Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
Let's compare weather!
>
Weather - What's YOUR weather today? (Part ONE - Started Sat., March 14, 2009) (Let's keep this going.)
Our weather today was eighty six; seventeen degrees above normal. My plants looked tired except for the bright faced pansies that are brimming over the hanging baskets on the fence. My garden is full of clematis, azaleas, geraniums, ageratums, roses, hostas, hibiscus, petunias, lavendar and begonias. Sometimes it is a riot of color. I love having my morning tea in my garden while listening to the birds sing. nina
Sounds beautiful, Nina! Did you put in the pansies, geraniums, petunias, and begonias yourself? Those are the annuals. I know the others you mentioned are probably perennials and come up each year by themselves, but someone has to put the annuals in each year. Where do you buy your annuals?I decided last year not to buy so many annuals for my deck. I get so tired of watering them. I'll probably miss them. I might buy some bigonias because they don't demand much care. I'm referring to the wax bigonia, not the tuberous bigonia.
The wax bigonia looks like this:
http://www.flowerwower.com/begonia.jpg
The tuberous bigonia looks like this:
http://www.learn2grow.com/plantdataba...
Joy, As for the cancer risk... ... isn't everything? It's not like I bathe in them. Mom's been handling them for decades without any problem. They're a great way to keep mice out of boxes in the barn & critters from eating stuff, so I can't imagine a dog eating mothballs. They're also a great source of nitrogen for the plants.I did get the mothballs out last night, but I think it was too late for one pepper plant. It's leafless. The other is barely touched, though. They are different kinds. It was the sweet banana pepper plant that was eaten. The green bell wasn't touched. Weird.
Nina, we had really hot weather yesterday too. It was 85 or so & we've been in the 60's mostly until then. Very weird. We have most of the same flowers in our gardens, too. The roses & clematis are just going wild blooming now. My house is a modular home that was stuck in the middle of a field just 5 years before we bought it. Except for a few trees & bushes, the previous owners hadn't done much.My son & I walked around the gardens last night. He was asking a lot of questions. He just bought his first house & has seen this one every 3 - 4 months since we bought it 4 years ago. It was really a neat experience for both of us since he can now really appreciate the changes, especially this time of year. Bushes & flower patches that looked lonely &/or pathetic are now bushed out & many were in bloom. The empty purple martin house is now filled with a second that's half occupied, as well. They were chattering up a storm & the gold finches were swarming all over thistle feeders. They're so bright & pretty right now.
It was interesting what especially impressed him. Some bushes that were just sticks a few years ago & had looked funny because they were seemingly in the middle of nowhere have now filled in their areas pretty well were one thing he kept commenting on. He was interested in how, when & why I pruned them, too. Another was how I planted some things in a variety of places & then moved them around to suit or what had done well, where, & why. For instance, I planted 2 dozen strawberry plants (a cheap deal from Burgess) & they all died except 1 that spread out over an entire garden as a ground cover with bushes & plants growing through it.
Later we hopped on the horses bareback & rode around the rest of the farm with Marg. We had a great time. It's so cool when your kids grow up to appreciate all the work you've put into a place & are more like friends than your kid.
Jim, I agree about the kids growing up and appreciating what you've done. They also are more apt to listen to your advice. In other words, they MATURE! Our oldest son just turned 50 this year and he's taking my advice and planting wax bigonias. (He was never interested in flowers or plants before now.) I told him that wax begonias a BARGAIN!Here are some of the things I wrote to him about wax bigonias:
=========================================================
WAX BEGONIAS are the BEST all-purpose flowers there are!
The leaves of the wax begonia look waxy and the flowers are small.
Wax bigonias don't take much care. They can survive even if you forget to water them. They're good in the sun or the shade. They're the easiest flower I know for outdoors. (But indoors they're messy because they drop their dead blooms all over.) Besides all of this, they're very attractive. The red ones stand out a bit more than the others which are pink or white.
They make an attractive border. Are also pretty in clumps. I advise red ones. Or mix with white. (First check for the usual date of the last frost in your area. Plant after that.)
