07 October 2014
The forest results.
After starting so many rosemary clippings I tried to keep them watered. Only the inner circle really stayed moist the outer edge pots were always drying up and dying. I gave several away, many died, and I think I had about 7 left over. It was a great experiment and I will definitely try rooting rosemary again. They seem to really need to stay wet.
Labels: ferndale garden rosemary herb
17 December 2013
Starting a Forest
25 sprigs, snipped from a 2 year old rosemary plant. Dipped in rooting hormone powder and popped into newspaper pots. No attrition yet, hoping they keep going.
Labels: garden herb gardening root new project
29 November 2013
The Interwebs now
I've always liked reading blogs. They are like the books of the Internet. But there was a long time where I didn't have time to sit down. I didn't have time to compose. Joy of mobile apps! Now I don't have to be at a computer to share. Yeah, I've been doing Facebook, but I would like to make something a bit more permanent. Lately I've been inspired by kinfolk magazine, taproot magazine, everything mason jar, pine cone, plaid flannel, cozy tweed. Heh, also baby.
Labels: renew
14 January 2009
car dealership joy
who ever writes that in a subject line? me, apparently.
you know how they have to make everything in Germany complicated? like they can't have All-Season tires, they've got to have summer and winter tires? and if you don't have your winter tires on in the winter and you're in any kind of accident, then you're like automatically at fault, at least partially. yeah. i haven't let that bother me to this point, but it's snowy and i'm heading to the alps this weekend, it's probably time to put the winter tires on.
last night i pulled picknick's winter tires down out of the attic - it's a trapdoor/ladder affair, and i have to say, a little rickety. so i'm always nervous and extra careful when i'm taking big unwieldy things up or down the ladder. it went ok, but was a lot of work. i felt like an ant making lots of trips to get the whole leaf back to the nest.
first i pull down the trapdoor, crawl up into the attic. crawl back down when i realize that one of the lightbulbs is out and i can't really see up there. cannibalize a lightbulb from my apartment to replace the attic bulb. find my tires in the far corner of the attic.
take tires from attic corner to the top of the ladder (1, 2, 3, 4).
with a deathgrip on the left side of the ladder, brace tire against shoulder and side of head, hold with right hand, descend ladder (1, 2, 3, 4).
tires piled in the entrance to my apartment. take tires down stairs one at a time (1, 2, 3, 4). piling in entryway of the apartment, bottom of the stairwell.
pull car around so that it's parked illegally, but not too far from the door of my apartment. run tires out to the car, stack carefully in trunk (1, 2, 3, 4). try to close the liftgate. fail. grr. reposition. fail. grr. reposition. success!
this morning the mechanic at the dealership asks, "would you like us to store your summer tires here for you?" me: "You would do that? Oh God, yes!"
it's a small fee, but this way i don't have to run through above process 3 more times when i put summer tires up in the attic, pull summer tires down to get them re-installed, and put winter tires back up in the attic. 4 times! because i'm going to give this lease car back in the fall, so i'd need to pull the winter tires down again for the giveback.
so, money massively well spent. :) i'm a happy customer and i haven't even gotten the car back yet.
blognote: a 2008 roundup is coming. really. i'm going to try to revitalize this space a little in the coming year. please bear with me, i have really great intentions. Thanks so much for reading. :)
25 October 2008
i am sterdam
nick and marts came to visit me in europe, http://www.farkinfinally.com/
pictures and stories from my partners in crime (and probably m'self) will be gathering there.
pictures and stories from my partners in crime (and probably m'self) will be gathering there.
Labels: adventures, europe, holland, travel, vacation
09 October 2008
catchin up Croatia, July
i may be the worstest blah-ger that ever was.. but here for your amusement are pix from my july vaca. we took off at like 3am on monday the 7th. i slept in the car as hannes drove us south. we stopped in passau so he could pick up an "oops, my passport ran out and i want to be able to get back in" ID.
I woke up somewhere in Austria. We ate the salami sandwiches i packed for breakfast at a rest stop in the alps.
we got into slovenija ok, but getting out was a trick. actually, we got out ok, but were selected for "random" search at the croatian border.
this is the nice dog and guy who looked through all of our baggage and every bit of my car, and needed to have Tampax Tampons explained to them.
go figger. and in the afternoon we arrived in nin, croatia and found ourselves a cute little apartment for a few days. first we slept off the 8 hours of driving, then an evening stroll yielded pictures of boats
and roman ruins sticking out of the earth like broken teeth.
i will add what i can to the narrative when i can..
for now, i'm well, happy, and still bouncing 'round Europa.
