm this morning to the singing of the birds. They were raising such a ruckus - particularly the mockingbird who loves to trill - that we gave up and just got up to enjoy their Earth Day symphony. But, the celebration of the birds and the pretty logo on Google have pretty much been the extent of the external reminders today.

Instead, I've been reflecting a lot on my efforts to be respectful and what my next steps will be. A year or two ago, I began deliberately making small changes in my life to minimize my impact. We were already good about recycling and reusing. So, most of this has been reducing and about the products we use. So far, I've:
- developed the habit of using canvas grocery bags by going back for them when I forgot them
- begun using canvas bags (or no bag) for all my shopping, not just groceries
- created a compost pile (and then researched and re-established it when my original plan failed)
- switched to vegetable-based dish soap, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent and shampoo
- minimized chemical use within the house and yard
- focused on spot watering the garden, when a full watering isn't needed (We have no lawn and I try to plant drought resistant plants anyway.)
- looked for local and/or organic produce and free range, chemical-free meat
- limited use of plastic water bottles to when we're out and carry them with me until I can recycle them
- found biodegradable pooper scooper bags and wax paper bags for storage at home to the extent practical
- considered reusable/practical wrapping for all gifts and used them when I came up with one

My goal was to identify little things that I could but that would be simple enough that they'd become a habit, adding them one at a time. It has honestly been much easier than I expected. They are small steps that easily became habit, and quite frankly the rule all along was that I'd be gentle with myself on those days I fell short of my goals. (I'm assuming I'm more likely to actually do these things most of the time if I don't make it about guilt or set the bar too high. Every little bit makes a difference, right?)

But, I haven't seen or heard anything new recently to move on to my list. We dream of a 'green' home at times, but I'm definitely not up for any major retrofitting at this point. And the problem that bothers me most is the one on which I've made the least progress - our water consumption. This is Florida, and fresh water is precious. (Again, I'm not ready for the retrofitting, so I will not be draining my washer from the second floor to the garden.)

So, I think I'll be spending my Earth Day evening researching. Any suggestions for where I should be looking? (Or for changes I could be making?)

Gardening Hero

Alrighty then - a week has gone by with nothing much to report. The first half of the week the weather was cold and I had the yucks, which lead to curling up in bed with a few good books and far too much bad T.V. I couldn't even get up the motivation to knit more than a few rows. The second half of the week I felt fine, but stayed very busy with work stuff.

So, lets jump back to last Saturday and the great adventure I would have reported this week, shall we? Saturday morning, Gwen and I made a quick trip over to Mom's to pick up plants she'd found for me. (I now have a baby Flowering Maple, very exciting.) While I was there without a husband in tow, Mom took me to see a woman who has turned her (slightly larger than average) yard in to a farm.

It was great. I bought fresh chard. So fresh, that I watched her cut it out of the row, being careful not to step on her still-fruiting strawberries. And salad greens with flowers and herbs in them, sprouts that crunch delightfully and just barely resisted buying more tea. (I wouldn't have resisted at all if I had any more space left on my tea shelf.) She was a wealth of information, though I suspect she's also the kind of person for whom things just grow. She knew every inch of her garden and went on at length about the vagaries of each plant and pest. When Mom brought up our brazilian fruit bushes, she immediately began reminiscing about climbing the 15' high one outside her grandmother's door in Brazil and then told us she had one down in the orchard (of sorts) that she was starting from seed. She also warned us it will need more water than we had been told. I'll be betting on her this summer and keeping the soil moist.

But, the best part was spending a good hour enjoying her garden. She doesn't worry about weeds, just pulling them out of the rows of vegetables and allowing them to grow anywhere else. (Though, even that can be farming - when we arrived she was busy pulling weeds the root of which would be added to the salad she was taking to a birthday party.) And she's not particularly worried about traditional aesthetics, either, using "junk" as trellises or supports. She does, however, add any piece of whimsy that catches her eye, like this old parking meter beside the driveway.

I want to be her when I grow up.

Nature's Art

Driving home tonight, an electrical storm was blowing up quickly enough that it was here before the dark clouds had fully chased away the sun.  Suddenly, a sharp white flash of lightning and a rainbow were sharing the small space in my front window.  

Mother Nature sure puts on a great show.

Photo Monday

This little guy was out basking in the warm spring sun.

Where as this one was busy finding the acorns he hid last fall, and he was kind enough to show me where he stashed his cache.

But, he swore me to secrecy, so I can't tell you where they are.

Photo Monday

Photo Monday

The Photo Shoot

My parents stayed the night last night, a lovely treat. This morning Mom suggested we take the cameras and the dogs to Mead Gardens. It was a perfect morning (sunny but slightly overcast), and the dogs spent over an hour running and playing while we took pictures of flowers. They are great photo shoot companions, never bored. Pippen did eventually wear himself out. He was following Mom about and dropping down at her feet. Gwen toughed it out while we were there, but she's been sound asleep for hours now.

Thanks to their ability to entertain themselves (and the fact that you can rely on them to stay close), I had a chance to really play with the camera and try out some of the manual settings that always intimidate me. I'm pleased with the results.