Hydragea, the tree

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hydragea, postaday2015, rain, sunny

   
    
 
What a difference a day makes. I am jealous of my mother’s hydragea tree, it is so gorgeous! I have my own hydragea in my backyard, but so far it hasn’t shown any indication of blooming anytime soon, maybe later on in August? I don’t know. My mother asked me to take pictures of her tree and send them to her, I was very happy to oblige, I fooled around with perspective, getting down low and in corners of her front yard, it’s a little tight so I didn’t have much room to maneuver but I like what I captured.

   

  

Deluge in New York

Tags

postaday2015, rain, weather

  
This is actually nothing really compared to what I was in, when I was driving from Boston down to New York, the rain was coming down in sheets, at one point it felt as if someone was throwing bucket after bucket of water at the windshield, blinding me despite having my windshield wipers on full speed.

I’m not complaining by any means, we have had just the right amount of rain, more than enough sun and not too much heat, aside from this past week which has been a scorcher, we have been lucky.

I look to my gardens and everyone is happy, the roses continue to bloom, my marigolds are getting thicker, I have cut back some other perennials and they got thicker and piut forth more buds, ready for round two of blooms. I am definitely having a great growing season.

   
 
   
 
  
Purple is doing phenomenally well this year. 

Boston is sweltering

Tags

Boston, heat, postaday2015

   
   
It is so hot today in Boston, I passed three babies, in their strollers, their poor little heads were damp with perspiration, babies don’t sweat, they are too cute to sweat, they perspire. I wanted to put a fan on their little necks, their adorable little arm rolls and leg rolls keep the heat, I was so happy to see them minamally dressed, they all had bottles of water. Hydration is key in heat, everyone must hydrate.

   
    
 
I walked along Commonwealth Avenue for a bit, it is one of the prettiest avenues in Boston, I passed one of the hundreds of Public Alleys of Boston, I don’t know why they intrigue me so, perhaps it’s because I can see potential stories coming out in their history? I don’t know, I think they are a cool part of Boston’s lore.

  
   
    
 
I turned left from Commonwealth Avenue and walked to Newberry Street, the street known for its chic restaurants and chic boutiques. I stumbled onto a discovery, Teuscher Chocolatier, my favorite chocolate maker in the world, I thought they were exclusive to New York, but obviously they aren’t. Hooray! Not that we buy chocolate often, it’s a once a year extravagance, but so very worth it.

 

I ducked into a Starbucks to cool down with a huge iced green tea, like I said, must hydrate. 🙂 

The South End of Boston

Tags

Boston, postaday2015, Restaurant

  

I had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant B & G Oysters, I started with guess what? Oysters! I tried three varieties and my favorite was the local variety from Wellfleet MA, they were small in size and briny, that is how I love my oysters, when I can almost taste the ocean as I am slurping them down.

The main course was a delicious and light Halibut ceviche with a chorizo vinaigrette, picked cherry tomatoes and sliced radishes. Ceviche means fish cooked in an acid, the vinaigette was the acid and I adore seafood and chorizo sausage together, the spiceness and saltiness pair incredibly well with both seafood and shellfish. I barely spoke a word during lunch, I listened to the conversation around me, while I ate and ate until everything was cleaned off my plate.

I am glad I thought to take pictures of the South End area of Boston, it is so lovely and different from the usual neighborhood we stay at which is near the North End. I love the beautiful, old world brownstones highlighted by beautiful plants, vines and gardens, I can almost imagine being in London when I walk around the South End. Trees, gardens and plants make gorgeous companions to brownstones. Isn’t it so lovely?

Another new lily (thanks birds!)

Tags

lily, postaday2015, rose, upright phlox

  
   
 
Between the birds and self-seeding plants, my garden sometimes looks a little chaotic. If you look at the second and third pictures, you will see a deeper, smaller apricot lily to the right of my reddish pink rose bush, they were the orginal pairing. Sometime during the past two years, the upright phlox decided to spread their domain and planted themselves in the midst of my lily plant. This year, surprise surprise, I have a new light apricot lily blooming right in the middle of the original lily and her new friends the upright phlox, talk about having a party. The coneflowers are transplants as well, they were planted over to the far right of this whole party scene, I guess they felt left out of a good thing.

