“I got to Kansas City on a Friday. . .”

“And Saturday I learned a thing or two….”

(from Oklahoma! the musical)

I made the trek (pilgrimage??) to Kansas City last Friday to visit with my lovely niece, who lives there.   Due to the magic of the internet, I had excellent and detailed instructions for the drive and arrived after about four hours on the road, without incident.

The fun began immediately.   First we had a fairly decent dinner at an Indian restaurant.   Their food was good.   But, I felt that they did themselves a disservice.   When the description of the lamb vindaloo says “Very spicy, not for the faint at heart” I expect the dish to have recognizable heat in it.   Unfortunately, while it was a nicely seasoned curry, there was next to no heat whatsoever, and I sent it back to the kitchen to acquire some.   When the vindaloo returned to my table, it more closely resembled actual vindaloo.

From there we proceeded to The Phoenix, one of the better jazz clubs of the city.  Got there in time to hear the ending of one performer’s gig, one Lonnie McFadden by name.   This guy has a velvet voice and a hot trumpet, was backed by excellent drums and keyboard.   Very enjoyable indeed.   After hearing a few tunes from the group that followed, we decided that watching them get set up was the most interesting part of their act, so we went on home.   We were tired anyway, both of us had driven a long way that day.

We arose the next day with a full agenda.   After a light breakfast at the hotel we were staying in, we went off to the KC Farmer’s market.   The day was cold, there was snow falling intermittently, and the farmer’s market was a huge disappointment.   It took us about four minutes to walk by the offerings of the about 10 vendors that had braved the weather.   I was able to find a nice rosemary plant to bring home, since the putatively hardy one I planted in the herb garden last summer proved to not be hardy enough to take what was dished out last winter.

We visited a little bakery that was open, and my niece treated me to a lovely French macaroon — double chocolate.  Nothing like the coconut macaroons I make at holiday times, this was some sort of small chewy meringue cookie with a chocolate filling.   Very tasty.   Very expensive too — they are very labor intensive, I hear.

Suitably fortified, we went off across town to visit the Whole Foods grocery store.   Some people might think that we only went there to shop, but I claim to be checking on my investments, since Jim and I have seen fit to buy stock in the corporation, thereby shamelessly joining the capitalist system.

I found plenty to buy there, including freshly ground peanut butter and almond butter (I know they were ground fresh because I did it myself).   I was heartened to find that the company I have put money into is engaging not only in selling organic food and goods, but they also find time to provide easily accessible educational opportunities for the customers.   (Some might call this engaging in propaganda, I suppose.)

I always knew there was a reason I really liked braised kale.  However, I’d like to know why raspberries don’t have a higher score.   There is something just wrong with that.

After all that, we were very hungry, so we went to lunch at Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue.

If Anthony Bourdain has it on his list of 13 places you need to eat at before you die, I guess perhaps it is worth visiting.   Certainly it is way more in my budget than the French Laundry, which is also on his list.   Jim wants to eat there, so I guess I’ll be saving our pennies for that!

The restaurant itself is in a gas station, and yes, you can buy gas.

Yes, the food was actually VERY GOOD.   So often, restaurants that make it onto those lists can be so inundated with customers that they lose their focus on quality.   That had not happened in this case, and the total bill for lunch for two was quite reasonable.

After that we did a bit more shopping, visiting an inspirational store called The Paper Source, amongst others.     Exhausted, we went on back to our room for a bit of rest.   Actually, my niece rested, I walked a few miles on the hotel’s treadmill, very much missing my dog and the park where we usually exercise.

Then we went to a movie at a very cool theatre where you could sip a beer while relaxing in a very excellent recliner while taking in the flick.   We saw “The Adjustment Bureau”, which I enjoyed very much.  After the movie we had some wonderful Thai food, and then settled in for the evening.

The next morning we went to Sunday Brunch at the Cafe Europa, a wonderful little place that makes ALL the bread served there including the hamburger buns and the english muffins.   If you are ever in Kansas City, I recommend that you look this place out if you are looking for somewhere to nosh.   Just perfect is the only way I could describe the eggs Benedict that I had for my breakfast.

