In the Garden with Gentle Palm

Creature of the Day

G.P.'s creature feature:

Up close - does this look like a tent caterpillar to you?

Because it sure does to me.  I don't plan to tell G.P.

The Fun Part

As G.P. always says, "I really like PICKING the vegetables!"

Choir Camp

We attended the end-of-camp evensong service this afternoon.  To say that the service was High Church is an understatement.  The Episcopal Church certainly has High and Low Church, and probably lots in the middle, but this service had enough incense, ruffles and bowing to make Rome look Low Church.  We spent most of the service standing - I guess the theory is that God doesn't hear you if your hinney is touching the chair.

The girls sang like angels, and the service was beautiful - if a little long and formal.  Don't take anything I say about the Episcopal Church seriously, however.  I go to share what is an important part of her life with D of L.  When D of L caught me explaining to G.P. that "God is the trees" she called me both a pagan and a heretic (but with a smile, of course.)  Guilty as charged.  Who cares - as D of L (and other wise people) say, we are all trying to climb the same mountain.

Bonus photo: "Boy Weighs Dog"

(Dog weighs 35 pounds. Boy weighs 164.)

Bravo Harry!

I finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."   Pretty darn good, although a little heavy on the World War II analogy overall.  It is hard to believe that the Harry Potter tales are over. It is also hard to pull yourself out of the world of Hogwarts and wizards once you fall in by racing through a 750 page book.  I keep thinking, "If only I could make these dishes wash themselves like Mrs. Weasley does...." 

Mrs. Weasley

and Minerva McGonagall

are still my favorite characters, especially after how brave they both are at the end of this book.....

Even though I'm sad the tale of Harry is complete, if I were J.K. Rowling, I'd probably take a good long time off.  Heaven knows she can afford to, and given all the enjoyment she has brought to readers, who can begrudge her?  I'm all for writers and artists being able to make a living at their craft, and she certainly has done that.

I took a walk around the gardens this morning, and we just got back from the local farmer's market.  I am still so weary from the three month build-up and the party itself that I think this is truly all I can manage today.  We are going to have dinner with Papa and Nana later, and that's it!

Tomorrow we go up to the mountainous central part of Big Blue State to our North, where Many Shoes and Mademoiselle have been proctoring at a week-long camp put on by the Royal School of Church Music , which is held every year.  They have been campers there since they were little, and now Mlle. is 21 and officially old enough to be a proctor!  Many Shoes is a "proctor in training."  We will attend the final service, where the camp choir sings. 

G.P. and Pacman are having a great time playing together, and since it is hazy, hot and humid, I am enjoying an exceedingly rare afternoon of doing nothing.

 

And Let Me Just Add to the Previous Post

We are currently having a violent thunder and lightning storm with torrential rain.  This time last night we had 200 people on our front lawn........

Sometimes you just get lucky.

We Survived - And Even Had Fun

What a tradition my firm has; throw a big party the day after the bar exam for the new lawyers who we have hired to start in the fall.  These poor kids have just finished studying for and taking a three day exam, one of the top three hardest bar exams in the nation.  No pressure, of course - just their whole future.

I think it is the last test we put them through.  If they can get themselves out of bed and speak and think coherently enough to navigate a party of 200 people - and have a drink or two - they are tough enough to practice law.  I remember being so tired the day after I took the bar that I wasn't sure I could drive to the party, much less stand up through it.

Last minute preparations on our end included a fresh layer of straw on the vegetable garden:

The caterer geting ready:

The food ready to serve:

The band sound check:

Finally, guests!!

Of course, I don't have many pictures of the actual party, because I was too busy - but the twinkly lights in the garden looked great:

We had a lovely night for the end of July - not too hot and no rain.  By the time we finally got to bed, I was so tired that the soles of my feet hurt, not from uncomfortable shoes, but from sheer exhaustion.

The party's over.  It was a lot of fun, but D of L and I need a rest.  (We did get to dance to the second-to-last song, "Can't Help Falling in Love," as made immortal by Elvis.)  By that time, we were the only two on the dance floor, and it was pretty cool.  What is even better is that I am lucky enough to be a partner in a firm that couldn't give a fig if D of L and I dance till our feet fall off.  The party's over - long live the party.

The Party Cometh.....

