Ks Are Wild

I’ve been reading The Secret Garden to Kosette and Kellen a little bit here and there and explaining the plot in detail as we drive to school in the morning.  Well, I happened upon the soundtrack at the library and we have been enjoying it while in the car.  There were a couple songs that I could remember and sing off the top of my head before refreshing my memory such as Lily’s Eyes and Come To My Garden but I had forgotten about two of them that I quite like now that I’ve become somewhat of a gardener – “Winter’s On the Wing” and “Wick.”

Today, despite the cold, bite to the air, the daffodils are blooming strongly, the pussywillow’s catkins have burst open, the tulips are headed up, and the maples are impersonating the cherry blossom trees with their salmony colored tender leaves unfurling like blossoms.  Winter is on the wing….we can feel it.  And so do the customers, because work is buuuuuuusy.  In all of your day-to-dayness don’t forget to “stoop and feel it and stop and hear it”….all those little signs of life swelling on branches and emerging through the earthen crust…this cursory time in season’s transitions.  It’s fun to find those bitty signs of life.  Before gardening, all I really knew was it’s cold so it’s still winter, but since we have warmish days here and there and I knew spring was coming.  Or I’d see the daffodils bloom and know it for the obvious sign that springtime is near.  But now my more trained eye is attuned to so much more.  It’s like someone gave me these magical glasses that I can slip on and now I can see all the secret things that other people are oblivious to (I see dead people = I see spring coming).  There’s no going back now.  My visual world has been forever changed and winter no longer feels so long now that I can note its passing with each bud swell or seed germination.

The Secret Garden Cast – Winter’s On The Wing Lyrics

DICKON:
Winter’s on the wing,
Here’s a fine spring morn’
Comin’ clear through the night,
Come the day I say.
Winter’s taken flight
Sweepin’ dark cold air
Out to sea, Spring is born,
Comes the day say I,

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

And now the sun is climbin’ high,
Rising fast on fire,
Glaring down through the gloom,
Gone the gray, I say.
The sun it spells the doom
Of the winter’s reign,
Ice and chill must retire
Comes the May say I,

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

I say, be gone, ye howling gales,
Be off, ye frosty morns!
All ye solid streams begin to thaw.
Melt, ye waterfalls,
Part ye frozen winter walls.
See, see now it’s starting.

And now the mist is liftin’ high,
Leavin’ bright blue air
Rollin’ clean ‘cross the moor
Comes the day I say.
The storm’ll soon be by
Leaving clear blue sky,
Soon the sun will shine,
Comes the day, say I.

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

Tee hee.  Totally juvenile but, come on, how fun would it be to serve this phallic shaped pepper up?  Maybe with the tip sliced off?  Or with the knife served sticking out of it?  How bout with a side of cherries and kiwis?  I wonder how big they get.  Yeah, now I really want to grow them since they say they’re spicier than a jalapeno.

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100+ days. Capsicum annuum. Plant produces good yields of 2 ½” long by 1″ wide penis shaped peppers. Peppers are mildly hot and turn from green to red when mature. Plant has green leaves, green stems, and white flowers. United States Department of Agriculture, PI 593566. A variety from the USA. Plant Height: 24″ tall. pk/10

If you really think of the year in the term of seasons, and the daylight length, and the plants that grow/bloom/ and epitomize those seasons, then Winter solstice is really the beginning of spring.  From December 21st onward the sun marches its way up into the sky staying around longer and longer each day until the equinox when it spends equal amounts down and out.  This is my way of prefacing a post I wrote back in MAY of last year but never got around to actually posting.  They are mid to late spring plants/shrubs/trees.  So understand, that this is coming from someone who is writing in the dizzying colored height of spring when I was practically playing a game of bingo for these things as I drove Kosette to school each day.  Why am I publishing now?  I want to clear out my cache and because I’m convalescing in bed.  Sometimes it’s nice to see a bit of color when you’re in the drollness of winter.  Although, I will admit that now that I garden, winter is a nice break from gardening. Plus, my more learned eye can spot the teeny signs of life, some perennials emerging from the ground, the patch wider than the year before, or teeny buds on my elderberries.  My cats have dug up a nice fat clump of daffodils.  Damned cats.  I swear, they do more harm to my garden than anything else.  Gotta love ‘em or else I’d wring their necks.  Wait, was I talking about the kids or the cats?  Just kidding.  Or was I

