Magical things happen at family reunions. The youngest set seems to bond almost instantly with their cousins two or three times removed (I don’t really know how that works) and even the oldest generation gets to hear stories about their parents that they never heard before. My Aunt Doris, the only representative of her generation at this reunion, said she never knew that as a 15th birthday present my grandparents arranged for me to accompany my grandfather on…
It seems like I have been celebrating my 70th birthday for weeks - what with visiting grandchildren and a big cake at the Family Reunion for all the Zero babies, but yesterday was my actual birthday, which I share with several friends, making it a joyous day indeed. All day long I collected email birthday wishes - a virtual birthday party - arranged by my friend Peter. He always has something up his sleeve! A delightful gift! Our…
We brought Anthony and Drew home with us from the Family Reunion. They've had a busy summer with a drive (geocaching!) from Texas to New York for a Lawn Family Reunion, visits with other relatives, a quick trip back to Texas for another trip to North Carolina with their Boy Scout troop for camp, and back for the Larson Reunion. After all that, we couldn't let them lie around enjoying Heath breezes. We went around the corner to…
This past weekend I was in Gilford, New Hampshire at a reunion of my mother's side of the family. Larsons everywhere. One of our projects for the past few years has been videotaping each family branch. Getting all the members of each branch together is never easy - like herding cats. We barely get nearly everyone together and they begin to disappear again. We are trying to get my cousin Jennie's family together here - and almost succeeding.…
Last year I bought 3 golden Henryi lilies and 3 white Henryi lilies from Old House Gardens. The reason is obvious. My husband's name is Henry. When I was in Buffalo I saw a golden Henryi in Elizabeth Licata's garden - but I didn't recognize it because it was at least 6 feet tall! I guess I have a lot of work to do on my soil. My lilies are barely three feet tall and the stems are…
All week we had been waiting for our daughter Kate and her family to arrive. We knew they had been at her husband's family reunion at a state park in NY, celebrating his parents 80th and 90th birthday - and their 60th wedding anniversary. I expected them to arrive mid-week, but there was no word. We called Kate's cell phone. We sent emails. We sent Facebook messages. No word. No word. No word. Had they been carjacked? We…
Ryan left for home with his father last night - but not before a final flurry of activity. He helped me move the chicks out of the brooding box and into a larger space. The henhouse has two sections, one for the laying hens, and the equally large 'entry' which we arrange so the chicks only have 2/3 of the space. It is so dark in the this area, with the brooding box still in place, that I…
With the Annual Rose Viewing only a week away, daughter Diane and her son Ryan came to help with preparations. There were big jobs like working with The Major to gett the tractor and wagon operational to fetch wood, and then be put out of the way. Ryan had to mow the lawns using the riding mower while Diane edged and weeded. And weeded. While weeding we discovered that deer had eaten my beautiful Casa Blanca Lilies that…
Saturday I went into Greenfield to buy plants at the Greenfield Garden Club Plant sale, but also stopped at the Greenfield Farmers Market to buy beautiful lettuce from The Kitchen Garden for Gourmet Club, and I bought a pot of beautiful double white petunias from LaSalles. The Farmers Market was full of vegetable starts, flats of annual seedlings, as well as the first greens of the season and huge bouquets of peonies from Hadley where spring has sprung…
If there is anything more enjoyable than an afternoon working in one's own garden, it is spending an afternoon working with a daughter in her garden. Yesterday we visited Betsy for a garden consultation, nursery shopping and planting day. Betsy has done some landscaping around her house which is built on sand that hides many many stones. In fact the house is directly across the road from a granite quarry whose boulders form a major element of the…