Simplifying my Life

Five orchids and now four taking on a new life as compost.  The one I am keeping has sent up two new stems with one growing out of the cut-off stem from last year. 

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa from New Zealand, one of my favorite opera stars

Public TV station WILL over in Champaign-Urbana was doing a fundraiser offering various gifts for contributions at certain levels.   The station was showing Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday Celebration Concert featuring celebrities such as Sarah Brightman, also one of my favorites and the first Christine in Phantom of the Opera  who was married to Webber at one time. The concert was spectacular so I decided to give at a level to receive a video of the concert. 

Most of the performers were unknown to me.   Kiri Te Kanawa from New Zealand took my breath away.   Here she celebrates her 67th birthday in song and videos that span her life to include pictures of her kayaking in New Zealand.   She and her husband adopted (Kiri is adopted) two children both of whom are adults -- sadly her husband left her after 30 years of marriage.  Though an international and beloved diva, she has not had an easy life. 

THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS by Jan Phillipp Sendker

Gretchen recommended The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillipp Sendker.  The author writes a  story about two young people who fall in love in Burma.  Julia and her mother find a love letter written by Julia's father to a woman who lives in a remote village in Burma.  Julia decides to travel there to learn about her father's past and coming to terms with his mysterious disappearance.   The love story between a sightless young man and a cripple is astoundingly beautiful.  

A Day of Sorrow

The killing of 20 kindergartners and 6 adults today in this tranquil New England town has devastated me. 

The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States  Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.

What are we going to do?  Years ago Ed asked one of his students from Thailand if he would ever want to move to America.  The reply?  Oh no, there is too much violence in your country.  

Linda Smith's Recent Pantagraph Column

I sent my picture of the Frost Flower to my gardening buddies one of whom is Linda Smith, a Master Gardener and also a well respected horticulturist.  On Saturdays, Ed and I look forward to her weekly Pantagraph column. 

She emailed me about doing a column about this miracle of nature and asked if she could use my picture.   

Macy's Balloons, Thanksgiving Day Parade

Kermit the Frog

It takes about 100 people to handle one of these giant balloons with each handler holding a rope which takes quite a bit of strength.  If I were 20 year younger I would definitely want to pursue how to be part of a team of handlers.  Hec, I could stay at Uncle Bumpkin's.   All handlers must be at their given spot in the parade at 4:30 am. 

Google Doodles

Ghana Elections 2012

The cleverness of the "google doodles" gives me a reason to pause.  Some are interactive giving people like me who like to fool around on the computer a chance to see what happens if you click on certain part of the doodle.  It seems as if google doodles are showing up more frequently.  Nice to see celebrating a facet of history on the front page whether it be a person, place or thing.  

Thanksgiving 2012

My First Frost Flower!

A friend at UUBN brought Frost Flowers to my attention several years ago.  They are created from the ooze, a kind of sap, from several plants, one of which is White Crownbeard (Verbesina virginica).  But the miracle is this:  My friend gave me two White Crownbeards which I planted in the spring and they did fine all summer until last week  I noticed they were gone, probably due to a critter finding them to be a delicious treat.    

But today, while taking a walk I found a Frost Flower on the site of the eaten plants.   No plants -- but a beautiful miracle of nature.  

Turns out the flower is formed through the root and a very small stem which sometimes may not be visible.   

A Nice Day in Pontiac, IL

We drove up to Pontiac today to check out the Amtrak station because when the girls are here over the holidays, we are going to ride the choo choo from the new Uptown Normal Multimodal Transportation Center to Pontiac, a mere 45 minute ride.  We wanted to check things out so Little Red Car had an outing on a beautiful autumn day.  

Oompa checking schedule

Just like at Six Flags!

Meema posing for a picture.
  Sign is about Jesse Fell.  
He planted 
many trees in Pontiac
 just as he did in Normal.

What a beautiful courthouse! 

