Last fall we saw that beavers had built a lodge on the edge of our Frog Pond. Once before, in the spring some years ago, we had beavers in the pond but they didn't really get a lodge built so we hoped they were just passing through. We urged them on by keeping the overflow pipe in the pond clear. The beavers kept blocking it, and we kept unblocking it. We heard that beavers do not like the…
For more Wordlessness click here. For more about beavers, their habitat, and the revelation that they can build lodges on pond banks click here.
The view from my bedroom window on January 27, 2012. Ice is heavy. And to think I was planning to collect forsythia branches to force today. View from the Welcoming Platform. I have photographed this tree in every season and every weather. It is always beautiful. Temperatures hover at 32 degrees and the stream keeps flowing.
A gray day with gray skies, and silver reflections. For more skies visit Skywatch Friday.
Our area suffered flooding from Tropical Storm Irene and the storm that followed a week after causing enormous damage as rivers and streams overflowed their banks. We have recovered on our road so today I prefer to think about the gentler water in our gardens that calms and soothes. Here are some of the the quiet waters I saw in Seattle this summer at the Garden Bloggers Fling. Only a big public garden can have a big water…
The weekend started out happily with my book signing at World Eye Books. I got to meet new readers, and chat with old friends like Bob and Sue Gruen who gave a wonderful talk last night for the Heath Historical Society about weaving in colonial times - and now. But, by the time we left their talk around 9, Irene's rains had arrived. Heavy rains on and off all night continued until noon, then let up somewhat. We…
Compared to Heath, Seattle has a mild climate, and yet gardeners there share some of our problems. Generally, it does not get hot in Seattle. Gardeners go to great lengths pampering their tomatoes in an attempt to achieve juicy ripeness. Shelagh Tucker has a small greenhouse in her sloping back garden, but she also grows her tomatoes in a raised bed sort of hot house to provide the heat tomatoes require. Behind her, in another raised bed are…
Greenfield Garden Club members opened their gardens to the public in a fund-raising tour on July 9. Water seemed to be everywhere in those gardens, fountains, pools and streams. One of the most important water features was in Marcia Stone and Norm Hirschfeld's garden - a rain barrel. They plan to add more. The rain off their garage roof fills the 55 gallon drum almost instantly. The Greenfield Garden Club raises money to fund many school projects.
There isn't much to report about progress in the garden. This report is full of rain, showers, downpour, drizzle, rain, spitz and fog. Fortunately a showery day did not deter the Yestermorrow crew who came to Katywil to hold an Earth Oven Building workshop. The stone foundation had been completed two weeks ago and Saturday was going to see building of a wood fired oven. The workshop participants had to get deep into the mud (earth) and…
Yesterday I attended a reunion of the book club I helped found in 1965. The book club continues, and the book under discussion was Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time. I very much enjoy Petterson's books, and indeed many of the chilly books of the Scandinavian writers, but it is ironic that this book of lonliness and the failure of emotional ties was the topic among a group of women friends meeting over tea and cake…