They last well into the fall and bloom continually! After you plant the sprouts, they flourish and grow into bunches that are surprisingly large. The bunches always look the same. There's never a downtime. They don't mind the shade. Really a wonderful little flower, hugely under-rated, IMO.
They come with either green leaves or reddish-brown leaves. I like the reddish-brown leaves. I think they show off the flowers better than the green leaves. But green leaves are fine if that's all they have.
BTW, in my email to my son, I wrote the following about TUBEROUS BEGONIAS: The flowers of a tuberous bigonia plant are much bigger and more luxurious (than the wax bigonia), but the stems will snap and break easily, especially in a strong wind. They're good for a quick decoration in the house, if you're having company, because they're so bright and lush. Buy them in a nursery or florist, maybe Walmart or supermarket as well.
We used to have a lot of wax begonias, but haven't had any in years. Marg isn't much on indoor flowers (& we've run out of space for them, anyway) & I'm not much on bringing annuals in. I've thought about getting into them again several times, though. One of the things I loved most about them was even after they got knocked over & beat up, I could re-root sections easily with a cup of sand & water. No Root Tone needed. They'd just take off & grow big & bushy quickly again.
Yes, Jim, wax begonias are spunky little things.
Yes, Joy I planted everything myself with the exception of the ones in pots; hibiscus, gardenias and a couple of the 10 inch pots of geraniums that are sitting in bottomless ice cream chairs. I had planted forty tulip bulbs last fall. I have an enclosed garden with one wall being our house and otherwise it is fenced with a gate at one end. The floor is bricks. I have baskets of flowers on the fence which is painted a teal blue. It truly is a charming area. And I really bought my plants everywhere; lumber yard, hardware store, Home Depot, Nurseries and grocery stores. nina
Nina, that sounds so lovely! Where do you get all your energy? Did you start early this year? I suppose, because your spring comes earlier in Kansas than ours in NY, the nice weather can be a great motivator.We've had only a few good days here. I mean days good enough to take pleasant walks in mild temps with no chilling winds. I've sunned myself in the yard a few times.
Today I took a walk with Romeo. The weather is glorious... in the 70s and sunny. All the gardens are blooming. And about time too!!! All I've done so far is try to clean out the leaves from among the pachysandra. Not sure if I'll be buying many plants this year. Maybe a few bigonias.
Of course, Eddie has been mowing the lawn on his new rider mower. We had a boy come and clean the brush from the yard. That made things look much better.
I started my garden in March with pansies and then the tulips came up a couple of weeks later. we had a strange spring; first even in the eighties in Feb; then cold again but fortunately not hard frost. But, to be absolutely safe petunias and geraniums and hibiscus can't go out until the first of May and sometimes on Mother's Day.But, our spring does start fairly early; probably like where Jim lives. My roses are blooming and the lilacs are almost through. Azaleas are finished for the season but the climatis is lovely. I read in the paper today that dragon begonias are especial nice and will cover at least three feet. nina
Nina, you make me wonder why I don't move south (where there's a much shorter winter). Here's a link to an article about Dragon Wing Bigonias:
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/ar...
It says: "This plant is not our mother's begonia."
This is the first time I'm hearing about them.
Nina, you DO keep up with things! It's great!
We've been in the mid-80's until yesterday. A brief storm rolled in bringing 1/16" rain & dropped the temperature 20 degrees in as many minutes. A couple of hours later, it was back up to the mid-70's, where it stayed until 9pm. I took the day off because I'm so far behind on chores. I did the yearly maintenance on the tractor & then got the fields mowed. I had to break for a couple of hours during the storm & the grass was pretty wet & slick afterward, but I finished up anyway. I got done about 7pm.
Then we had dinner before going out & loading up Marg's truck with a dozen bales of straw. I put them on pallets in the back of her truck & put a tarp over it all. She's going to the Bluegrass Terrier Trials today. They use the straw for some obstacles.
