April 27 2008

April is full of surprises out here as we continue to careen from season to season. On the 4th we had snow flurries, a week later it was 80 (yes, really, 80!), and right now the weather is near perfect. Sunny but not too hot, the daffodils in this shot have already died back, but later blooms including the double ruffles are still around. The cascading rhododendrons still have some blooms, and the big bright pink rhods are not yet open. Lilacs are setting buds, creeping phlox showing some color, and the forsythia are a shrieking yellow that goes so well with the daffs. I'm trying to root some of the stems I forced indoors a few weeks ago, we have plans to put them on the lower hillside if they do indeed root. Seems likely as they've got lots of leaves on the stems, but only time will tell.

My beloved wood violets are coming up in places both expected and unexpected. The garlic bed has an entire ground cover of blooming white violets that I have no recollection of planting, and they are scattering themselves among the lower terraces in wild abandon. We've not yet bought our vegetables or the usual violas and pansies for color spots, as we'll be gone for a week, and will do that when we return. But as with the violets, the violas happily seeded themselves in the most amazing places - they seem to really like the crannies in the rock walls, where I carefully pry them out and set them as front terrace borders. So even without a trip to the nursery, I have some happy flower faces to see. And the tulips - how amazing! A bunch of bright red flowers come up each year a few inches from the dryer vent; that certainly worked out well. And as I now know where they are, and check for them, I can spray them with the Deer Minders spray (not to be confused with Deer Off or Deer Deterrent or any of the other things I got that never worked) and the deer do not eat them!

Columbine both wild and cultivated are sprouting, hostas poking through the ground, irises already a foot and a half high and loving the unseasonable warm spells. Since it's still so early I'm poking through what's left of the leaf litter from last fall and every once in a while find something I completely forgot. We're now in our fifth gardening season and I can see the reason for a minimum five-year plan for a garden bigger than a city lot. Brian is always very busy at this time of year resetting the stone walls that winter snows and later rains move around, and we've had to replant some things that just didn't like our first location choice for them.

But all in all it's extremely satisfying to stroll around (after hours of weeding) and see the results of our years of work. The place really looks like gardeners live here! And just to remind us who this really belongs to, our group of four deer tromp through often enough to make their point that they were here first. And a few days ago Mr. and Mrs. Mallard showed up again for a brief pond feeding. As much as I don't "heart" New York, even I can see how someone would fall in love with this area - if one saw it first in the spring!

March 21 2008

And now, even more exciting than watching tomatoes grow: Arley the Adorable! This little guy was handed off to us a week and a half ago by his grandparents, who actually do care about him. When we got him he was so very scared and shaky, I didn't see a wag for the first several days. But now, he's making up for lost time and wags what is a very abbreviated tail along with his entire back end. Arley has been in two homes in less than five years (his birthday is in May, feel free to send early gifts), clearly because his people couldn't see what a great dog he is. He was described as "hyper", having behavior problems, and a host of other less than complimentary things on his surrender papers (from the owner I never met/heard from, who is the son of the doting grandparents). All I can say is if there were behavior problems, clearly they were on the part of the humans involved. Arley sleeps like a little angel in his crate all night long without protest, walks no worse on his leash than any other Britt, and is a very easy boy to have around. A little food, water, and a few belly rubs and he's content. My guess is the last place, where he was crated from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m, then again all night, was not the right environment for any dog. In any case, he's here now, and, as I frequently reassure him, is safe and appreciated. So here is my Purim/Easter/Spring gift to you - Arley in multiple shots!

February 8 2008

More baby news as our lead story! Eamon was born to Cara and Chris on January 30, and welcomed by his big brothers Liam and Dashiell (it's still hard for me to see either as "big", Liam the Elder is just 4 1/2 year old himself). Everyone is doing well, the two big brothers are delighted with the new family member and of course the proud parents and grandparents are too. As with Hyla (who will be the princess of the clan, the only girl), I'll let the photo speak for Eamon rather than string together paeans of grandparental praise.

And the second big story (which would be "below the fold" if one could fold cyberspace) is another in our ongoing series "More than you ever wanted to know about tomatoes". Again, I'll let the photo do most of the work. Yes, the toms are indeed tiny but absolutely real and much to my amazement the Aerogarden continues to live up to it's advertising, with things pretty much chugging along as per the reams of instructions and paperwork that accompanied the unit. I continue to check them many times a day, and was relieved to find out over the last few days that I was not hallucinating the even tinier tomatoes I spotted (sans magnifying glass, I'm so proud I can still see something with my original eyes) two days ago when they were approximately the size of a pinhead. I guess all those years of calligraphy and attention to detail are coming in handy in a whole other realm.