There’s a lot of cool stuff that grows in Oregon; plants with which I’m unfamiliar because they need the coolness of winter or require a lot of water so therefore, weren’t in LA.  Occasionally, I’ll see an awesome specimen and go “What is that?!”  And then I’ll start noticing it all over and feel like an idiot for having never noticed it prior.  So what might be a mundane, urbane, plant for here seems almost exotic to my droughty, xeriscapic, homeland.

In the past month or so, I’ve fallen in love with those flowering plums or is it flowering cherries (Still don’t know the answer to that previous post), the red flowering currants, euphorbias (because they look good practically all the time), the big leaf maple tree, and now pink flowering dogwoods.  I find someone who knows what it is and then I find out as much as I can about it.  The lilacs are all blooming too so they’ve been turning my head.  My daffodils are nearly gone, the tulips are all in bloom, some now past their prime, 3 of my 4 lilacs are blooming, and the wands of wisteria are opening up.  The roses are budding up, the elderberries have big blossom buds developing, and my tall bearded irises are starting to unfurl at their tips.  Oh, and one of my clematis (Mrs. P.J. Truax) just bloomed.  And my peas are over 2 feet high now.

I wish I had some peonies though.  Bowl of Beauty – It certainly is.

(Yes, I’ve finally come to embrace the color pink.)

It’s a crime to be without them because they do so well here and are such an icon of late spring and harbinger of the summer to come.  Besides, I like having plants that I associate with friends or family members and evidently, peonies were Kham’s Great Grandma Welte’s favorite flower.  I grow a couple of huckleberry shrubs in honor of his family and our wedding (his grandparents carried a large container of them all the way from Spokane, Washington to top our wedding cheesecake with)

as well as an oakleaf hydrangea ‘Alice’ (after my Auntie Alice),

and Maureen tulips,white (Niece of my grandma).

There’s a Lavon peony (name of my grandma on maternal side, and grandpa on paternal side), so I’ve toyed with that but I have limited space and “it’s not my favorite” – to use my daughter’s expression.

When I do finally purchase a peony it will be from Adelman Peonies since they are a local, independent, family owned grower and I’d like to support their business.  Plus, their stock is wonderful and I had the pleasure of wandering their fields last mother’s day weekend.

I already talked about that pink flowering tree in another post.  Still waiting on an id there.  So onto the next thing that caught my eye – the red-flowering currant.  It turns out it’s a native shrub which is an added bonus.  This thing has been blooming it’s full head off for over a month and is still going strong.  Kosette’s school has a lovely specimen featured in their butterfly garden.  The birds seemed to seek refuge their in the winter and are now active about its branches.  They provide the first nectar of spring to returning hummingbirds.

Yep, definitely going to make some room for that one somewhere.

Big Leaf Maple or Acer Macrophyllum:  Another native – SCORE!  There’s one in the “forest” behind our house, it turns out.  It’s not as nice as a couple I’m in love with that lean over the road in a very picturesque but dangerous way, but nice to have one so near nonetheless.

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/bigleafmaple.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_macrophyllum

http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/nativeplants/Acer_macrophyllum.html

I realize now, in trying to find pics of it on the net, that I’m just going to have to take a shot of what I see.  It reminded me of the old Banyan Tree in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.  And before the leaves grow big, the huge panicle clusters are most of what you see on the branches and it is absolutely spectacular; like a gigantic hops tree with the hops cones bigger than Wisteria blooms.   These pics also don’t convey the giganticness of the leaves; thus, its name “Bigleaf.”  I need to pull over and pick a leaf to show the scale.  It seems like the equivalent of three of my hands with fingers spread wide open.