I will leave you with an image I captured of giant shuttlecocks on the lawn of the Art Museum in Kansas City, part of their sculpture garden.   The artist perceives the museum building as the badminton net, the lost shuttlecocks are not only in front of the museum, there is also one behind.   If you walk on the lawn and get too close to the sculpture, a disembodied voice tells you “Please step away from the shuttlecock.”

Aside from being squired around and regaled with some of the best that Kansas City has to offer, I was amazed and enthralled to observe my niece putting her iPhone and laptop through their paces.   I swear, she could make them sit up and beg for a dog biscuit if that was her purpose at the moment.

Impressive.

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Mesmerized

I sat down at the computer in order to look at the radar to see if this rain/sleet stuff that is spitting from the pre-dawn sky is going to end any time soon; but I got sucked into the Astronomy Picture of the Day’s site by the trio of images of the aurora borealis taken near Yellowknife.

Suddenly I found myself flipped backwards in time to the days — 34 years ago really – when I lived in Alaska in a cabin that my husband and I and all our friends constructed out on the  edge of Goldstream Valley.   We had a composting toilet, but since we had no electricity the stack really didn’t pull enough suction and it would get very wet and anaerobic if you used it to urinate in.   So we always went outside for that activity, directing our guests off down “The Path” which wended its snowy way through the alder thicket south of the house to the edge of the bluff where our vegetable garden was.

I will just say that I sleep in the nude and have for years and years after I wound up almost strangled to death during my twelfth year by the long flannel granny nightgown I was wearing that had welded itself to the flannel sheets while I threw myself from side to side in whatever dream was controlling my limbs.

That being said, going off down The Path at 2 a.m. when the outside temperature is in the low -40°F (-40°C) range and if you spit it crackles as it falls to the ground is an adventure in efficiency.   I usually would just slip on my mukluks and my parka, put on my hat and scurry carefully out of the house.   You really did not want to slip and fall on the packed snow that surrounded the place, and had for months.

One night I emerged from the cozy cabin so attired, and focused my attention on the ground as I made my way along the path we had trampled through the snowy woods.   It seemed like I could see where I was going better than usual, it was so light outside!   I squatted to pee, musing on the concept that you cannot really buy beer, you can only rent it for a little while, balancing carefully so that the stream would run down hill away from my mukluks, which were merely canvas bags strapped around felt booties.   That night such care was unnecessary, as the warm fluid immediately vaporized into frozen fog and drifted slowly down in the still air.    I stayed down for a minute, stretching my hamstrings and letting myself drip dry.   As I crouched there, I looked up and immediately became drawn into the flickering flowing floating crackling lights that were dancing all over the night sky.

I slowly stood up, unable to take my eyes away from the hypnotic show going on above me.    I don’t know how long it lasted, I really don’t.   But I know that I stood there until my bare knees, which were really all that were showing of my basically nude body between the tops of my mukluks and the bottom of my parka, suddenly lost all feeling and I felt a very cold draft begin to blow up the chimney formed by my torso and the shell of the jacket since I had neglected to put on a scarf.   I also had no hat on, and my ears were hanging out in the open since I had had my head tilted backwards for the show.

I snapped out of my hypnotic state and rushed back into the house.   I shed my outer garments, carefully putting the mukluks up on the high shelf where they would dry out, and crawled up the ladder into the loft.   I slid back under the quilts into the warmth of my young husband, trying not to touch him with my very chilly body.   He rolled over and threw his arm over me and instantly recoiled from the ice maiden he found himself wrapped around.

“Good God!”  he gasped, shocked awake.  ”What have you been doing?”

“There were the most amazing Northern lights out there, I got sucked up into the Universe.”

He immediately got up, went down and put on his parka and boots and went out to gaze at the spectacle himself, as he negotiated “The Path” for his own nightly relief expedition.

I was asleep, half warmed, when he crawled in with me, an ice man to match the ice maiden.   We melted each other.

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It’s been beautiful at The Havens lately.

We’ve been working hard too.   Not only have we been building walls, we have been pruning and burning grape trimmings and we had a sauna in there too as well as some extremely nice and friendly and protracted afternoon encounter sessions.   S0 I have not been blogging, or really visiting blogs either.