Nina, you seem to get the same weather we do, but a bit earlier. How are your bushes doing? We've had a really odd blooming & leafing year. 2 of my azaleas are done blooming & one just started a couple of days ago & is doing great. A line of 6 rose-of-sharon bushes had 4 leaf out fine & two (not together or on the ends) leaf out several weeks later than the rest. Our butterfly bush is still leafless as is the miniature crepe myrtle, while the regular crepe myrtle started leafing out a week ago. I have two wild plums out of two dozen, that haven't leafed out, although their branch tips are still pliable.
Are you having similar oddities? We had the same spike in temperatures early on, then the cold again. Today we're in the lower 60's with rain.
Hope Marg has fun at the Terrier Trials. Is she participating?
Joy, Thanks for the NY Times list. It is interesting to see what's new. I am having a fun weekend; first went to BOOK launching party for friends of mine whose newest middle age for kids mystery in now out in print.The title is, "Bridge," by Lawrence and Suella Walsh. They have published many of these type books before this one. It was a fun party with several of my long time writer friends in attendance. Then tomorrow I go to a celebration party for our Pulitzer prize winner friend. I am fortunate to count him as a friend; Zhou Long for Composition. One of my daughters just left for ID; back home for her and so these occasions ease the sadness to see her leave. nina
You once asked how they picked Coeur d Alene ID as their home. I guess it was partly because my son in law had been entertaining in ski resorts in the Alps before coming there and this small city was voted to have the best resort in the country at that time. And another son in law lived close by with our grand children so they thought it would be good to be close to them. As it turned out my son in law eventually teaches French at a high school in Coeur d Alene and also night classes in the college and my daughternow that her children are raised is a children's librarian at Post Falls, ID. They live in a beautiful area; large lake surrounded by snow capped mountians and a charming town with hanging baskets and I will soon visit there. nina
Jim, my daughter says the her Jack Russell will take on mad cows, Rotweilers, and Pit Bull but is terrified of bunnies. Does that seem to be the way with your Jack's? nina
Nina wrote: "Joy, Thanks for the NY Times list. It is interesting to see what's new. I am having a fun weekend; first went to BOOK launching party for friends of mine whose newest middle age for kids mystery i..."Nina, I can imagine how hard it is to see your daughter go back home to ID. When will you see her again?
Here is the book you mentioned: Bridge by Lawrence Walsh
I went to Wiki and found the following about Zhou Long (I imagine the GR page is about the same Zhou Long):
================================================
"Zhou Long has been a citizen of the United States since 1999 and is married to the composer-violinist Chen Yi. In 2011 he won Pulitzer Prize in music for his opera "Madame White Snake," premiered 26 February 2010 by the Boston Opera.
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Long
==================================================
Here's an article about him from the Kansas City Star:
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/18/...
"Zhou Long, a professor of composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, has won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for music."
I remember now that you told us about Zhou Long. On April 19, you said, in the Movie thread:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Today was a bit exciting for me. An acquaintance of mine(we used to be neighbors) just was awarded the Pulitzer prize for music composition(It was for an opera.) Fun to actually know someone who won it. Besides that he is a talented humble very nice person. So glad he won it. nina"
...
"Yes, it is Zhou Long. I have never seen him not smiling. He had such a difficult life during the Chinese Revolution; had to work in the wheat fields as did his wife. Their triblulations are known to their friends and it is miraculous that they achieved such success in their lives. The article didn't mention it but his wife also won a world renowned prize as the best composer of music in the world. They are truly an amazing couple. They were my neighbors when we lived in the condominium three years ago until we moved to where we are presently living. nina"
FROM: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...
(Messages #429, 432 & 434.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I remember that you told us about Zhou Long because after you told us, I wrote to our son to tell him. My son works at the Metropolitan Opera. He's a sound engineer. Small world.
Nina wrote: "You once asked how they picked Coeur d Alene ID as their home. I guess it was partly because my son in law had been entertaining in ski resorts in the Alps before coming there and this small city w..."Nina, Idaho sounds beautiful! You're lucky to be going there soon.
