Shoe Enabler

My friend, Melinda, is a shoe enabler. She is always a stylin' babe and totally into accessories... which is my personal weakness. She came into my gallery yesterday wearing these Cole Haans to die for. They are a cross between naughty nurse & bowling shoes.

Can't quite figure out how to justify their purchase as I just got these not too long ago:

The Four Gardeners of the Apocalypse

image citation: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

Today was spent weeding, puttering and moving this & that. A Mountain Laurel that has lingered on the edge of health is finally relocated to a shady grove where hopefully she'll fare better out of the full sun.

I also moved a monster hosta that was just about covering a specimen Dwarf Hinoki Cypress that I coveted for years and finally bought. The hosta was a beast! It must have weighed 50 pounds.

I checked in on my lupines which have been looking a little sad. They have been suffering from aphids. I am reluctant to use poisons so I was checking on line for a solution when the boyfriend jumped in with a few tips. Spray them off with water or just run you fingers down the stems to squish/knock the aphids off. Information on line confirmed that they will never find their way back onto the plant.... and I thought turkeys were stupid!

Running your hands down the stem is a mighty effective antidote.... but a little messy. My fingers turned green with smashed aphid innards, but it was a satisfying job to kill so many bugs so quickly. Whenever I start thinking that gardening is about sweetness and light a chore like this comes along to remind me of the Four Gardeners of the Apocolpyse - Bugs, Disease, Weeds & Drought. My fingers were goopy from aphids so I decided to squoosh a few Chafer Beetles too. They are easy to pick off as they don't have the inclination to interrupt their lovemaking to save their lives.

Well- time for dinner.... after I wash my hands.

Day in the Life of My Garden- June 15, 2009

I returned to my gardens today to find them waterlogged and over run with weeds. It seems like it has been raining non-stop for two weeks ... which is only a slight exaggeration.

The big news in the garden is that the hole for the foundation of the windmill has been dug. It will be situated in our orchard for relative geographical proximity to all of our kitchen appliances which will want what it is making.

As you can see the trench to the house has been started and it is aimed towards my silver brocade artemesia- precipitating a vacation to the east for it for a few days while the electrical lines are put in- then right back to its previously scheduled growing program. I think it can handle it, but I will have words with the electrician about coming anywhere near my
monster Baptisia- the envy of many a gardening friend.

This a picture of the boyfriend who supervised and did quite a bit of the finish digging. It took him away from the important task of getting plantlings into the ground, but also took his mind off the most recent infestation of Rose Chafer Beetles.

Despite the sogginess and weediness there is also a certain loveliness to a very green, lush garden. A side benefit being that the coolness has extended the lifespan of my peonies & poppies. Pictured here is my Lady's Mantle- incomparable in bouquets and for the way water forms the most perfect little droplets on their leaves.

This is an unidentified Veronica that I inherited. It might be Crater Lake Blue. The color is stunning. I have it next to Lamb's Ear and Bath's Pinks.

Here is my Scarlet O'Hara Peony- a lovely single with a broad yellow center. This beautiful plant has made a few moves with me... graciously I might add. She tends to fade a little if it is too sunny while she blooms.

And finally a shot of the Diablo Ninebark I bought two years ago... with my Seashell Peony. I hate to trim the Ninebark's graceful arches so I think I will be forced to move the peony. The colors are great but the forms are competing.

Stranger in a Familiar Land

I have been living out on the Seacoast for the past week and 1/2 while I work the new gallery in Portsmouth. I have been staying with my brother and his family in Newmarket- a town I lived in my freshman year in college. It is much changed from the year 1980. I can't remember what this building use to be but now it is Rocky's Burgers which makes fabulous burgers AND sweet potato fries on site.

Newmarket was home to some large manufacturing companies- Timberland shoes & textile mills. It was peopled with the immigrants who came here to work in the mills. The mills are fairly empty but the Newmarket Community Development Corporation has been working for many years to find someone to fill it with housing, retail, restaurants and art space.

I have been walking around every morning with my dog, eating at the restaurants, enjoying the many pocket parks and seeing the regular comings and goings of the residents. It is my favorite way to travel- to stay in one place and inject yourself into the daily ebb & flow of a community. (Ask Michelle- I announced that I was taking a bus NO WHERE once we arrived in Rome for a 9 day stay.) This is a photo of my brother's sneaker store LOCO (shameless plug).

I have also been attending the Spoken Word/Poetry night at Crackskulls Book & Coffee Shop. Walking into a poetry reading in a town of 5000 people sounds like it could be dreadful, but it is not. There are some pretty good poets, amusing conversation and lots of laughs. I believe this happens every Wednesday night.... I give it two thumbs up.