Plus I got sucked into Zuma blitz on Facebook and I have been mesmerized by it for days.   When I thought about the Aurora borealis this morning, I realized that that game does something hypnotizing to your brain.    I really can’t tell you how obsessed I have been with it.   And it is going to stop right here and now because I have a lot better things to do than move the mouse around on the computer desk and match colors and make balls blow up.  I mean really.    But I see how gamers get made.   I think their brains become rewired.

Anyway, in between obsessive game playing sessions, this is what we accomplished in the yard.

The vegetable garden is planted, at least the cool weather crops.   I have lots of seeds (broccoli, broccoli raab, beets, chard, carrots) shivering in the ground this morning — it is rain/sleeting just at freezing point — in addition to the bed of  hardy lettuces, kale and spinach that made it through the depths of winter.   This cold damp is nothing to them!   We ate some of them for dinner last night, along with a quiche made from the last of last year’s asparagus.

We had the first batch of fresh asparagus a few days ago, and my my my it was goooood.    Since we picked those first brave spears the weather has harshened and the patch is standing at attention, in cold storage, awaiting the return of spring.   I have little pea sprouts that are about an inch tall.   They are almost old enough to take the row cover off of them.   I have found that the cardinals, blue jays, robins, squirrels, and who knows who else think that tiny little pea sprouts make the tastiest salad ever, so if I want to have any peas to grow up and make actual pea pods, I had better protect the little darlings until they are not so tender and tasty any more.   The peas don’t care about cold weather,  in fact they prefer it.   I pray the spring does not heat up too soon, hot peas don’t make pods, they just shut down and die.

Anyway, that’s the news from hereabouts; hope your news is good.

Hen and chicks “Gazelle”

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Spring sprang sprung

Just a few of the things that are going on around here at the Havens.

A few days ago I went out to Bennett Spring to walk the dog, and I was beguiled by a pool of water about two miles up the trail.  I have been inspired by Syncopated Eyeball and her wondrous documentation of the happenstance of form, color, and texture.   This shot was inspired by her work.  What we are seeing here is the reflection of the sun off the ripple patterns in the water on the rock wall.

Last night we had a beautiful sunset.

Looking off to the east, the nearly full moon was up.

We are started on the newest project, just to the east of the strawberry bed we made last year.   This new installation will give the barbecue grill a place to live and there will be a platform with a work surface where we will be building the wood fired bread oven.

Needless to say, there is a lot of wall building that still needs to be done.   But a little bit at a time will accomplish the job.

It will be so much nicer to work on this project now that Jim has a better schedule at work.   For the past several months he has worked five hours a day five days a week, having to be there at 6.    Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  It really was  screwy schedule, and the new one is four days in a row for six hours.   Three whole days off in a row:  what a concept.    We’ll be getting  a lot done around here.

My peas are up, as is the lettuce.   No spinach yet.   I have onion plants and potatoes to plant, and I’ll be putting out the broccoli, broccoli raab, and kale at the same time.

Of course, the daffodils are started now.   I just love them.

I’ve been busy out by the pond, clearing out all the dead flower stalks from last year.   It looks really special right now, with the forsythia blooming.

That was a big job, but now I can ignore that area for the rest of the season, except for changing the direction of the path.   That is the beauty of the wild garden.

I guess I can categorically state the spring has pretty much sprung.

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day — March 15, 2011

Ah, the fateful Ides of March!  After a considerable absence from this meme, I rejoin in full rejoicing that signs of spring are everywhere.

Over a week ago, the large body of the male red winged blackbird and grackle flock arrived and sussed out the feeding situation.   I expect that now that weather has warmed up a bit we will see the females arriving any time.

Every day when I walk Ruby through the woods, I feel surrounded with a great inhalation, a waiting, the pregnant pause before spring erupts.   There have been a few tentative tree frogs calling out by the ponds, and peepers bravely sing in the cold spring evenings all around us.

Yesterday morning it looked like this, the temperature hovered right at freezing all day long.

At the end of the day, we had a very busy snow flurry, none of which really stuck to the ground.    During the night, the temperature moderated just a bit, and we awoke to a misty dawn that was cold and damp.   Most of the snow was gone, though.