The authors of the book, "Bridge," as I mentioned, are friends of mine. Three years ago they lost a daughter to cancer. She left a husband and three young children; one a toddler. My friends sold the home they were then living in and moved close to their son in law in order to help raise the grandchildren. They are very nice people and I wish them luck with their latest book. Their daughter had articles published in major magazines during her illness in order to help others going through this ordeal. She was quite brave as are her little children. nina
Nina wrote: "The authors of the book, "Bridge," as I mentioned, are friends of mine. Three years ago they lost a daughter to cancer. She left a husband and three young children; one a toddler. My friends sold t..."That's very sad, Nina.
Yes, it is sad but the children seem to be getting along quite well thanks to their caring father and grandparents.
Depends on the JRT, Nina, but generally, yes, they don't care how big something is. That's why Harley is down to 3 legs. She told Cutter, a 16-3 Thoroughbred ex-race horse not to crowd Marg. Cutter smacked her with his front hoof, which probably weighs more than Harley.Pixie isn't very brave, but we call Amber our little shrew. She spent hours in a brush pile trying to get something, probably a coon, & came out without half her lower lip. We could see even her gum had been chewed away. The other animal never came out, though.
Yes, Joy, Marg competes with Pixie & Amber. While both got some ribbons, Amber won champion of her division in racing. They also did lure coursing, super & regular go to ground, barn & woods hunt, & the agility - Amber off lead, Pixie on. Marg was well pleased, but is now exhausted.
It rained off & on all day, but was a good temperature; 65 to 70 most of the day. I didn't get much done outside while she was standing outside all day.
Glad to hear that the dogs did well. Congrats to Amber (and to Marg too) for winning her division's championship.We had Romeo shaved down at the groomers last week. He looks like a different dog.
Rainy again today & cooler. It's only 52. That feels chilly after the hot, dry mid-80's we had last week. I might see about breaking up a bunch of lilies in the hillside garden & seeing what volunteers I can move around. We have some tiny asparagus plants coming up under one of the pear trees & some blank spots in the bed. It would be cool if I could move them, but I've never had any luck doing it before.I'm also going to make up a couple of peanut feeders for Marg & Erin to drop off when they go visiting in June - one for Mom & another for James. I cut & glued up the end pieces yesterday. They're simple to make, just a 3" diameter tube of 1/4" hardware cloth with a piece of pipe in the center & wooden caps on the ends. The peanuts sit between the internal pipe & the hardware cloth. Only woodpeckers, blue jays & such can break into the peanuts.
We've been seeing even more woodpeckers since I put the peanut feeder out. Each year we've seen a lot of Downy woodpeckers. This year we're seeing more Hairy & Red-bellied woodpeckers. We usually occasionally see one or two Red-headed woodpeckers, but this year we're seeing them daily. The Piliated woodpeckers never come near the house, although we see & hear them in the woods.
Congratulations on the JRT win. Years ago I saw my first race with those terriors. It was thrilling watching those little guys almost fly down the track.nina
Jim, we have had a very strange blooming season this spring. Our blooming trees of which there are many in this area were through blooming by the first week in April except the magnolias were about a week later. My azaleas were good until this past week. The clematis is still blooming, thank goodness. My rose bush is full of blossoms. But, after two ninety degree days last week it is fifty one today and in the forties at night so in goes the two gardenia bushes and petunias and hisbiscus to my solarium. Brrr.Fortunately, one of hibiscus is in a pot and also the gardenias. The other flowers; geraniums, pansies and impatients seem to survive.
Speaking of birds, I watched a Cardinal take a bath in our birdbath the other day. I stood frozen at the kitchen window for fear he would fly away. Such a precious sight to see.
We went down to 42 last night. After all the rain this weekend, it only amounted to an inch or a bit less. I don't know how that could be. Yesterday it was wet all day. Yuck.Nina, that's how ours has been. Our rose bush is doing really well, too. I'm guessing the super cold we had over the winter put a hurting on some of the bushes. We don't normally get down below zero & we had a few nights that cold this year. All the rain has also made a difference.
Joy, You should have seen me take a bath at the dog track the other day!
Arnie wrote: "Joy, You should have seen me take a bath at the dog track the other day!"
We're taking a bath today. It's POURING outside.
How much $ did you lose, Arnie? :)
Jim: I think our bushes were affected by the cold too. Our forsythia bushes didn't bloom fully this year. Don't know why. They're usually pretty hardy.