I woke up somewhere in Austria. We ate the salami sandwiches i packed for breakfast at a rest stop in the alps.
we got into slovenija ok, but getting out was a trick. actually, we got out ok, but were selected for "random" search at the croatian border.
this is the nice dog and guy who looked through all of our baggage and every bit of my car, and needed to have Tampax Tampons explained to them.
go figger. and in the afternoon we arrived in nin, croatia and found ourselves a cute little apartment for a few days. first we slept off the 8 hours of driving, then an evening stroll yielded pictures of boats
and roman ruins sticking out of the earth like broken teeth.
i will add what i can to the narrative when i can..
for now, i'm well, happy, and still bouncing 'round Europa.
Labels: croatia, europe, travel
07 September 2008
Scotland, Part 3, Harris, St. Kilda and Iona. + Glasgow
Day 4. A Sunday. On Harris, nothing is open. One can't get a cab because they don't break the sabbath. One can't get tweed, because that would also be breaking the sabbath.
Getting on the Zodiac to head for Harris, I was reminded by several members of the group not to forget my camera. They were used to seeing me kitted out with the whole photog backpack. I had decided to observe in my own way, though. And Harris became an island, that if you were not there, you don't get to see. I needed a day to experience it by myself, without the lens between me and the landscape.
Also, so much of these islands are shaped by wind. So much of the experience there, the feeling of wildness, has to do with the wind whipping over it, bending the grasses and knocking down potential saplings. I couldn't catch the wind on film. not yet. so on Day 4, i went to experience it.
Day 5. St. Kilda
It's a lonely and forlorn place, inhabited for thousands of years but evacuated in 1930. Now sheep wander amongst the stone cairns once used for drying seabirds, abandoned blackhouses, and dry stone fences.
in the summer work parties carry out preservation tasks while seabirds breed and rear young.
I climbed up the hill, looked out over the cliff on the backside of the island and took pictures of kittiwakes on their nests.
Later we sailed past the tiny bird islands just north of Kilda. All the white on this sea stack is Gannets and Guano.
Gannets can only nest on sheer rocks that have an almost-constant high wind blowing by because they're big and bulky, and takeoff is an issue for them. Better if they can just drop into the air-stream.
Here's a pic of one taking off from the water (i had to work to get this one!), which the cruise company later used in some of their paperwork. check me out! i'm now a credited nature fotografin!
anyway, as we cruised around this island, thousands of gannets wheeled overhead. for the record, those buggers are a huge mass of dive-bombing muscle and have a 5.5-6 foot wingspan.
these are the best pics i got of them kettle-ing overhead..
and some gannet closeups for ya:
it was a big day for nature photography. :D
After all this birding excitement, we spent
Day 6. Iona
The island of Iona is where Christianity first came ashore from Ireland. We visited the beautiful Abbey there. And while I'm not such a fan of the Catholic Church, it was quiet, peaceful and lovely.
Mom and I bought Fair Trade chocolate at the gift shop (mm!). Then while M&P hunted Corn Crakes in the irises, I went to the beach and played with crayfish and hermit crabs. I didn't get their pictures (we were having too much fun together), but I did take the view from my little spot on the beach.
That afternoon we sailed through the Inner Hebrides, past Castles of the Rich and Famous
I wandered abovedecks after a little nap, and was the first one to spot the Basking Shark (badly photographed here)
(or was that nessie!?)
That afternoon was the last Wildlife Roundup, in the bar, where everybody compared lists of what they saw that day.
Landing in Oban, we bussed past Loch Lomond to Glasgow, and took leave of our Cruisin Companions.
Then it was just me, Mom and Dad in Glasgow.
Mom visited with Dr. Livingstone, I presume.. just in front of the Glasgow Cathedral
And then I took both of my parents to St. Mungo's. (ok, not the hospital for magical mishaps and maladies, but probably - hopefully? - as close as we muggles will get).