As for the flowering dogwoods, there’s one at Kosette’s school becoming encompassed by a nearby pine, but that has cute almost lemon yellow with a green eye flowers.  And there’s a salmon pinky peach one about town that is fantastic.  Unlike the light pinks of the flowering cherries/plums or the dark pinks of the crabapples, this pink screams a salmony pink against the grey skies.  There is no missing it.  Don’t know how long they bloom but I’m sure going to enjoy it while it lasts.  Don’t think I’d grow one either because I think they are plagued by anthracnose disease problems, but I’ll appreciate them in the yards of others.  All the pictures I’m seeing online are clearly pink so I don’t know whether it’s a different variety I’m looking at, the effect of the color house behind it, or the lighting so I’ll try to take some pics myself.  Here’s a site, that I stumbled upon for lots of good pics and info: www.paghat.com/dogwoodpink.html.  And here’s a pink one I found online to give you an idea:

We were in the thick of fall colors round these here parts until the recent rains came and knocked most of the leaves off the trees.

From a distance a tree could look almost entirely awash with color, but if you walked up to said tree, bush, or grass and looked closely, you could witness a brief moment in time during the big chlorophyll shift. It’s pretty durned cool. The tree in front of our house, was all yellow, then turned mostly orange, and then mostly red, then a deep purple all in a few weeks time.

Here’s a shot of a few leaves of the tree flanking the other side of our house. It was just in the beginning of its shift. On the opposite side is a tree of the exact same cultivar, with nearly identical lighting, but an entire 2 weeks behind the other one in its shift. Fascinating….and so fleeting.

Cypress? Tree in our backyard shifting to “red”:

We could really use a positive id on this tree of ours. Looks redwoody too.

This is a picture of a new type of Coreopsis (tickseed) called “Red Shift”. I took a few shots of just a few blooms that were on the same plant at the same moment of time. Pretty cool huh?

Hosta shifting to brown from fall frosts:

Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea:

It always blows me away how something so inconspicuous and boring in another season, when I think, why would anybody grow that?….can look absolutely fantastic in the fall (or early spring, as in the case of forsythia).  I wish I knew my trees because there are a lot of them that I love the look of in the fall.  Here are some pics I took about town that just happened to be on the main route that I take Kosette to school.  Please forgive their quality as they were taken through my windshield as I drove.  Please shout out the name if you know them so I can start learning my trees.

A large stand of miscanthus:

Did you know that blueberry bushes turn red in the fall?  They’re actually a great plant for edible landscaping.

Did you know that the heads of sunflowers droop over when fully “ripe” with the weight of their seeds?  I didn’t until I grew them.  I thought something was wrong initially.  Doy!  It wasn’t until we visited a pumpkin patch and saw gigantic ones (like 1 foot across blossoms) doing it and seeing the birds pick out the seeds that I figured it out.  This city gal’s learning lots of commonplace knowledge for those blessed to live near their food sources.  We pass by a large stand of sunflowers as I drive Kosette to school and we’ve watched their entire life cycle progress.  Pretty cool.

As much as I love fall, I have learned a couple things that I don’t like about that season here.  First, the duration of glorious fall color is shortened due to rain knocking the leaves off the trees prior to when they would normally release from the boughs.  It is very difficult to rake sopping wet piles of leaves, especially when they are matted down atop your mixed perennial landscape.  You have to remove them from said landscaping or else they will kill your lawn or thyme, etc. from lack of light.  Also, they can harbor a lot of insect eggs, especially slugs.  Lastly, leaves on the lawn make finding the dog poop darned near impossible to scoop up.  It takes me three times as long and my eyes are tired with scanning and I miss a lot because some piles are under the leaves.  Not something you really think about prior to owning a dog.

I can’t help it.  Whenever I see these “fancy” Turk’s Cap pumpkins…..:

……I think of a baboon’s ass!!!:

Am I right or am I right?!  So to me, they’ll always be dubbed, Babboon Ass Pumpkin.  I know, I can be so juvenile sometimes.  But tell me honestly, it made you smile didn’t it?  Then I guess it was worth telling you.  And I bet you will always remember that image whenever you see those pumpkins, and in a weird way, think of me.  I’m honored to somehow have baboon asses associated with the memory of me.  On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t have shared that one

