Recent Reads

One of the many joys of my retirement has been having time to read.  Murder mysteries are my current favorites, after many years of following science fiction. My most recent mystery discovery is author Cara Black.  She writes of a young woman investigator in Paris of the mid 1990’s.  Each of the three books I’ve read so far focuses on one of the ethnic minorities of that great city: Murder in the Latin Quarter (Hatians); Murder in the Marais (Algerians); Murder in Belleville (Jews).  Her depiction of the ancient/modern city that is Paris is constantly entrancing.

I’ve also been reading Simon Winchester.  My sister had suggested Krakatoa several years ago and I just got around to it.  Enjoyed it so much, and learned so much, that I then read The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything, both about the development of the Oxford English Dictionary.  The Map that Changed the World was also a good read, about the first geological map.  Winchester’s Outposts was interesting, but definately with an agenda regarding Britain’s treatment of her remaining colonies.

Ones I didn’t finish:

Salaman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence – slow going and too fantastical for my tastes

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – excellent, but I got distracted toward the end; may have to check out again

Have a good Summer – and READ!

The Problem with Low Hanging Fruit

 

Flower Rows

Low Hanging Fruit

Caught in the Act!

In the ’90’s, when I was in IT, the buzz around our shop was ‘go for the low-hanging fruit’.  The resident box turtle at our community gardens brings that phrase back to real life.  We found evidence mid-week that he/she is still in the area – and well able to determine exactly when a tomato is ripe!  Yesterday I caught it in the act – but by the time I got back with my camera, she’d done an ostrich in the straw.  You can just see her tail peeking out below the mangled tom.

At the Garden

What makes the garden grow

Magic sight!

Beginnings

The avalanche is beginning!  Cabbages are almost done and the tomato and pepper plants are loaded!  We had a few ripe toms before 4th of July, thanks to garden guy insisting we plant before the last danger of frost.  Now everytime we visit there’s something to pick! Yum Yum Yum!!

Fun Fourth

Dan Springs’ Target Audience

Way out in Charles City

3/4th’s of Cedar Creek

Weather for the Fourth of July here in Richmond town was perfect – sunny, breeze, 80’s.  And plenty to do!  I missed our local pool parade as I was vending at South of the James, but plenty of spirit on parade at the market!  At least until around 11:30 when everyone left en masse for picnics.  I headed home shortly after 1, unloaded the car, lunched on fresh peaches, then headed into the wilds of Charles City county for sound guy’s gig at the Blue Heron.  Who would have guessed there’s a marina out there off a back country road?  So now I know how to get to the Chikahominy River.  The band, Cedar Creek, was excellent, the company was great, and dinner was seafood at its best. The t-shirt (bought for me by my guy!) is even fun.  May have to go back!

Links:

Cedar Creek Band – http://www.thecedarcreekband.com/

Blue Heron at Rivers Rest Marina – http://www.riversrest.com/

Postcard swap: “Recycle”

Mend and Make-do

The Virginia Consortium of Quilters fabric post card swap is in full flight!  Next month I’ll show you some of the variations on our theme of “Recycle.”  Meanwhile, here’re a few of what I sent out, based on a British slogan from WWII – Mend and Make-do To Avoid Buying New. 

The photos are miscellaneous cabinet card flea market finds. The base of the cards is a large piece of canvas sealed with gesso, then a couple Collage Podge layers, topped with stitched strips of fabric. The photos were transferred to vintage hankerchiefs using Transfer Artist Paper by Lesley Riley (http://www.transferartist.com/).

Views of Lewis Ginter

The Conservatory

Lily and the Dancing Water

Flutterbyes

View from the Treehouse

Waterside Lilies

Pitcher Plants

It was a lovely sunny day last week when we visited Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, one of Richmond’s treasures.  Since my last visit a year or so ago, they’ve planted hundreds of rosebushes and water lilies all around the lake.  The bog garden was much lusher than I remembered, and the butterfiles in the conservatory were a delight.  If you’re in the area, be sure and stop by.

Days Rushing Past…

Father’s Day

Computer Class

Peppers!

Better Boys

At the Gardens

Ginter Treehouse

Summer is here, and the days seem to be rushing past at an increasing clip.  So here’s the staccato abridgement: 

Father’s Day – we were thrilled to be able to celebrate with my 90 year old Dad! 

I’ve done two classes recently with sisters from my PEO chapter on computer basics – we focused on e-mail, cutting and pasting, and working with photographs. 

With all the rain this Spring, our garden is doing great!  Picked our first tomatoes yesterday, and a cabbage.  One of the tomato stakes pulled over from the weight of the green fruit!

Daughter Julia and I took the grandkids to Lewis Ginter Botanical gardens Wednesday to see the butterflies!  Not sure who had more fun – them or us: fanned by the 3″ wings of blue morphos; playing in the dancing waters; viewing the world from toilet-paper-tube binoculars.

Cucumber Festival!

Cucumber apron and pennants

Jars of Fun

Dolls with Yarn Hair

This Saturday at the South of the James Market its a Cucumber Festival!  The vendors have been encouraged to support the theme, so I’ve made a cucumber pennant string for my tables and a cucumber apron to hold my scissors and change!  Should be fun!

Also have a few new items for inventory – sold the first yarn-hair doll last time out right after I put it on the table!  In an effort to reduce my button stash, I’m trying out these jars of buttons, which include some beads and a gold cord for string them.  Now for good weather on Saturday!

Kittens!

Felix Checking out Lily

Lily with Kittens

Felix Grabbing a Snack

Now a Bath

Come Back Here!

The kittens are four weeks old now, and very mobile.  Mom Geo is doing great with them.  Lily says they tickle, and she was thrilled (almost as much as me) to have a chance to play with them for a few minutes.  Most of the time they’re baby-gated in the bathroom area, but they’ll be climbing out of there soon!

They all have kitten names, which may change when they go to their new homes.  But for now, there’s Felix (sherbert and vanilla), Midnight (all black – did you guess?!), Tina (for her vigorous vocalization), Moses and Nacho, (both ginger tabbies).

House Finch Story

Nest Location

Four Eggs!

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

Three Hatched

All Hatched!

Ready to Fledge

Faithful readers may remember that a couple of years ago we had a family of House Finches nesting in our porch light.  Once they’d finished with their last clutch, we cleaned it out and blocked their entrance.  The next Spring they came flutting about again, so Bird Lover built them a shelf behind the light.  That didn’t work out, as the grass kept falling out.  The wrens went elsewhere that season.  So then he put sides on it, and this Spring they decided it would do. 

Above you can see photo’s from their first brood!  The momma wren lays an egg a day until she gets up to five, then she starts sitting on them.  This time, she got up to five.  Then the next morning there were only 4!  Oh no.  The next morning there were five again – but one of them did not match.  BL did some web research, and determined a cow bird had slipped one past momma wren.  We never did identify a different looking baby bird – so don’t know if it hatched with the others.  Several weeks later I took the last photo show above – then leaned closer to see if I could count the birds.  They all flew off at once!  That was it for the first nestful.

Last week she started again – one egg a day.  She’d gotten up to four.  The next morning, they were all gone!!  No signs of egg shells or anything.    Thinking back, my husband remembered hearing some scuffling late the night before. We suspect there may have been an owl attack.  Sigh.  Maybe they’ll try again.