 

Nicholsons and Us to Kauai Next February, 2013

After years of badgering our dear friends about how much we think they would adore the northern shore of Kauai, they decided they would join us in January 2013 for a trip to the Garden Island. Both Vicki and I are breast cancer survivors.   We like to cook!  John and Ed graduated from Colgate, however Vicki and I are surprised thee two gentlemen received their diplomas because we know about some of their wild escapades.   See the Ugandan paper beads Vicki and I are wearing? 
We wish Kate and Bill Burnell would come along.  Maybe another time.   Bill is the third reprobate of the Colgate trio.   Kate is also a breast cancer survivor.  

 

La Traviata IN THE SYDNEY HARBOUR

Several weeks ago at the Palace Theater located five minutes from our house, I had the privilege of watching La Traviata performed on a large floating stage IN the Sydney Harbour in real time via the marvel of cyberspace.  Unbelievable performance! Even if you are not an opera lover, you may enjoy the hyperlink above. 

This performance held special significance for me because we have been fortunate to have traveled to Australia twice.  Once I cried in the Sydney Opera House after a performance -- can not remember what we heard that evening but it was symphonic.   I did not want to leave.  An attendant asked us if anything was wrong and suggested Ed and I return in the morning when the gift shop is open so he he could buy me a beautiful pin of the Opera House.  I treasure the pin.  

The Brilliance of October Red

Globe Amaranth, 'strawberry fields'

And an everlasting -- pick and no need for water.  Because the nurseries do not sell this plant, I grow it from seed under the lights.

The old fashioned Snapdragon --keep pinching the blooms for continual color

A show stopper, Pineapple Sage only blooms in the Fall.  The plant stands about 5 feet tall. 

Giant Amaranth -- One comes up yearly with original seeds probably stuck to one of my shoe soles from when I worked the Trail Garden with of the Herb Guild of McLean County many years back.

Red Snapdragon, Daylily leaves, Spicy Globe Basil

Lea Thau, Kickstarter Campaign -- SHE MADE IT!

Lea Thau. Peabody Award producer is right up there with Ira Glass.   

Tonight Lea Thau through Kickstarter, raised $20,000.00 enough to begin Season 2.  For 10 years, Lea was the executive director of The Moth, a public radio program that features people telling true stories that happened to themselves in front of an audience and without notes.  I never delete the stories in my Itunes library because they are  enlightening, some are funny, some are sad, some are unbelievable,

Lhakpa Tsering: Man on Fire

This is one of my favorite stories written by Peabody Award winning producer Lea Thau -- Lhakpa Tsering Man on Fire.  It is about a 9 year old boy who walked from Tibet to Inda and made a life for himself beating all odds.   

When Lea traveled to India with her 9 month old son to try to mend her broken heart when her fiance left her, she worked with Lhakpa  and took down his story.  

  
At the beginning,  Lea mentions her Kickstarter campaign -- happily Lea has already reached her goal. 

Barok O Lee

Michelle Obama is on TV as a part of the Democratic Convention.    The First Lady, a champion for kids, teaches them to become fit by eating nutritious foods and to keep moving -- to exercise. 

Barok O Lee is one of those highly nutritious foods. 

Listening to Michele speak so eloquently about her husband brings a smile to my face.  A majestic couple.  

Addendum to this post:  One of the staff at Extension emailed me to say sending this to the MG's via the MG Google Group was inappropriate.   This is one of the unfortunate ways the MG program is changing. 
    

Thank Goodness for Old Panty Hose!

 

The Rains Came

At this time of year, the corn cobs should be visible about 1/3 of the way up the stalk but this year many stalks show no signs of actual cobs or the cobs are very small.  The soybean harvest will probably be about what it was in years past.   

The farmers make out like bandits because of federal insurance so the politicians are trying to rewrite the US Farm Bill. 
 
