Oh, The Places We've Been

Masala Art Indian Restaurant in Needham. Yum! The Border Cafe in Cambridge. The blackened catfish was to die for. And the really giant sized glass of wine. Mon Dieu. I had to come home and take a nap. The Big Apple Circus with the trapeze artists, the jugglers, and the fun dog act. We had a busy week. I made potato pancakes and my vegetarian asparagus and pasta casserole and we even concocted up bananas Foster. And the frog exhibit at the Museum of Science was soooo topical because the frogs in the slough started their very noisy chorus last week.

Migrating birds are coming through and the vegetable garden is planted with some cold-loving veggies.

Spring is bound to come soon. Seemed like it on Thursday but now the cold is back and in the meantime the rains came. It's a full life, Charlie.

Golden Globes - Glorious Gardening!

Not awards, not oranges, but my orange rhododendum which has burst into bloom (a cliche but so apt) this week. The other good news in the garden is that for the first time in this house the iris is honoring us with a bloom--it's been moved 3 times, and now I guess the right spot has been determined so long as I keep it cultivated.

Beautiful (sorry no picture) special dogtooth violets also came to life this year. Basically, I think I only lost one columbine, but the wild orchid doesn't look like it will bloom. I need to sneak into the woods and transplant a few more to my woods.

No sign of the baby ducks. Hummingbird is back, after the newly planted red petunias. She'll have to wait a while for the rest of the garden to bloom. Speaking of blooms, my sage will go crazy in a week. Beaucoup blooms.

We have a cilantro fest. It reseeds itself like crazy. Love it. Love it.

I found the pot for the rosemary. Thought I broke it last fall when I couldn't find it. Must have been another pot. We had some of the rosemary on the bistro chicken (yum!) the past two nights. http://wardstreetbistro.typepad.com/wsb/2008/05/grilled-mustard.html

Do try this recipe.

I need to find a sunny spot for the phlox I dug up at the state hospital. I am an inveterate collector of plants in derelict locations.

Today we're going to Briggs Nursery, a choice garden destination, for the annual trip to buy plants. It makes me happy just to think about it. Obviously, a heart "too soon made glad."

http://www.briggsgarden.com/

Aloha,

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More Signs of Spring

Peewees in the woods, calling and answering each other. Robin scrounging for nest materials--taking time to gather up a bunch.

We've had chives in the scrambled eggs twice. My secret for the best scrambled eggs--sneak a fit bits of cream cheese into the eggs. It will melt and make them totally scrumptious.

I saw two hawks scoping out the woods. Don't know if they have romance or dinner on their minds.

My little sparrow friend came again and I identified him/her, and now I can't remember which kind it is. One of the more common ones that hangs about at the edge of the woods. Nice song, and saucy bird

Did a few garden chores today. The Solomon's seal is coming up, and the bleeding heart has blooms. One columbine is among the missing. I take plants dying very personally.

In the living room window, the Geraniums are growing and the Christmas cactus has one lone bloom. Go figure.

I've send out a few more email queries and need to get busy on more. And I have to give a speech on Burning Man. What to say? How can you describe an experience so unique?
Dunno.

Onward,

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Spring Is In the Air

The buds are set on the rhododendrum in front of the farm porch. The bad rabbits are eating the tulips, (above right) and the sedum and the chives (above left) are making valiant efforts. Spring is in the air.

Soon the voice of the spring peeper will be heard in the land. The turtle is already crooning on the telephone wires.

I saw the first chipmunk out of his den and scampering across the yard.

Last year, an unseasonably warm spell in December brought up the daffodils and the crocus, and then winter got them. So sad. The rabbits are all but two of the tulips and now those are endangered. Nature against nature.

What's a writer to do?

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