Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Gardening Days


Another altar cover from Amalfi



Oh frabjous joy! Not just one oriole, but a pair. I have to say, the male may be very handsome, but he is not very agreeable. He wants to be the only one at the feeder, including his mate, whom he also chases away. She is much duller in color, but still attractive.

I love the little downy woodpeckers. They are so darn cute when they are bobbing their heads around to make sure it is safe to eat. If you don't have them where you are, they are about 6 inches long, about the size of a suet holder, and black and white with a bit of red on their crowns. The hairy woodpecker is about 8.5 inches long and looks almost the same.

Our backyard is covered with violets and rockcress and down the road an old apple tree is bursting into bloom. When I was a kid, walking home from school, to the farm, one of my favorite sights was coming over the hill and seeing the apple orchard in bloom. And the scent - so sweet, I always wanted to keep it forever. I still do.

I spent a lot of today planting daylillies and some black hollyhocks. Daylillies are so accomadating. with little care they just bloom their hearts out and spread nicely so you eventually have great tracts of them. You can use the buds in some Chinese dishes and some of them are even nicely scented.

Speaking of scent, today's tea doesn't have much. It is Irish Cream from one of our local shops, Front and Center. It is a pretty tea, with blue and yellow flowers decorating it. I did my usual for new black teas and finally there was some aroma - sort of creamy, and definitely Irish Breakfast. Yes, it tastes creamy, but that fake cream, not the real stuff. Even putting the real thing in didn't help much. And I certainly couldn't taste any good Irish whiskey, either. Not a very satisfying cup.

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