Then last Thursday through Sunday we received over 8" of rain, so much rain, the Lions Ear (12 ' high) and the Purple Moonflowers   keeled over.  Old panty hose came to the rescue as Ed and I tied the sorry plants to the fence. 

Ed and the Midwest Institute of Opera

Has this ever been an adventure with Ed lamenting he is in much too over his head.  His voice teacher, John Koch asked Ed if he wanted to be in an opera this summer, The Pirates of Penzance. Why not?  When John asked Ed to be the Sargent of the Police --  the same role he played when he was at Deerfield Academy in 1959, this was too much of a coincidence.  The only difference?  Ed was a young man when he played the part in 1959 and now he is not so young.   Rehearsals were for ten days, from 9 - 9 to include two weekends!  

This Midwest Institute of Opera (MIO) is only 2 years old, developed by John and his wife Tracy, a truly unique opportunity for young opera students.  Besides Pirates, MIO also did Don Giovanni.   Three of the Giovanni actors, delightful young men,  stayed with us for the entire ten days.  

The institute is much like a school with everyone in the cast paying tuition.  There was one cast for Pirates but two entirely different casts, the principals, that is, for Giovonni -- four performances of Giovanni! 

Blackberry Lilies

Years ago I learned about the Blackberry Lily when I was active in the Herb Guild of McLean County.  On occasion I would think about digging up just one of the Blackberry Lilies in the large Trail Garden the Guild worked - who would ever know.  Of course I never followed through.  

As part of a Master Gardener project, last summer while helping the children at Metcalf Lab School who belonged to an after-school gardening club, I noticed a huge bank of Blackberry Lilies.  The sponsor of the group saved me seeds and now I have them in our prairie garden as well as the patio garden.  The small blooms last only a day but there have been continuous blooms all month with more are to come.  Someone saw the leaves in our prairie garden earlier in the season and insisted they were iris because of the similarity in texture and shape.  Read on and you will learn the plant genus is iris!  

Draught in the Midwest

How scary this is.  We have not received rain since I can remember, the grass is mostly brown and scorched and even the Japanese Beetles find the weather too oppressing to chow down their usual delights.   The earth is being cooked.  Ed is watering the gardens very minimally as well as parts of the lawn.  To conserve water, however,  Ed positions the sprinkler at night and we turn it on around 3 am when one of us takes a bathroom break.  It bums me out to see people watering during the heat of the day - pure stupidity.  I should add, the prairie garden does well without moisture, quite miraculous. 

Rainbow Sighting from our Front Porch

Out here on the Central Illinois Prairie a rainbow may be seen several times during the summer.  This one is a doozie because one was able to see the entire rainbow from end to end, a rare occurrence.  And the colors were exceptionally vivid.

A 180 Degree Turn Around

The day I emailed the State Master Gardener coordinator with questions about the State Dismissal Policy with a concern about accuracy -- one of our very respected MG's called to ask if he could help us by taking our concerns to a higher level, that of the Extension Council on which he sits.  Terrific!  But this never happened because when he thought about it, he decided it was not worth his time to pursue something that was already decided.  He knew State leadership was not going to make any changes to their policy even though our suggestions make sense and would be easy to do.  


 

Foxes in Town

Our friends Jennie and Scott King captured these amazing photos from their deck the end of June. 

A Marvelous Visit - June 25 - July 5, 2012

Liesl age 3, Roslyn age 5, Signy age 7 

Daad in background, Daylily 'Big Bird'

With Vivian Wilson-Cohen's beloved Violet statue given to us when we visited her in Charleston, October, 2011.  Violet graced her parent's property in Newel, West Virginia. 

UU Uganda Festival, Planning Stage

March 2, 2013 will feature a UU Uganda Festival at UUBN.  We are beginning to plan now.  Betty Kimeriembe visited us for two wonderful days, so exciting and busy I forgot about taking photos!  She brought these beautiful Ugandan crafts which we will use as door prizes March 2, 2013. 