Remember someone older than you saying, "Act in haste, repent in leisure"?   As I have written about here, in March I foolishly agreed to host my firm's annual summer party at Old Stone House.  We then immediately dug up our entire front lawn to install a new septic system.  While we were at it, we decided to level a large area, and build a retaining wall.... ourselves. 

Then the race was on to get grass to grow before the party.  I've been hauling hoses, and reseeding since forever, it seems. 

Well, tomorrow is the day.  The tent arrived today, and the crew worked to set it up:

They also delivered all the other items, including tables:

The gardens are a little past their peak, but still looking better than I had feared, and the wildflower meadow is coming into bloom:

The guinea keets are ready for their closeup:

D of L has the inside of the house looking fabulous, and all put back together after the painters.  Tenor even re-upholstered the dining room chairs - is it good to live with a young gay man or what?  A little more work on the finishing touches tomorrow, and we will be partying with 200 of my colleagues and their spouses/significant others:

 

Friday I will try to pick up the pieces in my office, and Saturday and Sunday I am going to do NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, except finish the new Harry Potter book, and possibly rouse myself enough to eat lunch.  That's it, I swear.

Guinea Fowl Keets!

Two of our guinea hens have been sitting on a nest for what seems like forever.  Together they have about thirty eggs, and it takes both of them to sit on them all.  In the three years we have had these guineas, none have ever gotten broody enough to sit for more than a few days.  When I kept them in their pen for about two weeks last month, in order to keep them from eating some grass seed I was trying to grow, the two hens got serious.

I had given up on the eggs hatching, however, and was actually worried that the hens would not realize when it was time to move on.  Silly me.  Today, at about 4 p.m., I got a call at work from Painter.  "What shall I do with all these chicks?" he asked.  "What chicks?"  I said.  "The guineas," he said.  "They've hatched!"  I broke all land speed records getting home.  G.P., of course, is beside himself.

Mommies and babies are doing fine so far.  No pictures yet, because the keets are hiding under the mommies, and I almost got impaled by two beaks for getting too close.  I set up the special chick food, and a small waterer, and we will see how they are tomorrow.  The mommies have no experience, but instinct is a pretty awesome force.

This is what they look like:

They are about the size of a golf ball, but with legs.  I think there are about 12, or 15, or 17 - its like trying to count ping pong balls in those whirly machines they use to select lottery numbers.  Hopefully, the mommies will take good care of them, and I will get some pictures tomorrow.

Does anyone think it is a coincidence that WE have a clutch of keets with TWO mommies?  I think not.

Back from Vacation

We are back from a week at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.  D of L spent five days studying writing with Lynda Barry.  I spent five days in a trapeze workshop.  Yes, that is "trapeze" as in "flying trapeze."

The workshop was put on by Peter Gold and his team at Trapeze-Experience.  It was amazing.  We got to learn tricks, learn to be caught by a catcher, and some of us even managed to catch the bar on the return swing.  We practiced "swinging," which is the fundamental movement of trapeze - making the bar move back and forth in the great arc that generates momentum and power to launch the human body into spins, flips, pirouettes, and other amazing tricks.

I saw people undergo profound transformations.  Fear turned to triumph, frustration to joy, and joy to a determination to learn more.  We all flew - and not just in the trapeze sense. 

Here I am:

Here is almost all of our group, and our instructors:

We ranged in age from 15 to 71.  Even G.P. got a special chance to participate in a two hour trapeze class, where he flew four times:

We even got to participate in "Circus Night," where the professionals put on a show, and have the students each fly once as well.  It was a real rush to fly at night under the lights:

Omega is like summer camp for grownups.  Everyone eats in the dining hall, it has a beautiful campus, there are lots of extracurricular activities, the food is all vegetarian, and there is no alcohol.  D of L calls it "Hippie Camp," but it is really more like "liberal grownups getting away from the real world and having no cell phone coverage camp."  I highly recommend it.

Here are some shots of the campus.  The vegetable garden:

The dining hall:

Parading artwork to the Main Hall for exhibition:

Our cabin, on the right:

   

Now I just need to rest up so I can go back to work.   

Living in Old Stone House

Challenges of an old house, especially on sticky days:

Exhibit A

When ventilation is needed, you shout, "I need to open a window, who has the mallet?"

Exhibit B

This is what three different family members produce from their bedrooms, within five minutes -

Here's what I want to know: who is opening windows with my cordless drill???