All Purls. No Swine.
Technically, I missed it. In 2024, the first day of Spring came yesterday--a day early--on Tuesday, March 19 (blame the leap year. And the almost-pneumonia.) But it's arrived. Someone apparently forgot to tell the gods of the Weather Channel, though. While we've had several days in the 60s, and a few in the 70s over… Continue reading Happy (Roughly) First Day of Spring!
I don’t really like olives all that much. But I adore the idea of olives. And olive groves. And the Mediterranean. The stories by Peter Mayle and Carol Drinkwater. The presence of olive trees, olive oil, olive wood, and of course “olive branches” in our mythological, literary and cultural traditions. And the history of an ancient industry that has… Continue reading Food and Drink Post: Olive Me
I just picked the first of this season's dandelions and brought them inside as a treat for Miss Bunny. Doing so reminded me of this post, from almost exactly a year ago, and of how much I love this season: Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close emerging, As if no artifice of fashion,… Continue reading Harbinger
https://youtu.be/8iwBM_YB1sE David Austin, PBUH (this is the US link; it's originally a UK firm) says that they've been shipped at exactly the right time for planting in my plant hardiness "zone." (My zone number is somewhere between 6A and 6B--worst case indicating that the temperatures in the winter might go down to about -25F, or… Continue reading I’m So Excited–My New Roses Will Be Delivered Tomorrow!
Gotta say, there were a few times, this past winter, which was hard, cold, snowy, and icy to an extent I’d almost forgotten winter could be, when I was a bit worried. But it’s here: https://youtu.be/goAo5dC8P1s Note: The United Nations General Assembly (barf) has designated March 20 as its “International Day of Happiness.” So today’s… Continue reading Happy First Day of Spring!
Mr. Right was fond of saying, at the time of change of seasons, that there was always a day when you could "tell." A day when a hint of frost told you that Winter was here, or a day when a certain damp chilliness announced that Summer had fled and Autumn was on its mellow… Continue reading Spring, 2021
Bee Swarm Soirees: Check. Done for the year I think. Net gain of two hives, neither of which came quietly. The first congregated around a fence post (actually on a "dropper" between two fence posts). After my neighbor Randy helped scoop them into a five-frame "nuc" hive, I left them for 48 hours to settle,… Continue reading The “Rights” of Spring