There we learned more about the actual St. Mungo himself.. (click and check it actual size at flickr if you like)
before we left, we visited the kelvingrove museum. we arrived before opening hours, so we sat in the window of the coffee shop across the street, M&P (who still have jobs at Ford *knock wood*) had fun spotting the Ford cars that are different in Europe, checkin out the Fiats and Vauxhalls and all the other weirdo tiny-euro-cars.
I took a picture of the ceiling inside the Kelvingrove, because i just love ceilings that look like they're carved from butter.
and why does the museum have an organ?
cool though.
so that's it. the next morning we went to the airport and headed back to our respective homes. :)
i think i'll have to go back next year though, i feel like i really missed something with skipping Fair Isle and missing Jamieson's in Lerwick, Shetland.
Getting on the Zodiac to head for Harris, I was reminded by several members of the group not to forget my camera. They were used to seeing me kitted out with the whole photog backpack. I had decided to observe in my own way, though. And Harris became an island, that if you were not there, you don't get to see. I needed a day to experience it by myself, without the lens between me and the landscape.
Also, so much of these islands are shaped by wind. So much of the experience there, the feeling of wildness, has to do with the wind whipping over it, bending the grasses and knocking down potential saplings. I couldn't catch the wind on film. not yet. so on Day 4, i went to experience it.
Day 5. St. Kilda
It's a lonely and forlorn place, inhabited for thousands of years but evacuated in 1930. Now sheep wander amongst the stone cairns once used for drying seabirds, abandoned blackhouses, and dry stone fences.
in the summer work parties carry out preservation tasks while seabirds breed and rear young.
I climbed up the hill, looked out over the cliff on the backside of the island and took pictures of kittiwakes on their nests.
Later we sailed past the tiny bird islands just north of Kilda. All the white on this sea stack is Gannets and Guano.
Gannets can only nest on sheer rocks that have an almost-constant high wind blowing by because they're big and bulky, and takeoff is an issue for them. Better if they can just drop into the air-stream.
Here's a pic of one taking off from the water (i had to work to get this one!), which the cruise company later used in some of their paperwork. check me out! i'm now a credited nature fotografin!
anyway, as we cruised around this island, thousands of gannets wheeled overhead. for the record, those buggers are a huge mass of dive-bombing muscle and have a 5.5-6 foot wingspan.
these are the best pics i got of them kettle-ing overhead..
and some gannet closeups for ya:
it was a big day for nature photography. :D
After all this birding excitement, we spent
Day 6. Iona
The island of Iona is where Christianity first came ashore from Ireland. We visited the beautiful Abbey there. And while I'm not such a fan of the Catholic Church, it was quiet, peaceful and lovely.
Mom and I bought Fair Trade chocolate at the gift shop (mm!). Then while M&P hunted Corn Crakes in the irises, I went to the beach and played with crayfish and hermit crabs. I didn't get their pictures (we were having too much fun together), but I did take the view from my little spot on the beach.
That afternoon we sailed through the Inner Hebrides, past Castles of the Rich and Famous
I wandered abovedecks after a little nap, and was the first one to spot the Basking Shark (badly photographed here)
(or was that nessie!?)
That afternoon was the last Wildlife Roundup, in the bar, where everybody compared lists of what they saw that day.
Landing in Oban, we bussed past Loch Lomond to Glasgow, and took leave of our Cruisin Companions.
Then it was just me, Mom and Dad in Glasgow.
Mom visited with Dr. Livingstone, I presume.. just in front of the Glasgow Cathedral
And then I took both of my parents to St. Mungo's. (ok, not the hospital for magical mishaps and maladies, but probably - hopefully? - as close as we muggles will get).
There we learned more about the actual St. Mungo himself.. (click and check it actual size at flickr if you like)
before we left, we visited the kelvingrove museum. we arrived before opening hours, so we sat in the window of the coffee shop across the street, M&P (who still have jobs at Ford *knock wood*) had fun spotting the Ford cars that are different in Europe, checkin out the Fiats and Vauxhalls and all the other weirdo tiny-euro-cars.
I took a picture of the ceiling inside the Kelvingrove, because i just love ceilings that look like they're carved from butter.
and why does the museum have an organ?
cool though.
so that's it. the next morning we went to the airport and headed back to our respective homes. :)
i think i'll have to go back next year though, i feel like i really missed something with skipping Fair Isle and missing Jamieson's in Lerwick, Shetland.