The morning stayed rather cool and wet until about noon, when the clouds burned off and the sun came through.   Right this minute we are enjoying  temperatures over 50ºF, which represents a total rise of 20 degrees since morning.

The labyrinth got burned off a couple of weekends ago.   This is how it looks today, and I’m sorry the resolution is so unfine that you cannot see all the yellow crocuses that are decorating it.

The big news this afternoon happened in the front yard.   I’ve had daffodils for several days.  Several kinds of daffodils, too.  I already showed you some of them yesterday.

There are crocuses out there too, and I have to admit that they are on their crescendo to finish.

There’s a lot of other action in that picture, if you look close.   Of course, there is lamb’s ears galore; I use that as a ground cover.  On the right edge of the picture in the middle you can see a couple of wood hyacinth sprouts, behind them is the rosette of a giant allium.  In the background are the serried ranks of some mid-season daffodils and behind them you can see the irises starting to gear up.

But the best thing was the earliest of the species tulips was out enjoying the sunshine. . .

. . . and being enjoyed, I see.

That made me rush around to the back to check the species tulips there, completely forgetting to take some pictures of the chionodoxa that has started opening today.

Sure enough, there is stuff going on in the minature daffodil and tulip border in the rose garden.   It won’t be long before this bright red beauty is open.

The Jack Snipe miniature daffodils I transplanted here from the front last fall are very happy.

I’m sorry, but I think they are just about the cutest thing I’ve seen all week.  Maybe all month.   Those little daffodil blossoms are only one inch long.

What else is going on in the stroll garden?   Not a whole lot.  But the big pregnant breath is being drawn all around it.   The best example of this is the aster that is getting all set to take over the entire rain garden.   I must get in there and beat it back forthwith.

If you stand back and just look at the whole garden, it does seem poised for action.

So does the vegetable garden.   Here is the view from the gate — garlic is really happy this year.

See the cold frame back there?    This is how the spinach, lettuces and wild arugula made it through the winter.

There are a couple of rows of spinach and lettuce seeds planted in there, but they haven’t come up yet.  Neither have the peas in the bed to the right of this one.   But the asparagus is up!

Something else is up too.   I planted wild flower seeds that I meticulously collected last summer, carefully put into pots with labels, and left out to go through the winter the way the wild plants do it.    A passing squirrel thought the pots looked interesting, and did a big number on them, rummaging through the soil in hopes that there was something edible in there.   We put wire over the pots after that, and even though I was afraid that I had lost a lot of seeds to the squirrel’s arrangements, I still left the pots out there.

Well, look:

This is very exciting indeed.  It means that I will be able to raise some of the wild flowers for the new front meadow garden myself.   It would be even more exciting if I actually knew what these babies ARE, but I shall have to identify them at a future date.   My carefully constructed and written upon labels turned out to be written with an ink that was not as indelible as I was led to believe from its label.   So the winter weather has removed the names from my ken.

There are other things going on about The Havens.   A couple of faucets that were advertised as freeze-proof turned out not to be, so we have a couple of new faucets around the place.

And the grape arbor near the vegetable garden has been repurposed.   We removed the table grapes.   It turns out that they are extremely good at finding water sources with their roots, and the competition in the raised vegetable beds had gotten just a little too keen.   So, the decision was made to remove the grapes.   Some of them found their way out into the vineyard, where we hope to be able to get some to eat, since they will be protected from the birds and squirrels like the rest of the crop.

Meanwhile, the arbor is being fitted with mechanical shade.   We are planning on using that shady area as a spot to raise greens in containers.   Hopefully the shade will keep the lettuces from dying in the fierce August heat.

Not quite done yet.   The carpenter guy had to change into the vintner and bottle some of the wine we made last year.  The arbor will wait.   I’ve been sipping on the young wine as I write this post, and it promises to mature into a very good wine indeed.    It is the 2010 blend:   Marechal foch, Baco noir, and Chambourcin.

That’s the vintner returning the bottle washing equipment to the barn.

And so, I beg of you to enjoy this wonderful spring weather, and to visit the other people who are celebrating the March 2011 GBBD.

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More News

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