frost on the punkin

Last night was a real cool deal--mid 20s for hours, cold enough to kill the tender annuals like our red sage, Thai basil, regular basil. Meanwhile the newest generation of crocuses, narcissus, and daffy down dillies are all planted in their snug little beds. The new dogwood is protected from the depredations of rutting bucks. In the Kitchen garden, the cover crop of winter rye and peas is putting up its slender purple shoots. The padrone and Bolivian pepper plants are potted and stationed at sunny windows inside. Storm windows are on. All this just in time for a cold week in Ithaca. Sigh.

The annual leaf drop is nearly done. The most reluctant of the maples dropped a ton of leaves today; a good freeze really cuts them loose. The oaks are holding on for the moment. I'm looking forward to gathering oak leaves to bed down the areas that I haven't covered so far. My longer term goal is to dwell in an earthy place that is like unto a forest floor. Something to aspire to.

Bulb-planting day

Mid-October is bulb-planting time. This year we ordered more than ever before. Today, in the cool sun, we planted 50 King Alfred daffodils. In the damp soil on little pillows of dried crab/lobster pieces, dried kelp, and peat moss. Tomorrow we plant Narcissus and Crocus bulbs. Liking fall and thinking spring all at the same time.

The new world of movies...

streaming movies from NetFlix, that is. I'm an instant convert. Been home with a nasty cold all weekend and today. Last night I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Heavy.
Today:
Iron Man. Oh yeah--boy toys times CGI equals big fun. Quel suit.
180 degrees South. Rapa Nui, Santiago, and Douglas Tompkins parque south of Puerto Montt in the Chilean Patagonia. Never thought I'd see that in a movie.
Being John Malkovich. A re-watch and well worth it.

If you have to be sick, this is a good way to improve the experience. FFFF. The new iMac as entertainment outpost.

My first view of unEarthly moons

Last Tuesday, for the first time I saw the moons of a planet other than Earth with my own eyes. I heard on Earth and Sky that Jupiter was unusually close to Earth, closer than it has been since 1963 and than will be again until 2022. And also very near the Earth moon. So I whipped out my binos and there Jupiter was in the early night sky. And right near Jupiter I saw three of its moons. Wow. Uranus was supposed to be hanging around within one degree of Jupiter, too, but I didn't see it. That would have been a first for me, as well. Saturn is the farthest out planet I have seen so far.

More info from Earth and Sky.

Here's a neat chart of where these planets are right now.

Over and out.

computer death

OK, this is not about the yard, though this is the yard values blog.

Last week our iMac died and took a lot of files with it. Actually the biggest hunk of stuff was photos that I had in iPhoto. The last photos I had backed up were from September 2009. So a lot of photos.

The last time this happened was when we first bought that iMac, and I lost a lot of photos when the motherboard crapped out--bad capacitors, I guess--then, too. And I was really devastated. But this time, I'm not devastated. Sure, I'd like to have them back, but no devastation. I'll see if I can find someone/thing that can resurrect them--Geek Squad at Best Buy, maybe--but I'm not hopeful. Maybe this means that I'm getting more comfortable with death.

Of course it doesn't hurt that I have a new iMac to play with.

3 months later

Well, the passing of my 65th birthday signaled a change, an elbow, in the direction of my life. Preceded as it was by knee surgery and the death of my aunt, Janet. And followed by rehabilitation of my knee, which is ongoing. And our trip to Seattle and Port Townsend for Janet's memorial service and interment. And returning to work at Olin Library.

The best thing so far about this post-65 time has been swimming in Lake Champlain one or more times a day during the two weeks we were in Vermont at the end of August. And visiting with Clare, a college friend who now lives in Seattle. There is nothing more strengthening and clarifying about swimming as far as I can in that water and playing with its buoyancy. The first few days were very windy, hence really wavy and challenging to swim in. When calmer days came, the strength developed swimming in the wind enhanced my appreciation of the smoother water.

Seems like the end of an era. So where now? A new direction is not yet clear. To experience a tectonic shift in my sense of self does not mean that I know much about it yet. I wonder what will happen.

Meanwhile, I have been enjoying reading two books in the Library of America series: Reporting World War II, Part One and A. J. Liebling's World War II Writings. It is sobering to read reporting. I know how the events proceeded more of less, how they turned out, but the writer has no idea, of course, because their future, and our future, has not yet happened. It rather parallels my present state. Something is going on, and I can only report about what seems to be happening without knowing how it will turn out exactly. Or even approximately.

Turning 65

Today I walked on South Hill Recreation Way from 8 to 9:30 am, then headed to Taughannock Falls State Park to escape the heat (95 degrees in Ithaca this afternoon). I swam in Cayuga Lake a couple of times, read the New York Times, worked the crossword puzzle, and fell asleep in the shade of a locust tree. Foolishly, I neglected to apply sunscreen and the locust shade, being only partial, did not keep me from getting a sunburn on my face. In spite of the sunburn, though, I had a good birthday. Never too old to do foolish things, am I.