Here are two dandy posts about the exceptionally warm weather this month. First, from the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

000
SXUS73 KGRR 221753 CCA
RERGRR

RECORD EVENT REPORT...CORRECTION TO RECORD HIGH DEPATURE [sic]
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
148 PM EDT THU MAR 22 2012

...ALL TIME RECORD HIGH DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL SET AT GRAND RAPIDS
MI...

WITH A HIGH OF 87 DEGREES YESTERDAY AT GRAND RAPIDS ON THE 21ST AND
WITH THE NORMAL HIGH BEING 47 DEGREES THE DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL WAS
40 DEGREES. THAT BEATS ALL TIME PREVIOUS RECORD OF 38 DEGREES ON
SET ON JANUARY 22 1894.

THE MEAN TEMPERATURE ON THE 21ST WAS 74 DEGREES. THAT WAS THE
HIGHEST DAILY MEAN TEMPERATURE EVERY RECORDED IN MARCH. IT BEAT THE
PREVIOUS RECORD OF 72 SET ON MARCH 29TH IN 1910. THE PREVIOUS
RECORD FOR THE 21ST OF MARCH WAS 62 DEGREES IN 1938.

THAT 74 DEGREE MEAN ALSO RESULTS IN THE ALL TIME RECORD DEPARTURE
FROM NORMAL AT GRAND RAPIDS FOR ANY DAY OF THE YEAR FOR THE ENTIRE
PERIOD OF RECORD. THE MEAN OF 74 DEGREES WAS 37 DEGREES ABOVE
NORMAL. NO OTHER DAY ON RECORD AT GRAND RAPIDS HAS HAD SUCH A LARGE
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL. THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 34 DEGREES HAPPENED
TWICE... ONCE ON MARCH 8TH IN THE YEAR 2000 WHEN THE MEAN WAS 67
DEGREES AND THE NORMAL 33...THEN AND ON MARCH 13TH IN 1990 WHEN THE
MEAN WAS 68 DEGREES AND THE NORMAL 34 DEGREES.

$$

WDM

And, from the Capital Weather Gang (Washington Post blog) yesterday March 21, 2012, posted at 3:11pm:

Pellston, Michigan: After reaching 80 or higher for three straight days - hotter than ever before in March - it reach 84 Tuesday, a phenomenal 29 degrees above its previous record high (55 in 1976 and 1948) and 44 degrees above average. It has at least matched that today, standing at 84 p.m. as of 2 p.m. central time. In Traverse City, the high has reached at least 87 (45 degrees above normal), surpassing the monthly record set just yesterday.

Turning under the cover crop/Early tree bloooming

A sunny, warmish day today for turning under the rye and winter pea cover crop in the kitchen garden (photo (above) is how the cover crop appeared in the fall). First time I have really succeeded with winter cover. The soil was so friable because of the fine rye roots penetrate the soil. I'm very curious to see how it affects this year's vegetable crop.

Today I saw a street tree in the photo above blooming away with big male catkins and tiny female flowers peeking out of the twig ends. Nothing else is in bloom right now except snowdrops, a few early crocuses, the witchhazels. After consulting my tree ID books, I think this tree is a Turkish hazel (Corylus colurna: "Widely planted in parks and gardens, this hazel is also useful as a street tree.... Males and females [flowers] on the same plant, appearing before the leaves; males: in long, drooping, pale yellow catkins; females: small, budlike, with red stigmas." (Eyewitness Companions: Trees: 262).

Yard Peonies

The Mappist

I've just finished listening to a reading of "The Mappist," a story by Barry Lopez read by Joe Spano on Selected Shorts. Remarkable. It doesn't seem to be available in an online archive, but it's in print. Should be read out loud.

Info at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/shorts/2009/dec/06/.

Highlights of an east coast/west coast January

My six weeks of adventure time is winding down; by next Tuesday I'll be back at work. So what have I made of my time off this winter?

Christmas in Brooklyn was certainly memorable: a blizzard, good eating at numerous restaurants--some new and some familiar. A visit to the High Line in winter. It was a particular pleasure to return to Mogador for dinner with Anna and Kate. Mimi's Hummus was a welcome discovery on Cortelyou Road. Frankie's in Carroll Gardens was a revelation and a snowy brunch at The Farm on Cortelyou.

Mid January in San Francisco was also rich--four days in North Beach and then six more in Glen Park. Much warmer-than Ithaca weather although the locals were complaining. Hey, what's not to like about 50s and low 60s during the mostly sunny days? The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building was memorable. A day trip to Muir Woods and Stinson Beach was a major highlight. Muir Woods is overwhelming. The mass, old redwood trees, the mounds of dead leaves and branches, and the canyonate lighting, rich patches of brilliant sunlight in the darkness of midday. Compelling.

I also enjoyed the Italian stone pines in Washington Park. The eucalytus were in bloom around Coit Tower. The air was full of Anna's hummingbirds, parrots, and warblers. Wow. Lots of trees and shrubs in bloom during the winter coolness and damp.

Yard Boy Snowed in in the Big City

Jane and I were in Brooklyn with Kate and Anna for a week over Christmas where we got an up close experience of a nor'easter that spawned a mighty, windy snowstorm.

The storm started about 10:30 Sunday morning the 26th. Blizzard warnings were up. We were in Manhattan shopping and visiting the Met until 12:30 or so. When the snow started, it was steady but fairly light. Back in Brooklyn about 1 pm the north wind and the snow started increasing in intensity. After a fine late lunch at the The Farm on Cortelyou Road, we headed to Kate's 5th floor apartment to wait and watch. By dark the wind was howling and the snow flying by horizontally. Traffic had a ground to a halt as the snow continued to pile up. Visibility was minimal. Thirty-five mph winds gusting to fifty blew the snow into 4-foot drifts and howled at the window.