Aside from the riveting news above, I am happy to report we have not had the winter pummeling my family is experiencing along with everyone else in the Chicago area. In fact, on Wednesday last I was sure I heard wrong when the weatherman out of NYC casually announced it was 67 - but Lisa, NYC resident and mother of Hyla, confirmed that in fact it was 68 that day. Not so warm here, but enough warmth and some much-welcomed rain cleared away enough snow for us to see that we have indeed been invaded by the mole people. Tunnels everywhere on the flats, and a hole in one of the iris beds that's almost the size of a basketball. I surmise that the rains collapsed some of the tunnels and the large hole is our version of the sinkholes that appear on California highways after heavy rains. At least ours can't swallow the house - yet! Brian was out today waging mole wars. It's an ongoing action.. We can outsmart them (most of the time) but they definitely outnumber us. And much like the deer, are very clear about the fact that they think we are intruding on THEIR land. If I could get them to pay the property taxes I might have more sympathy for their position.

Next week I'm off to the Chicago area, hoping to see all four of my great nieces and nephews as well as their parents, and of course have lots of plans for outings with Mom, mostly revolving around our hunt for the perfect hot fudge sundae. More news when I return!

January 21 2008

This past week there's been no evidence of global warming here - quite the contrary. It's been bitterly cold, I think I feel it more as until now that's not been the case. Whatever the reason, we are burning fires and fuel at a pretty fast rate; hard not to, when the temperature doesn't get above the teens in the middle of the day! And yet, ten days ago it was in the 60's, and we were out raking up the fall leaves, most of which got left as they fell, due to the months of Brian's illness. That weekend we finally got the gutters cleaned out,and it was very strange being out gardening (of sorts) in January. Now, of course, we're more in sync with the season, much to my dismay.

The big news here of course is the happy and healthy birth of Hyla Day Dotson on January 8 - a day before her mom's birthday! I'll let the photos convince you of her charm and beauty, and just say that already this is a tiny woman with her own agenda, and full of surprises. Everyone including Lisa, the mom, was absolutely convinced this was going to be a boy. I had a hunch otherwise, but for once was smart enough to take my own advice and learn the value of unexpressed thoughts, as it was just a hunch (or maybe a hope?) and could easily have been wrong. Whatever the underlying reason, we've now gotten to see her twice, once at the hospital when she was not yet a day old, and again last week when she was ensconced at home. Each time was a delight! And I am equally impressed by the parents. As with my nieces and nephews, this generation seems to know parenting inside out. The result thus far: many happy, healthy babies. And we're not nearly done! Cara, Brian's West Coast daughter, is due (a boy, we all know from ultrasound)in a week or two. And both our former "little brothers" from Santa Barbara, whom we met when they were 9 and 6, are going to be fathers too! One shortly after Cara is due, the other this summer.

And now for the obligatory (short) garden report: in the mild, gutter-cleaning weekend, I snipped some forsythia branches just to see what might happen, figuring not much as I was at least a month early. Well, they bloomed yesterday! I'm going back for more (assuming we get any other mild days before spring). And my tiny kalanchkos (Hawaiian plant, unsure spelling, feel free to correct) are all blooming, many tiny yellow flowers on tiny green plants. So we do have a few spots of home-grown color in the midst of the snow. As for the tomatoes, I have vigorously whacked them back at five weeks as per instructions and they now look like they are just about to set really really tiny flowers. Which means tomatoes soon - especially welcome after we rejected the small, unlovely store offerings which despite their lack of visual appeal are selling for $1.50 each. Yikes!

January 7 2008

After a very cold and snowy December, these last few days have been so mild as to be almost unreal. It has been in the 50s and even 60s! So some of our many feet of snow have begun to melt, but there's so much (and it's been on the ground so long) that quite a bit still remains. This morning I could even take off my light jacket and do my morning walk in just sweatpants.

