jwg

Today we had a birch tree removed. It was dying from the top and started doing so last year. Whwn we acquired the house in 1978 it was a couple of feet tall.

The birds who nest on our porch will be disappointed since some of the branches were nearby.

Before and after:


( two pictures while they were doing it )

We planted some Tigridia this year; It was at the end of June we did it and for a while we thought they wouldn't bloom. But they started a couple of weeks ago. The flower only lasts for 1 day. At first we thought they'd all be yellow but today we got some other colors; maybe there will be more vairety - buds are still forming. Instructions about wintering are contradictory; we'll mulch.

Yesterday we went to Gloucester for the memorial service for Margaret Wilmot. We knew her because she and rsc sung in the Boston Cecilia and the Cape Ann Singers some years ago. Among other things she had been a teacher in Manchester Public Schools, and then did some work in the Gloucester Public Schools. I learned via my Facebook post about this yesterday that persis had been one of her students in Manchester. More recently she served on the Gloucester School Committee for several terms.

After retirement she sailed around the world in a small (not very) boat for several years on an incredible voyage - her role in addition to enjoying the trip was to teach the two kids from the family because they were missing school.

She was a charming person, I knew her mostly from various parties, often at her house. She was born in England and still had a touch of native accent. She was very articulate about lots of subjects and I can still "hear" her voice (accent and manner of speaking) - my memory of this was even stronger in the UU church where the service was held.

Readings included a poem of hers and other things that she liked. Various chorus members led by Don Teeters sung: How lovely is Thy dwelling-place from the Brahms German Requiem. Also Britten's A Shepherd's Carol and Chrales Villier Stanford's The Blue Bird. Several of the readers remarked how she enjoyed single malt scotch so last night for our evening drinks we toasted her with some of ours.

Among the photos was a caption with a quote by her:

Middle Age is when you see clearly all the things that need to be done just in time to lack the energy to do them.

I take that as more proof that I am not middle aged since I still have the energy to do all the things that I should be doing but am not.

So in memory of a lovely person who lived a full life I can only smile as I am sure is true for her family members and friends.

The White-Ellery House was built in 1709 or 1710 on the Gloucester Common. In 1947 when Route 128 was constructed it was moved to get out of the way and set nearby. Last year it got new siding and a new roof and a few years ago a bit of interior work was done, but otherwise it is pretty intact from when it was last used. It is named White-Ellery since the original resident was the first Gloucester minister John White and later for abut 200 years various generations of the Ellery family lived there. It is open for viewing on the first saturday of the month and I finally got to stop by this time. To increase interest in attracting visitors they have a resident artist with a few works. This time it was a textile artist and one of the exhibits was a yellow woven band in and outside the house with little tags showing where she was at each section - during a trip to Italy. There are also some historical photos displayed inside the house. The house is unfurnished.



( Some more pics )

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) is an invasive weed that has been pretty successful in its establishment on our front lawn/meadow. Once there was just one of them and I kind of liked its flowers and appearance - big mistake! I've been at war with it this spring/summer digging it up.

It looks like this now except that it is embedded in the grass.

Sometimes it just pulls up but usually I need an asparagus knife to dig it up since it's root is pretty solid. This tool is supposedly used to scrape asparagus stems, however I suspect that it is only used as a weeder - and a good one at that. I also used it to dig up some plantains and dandelions today.

I've had this plastic bottle of Findlay's Finest Scotch Whisky lying around for a long time - it was my mother's (she died 1997) so it was aged and I've been thinking about using it up. When we drink scotch it is one of several kinds of single malt which doesn't come in plastic bottles!

I made a quick search on the internet to look at scotch mixed drinks - I looked at a bunch, sort of remembered a few and then went onto the kitchen. I added dry Vermouth (I saw recipes for dry and sweet vermouth but had no sweet vermouth although I considered using Dubonnet), the juice of a lemon, I couldn't find the Grand Marnier (some recipes called for Triple Sec, nor could I find the Angostura Bitters so they weren't added though they were in some of the recipes), the juice of half a lemon and a bit of confectioners sugar and mixed them up with some ice. I measured nothing but used up the scotch which had about 3-4 ounces. When I brought it into rsc I said it's Don't Ask. It was actually OK but of course i can't make it again the same way...

There's another fuller bottle of scotch in Gloucester and I know the Bitters and Grand Marnier are there. So, next summer....

Yesterday I saw a mouse in the kitchen on the stove (nothing was cooking at the time). This confirms that the little black specks are mouse shit and not caraway seeds. I checked the two traps under the stove and they both had dead mice in them. I don't know how long they've been there. They are the kind that entrap the mouse inside and are supposed to be discarded when done. In the past I tried old fashioned traps but they seemed to just be mouse feeding stations since the cheese or the peanut butter disappeared each day.

Last night I had a long discussion with Burningbright and Daniel, our two tigers, who were watching the Sox game with us about their responsibility as cats. They claimed that it was Miss Griggles' (a more classic cat) responsibility but I explained that with her exalted status she was exempt and besides she was currently upstairs where there are no mice. They also protested that why were we picking on them when there were many other cats? I tried a bit of torture as a means to convince them otherwise but it had no impact whatsover. This morning Xerxes, one or our lions, said that Guinevere, our long deceased cat, had explained to them that mice were her territory and no-one was to interfere and this lesson had stuck.

So, I guess I'll have to buy some more traps today.

A Google search about traps revealed this clever trapless solution which is from our very own chrisglass.

We always plant Sensation Cosmos in the same bed.

Today, the first one bloomed, about a month later than usual! There are some more buds but still not a lot. I have fertilized them twice recently with high-phosphorus fertilizer which is supposed to promote blooming. Our cherry tomatoes were very late too, but there are huge amounts now. The Bright Lights Cosmos in a nearby bed still have no buds.