When we walked to our B&B late Sunday night, I taped plastic bags over my running shoes to wade through the snowy streets. Never thought to take my snow boots.



Streets were blocked by abandoned vehicles of every description. A city bus was crosswise on Cortelyou Road. Taxis, cars, vans, ambulances--the impassable streets were filled with stuck vehicles. The wind blew the snow into long streamers; on the downwind side, parked cars were buried in deep snow.

Cortelyou Road Sunday night:

Monday morning the sun came out. The snow was over but the wind blew as strongly as ever. Only the major streets--Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Parkway had even an occasional motor vehicle. Everything else was frozen in place. Hard to tell how much snow fell because of the wind--easily 18 to 20 inches, though. Everything was simply buried. People walking on the unplowed streets passed by high on a causeway of snow.

Anna waded into one of the drifts:

Tuesday was little different from Monday--cars buried, streets unplowed, wind howling and blowing and drifting the snow.



We had planned to leave on Tuesday, but nothing could move on the side streets where we were parked; traffic was barely moving on main arteries that were barely passable.

Our street on Tuesday morning:

The stalled MTA bus in the background blocked Cortelyou for three days. Every other vehicle visible in this view was stuck, too.



Early Wednesday morning, a snowplow cleared Rugby Road. After breakfast and a final shovel job to clear the snow between our car and the snowplow track, we headed out of town, back to an Ithaca with just a trace of snow on the ground, our blizzard adventure over.

early cold & the vagaries of LES

LES (lake effect snow in meteorological jargon)continues to pummel (favorite news reporter's meteorological verb) nearby areas of New York state, leaving us high, dry, quite cold, and very windy. We reached a high of 15 today with windchills below zero F since early morning. This is the second round of the lake effect snow no-show for Ithaca. I do wish the NWS would either back off or get more granular with their accumulation forecasts. And yet I find comfort in the unpredictability of complex, dynamic invisible air envelope that we live within and upon which we rely for life.

The cusp of December

It's the time of year when intense storms angle up through the Great Lakes states: the wind blows hard and sucks up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, the western Atlantic, and the lakes and dumps rain in copious amounts. We've had our share this year. A six-inch rain, the re-energized remnant of Tropical Storm Nicole, on the last day of September and a two-inch rain on the last day of November with a lot of wind. Six Mile Creek flooded impressively. This last rain wound up with a couple of inches of snow and a cold spell. We've had our share of gray skies, but I like it when the wind blows hard and the skies open up.

Switching back to half-time work at the turn of the month has freed up some of my energy for cooking and for yard time. More hardwood leaves, more white pine needles, and trimming back the annuals in preparation for winter. It's just gotten cold enough now that I've switched to walking instead of cycling to work. It has been a big year for planting--nearly 100 bulbs, three trees, winter cover crop in the kitchen garden, lots more herbs--lavender, salvia, basil, the usual rosemary, hyssop, sage.

I want every drop of rain and snow that falls on this bit of the earth to stay here, to sink in, and to nourish monster plants.

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.

O Thistle

The volunteer thistle on the edge of the driveway is back and blooming. Among the most beautiful of flowers, there are the thistles, round scaly spheres bursting with violet. Riding on four-foot spiny stems. Later the seeds are favored by goldfinches.

Investing in the Golf

Just passed through a decision point with the VW Golf. We looked at and Jane test drove one of the new Golfs. Then decided to invest more in the existing car--new tires, fixing the coolant leak and the leaky head gasket. Feels good, once we made the decision. Greener.

Recovery

Slowly but surely recovering from surgery for a tear in the medial meniscus of my right knee. Had a lovely pre-surgery trip to the city and finally got to walk the High Line. Lots of gardening inspiration there. Went to a terrific dance concert in Chelsea with Anna and Kate. And witnessed Kate getting her Masters degree in early childhood education at Hunter College. Momofuku, lots of other good food.

Spring snow

Contrary to my expectations we did get some snow today--mostly air snow. During our South Hill walk we saw thick flakes looking beautiful against the bright green leaves where they landed. After a lot (say two months) of warmer than usual weather, the Canadian air has blown us some very chilly, gray weather. Gray because of the lake-effect snow and rain showers and cloudiness. The cold winds blowing over the slightly warmer lake water are picking up a lot of moisture. Our good old Great Lakes.

The high winds brought down some good-sized maple branches in the neighborhood last night and today. When we returned after watching a sneak preview of a 1993 Cornell graduate's movie, Easy A, last night, we discovered that the wind had taken out the top of our Norway maple in the side yard and deposited it on Water Street. We got a goodly amount of firewood out of the deal--sawing away with our bow saws like little beavers chewing up wood. Then tonight just before dark I discovered a large sugar maple branch downed by the wind and harvested more firewood from it. Nothing like a good windstorm to replenish our supplies. A year or so drying under the back porch will turn it into prime firewood.

Learning Spanish

Just back from my evening Spanish class. I've been taking an intermediate conversation class twice a week at Cornell since the first week of February. The instructor is a lively man who is fond of literature and music and has been using both extensively in the class. It's challenging. I'll have a bad class, but it's usually followed by a good one. A bad class is one when I can't understand the question the instructor is asking me in Spanish. Or I don't understand the story we have read well enough to answer coherently.

But it's good for me to take on the work. It will pay off on the next trip to Chile. Hopefully this coming northern hemisphere winter/southern hemisphere summer. Every once in a while I will understand a whole sentence. Triumph. More often it's a game of approximation. How much can I understand? My progress is slow but, still, progress. I expect to keep learning Spanish, off and on, indefinitely. I want to be fluent.