In Los Angeles, rhubarb wasn’t exactly a vegetable you’d see in the grocery markets, and if you did, it was measly, meager selection, rare, and expensive.  My dad is from the Midwest and he would always RAVE about it, and how it made the best pie ever, and whenever he’d have the opportunity to order it off the menu, he did.  With great, dramatic oohing, aahing, sighing, bragging he’d extol its virtues trying to tempt us into sampling it.  He’d really get us going to the point where we would ask for a bite; only to be bitterly disappointed.  I’d fall for it every time and keep on taking tastes, but the taste never appealed to me.  I always thought that it must be a Midwesterner thing like salting your melons and “warsh”ing your clothes.  I’ve noticed that people who like rhubarb, LOVE rhubarb.  At the nursery where I work, people just clean us out of our plants.  By the way, it’s a perennial (a plant that grows back from the roots each year, getting bigger and better with age) and the leaves and stalks can get humongous, with the patch growing at least 2-3ft. tall by the same width.  The stems look like giant red celery, and when cooked, it’s a dark pink in color.

Closeup of young rhubarb stalks

Emerging from ground, leaves starting to unfurl

Well, ladies and gentleman, I have changed my mind.  I love rhubarb now!  At least the way Herma made it.  She made a giant batch on the stovetop a couple months ago and I obediently tried a skeptical taste.  With a teeny flick of my lizard tongue, my eyes bulged in surprise!  I don’t know, maybe with age and maturity, my taste buds have changed and become a little more worldly and epicurean. Knowing my dad was visiting in a couple weeks I asked her for a tupperware’s worth that I could freeze for him as a surprise so he could enjoy while here.  I’m embarrassed to say that it never made it into the freezer as I kept sneaking “just one more bite” until it was gone.  Bad daughter!!  But when he did come we bought some more at the Farmer’s Market and tried recreating it for ourselves.  It came out perfectly.  I shall have to stake out a spot in my garden for my own permanent patch come next spring.  But then I’ll have to wait a whole other year before I get anything sizeable.  Boo hoo.  I’m salivating just thinking about it.

When cooked it resembles vomit with little intestinal worms thrown in, no?

Rhubarb a la Herma Recipe:

Ingredients:

8-15 rhubarb stalks

1 can of Hawaiian’s Own frozen juice concentrate flavored Mango, Passionfruit, Orange Juice

1/4 c. juice of choice

Optional: additional sugar to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trim leaves off stalks and wash stalks thoroughly.  Cut plant stub end off.
2. Cut rhubarb into 1/2″-3/4″ slices.
3. Throw into big pot with a lid and add maybe 1/4c. max of fruit juice like apple or berry-ey so it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan from its sugars.
4. Gently simmer around 10-15 minutes, or until all the rhubarb is soft enough you can smoosh it with your wooden spoon.
5. Hand mash with potato masher or use those electric emulsifier hand mixer things.
6. Add entire can of Hawaiian’s Own Mango/Passionfruit/Orange frozen juice.  Stir until melted and incorporated.
7. Taste, add more liquid juice or sugar to get desired consistency and sweetness and simmer to melt it in.  I thought it was plenty sweet without additional sugar.  Those frozen juices can have a lot of sugar already in them.  Besides, I don’t like things ultra-sweet, which is perhaps why I now like rhubarb.

I prefer mine chilled to frosty stage in the fridge or freezer like a sorbet almost.  But my dad loves to spread his on toast or drip over vanilla ice cream.  I think this would be awesome to dress a pork loin with and maybe a baked beans with maple syrup and hamhock type side and collard greens sides.  Especially for you So. Cal-ers – I bet people will spend the whole time trying to figure out that mystery sauce.  It is most frequently paired with strawberries.

Here’s some interesting facts about rhubarb I found on whimsicalkitten’s blog: http://whimsicalkitten.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/rhubarb-rheum-palmatum/.  This is her writing, not mine:

1.  Rhubarb has been used medicinally for centuries as a laxative, antiphlogistic (counteracts inflammation and fever), and homeostatic in the treatment of constipation, diarrhoea, jaundice, gastrointestinal haemorrhage, menstrual disorders, conjunctivitis, traumatic injuries, superficial suppurating sores and ulcers. It is also applied externally for thermal burns. I am not suggesting that you self medicate for any of the above conditions with rhubarb unless you know what you are doing, particularly as rhubarb leaves are poisonous.