Just kidding, Joy---can't pass up a good straight line. I DID do quite well once--I went to Atlantic City in a $5,000 car and came home in a $50,000 bus!!
Arnie, that's what you call "looking on the bright side".
Was it a female cardinal? We are fortunate to have them hanging around here; even in winter. They look so pretty against the snow. Enjoy her while you can. nina
I think it was a male cardinal, Nina.
The females are brown. The males, a striking red.
Yes, I know. I love the bright red! Females have a little red.
Wet & cold this evening. Started out at 43 & barely got past 50. This evening is another day like Sunday - no real rain, just lots of mist. It's raw out.
Jim, Our weather is supposed to improve by Thursday so perhaps it wiil be headed your way soon after. nina
It was damp here too today.
I hope it dries up soon. It will be 2 weeks since I've cut parts of the lawn. The grass isn't growing quite as quickly without the sunshine, but it is still coming along well. Marg is happy because the north field was looking a bit bare & is filling in nicely. I wish I could afford to fertilize & over-seed, but that's just crazy now. Since I last did it in 2008, the cost has gone through the roof & it was way high then.Still ugly here today, although not as cold. We didn't get much measurable rain for all the wet. It was 46 at the house this morning & might hit 60. The rain isn't supposed to clear off today, but tomorrow should start in the mid 50's & might hit 70 with clouds, no rain. A nice trend.
Another cloudy, damp day here too. Haven't been able to take the nice spring walks I was looking forward to.Seems the cost of everything has gone up. Frightening for people on a fixed income.
Joy, I checked you out on Facebook. Such nice pictures of you both then and now and a good looking family. To say nothing of the dog. What a cutie. nina
Oh, boy, Nina. Are you on Facebook? (Yes, now I remember.) Thanks for the compliments. I've been completely sucked into Facebook! I'm connecting and reconnecting with my sisters' children and grandchildren. I'm discovering great-great nieces and nephews! Whew! They're keeping busy. I love seeing them in photos!
Joy H. wrote: "Another cloudy, damp day here too. Haven't been able to take the nice spring walks I was looking forward to.Seems the cost of everything has gone up. Frightening for people on a fixed income."
You're absolutely right about the cost of everything. I feel it most at the grocery market.
We're supposed to eat healthy and shop the rim of the market where all the unprocessed food is, but it's getting more difficult to by healthy and economically at the same time. Processed food, even with all its extra ingredients, is cheaper than whole foods. If I were to make a macaroni and cheese from scratch it would cost 4 or 5 dollars. I can see why people would buy the box of Kraft for $1. It's a problen for which I don't see any relief.
Katherine, I didn't realize that the unprocessed food is at the "rim of the market". Now that I think about it, that seems to be the case.
You can't make mac and cheese for one dollar but I think you can easily do it for less than five dollars from scratch. You don't need an entire pkg of dried mac(therefore you can make it again); one half pkg of the small package of velveeta will work. Melt three tablespoons butter and mix in two tbs of flour and add slowly some milk to make a roux; add the half velveeta cheese cut into chunks. Stir until melted. Then pour over cooked and drained macaroni. Put in small casserole and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for half an hour. This is far better than a package of Kraft and not that much more expensive as you can duplicate this with the rest of the ingredients at a later date. nina
That sounds good, but I always use sharp cheddar insted of Velveeta. I have always done it like that; too old to change, I guess. That must be why the cost higher.Thanks for the tip.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
Books mentioned in this topic
The Glassblower (other topics)The Paradise of Glass (other topics)
The American Lady (other topics)
Heavens to Betsy!: And Other Curious Sayings (other topics)
The Green Road (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Louise Penny (other topics)Petra Durst-Benning (other topics)
Anne Enright (other topics)
Anne Tyler (other topics)
Jane Gardam (other topics)
More...
Jim, I'd be afraid of putting moth balls out because the dogs might try to eat them. Some states have outlawed moth balls because they're carcinogens. Here are some links about moth balls:
http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/mothballs...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothball
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/heal...#
http://www.physorg.com/news70042017.html