The town is loaded with historic buildings, such as this old firehouse. It looks to be re-purposed into apartments. I think I could live in such a funky old building. As a matter of fact I find myself looking at a lot of the buildings trying to decide which would be the best one to relocate my home and business to. I love little cities like this.
And Henry has also adopted Newmarket as a second home- where he has found a fine selection of fire hydrants and he is King of the Road.

Is It Just Me- Or Is It Really Histrionic In Here?

I am in the middle of "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. I figured it was a classic I had never read... and really, isn't it about time for melodrama in my life?

As I listen to it on cd in my car, performed by the incomparable Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances), I can't help but think of Oprah or Jerry Springer. The two main characters, Heathcliff and Cathy, are so overwrought & tempestuous that they should appear on one of those shows. I just want to throw up my hands and say "Really, you are both so miserable you NEED to die."

In a group of women I mentioned I was reading it and they all swooned. I asked for reassurance that it is a good book. One woman suggested I need to suspend my modern day values and get into the swing of things. So on I plow.

There is so much gnashing of teeth and threatening of cruelty that I think of the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" Spit, venom & hatefulness disguised as a society sanctioned relationship. There is even a Sandy Dennis character (Isabella Linton) who is so naive & pliant that she would rather die of Heathcliff's nastiness than tell her brother how unhappy she is. Get a spine Isabella!

I suppose it is a cautionary tale. People should stop being so passive aggressive and just try talking to each other. If they are unhappy beyond repair, move on.

All in all I think Dorothy Parker's take on life so much more understandable:

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

Have a happy day!

Day in the Life of My Garden- May 30, 2009

I had to work all weekend but was able to find a few hours before dinner on Saturday to get out and feel the sunshine- finally.

Here is one of the new bird boxes built & installed by the boyfriend. The swifts & bluebirds have been duking it out for residency in this site. It isn't quite as tony an address as the one which overlooks his garden (good eatin'!) but it offers more privacy as it is removed from the major thoroughfares.


I have been haphazardly doing the edging on all of the beds, which means that whichever garden line irritates me the most gets edged. For me this is a very satisfying chore. It restores order, creates a clear division between lawn and is hard physical labor to help burn off a day's frustrations.

This is my Silver Brocade Artemsia. I thought I had lost it, but it just turns out to be a slow starter like the hostas. I did lose a lot of plants to the harsh winds of winter- some euphorbias, some new violets, the little sedum cauticolium, and some adorable little sedum that looked like bread mold. I purchased most of these plants this past year. I guess I need to cross them off my list. But I also lost an aster (what is hardier than a New England Aster?) and one of three of my new Black Lace Elderberry which is suppose to be safe to Zone 4.


Enough of the whining... One of my favorite sights is the new growth on my Blue Spruce. It is so .... blue! And the way it sheds its little covers like a snake is just too cute. I like to pick them off to uncover the soft little budlets ..... like I don't have more pressing things to do. I suppose once in a while we just need to indulge our indolence.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Photo of one of my favorite little pain-in-the-asskins all set to receive a potentially dangerous smooch in his safety goggles.


I went to a big schmooze event last night to rub elbows with the business community. I do these things periodically to keep my face and name in the public sphere. While it can be fun & enjoyable, it is ultimately work.

After much mingling, noshing and then later, when we were seated at tables, small talk with the people seated on either side of me my mind turned to the home front. The strain of constant mingling is tiring. Oh.... to be with those who elicit more natural responses...... silliness, quietness, grumpiness.

The feeling was too strong to resist. I gathered my things and made my way to the car. My dog must be telepathic because he was sitting in my seat staring right at me as I rounded the corner. I pushed him aside so I could climb in and then spent 5 minutes reassuring him, cuddling, kissing (on his part and mine) and high pitched keening for the heart ache he had endured.

Then the long drive home to my sweetheart, who was, of course, already in bed. He is an early to bed/early to rise kind of guy.

I have been listening to a book on tape to help make my long commutes pass. This time it is David Sedaris' "When You Are Engulfed In Flames." In one story he described the transition in a relationship from gulping down every little detail of your beloved to no longer having anything to discover. Soon you are left breathing heavily through your cell phone because there is nothing to say yet it is comforting to know that someone you love is at the end of the line. I often feel this way about my boyfriend and dog. I don't need to be engaged. It is often enough to know that they are sleeping somewhere nearby.

So I rushed home from a room full of people because I missed a houseful of my favorite sentient beings..... breathing heavily.