2. You can use rhubarb to clean your pots and pans, an application of rhubarb over the afflicted area will apparently bring back the shine and is environmentally friendly too.

3. Rhubarb is a fairly strong dye that can be made into a rinse to lighten hair colour for those with light brown to blonde hair, hhmm I may give that one a miss, I can smell disaster looming.

4. Rhubarb leaves (did I mention the leaves are poisonous?) can be used to make an effective organic insecticide against any leaf eating insects (e.g. caterpillars, aphids etc.) boil a few pounds of rhubarb leaves in a few pints of water for about 15 – 20 minutes and then use the solution to spray the plants but keep it away from your children and pets it is harmful - I fully intend to try this concoction out as my brassicas are annihilated on an annual basis by hoards of very hungry caterpillars. Grrrrrrr.

5. Rhubarb has inspired art, music and poetry (and blogs!!) - check out John Cleese’s ’The Rhubarb Tart Song’ and James Graingers rhubarb inspired paintings.

6. Scientists have discovered that sodium oxalate which is found in rhubarb leaves can be used to convert environmentally damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) into four harmless components – sodium chloride, sodium fluoride, carbon and carbon dioxide – but don’t ask me how.

7. Rhubarb being a fiberous plant can (and is) made into paper.

My favorite season used to be Fall.  I love the scents and colors and the temperature, how you can practically smell the start of school by the nip in the air….Maybe I just liked it because it was the first break from Los Angeles summers.  When I didn’t have to sweat at nighttime too.  Of course, fall in LA doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving.  In fact, the first few months were always the most MISERABLE time of year heat wise.  I couldn’t learn in the suffocatingly stuffy swealtering sweaty heat in class.  My brain kept on fixating on how uncomfortable I was.  I kept on trying to distract myself and focus elsewhere, thinking about my lack of meditative skills, worrying how I’d be during childbirth if I couldn’t stop fixating on this little pain.  My point.  I think Fall is falling on the wayside, to be replaced by Spring and its emergence with the daffodils dawn.  Of couse, I’m sure I’ll be extolling the virtues of Fall and have changed my mind back by then.

Not only do the pastel colors of spring go fantastically with my Aubergine (that’s eggplant in french) colored home, but  we Oregonians get awfully excited about the rain easing up, the sky clearing to blue, the warmth and heat of the sun, and the start of the vegetable gardening season.  I believe that my  growth as a gardener is the main contributor to my change of heart.  I now see Spring in all its glory.  I don’t just notice that it’s getting warmer and maybe I should change my bedding to the light down comforter or to my quilt.  I actually notice the small changes in nature around me.  Not just that the trees are getting leaves, but which trees leaf out first, from lilac budding, to maple seed pods and their twirly release, to the willow catkins popping, …and I know the name of plants, and I’m getting a feel for their seasonal succession.  First snowdrops, then daffodils, then tulips, then lilacs, then iris, then sweet peas, then roses…  Now I understand why I’d see certain flowers always paired in vase together – duh, because they’re in the same season.  But now I get it.  I really get it.  Now I know why certain flowers were so expensive for the florist.  And one of the coolest things about having this knowledge?  I watch my flowers bloom and wave in the breeze and think of the song from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. I understand the visual puns and lyrics so much better.  That was always my favorite part in the movie, well that and the field of daisies when she talks to her cat Dinah.  I’ve found myself humming the tune as I garden recently.

Flower song from Alice in Wonderland:

Here are the lyrics:

Lily:Laaaa…
Violets: Mimimimi…
Marguerite:Lalalala…
Snap-dragon:Hahahahahahaha…
Marigolds:Poem, poepoem, poem, poempoempoempoem….

All flowers:
Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips,
and the sun is like a toy balloon.
There are get up in the morning glories,
in the golden afternoon.
There are dizzy daffodils on the hillside,
strings of violets are all in tune,
Tiger lilies love the dandy lions,
in the golden afternoon,
the golden afternoon.
There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede,
where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead…
You can learn a lot of things from the flowers,
for especially in the month of June.
There’s a wealth of happiness and romance,
all in the golden afternoon. …
All in the golden afternoon,
the golden afternoon…

Alice:
You can learn a lot of things from the flowers,
For especially in the month of June.
There’s a wealth of happiness and romance, oh…
Flowers:…the golden afternoon!

