Melting, Flooding and Maybe Spring

  • Post published:02/28/2017
  • Post comments:6 Comments

The melting season with its flooding  is upon us. A year ago, three months after we actually moved into our new house, the back yard looked like this after milder temperatures, snow melt and rain. We had known that the backyard had a big 'wet spot' but we didn't expect this. One year later and the flooding isn't as bad. It is possible to see the progress made in the increasing size of the beds, and the creation…

View from the Window – Warm and Wet

  • Post published:01/12/2017
  • Post comments:6 Comments

The view from the window  is warm and wet.  The temperature is 50 degrees at 11 am, as it was yesterday. I am hoping we get back to more seasonable cold temperatures tomorrow. I am remember the loss of the local peach crops last year when there was an extended warm period in February before getting very cold again. The trees thought spring had sprung, the buds began to swell, but then  disaster.  Lets keep winter cold until…

Reflections on The Worst Yet!

The reflections in the garden this morning make make concrete the challenge we face. Recently I gave a talk about The Making of a New Garden. I mentioned several times that the main challenge of this new garden is how wet it is. The soil is clay and the garden is slightly lower that the three adjoining properties. Lots of talk, but before I closed I showed a picture of one instance of flooding - there was an…

Greenfield Garden Club Had a Party . . .

  • Post published:12/12/2015
  • Post comments:5 Comments

but I didn't attend. The Greenfield Garden Club always has a delightful Christmas party complete with a delicious pot luck and a Yankee Swap which is always great fun. Last night I set out, clutching the party address on Bernardston Road. It was foggy when I set out, but I gave it never a thought. As I drove along I noticed that even the houses near the road were camouflaged by the fog. I drove past where I…

Bright and White and BarelyFreezing

  • Post published:02/11/2015
  • Post comments:4 Comments

It is bright and white and barely freezing. The snow has stopped. The plow arrived. One car got  out. The snow has fallen and drifted into the Sunken Garden, half burying the Sargent Crabtree. The western wall is over six feet high - also buried. If you look closely you'll see a tiny branch at the right of this photo, hinting of the three hydrangeas now buried - and probably damaged. Sigh. We are really really happy that…

Sastrugi Finally Forms at the End of the Road

  • Post published:02/02/2015
  • Post comments:2 Comments

It hasn't been a great winter for the formation of sastrugi. The snow has been heavy and wet, not much given to drifting. But this last snow storm brought frigid temperatures and high gusting winds. The result is the first sastrugi of the year forming at the western lip of the Sunken Garden. The word sastrugi is from a Russian word which means snow wave  or caves. We have all noticed them. More now. The sastrugi  shifts and…

Weather Review for 2014 at the End of the Road

  • Post published:01/29/2015
  • Post comments:6 Comments

A year ago I determined that I would keep a Weather Review for the year. The purpose of the Weather Review was an aide memoire because I can never remember whether last summer was droughty - or was it the year before.  I  wasn't able to stick to a strict schedule of photography, but here we go for a quick run through the year.  January 2014 was a month of extremes with  early morning temperatures that ranged from…

View from the Bedroom Window – November 2014

  • Post published:12/17/2014
  • Post comments:2 Comments

The view from the bedroom window on November 3 shows that the grass is still lushly green. Makes us remember that lawn grass is a cool weather crop. The trees in the landscape are all bare, but a clump of hardy chrysanthemums is still holding on. We woke on November 14 to the first snow. I took a poll and one and half inches qualifies as a real snow fall. Animal tracks confirm it. The snow melted some,…

Cold and Ice on Wordless Wednesday

  • Post published:11/19/2014
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By the time we had ice on the trees and landscape we had already had our first snowfall - one and a half inches of the white stuff. But that weather all felt like a heat wave. This morning the temperature was a record breaking 16 degrees! AND the Farmer's Almanac predicts a  much colder winter in our part of the world!  The firewood is almost all stacked. For more (almost) Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

View From the Bedroom Window – September 2014

  • Post published:10/17/2014
  • Post comments:4 Comments

August was relatively cool this year, so it should have been no surprise that on September 2 it was 80 degrees and humid. The roofers came to put on a new roof - and were slowed down by a shower in the middle of the afternoon. As the month progressed it became cool again. There was two inches of torrential rain on September 6 - and the new roof is not leaking! Our granddaughter Tricia's wedding was held…