Morning hike

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

World War II Memorial, Washington DC 2019

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence ?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated,

but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the

British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.

He served in the Congress without pay, and his familywas kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General

George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.

The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.

Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and

silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

Highway 2, Upper Pennisula, Michigan 2018

Glory Days!

front left: rosemary, eggplant & cukes; front right: yellow & red beans plus red onions

First ever cauliflower!

Transplanted fig to sunnier spot

Lettuces

Peas & red onions

Molly's peonies

Persian mint & Virginia Sweetspire

Climbing New Dawn rose on deck, veggies to the right

New Dawn climbing rose, hydrangeas

Trampoline!

Gardening Bliss

Molly's hummingbird favorite fuchsia with New Dawn climbing rose

The sweet peas inching up

Short-lived but grand peonies

Almost finished pansies

Jim's basil seedlings getting a late start

Biggest surprise-blooming French thyme!  'Only ever had the odd thyme blossom, til this year!

Molly's African daisies with lobelia

Chives in foreground, achilea, climbing clematis, Siberian Iris and peonies is background

Outdoor Tonics

Photos thanks to friends from springtime hikes and their awakening gardens during the quarantine:

From N & T, Duluth, Minnesota, while walking the trails near their home:

 

Tulips

 

Rock painter's woodland

 From P., Fairfax, Virginia, early spring garden mystery plants:

Presumed weeds but are in fact sweetferns, a type of fern

From E., Reston, Virginia, my master gardener friend who can 'paint' with flowers and knows their Latin names to boot!

In-progress rock garden

Diantus & alyssum

Dogwood in all it's glory

Garden update May 7, 2020

Back garden-azaleas, Siberian iris & annual flowers May 2020

Siberian Iris, African daisy, azalea

Front garden with varieties of thyme cascading onto driveway

Detail of Elfin (creeping) thyme

Varieties of thyme between stepping stones

Onion & shallots, raised bed replacing azaleas killed by black walnut tree's juglan

Ligularia, sorrel, creeping jenny "Goldilocks"

Quarantine Gardening

How our plants ideally will eventually look

The first week of 2020, when the coronavirus was a vague, faraway story out of Wuhan, China, I began gardening indoors in northern Virginia.  Over Christmas I'd read about how to create Forest Air indoors, in "Skogluft: Norwegian Secrets for Bringing Natural Air and Light into Your Home..." by Jorn Viumdal.  He proposes creating a wall garden for good health.  I set about corralling the supplies, starting with the wall frame from Bed, Bath & Beyond, the potting soil, and
the golden pathos, which Viumdal contends is the perfect plant as it absorbs maximum impurities from the air, with minimal upkeep. 

Over several weeks I bought 12 little golden pathos, some from Ikea (not so hardy) Wegman's, a chain grocery store-a little better, until finally the best-and most expensive plants- from Merrifield Garden Center.  The plants purchased there in late March were far better than those bought in January. So I started the new year with a more contained garden in mind, less demanding, pretty, but low keyed.
By late February our outdoor garden started waking up from it's winter slumber.  First the snowdrops, then crocuses, hellebore and daffodils.  Our middle daughter came over and cleared out the tomato and cucumber vines from the four raised vegetable beds.  Our thirteen year old granddaughter topped the snowball bushes and son-in-law Abel began weeding the seriously overgrown sections of our garden from a more moribund 2019 gardening year.  Their generous gift of labor for our garden prepared the way for a new focus.

 

 

 By this time President Trump had blocked air travel from China and a nursing home in Washington state had several deaths.  Increasingly panicky reports filled the airways then quarantining began.  We concluded we should do something different in the garden this year.  

To formally kick off this impending change, Abel buzzed through the weediest parts of the back garden, constructed another raised bed, added topsoil plus mulched the surrounding beds, all done during his vacation-that he and our youngest daughter plus their two children had originally scheduled for for a trip to Ireland.  Ireland's loss was our garden's gain. The Year of Vegetable Garden had begun.

The first new raised bed replaced the dying azaleas suffering from Black Walnut toxin

March 25th, the new raised bed planted with shallots and yellow onions

When we lived in England every autumn French farmers would sell fat bunches of strung onions.  I fell in love with their simplicity.  When we lived in North Dakota we had no problem raising enough onions for braiding loads of strung onions that we hung in the root cellar over winter for even new homes in North Dakota have root cellars!  We've not repeated that luxury for 35 years.  We pray 2020 may re-establish that tradition.

Late March-the Virginia bluebell bed gets bigger every year!

Making time for a backyard quarantine birthday party for Molly

Lettuces, kale, chard and arugula plus bean, peas & cucumber seeds in five back garden raised beds

chard & arugula

Cauliflower

 We plan to plant the premier vegetable-tomatoes mid May.  The watering, feeding weeding, prodding, watching and savoring is in full swing!

And the Skogluft is growing!

Family visit Columbus Day Holiday 2019

Left to right: Carol, Claire, Isaac, Jim, Anna, Catalina, Molly, Caylon, James & Rocky 10-16-2019

Caylon & James, with only ambient light, Washington Monument, around 8 pm

Caylon & James, admiring sandstone variations, Washington Monument

Caylon & James morning coffee Oct. 11

Caylon

Sunday morning Bolivian style breakfast

Washington DC Marina

Isaac & Lucas enjoying the Marina

Jhonny, Claire and Isaac strolling to the Washington Monument

World War II Memorial