My friend Helen Opie, who now lives in Nova Scotia, sent this handrawn computer drawing (using the Paint program) as my Christmas greeting. It is only appropriate that she chose the life giving sun to celebrate the season.Helen has a sunny nature, and was one of the bright spots in my difficult year of teaching sixth grade. Her very smart, imaginative and creative daughter Jenny was in my class, and the link that brought us together. From there…
Peace on earth to all of good will!
There was so much response to the posting about rain barrels in Garden Rant that I want to pass on a link to Rebecca Chesin at her website with lots of information about making a rain barrel, and information from various dependable sources about the safety of water that has washed off the roof. I never thought that asphalt shingles or that the chemicals used in wooden shingles to make them rot-proof or moss resistent might make the…
Susan Harris at Garden Rant recently wrote about the new interest in rain barrels. I personally haven't thought a lot about rain barrels since we visited our daughter Betsy who was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya in 1989. She was working on a gravity fed line from a spring to a newly built water storage tank. This would mean that women (and note that I am talking about women and children) would not have to…
When Peter travels he needs to fill his eye with ART. And do he went looking for works by Louise Nevelson - and others. His journey continues.If a flâneur were to select the ideal urban spots for his dawdling, no doubt two of three places selected would be a park and a museum. Fortune smiled when our San Francisco trip’s plans included a visit to the de Young Museum, located in Golden Gate Park. The museum is newly…
I love my chickens. I 'd love to give everyone their own small flock to enjoy, all the strutting and sashaying, the color and pattern of the soft feathers, the clucking and even the squawking. And the eggs, too, of course. Unfortunatley this is impossible, but what I can do - and did do - is donate $20 to Heifer International who will give a small flock of chicks to a family to raise. The nutritious eggs will…
My friend Peter is not a devoted gardener, but he is discerning and witty with a strong visual sense and a lot to say about the world around him. The following is his dispatch from San Francisco.Being an architect can be difficult if one lives in a rural and relatively remote part of the country. Architecture is largely an urban exercise. For an architect the city is his garden. Sometimes it can be highly instructive or illuminating to…
Jenny Ruhl bought a house in Gill four years ago and started a new garden. She also started a new website describing all the limitations of her landscape - rocks, thin soil, lots of shade - and then documented the 2007 garden year with wonderful photographs and brief text. Jenny's Garden can be seen at www.phlaunt.com/jennysgarden.This is the time of year when we can all review the garden year and think about 2008. This is what Jenny had…
I'm no Martha Stewart, but it doesn't take much skill to make a welcoming swag of trimmings from the balsam Christmas tree we cut from our snowbreak. While we were down in the field I took a few extra branches from a nearby pine that included little pine cones. Many people buy their holiday wreaths, garlands and swags at one of the numerous holiday fairs that benefit churches, schools and other worthy organizations. This is a Good Thing!…
This the the view from my bedroom window on Sunday morning. The outbuilding is our Cottage Ornee where we spend fine summer Sunday afternoons with tea and the Sunday papers. Not today.And this is the view from my reading chair. Note the chicken waterer defrosting by the fire. No Sunday papers in this storm, so I am reading The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart, one of the witty and knowledgeable members of…