More Scented Geranium

Cuttings from the mother plant, which you may view on an earlier post, make a handsome new houseplant. 

The dried leaves will make potpourri -- maybe use for Friends First, the MG program where we work with adults with disabilities.  Very rewarding.....

'Music' Garlic Came Earlier this Year

Ed dug out the bulbs, smaller this year.

Time to cut off the stems after about 3 weeks of drying.

Then the wrappers to into the compost.

We harvested about 40.  

Spending Energy in Pursuit of Justice

In an earlier post I wrote about the unfortunate issue of one of our beloved and award-winning Master Gardeners being "terminated" which caused me to write to the University of Illinois person who heads the Master Gardeners throughout the State. 

Another MG who is the mother of one of Laurie's high school friends, has joined me leading this effort. We've formed a group called VOICE, MGs who are deeply concerned about whether this gal was served due-process.  Interesting situation! The Albert Hirschman piece about "loyalty", "exit" and "voice" helped immensely with the formation of the group. I changed the names just in case....

June 16, 2012

Dear Molly,

The vitality in our U of I McLean County Master Gardener group continues to thrive by bringing volunteers reward by means of the thousands of hours of time we donate to the community through our many programs and projects.  We understand the Federal Supreme Court ruling stating volunteers do not have legal rights, that it is a privilege to be a volunteer.  We understand our local group has no governing power and that MG state policy must be followed.  Before going further, please note that everything herein is meant to be constructive.  As volunteers, we realize that policy is set by U of I staff and the U of I legal department.   As I said in my April 11^th letter to Mr. Hill copied to you, we find working with different personalities to be educationally productive and personally gratifying. 

Barbara asked to meet with me – I think Shelly may have shared with her a strong critique I sent in the comment area to one of the hort educators about a piece she wrote that did not follow U of I policy. 

Our Master Gardener Group

A good friend, and a McLean County Master Gardener who won two coveted local awards, the Helping Hands Award and the Don Meyer Master Gardener of the Year Award was terminated.  She was accused of unprofessional behavior which she refuted.  A certified letter signed by three University of Illinois staff relayed information that none of us could believe.  This gal, and a friend of many, sent all of the MG's everything she received from the U of I along with her emails saying the accusations were not true.  
The group is in turmoil.  U of I staff said she may never be a U of I Master Gardener again!  
There is an expression "you cannot fire a volunteer" but unfortunately this does not apply to the University of Illinois Master Gardener program. 

  

In a few hours Ed and I will perform our last Civic Choral Concert of the year, the Choral Collage featuring all ISU choirs.  Our group of approximately 75 community members and students will perform two PDQ Bach pieces and three madrigals all with lyrics by the bard himself, Shakespeare.  Traditionally ending the concert, all choirs join their voices to sing Leonard Bernstein's Make Our Garden Grow from Candide arranged by Robert Page, one of my favorite choral pieces. 

The 'green' thing.... by Denny Roberge August 8, 2011

 A friend sent this to me and I forwarded it to our UU Minister who incorporated it into a service. 

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic
bags weren't good for the environment.  The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. 

Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled.  But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building.  They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.  But she's right.  They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind.  They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.  But that old lady is right, they didn't havethe green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house not a TV in every room.  And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.  In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you.  When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn.  They used a push mower that ran on human power.  They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.  But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.

First Asparagus -- earlier this year

Celebrating Self-Seeders

Here are some of my favorite self-seeders.  They throw seed throughout much of the growing season and therefore add unity to a garden.  These come true -- in other words -- each plant has the same characteristics from year to year.   Some would call these heirlooms. Their seed pods have interesting shapes.  At our Master Gardener Home, Lawn and Garden Day, our 10th, I presented a session on these specific self-seeders.  Seed packets were given to everyone attending. 

Bells of Ireland

Pink Malva

Bupleurum and Blue Larkspur

Gaillardia Daisey

Moonflower

Moonflower Seed Pods

Garden Balsam