I haven’t been posting much recently, especially about personal stuff.  We’ve had big things going on here – Earth Day is big in Corvallis, Kosette’s gone on a couple big field trips upon which I’ve helped, I got a puppy, and I started working again (first time since having kids).  I’ll have to write about all those another time.   This time I wanted to share this quote I saw on a trivet tile at Miss Jenny’s house the other week.  It slays me.:

“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific. — Lily Tomlin

I am sooooo feeling this quote.  Actually, that is so me.  I clearly remember first being asked that question in nursery school.  I remember it because I felt a dismay that kids had a) given it some thought already and b) “knew” their answer  then I felt panick as my turn grew closer and closer and I still had absolutely no idea.  I said something like “I don’t know” and felt like crying because I was the only one who didn’t know.  Jump ahead 13 or 14 years and I had the same stunned fear.  I couldn’t choose a college or even begin thinking about them because you choose one geared to your major interests which would lead to your professional interests or further schooling.  I was no closer to knowing my answer then then I am now.  Some days I still feel like crying because I don’t know.  What I did know is that I had life goals not career goals.  A JOB was part of my life goal list but it was way down in priority.  Understand the distinction?

I wanted to fall in love with someone and have them love me back, I wanted to marry that someone, I wanted to have babies with that someone, I wanted to own my own house, and have a dog and of course, cats.  I didn’t have career ambitions.  I still don’t.  But I wasn’t the kid whose goal was to be a mommy.  I didn’t want the pressure of bread winner, but that of supplemental income booster.  Whatever I did professionally, I wanted  to do to help us live our life.  But I didn’t want to hate it.  My dad always said, “You spend a third of your life sleeping, a third working, and a third doing everything else…You sure as hell better love what you do.”  And, I didn’t want to have kids, only to have someone else raise them.

I hate the pressure behind the question of “What do you do?” or “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  There’s an expected concrete paying job format to the answer.  Anything else makes me feel like I look like a white trash loser, slacker, who loafs around just eating bon-bons and watching soap operas and writing blogs.  Especially when I go home to LA where the worth of a stay-at-home mom is definitely undervalued.  At my 10 year reunion I could see their interest in me and my life shrink to nothingness as they tried to politely edge away when they heard I had not one but two kids but didn’t have a “real” job to otherwise validate me in their eyes.

Right now, I’m something.  I’m a wife, mother, homemaker, dog trainer, carpool driver, who works at a nursery on the weekend.  I’ve been personally satisfied with this role.  My dissatisfaction has come by other’s dissatisfaction with me in that role.  What’s wrong with that?  My mom chose to stay home with us and raise us and be the mom to us that her mom wasn’t.  I’m tremendously grateful to have had that experience.  We were lucky, very lucky.  But she made that choice in the height of the feminist movement, and it was not a very popular choice at the time amongst her peers.  I am a proud, loud, feminist, and I’m glad I have the choice, but I find myself understanding a bit of the self-consciousness and second-guessing oneself that my mom may have felt back then.

My 20 yr. reunion is just 5 years away.  Will my answer be enough to satisfy those Los Angeles classmates who are all in the industry in one form or another?  Will my answer be enough for me to be satisfied?  To feel 100% proud and confident in the choices I’ve made?  Can’t “someone” be enough?  Shouldn’t the title of “mommy” be enough?  I feel so.

I’m just needing the personal contacts that one makes by being employed.  And now that we’ve stayed put for a while I’m making friends and acquaintances in the community.  I’m getting a little more involved.  Kosette being in school has helped my social life immensely.  Mainly because, the people that chose to send their kids to her school have similar sensitivities, beliefs, cares, and interests to mine so I get along with them well.  It’s not just “Oh she’s a mom too so you ought to become friends.”  These are cool people – cool moms AND cool dads.  Corvallis is just cool.  And I’m liking my job.  I’m learning a lot and enjoying being around people with similar interests and vasts stores of knowledge and experience in the gardening world.  I just have sooo much to learn.

