Thursday, September 10, 2009

A Stroll Through Town...

With the season winding down and my impending 9-5 schedule looming, I'm fitting in as much fun as I can with friends. A rendezvous in Clinton is always a perfect choice. Tree-lined streets, quaint shops, restaurants, art museum, sidewalk bands...what could be better.

You'll see this Red Mill often on my blog...it's one of NJ's most photographic subjects. Soon to be the Haunted Mill....an annual fundraiser that helps with the upkeep and operation..going on it's 200th year! Wildflower fields around town...



It saddens me to see this 'Closed' sign up for the duration.
Wouldn't you want to come home to these pretty front porches...
One of the many churches in town. Interesting movie trivia...this was the cemetery used in the ending scene of 'One True Thing'...remember with William Hurt, Meryl Streep...a tear-jerker!
We spent all afternoon laughing and giggling like teenage girls! And a long stroll through town was just what we needed after indulging in a delicious lunch...with desserts! Diet, what diet?? Girlfriends are the best!!
I would've taken more photos but my camera conked out. Next time....

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

I was up before dawn and had been blogging for a few hours when movement in the garden caught my eye. A family of three enjoying the all-you-can-eat buffet. They feasted on green beans, tomatoes, and their favorite, daylilies! A quick snap with the camera before I banged on the glass to get their attention. Yep...they just glanced at me inconveniently and went back to chewing! So out I went to shoo-shoo and they leapt the 6ft. fence effortlessly. I'm sure they'll be back for a midnight snack! Arggghh!
As summer slowly winds down, the growth cycle for some plants are beginning to cease but still provide much interest in the garden. Like this 'Niobe' clematis, with it's cool fuzzy seed heads. Just as pretty as the colorful blooms....I think.

Monarchs are still flitting about. They are the prettiest of butterflies, don't you think? And until I had the macro feature available, I'd never realized their bodies were polka-dotted. Unlike some of the Tiger Swallowtails...whose wings can get tattered...Monarchs always seem so perfect.
The tiny buds/blooms of the Beautyberry bush is not something you would notice easily, but macro-size it, and it's quite pretty.Every branch is loaded with berries, all along it's length. Soon they will turn a brilliant shade of purple. A few hours in now, (and I'm still blogging!) I noticed this guy crawling down the window pane. The numbers on his belly confused me for a second 'til I realized it's from the rim of my lens...lol!I think grasshoppers are cool but this guy's kinda creepy looking! Maybe because his armor is not the friendly shade of green! I wonder what he's thinking as he's watching me watch him.
Late blooming, 'Fire King'....one of my new daylilies. I like it alot but he looks very similar to Bright Sunset. Anyone grow Chinese Lanterns? A neat perennial but, be warned, they spread like crazy! Also known as ground cherry (Physalis alkekengi). They are considered poisonous so that may explain why they are not commonly grown. I did pinch back all the leaves on these stems so you can see the pods better. After I took this photo, I pulled out 30 plants to make room for the mums hiding underneath. They'll look great in dried floral arrangements. Cute that bottom pod is heart-shaped ;) I hope you all have fun family plans for this holiday weekend. Be sure to take your much deserved break and enjoy what September has to offer in the garden.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Meme You Didn't Know....

So my adorable and funny friend, Wendy, who enjoys gardening in her sleep, has tagged moi for a Meme! I'm to share 7 things about myself that you may not already know. I won't go all insightful or deep, instead, aiming for a few chuckles! Here are 7 random tidbits....

1. I'll admit that I'm perhaps a fairly messy person....in that my home is NOT spotless...GASP! I've never caught the Spring Cleaning Bug...ever! And I don't do closet organizers! If you could see my kitchen island this very second..well, actually, you can't. It's a floating island of stuff! Piles of mail to open, bills to pay, magazines to recycle, school forms to fill out, pantry items to put away. Oh, and a pair of sandals, keeping out of Bandit's reach. But, hey, there's order to my chaos so don't touch! And speaking of closets............fugeddaboudit!!
Just kidding! It's not this bad...yet! (Photo courtesy of the Internet)

2. On the other hand, I am religiously neat with my Daylily Journal. Facts recorded include cultivar, parentage, height, bud count, prolifs( if any), date of first/last bloom, number of seeds collected and every other nonsense in between. I'm considering including comparison graphs and charts from year to year...don't laugh, I'm NOT KIDDING!
3. I'm a yarn collector extraordinaire. Bags and bags of beautifully colored skeins at the ready. Different weights and textures~be it wool, worsted, cotton, synthetic...anything goes! I collect them from Michael's, Walmart, high end yarn shops (ka-ching!), garage sales (practically free!)~you name it! The mentality of 'if I don't buy it now, it'll be gone' is what gets me into trouble. What am I making you ask? A blanket big enough to wrap around the whole wide world!Hmmm...maybe I better stock up on a few more...
4. I think in shorthand. Uh...excuse me? Shorthand, you know.... a form of speed writing. Taught to secretarial types waaaay back when! A course in high school and I was hooked. As I sit here typing this, I 'see' each word in shorthand strokes...weird, I know! I'm reminded of sitting in an office on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center taking dictations from my boss and I was actually writing faster than he could talk...lol! And, of course, my diary is in shorthand...oops, secret's out!

5. So that you don't think I'm completely dull...I love to play video games. Particularly Ms Pacman on my...ahem, daughter's...Game Boy. Love it sooo much that my left arm does NOT fully extend! Hours upon hours of locked elbow position will do that! I play it at the theatre (waiting for previews), sitting in traffic, on a plane, in a train, walking the dog, etc...Sick I tell ya! Anyone care to a challenge?!

6. You probably know this one...I love to dance! If I could do it all over again, I would demand dance lessons as a toddler (and I'd rock that tu-tu, too!) Continue my merry way through dance academy and earn lots of moolah dancing my life away! Nowadays, I get by with my ZUMBA classes, night clubbing, and even car dancing! Yep, I'm the tappin' her foot, drummin' the wheel, head-boppin' NUT that you pass on the road. And heck, yeah, you can still shake your bootey sitting down! Okay, admit that you do this too ;)

7. Silly me, but, I don't easily give up my real age! Funny that I passed for 35 a good 5 years before neighbors caught on (right Debbie J.?) Trick answers to the "how old are you?" question includes: "Um...celebrating the 24th anniversary of my 21st Birthday!"~"Just 39 (loudly), plus 6" (softly). When the person you're answering has to do the math, it takes away the shock of the real number...lol! When I start looking like the oldest freaken' 45 yr. old on the planet, it'll be time to come up with another 'trick' answer...tehehe! And how is it that I'm celebrating 23 yrs. of marriage? I was a really young bride...yikes, remember those 80's style pouffy sleeves?! So there you have it~7 tidbits that, hopefully, didn't make you like me any less! But, just in case, I'd better leave you with a pretty garden photo so you'll come back! I'm passing this Meme on to the following bloggers. If you're too busy and don't have the time, or you just don't enjoy being tagged, that's alright, too! But this was fun for me so I'll look forward to your posts.
The guidelines are:
1. Link back to the person who awarded this Meme to you
2. Reveal 7 things about yourself
3. Tag 7 other new bloggers and link to them
4. Let each blogger know they've been chosen by leaving a comment
5. Let the tagger know when your post is up

Have FUN!