  
  

Ant-Man: a movie review

Tags

Antman, movies, Paul Rudd, postaday2015

  
We loved it, loved it, even in 3-D, normally I’m not a huge fan, but it worked so well here. I laughed, squealed in empathetic stress for our hero, dodged and weaved, jumped a few times and laughed again. 

It was a great Marvel movie and Paul Rudd is an excellent superhero. Ants have never entered the ick arena for me, other insects yes, but ants are different somehow. When I was in Costa Rica, I was fascinated by the Leaf Cutter ants, they are amazing workers and architects, deligent in their work habits and almost inspirational by their committment to their community. The movie gives a brief entomology lesson which I found fascinating, I hope the kids did as well, we need more scientists and insects are an important part of our global ecological system, we are all links in a great chain that binds us all together.

I als hope that kids will embrace the message that size often doesn’t matter, intelligence and teamwork are huge pluses in any problem.

Go see it, it was so much fun!

Oh Jack, Jack, Jack

Tags

garden, Jack, piglet, postaday2015

   
 
Jack is the epitome of pigletness, I tell you. Jack decided to go out this morning tomato picking, I caught him lying on this rug, sphinx style, gently nibbling on his tomato, his first harvest. I surprised him, of course, when I crept over to take a picture. The little nut!

His newest thing with Lulu, after they finish having their 3 o’clock vittles, Jack stands underneath her mouth and licks her teeth clean, he then walks over to the water bowl to sip out any little crumbs she leaves behind after drinking from it. He is unbelievable.

  
 In other news, after we had a good laugh about Jack and Lulu, I went to go squash and basil picking, my husband had a few ideas for the basil. He made a superb pesto using our fresh basil, a huge bunch of it, three different cheeses and good olive oil, he dressed some fresh tortellini with it and it was delicious. The basil was the star, its flavor so aromatic, as my tastebuds were embracing its herbaceous flavor, my nose was compounding the sensation, both were appreciating my husband’s pesto. 

Once you have garden fresh produce, it really changes how you perceive our food delivery system. It is so hard to go back to supermarket tomatoes after spending a summer eating your own off the vine. 

Tomatoes are turning towards red

Tags

postaday2015, vegetables

   
 
As soon as I got back home, unpacked the car, said hello to Jack and Lulu, put things away, watch General Hospital, I got my iPad, went out back and started to document how my vegetables have grown.

My tomatoes are coming along very nicely, I picked a cucumber, two heads of lettuce and my husband picked a green pepper, I think it was actually a poblano pepper. My husband loves making his salads, what is especially nice about having a garden, is going outside, twisting a ripe head of lettuce, grabbing a cucumber, a pepper or two and soon, as many tomatoes he likes in his salad, coming back inside and throwing it all together. Of course after washing and drying everything.

   
    
 
   
   
As you see I am awash in yellow squash, however I recently read about pickling squash instead of pickling cucumbers, I think I’m going to do that, I have a plan of action, well at least for one vegetable. lol

Sunny New York

I am running out of juice, but I wanted to show you sunny N.Y!

Daily prompt: Finite creatures

Tags

death, dying, postaday2015

At what age did you realize you were not immortal? How did you react to that discovery?

My memory has become very hazy in the last few years, but there are certain moments that remain crystalline clear; one of them answers this particular prompt.

When I was five, my mother gathered me on her lap, we had just received a huge package from France full of cool stuff for me and my sister, she explained as best she could that my great uncle  was no longer with us and he had gone to heaven. I know that I wrapped my little arms around her neck and cried and cried. The gifts, presents from my great aunt whom I loved so much,  she missed us just as much as we missed her. 

The next memory of that day is me in bed, my single bed facing the window in the room I shared with my little sister, she was still in her crib, she wasn’t yet two at the time. I can see the Triboro Bridge in my mind to this day, it’s beautiful at night, all lit up. The only thing I got from my mother about my great uncle’s death was he was no longer here. She said he was in heaven, but that didn’t mean anything to me, all I knew was he was gone. I remember trying to wrap my little mind around the concept of not being here, it was so hard to do.

I tried to imagine never waking up again, sleeping forever without conscienceness, it was impossible, but the thought was still scary. 

The thought of me being done scared me then, it scares me now because I’m not done with life. I still have stuff to do, stuff to see, people to love and food to discover. Oh yes, words to write. 😀