Anybody recognize this quote from American Beauty? – Fantastic movie that I own that’s good to rewatch now and again to give yourself some perspective on life.

I have so many moments like that here in Oregon.  Fall used to be my favorite season but as I’ve become a gardener and better recognize plants and their itty-bitty beginnings or emergence and reawakening from winter, I’m starting to love Spring.  Besides, Fall plants aren’t a very fragrant bunch.  Spring air is loaded with fragrance – blossoms of trees, daffodils, narcissus, hyacinth, Daphne Odora, sweet box…

Around these parts the bright yellow Forsythias are finishing their blooms, the trees are dropping their blossoms, Daphnes are still going strong, and Daffodils are on their way out just as the tulips are coming to their peak.  But because I planted my daffodils a little late in the season, many of mine still look excellent.

There’s a deciduous tree that is used extensively in landscaping around here for both homes and businesses and lining the streets. It flowers pink in the spring and has black/purple foliage for the rest of its leaf life.  I don’t remember whether it changes color in the fall.  My point is that, despite its commonplaceness (something I try to avoid), I am in love with it.  I really want one for my backyard next to the veggie garden to block views to the neighbors.  The blossoms really make the air sweet and they are incredibly gorgeous against our grey skies.  I think it would look stellar with our plum/wine colored home nearby.  I thought it might be a Thunderchild or Royal Raindrops crabapple but their blossoms are too dark a pink.  These are clearly light pink.

All of these pics were taken from my moving vehicle.  So please excuse the framing and quality.  These aren’t even the best specimens about town but by the time it occurred to me to take them, they’re not looking as perfect anymore.

Used to line the streets by a school.

Maybe a different type of tree? Starting to lose the petals.

After they've lost most of their petals.

Drifts of petals in driveway

Lots of different types of Magnolias are in bloom too.

The blossoms don’t last long but I’ve been savoring the view every morning I commute to my daughter’s school.  It’s been a few weeks now and the blossoms are floating down and pooling like pink snow drifts.  The other day as rain approached and the clouds dimmed the sky the wind kicked up and swirled the blossoms around in little funnels and I stood stock still mesmerized by the ribbons of color in the currents.  The scene from American Beauty when the boy shows his home video of the plastic trash bag bandying about in the wind lept to mind.  I completely understood his line, “Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”

‘Tis a wonderful thing to be inundated with tomatoes.  I really wish my dad, my Uncle Dave, and Auntie Alice could be here to taste compare too.  The frosts were coming so I harvested everything, even if it was too early.  I had 8 paper grocery bags of green ones ripening in the garage, and bowls, bins, and platters of them ripening on our sunny dining room windowseat.  For the past few weeks I have been freezing them and incorporating them into everything I make.  When it was my week to bring snacks for Kosette’s class, they snacked on an assortment of tomatoes for three days straight and loved it.  Evidently, even the kids who normally won’t eat them, tried them because they were curious about the novelty of some types (Green Zebra and Ananas Noire which is rainbow colored and sorta looks like a calf brain when you slice it open).  I’ve provided for neighbors and sent bags to Kham’s boss and vegetarian coworkers.  It has been bounteous.  However, I haven’t wanted to give away as much as I thought I would.  We really can eat a lot of tomatoes around here; Kosette especially.

I thought I’d share some of our favorite recipes for tomatoes that I’ve come across, and/or altered, or created myself.  I’ve also now become enough of a cooking/gardening nut that I actually went to the library to check out books specifically for tomato and bean recipes.  I’ve now grown enough and cooked enough that I can see which ones are best suited for which purposes.  We’ve also done a taste-off with Kham, Kosette, and myself (and Herma) to see what the verdicts were for this year’s varieties and growing season (just because it didn’t taste good this year doesn’t mean it wouldn’t taste good next year if we got more sun or heat).  I also learned which types did best for ripening off the vine if picked green.  I think I’ll do the taste-off results in a separate post with lots of pics.  I also think I’m going to break up the tomato recipes into separate posts as well.  And I think I’ll start with the recipes as that is what is most needed/desired right now for you fellow tomatoites.