4/14/17: No really. I can't believe it. I am very skeptical. You'd think that after spending much of my childhood and all of my adulthood in Maine, I would be used to the shift from winter to spring - and yet. After six months of bare trees and dead grass it just seems so UNLIKELY ( Read more... )

3/3/17 - Perhaps I should rephrase that - not an exclamation of excitement, but an incredulous question. Like this:


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I'm sure everyone is just dying to know what my garden looks like right now, so I'm going to help you out ( Read more... )

7/17/16: Whenever I make jam, I think of that bit in "Anne of Avonlea" where Davy gets in trouble for raiding the jam cupboard. When he's done being scolded, this conversation happens:

"Anyhow, there'll be plenty of jam in heaven, that's one comfort," he said complacently ( Read more... )

6/29/15: The good news is that my tactic of covering the garden pathways with a layer of cardboard and straw and/or grass clippings is doing a great job of suppressing the weeds. I've never had this little weeding to do, and I love it. The bad news is that said cardboard/straw method also creates the perfect environment for slugs. I go out ( Read more... )

6/20/16: I've been a bit lax in updating here lately - first because of the end-of-school year rush to get things wrapped up with Brahm and Gwen, and then because of the the start-of-garden rush to get everything planted. Things are finally slowing down a bit, so I thought we could go on a walk through the garden to celebrate ( Read more... )

Opened this up to write a new entry, and found this in my drafts. Whoops. So, have some bits and pieces from April before I type up a new entry to kick off the summer ( Read more... )

2/29/16: I finished reading "The Hounds of the Morrigan" to Brahm the other day, which meant it was time to choose a successor. Brahm is always a bit of a hard sell when it comes to starting new books. In many ways he reminds me of Adrian Monk:


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2/5/16: I overheard the oldest two kids talking about Brahm's trip to Florida for Puppup's funeral last year. Brahm was going on and on about how cool it was to fly on a plane with Daddy and Gwen chimed in: "Maybe next time someone dies and Daddy goes to take their stuff I can come too!" Awesome ( Read more... )

1/13/16: In the fine traditon of Peter and Jean Willard (who taught us that the best time to go out to eat is during a blizzard), Chad and I ignored the snowstorm and went out for my (slightly belated) birthday dinner last night.

("They went out in a storm?"

"Watson, please. [pause] They went out in a storm?"


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