(the only thing blooming at the moment here, but doing quite well indeed)
Comments Off on Crocus
Fiddling about with doggerel Saturday, Apr 5 2014
Esperanza and Projects poetry 19:56
From something I was working on long ago…A description, perhaps, of the library, the piano, and the books.
On the day I left,
On the cold January morning,
The grand piano’s heartbreak,
I was in love
And left the library
Where the faun still knows
All the secrets
And the voice of man
Dances, unrepentant,
Beyond a classic, pillared frame.
The Tree Shuffle Friday, Apr 4 2014
gardening and Trees gardening 15:26
Circle to the right, circle to the left, do-si-do, and two steps down. Or something. One beech tree moved (again), hopefully this will be its final home. A young volunteer copper beech, we decided that it would simply be too dark on the northwest lawn. So it got shuffled to the tennis courts, where it will probably act more like a forest tree than a specimen tree, which is fine. Then a disappointing Amur maple, having been given a prime location on the north lawn for several years and signally failing to merit the spot got moved. That took a bit more excavating. It looks like it ought to work better as an edge tree against some nice dark green confirs. Of course, I swung it exactly 180 degrees, so it will probably hate me for some time….
Most of the time, one can move trees that are as tall as a person. But not all. A prime example of the Do Not move class is my white oak tree, which everyone has laughed at; it is finally beginning to grow on the Northwest lawn. I hope it takes off this year as that is the third try in that location. The first two were bought trees with poor roots, this one was a volunteer from down under one of the big white oaks in the woods. Its top has good buds this year, and its top is as tall (all of 18 inches) as its taproot was long when I excavated it three springs ago. At the time, its top was all of four inches tall. There is a reason white oaks aren’t moved often….
Comments Off on The Tree Shuffle
Determination Thursday, Apr 3 2014
I was watching a little grey and honey gold bee today. It was almost too cold for it; in fact, for the much of the time I was watching it the bee was shivering. Bees do shiver in fact, and this one was huddled down on the lawn, the same color as the winter-killed grass. Gradually, it warmed up. First it cleaned its antennae, and then its hind legs, and finally its legs. It was a thin little insect, almost delicate, with short gray/gold hair. Last seen (having finished warming up sitting on my hand)* it bravely took off in a headwind, flying towards a warmer spot near the house. I hope, that like the other pollinator insects, it found the crocus glistening in the hundreds by the fence and foundation.
In any event, it took off, future uncertain but flying strongly in the wind. Something to be said for that.
*I am, actually, decidedly allergic to bees, wasps, and various other insects. But, I had a glove on, and besides he was a)cute b)not at all aggressive.
Comments Off on Determination
Feed Me! Tuesday, Apr 1 2014
Modern Photos horses 23:04
Quit it with the camera….
Just for the sake of it, I hit this while hunting for a different photo: one hungry horse. The barn in the background is the old dairy barn. And yes, he is leaning on an electric fence. It often isn’t on, and he tends to know when it is or isn’t since it tends to short out on just about everything. He has no desire to go anywhere, except back to the barn.
Comments Off on Feed Me!
A summer day at Ticonderoga, 1908 Monday, Mar 31 2014
Historic Photos and Historical Events Fort Ticonderoga, historical photographs 12:19
At the time, Fort Ticonderoga was a total ruin and not yet a park and very far from the meticulously restored set of buildings that it is today; however, it had become a stopping point for interested tourists in the Champlain/Hudson River valley.
The photographer is probably George Creevey. The woman sitting up is Lucy Ellsworth Creevey. I’d have to look in the log for trip to figure out who the other two people are. They were taking a leisurely trip up the Hudson River, through Lake Champlain, the Richelieu River, and up to the Saguenay River in Quebec on their motor yacht, Mavourneen. Classic tourism of the time period.
Off with its head! Saturday, Mar 29 2014
In a fit of something or other, I managed (with help!) to get two long overdue trimming projects done. The first was taking off a major limb on a multi-trunked Sugar Maple. This oddly shaped tree could be entirely removed. But its odd shape adds a nice bit of whimsy. However, this branch, a good four inches in diameter, was casting entirely too much shade on several shrubs and one of the chestnut trees. So it went. With a great deal of sawing (an alternative and appropriate name for sugar maple is rock maple, this one was definitely that), and an extra set of hands to catch it and take its weight off of the chestnut tree, since the only place to drop it was On the tree.
Then, on the theory that no one was watching, I had the desire to do so, and it wasn’t windy: I shimmied a good 15 plus feet up the hemlock beyond the big garden.* This hemlock’s sole purpose in life is to help block the road. We do not need nor desire a one sided, leaning, 50 foot plus evergreen in that location. So I cut its head off. I was smart enough to only cut it three-quarters through while up in it and smart enough to climb the north side (that has essentially no branches) so that I wouldn’t be under the falling section if I cut too far. Then I wandered off and, I confess, used the pole saw to finish the cut and bring it down. This worked admirably….except for bending the head of the pole saw. I can’t claim the fixing of that. Jamie fix!
Anyway, two jobs done that needed doing. Perhaps not done in the most approved fashion, but such is life.
*Nice view of the hilltop from up there, by the way.
East Lawn in 1953 Friday, Mar 28 2014
Esperanza and Historic Photos and Landscapes gardening, landscapes 13:22
I mentioned in a comment that weddings of people who lived at Esperanza sometimes took place on the east lawn, up through the 1930’s. Here is a photograph of the location. The Norway Spruce framing the picture on the left is gone, taken down about 15 years ago after one too many lightning strikes. The one on the right still stands, at nearly 110 feet tall. The lawn has been shrunk, it now stops at the big Norway rather than at the far spruces. The grove of spruces has shifted a bit as well, the center and right spruces are both gone so the deliberate symmetry no longer exists.
Comments Off on East Lawn in 1953
Frustration in Gardening Thursday, Mar 27 2014
Leaving aside the weather (10 F last night, really?!), I did not need to find that after several years of 100% success in keeping the large hoofed rats out of the yard, I failed majorly last night. Went out to put Liquid Fence on things (it being the first still day promising to stay at or above freezing and not wet*) and found I was a day late for many of the broad leaved azaleas. The deer came through this morning, hungry.
I am counting my blessing, an exercise that gets old fast, that they didn’t go after the hollies, the umbrella pine, the oak-leafed hydrangeas, the young pears and hickories, or the rhododendrons (which do Not need help in the dying department). Still not what I wanted to see at all. They like the flower buds best of all, of course. Sometimes I wonder why I garden.
And no, getting my jacket, hands, and face liberally sprayed with Liquid Fence (main ingredients are garlic, rotten eggs, and red pepper) when the Brand New sprayer broke did not help.
*we learned the hard way that broad-leaved evergreens do not care to be sprayed when it is well below freezing.
Comments Off on Frustration in Gardening
Finally Wednesday, Mar 26 2014
gardening and Modern Photos crocus, gardening, photography 09:51
It is trying to snow right now, but a few crocus by the foundation did bloom yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to take their photo, so this one from two years ago (and some twenty days earlier on the calendar) will be a stand in. ‘Snow Bunting’ is an appropriate name.
Comments Off on Finally
Acair Fearann 