In these long and dark winter months out here, I plan and replan my gardens and make and remake lists of things to do when the thaw comes. But while even the evergreens look cold, and nothing remains of color above ground, I have stumbled on a gardener's delight - something called an Aerogarden (just Google it and you will see). I got my little unit just about a month ago, and opted for the cherry tomato grow pack (they have many: herbs, flowers, vegetables, and are adding new things all the time). And I must say, thus far the plants are doing exactly what the brochure said they would. They sprouted in 2 or 3 days, and are growing happily in my photoscreening dark room, under their own little lights and complete with their own little timers and pumps and stuff. I had thought to try to do some herbs or vegetables indoors in the winter before, but having never done so and having absolutely no experience, was so confused by just the choice of which light to choose I just gave up. Then quite by accident I found this site, and there was the answer to my gardener's prayers: a simple, small, self-contained unit in which to grow plants during the winters. It couldn't be easier, is so automated that it has lights that blink to tell you when to add water, when to add nutrients, and other than admiring the new leaflets there's not much one needs to do. If the baby toms continue on track we should be eating real, flavorful, completely untainted tomatoes by next month. I can't imagine a better Valentine! So here are my little sproutlets for your viewing pleasure - hopefully next shot will feature actual tomatoes!

December 11 2007

The last night of Hanuka, the eighth candle lit. On this very night 94 years ago my father was born. I wonder, more now than ever, how it was for my grandmother, his mother, giving birth to her fourth child in what surely was a bitter Polish winter. Was my grandfather there, or was he in America? I never thought to ask Dad, and now of course there is no one to ask. I think of my father's family as I knew them, not as they were, and cannot stretch my imagination to see a youngish woman, very Orthodox, very quiet, giving birth to her last child, her only son. Was it a hard labor, or easy? Was she frightened or prepared? And who helped her? Certainly medical care was not readily available in the dorf in which my father's family lived. Were pogroms active then, or was the night quiet? I know from my studies that frequently on Christmas Eve, in Poland and elsewhere, a rousing pogrom and the beating and killing of Jews was part of the celebration. But as the Jewish calendar is lunar, and the one by which I've lived my life is not, I don't even know if in the year of my father's birth Hanuka was as it is this year, well ahead of Christmas, or during it. I only know for sure that whatever else happened that year, they all six survived and made it to America by the time Oscar was six.

In one of the very last coherent conversations I had with my father weeks before his death, he suddenly remembered so many details of that little shtetl. There was a canal running in front of his house, and he and the other little boys urinated in it, even though they were told not to. That boats came up that same canal, that his mother's father was something like the mayor of the little town, and that's why they had such a good house. He spoke for about 45 minutes - I wish I could have recorded it all, as I am forgetting much of what he said. But at the time he was telling Mom and me, it was like watching a movie. I could see the grey streets and sky, feel the cold wind, and best of all, got a glimpse of young Oscar in the smile he smiled when he told me about peeing in the canal against all adult orders.

It's been nearly five months since he was buried, and since then two more beautiful children have been added to our extended family, and both of Brian's daughters are expecting a child each early in 2008, so Brian, along with my sister, will be a grandparent of four. I am curious to see who each of these tiny people is, and will become, and in my blood relations whether I can catch a glimpse of Oscar in any of them. So here along with this year's holiday card is the addition of several views of my dad, from the single treasured shot I have of his childhood, through his very last year. I hope he is pleased with the family's growth; I know he is missed very much by us all, especially tonight.

November 18 2007

As a result of the very mild October, my garden plants are more confused than ever. If you look closely at the composite shot you should be able to see the autumn leaves all around the flower blooms. I'm not surprised at the violas, since I've already experienced them disappearing under feet of snow only to emerge with tiny flowers intact and joyful, but the coneflower is strange (they are usually done by the end of August) and the lily is incomprehensible as they were all finished with blooming, or so I thought, by mid-summer. Once again I am amazed and at least as confused as the plants.

I also spotted a goldfinch this past week hanging on to what used to be a coneflower stalk, pecking out the remaining seeds. So I'm glad I let them stand, ignoring my very strong anal impulse to cut all stalks down to the ground.

We've had our first light snowfall, which while it did cover the ground, thankfully did not hang around more than a few hours. And the next morning, though there was no snow, the frost was so thick it looked as if it had in fact snowed. So we are burning wood fires now beginning at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, in an attempt to delay as long as possible the dreaded home heating fuel oil delivery. I'm betting this is the month the fuel cost surpasses the mortgage payment - and real winter has barely begun!

There are still days when it's mild enough to poke around in the lower terraces, setting things up for the big freeze and deciding which stone walls need restacking, but mostly it's pretty cold. Carmen the wonder dog has an excellent sense of timing; she got adopted the very week the weather changed, and we are all grateful. Though I do miss her, especially at night, I must be happy that she has found a loving family whose members will exercise her more than we could. Next spring we will probably get another foster dog - when we are absolutely sure the snow is over, which around here is only certain after Mothers' Day.

So I'm hunkering down for the long nights, and planning next year's plantings. Out this way the winter garden is all in one's head.