NanciWorld

11/29/11

Pieces Of The Past

I really think my Grandmother (my Dad's mother) was pretty cool. She had a great sense of humor, a unique fashion sense, and was very easy going. Now, actually, I can't prove much of that - she died many years before I was born.

How cute! You go, Grandma!

Grandma and Grandpa's wedding picture.

Unfortunately, I don't know the date or time frame for any of these photos. No one noted anything on any of them. I do know they both died very young - she at the age of 44, he at 54. What my father told me was that after she passed away, he was so heartbroken that he died a few short months later.

Grandma was very petite -under 5 feet tall. Strangely, her three children were all enormous babies - the two boys were around 14 pounds, and my aunt Carol around 12 pounds! I always assumed that was the key as to why she didn't live very long.

I think it's great that she would actually smile in these photos - everyone else back then looked like their dog just died ( like the unidentified lady on the left) and always posed very stiff and uncomfortable - but not her! She's all relaxed and looks like a real human. Maybe she knew that a descendant of hers someday would need to imagine what she was really like without ever meeting her....

A painting of Grandmother by her son (and my father)....:-)

8/8/11

An Unexpected Oasis...

One morning, along my route to one of our garages (notice the red and white sculpture that is in front of it) during my workday, i ran across a fairly large vegetable garden. .....Wait.....VEGETABLE GARDEN?! What's THAT doing in the middle of Downtown Toledo?

Walking through the mulched walkways across the garden, i saw cabbage, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, even Sunflowers and Marigolds around the border.

Located in completely direct sun (which is what veggies love) in one of our hottest summers we've had in a while, everything still looked healthy, clean and well watered.

Rounding a corner, I ran across a sign - oh-oh, probably says, "NO TRESPASSING - OR WE LET THE HOUNDS LOOSE!"

...But that was NOT what the sign said. It was cute and friendly and even informed me I could TAKE something if i wanted to! What an awesome surprise on a mundane work day!

So thank you to the United Way and Toledo GROWS, and if no one else appreciates your efforts, i really do! i already have harvested a couple of tomatoes from it (i may have to prune a few of those large squash leaves to cast, too), and plan to use part of my lunch hour one day to pull a few weeds in appreciation =-)

8/4/11

The Rant Of Summer

Yes, for years the breeders have been making sweet corn more and more sugary, but i never thought it was necessary in the first place. i loved sweet corn since i was a child, and while i do like the "new" varieties a LITTLE better, they are almost too sweet at times. So, breeder guys, it's OK to stop now!

What i really want is a sweet corn plant that bears multiple ears! i know corn plants are extremely heavy feeders and that one huge stalk is there only to produce that one lonesome ear of corn (sometimes two), but that really needs to be addressed, especially for us home gardeners who don't have room for a FIELD of corn! So there it is.

"Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it,

is to produce five eared corn plants. As always, should you or any member of your I.M. Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds."

"Mmmmmm....cornnnnn..." Did i sound like Homer Simpson?

Now, the breeders had a great idea when they worked on seedless watermelon!

Hey! Let's scare the kids!

i had my complaints about that too, especially in the transitional years, when, oh sure, the hard black seeds were gone, but thousands of tiny immature seeds took their place, the kind that were impossible to eat around or spit out!

They would advertise that those seeds were so tiny and soft that you wouldn't know you were eating them, but unfortunately, some of us DID. i would say that just in the past two seasons, i finally have eaten an actual SEEDLESS watermelon! Ahhh, my life is complete.

....Oh, 'cept for that CORN business....!

7/13/11

How's Things With YOU? ~ Midsummer Status Update 2011

The last 2-3 years, my beloved vegetable garden has really not produced anything. Why? Well, i have a large perennial garden, i have my Creative Castings nature art business that i can only work on in the warm season and have to keep up inventory for the summer art/craft shows, plus i worked full time with only 2 weeks of vacation. It was fine without the art stuff, but that takes up a lot of hours, about as much as a part time job! Yes, i do love it, it just takes up time, time that i could be using to plant, weed, and water.

This year is a little different; i decided to cut the art shows to one per month, plus i have one more week of vacation. So the garden looks a LITTLE better.

Cherokee Purple Tomato Plant

Things ARE behind, such as the tomato plants that are just starting to look like anything, plus a couple of things didn't germinate, my cucumbers and zucchini were planted late and were slow to come up, so they're both about 6 in. tall

Squash on the left; cukes on the right

(i have faith in them, though, especially the zucchini - i expect to have many to give away, if it goes as zucchini usually goes!). Just planted bush beans VERY late (where the other seeds did not come up), but there should be plenty of time for them to mature. PLUS, after a horribly wet May, downpours every day or two.....My spousal unit and i agreed back then that we would probably in a drought situation come August. Well, by June it stopped raining, and as of this writing we have been completely without rain for 3 weeks, and the few showers before that did not amount to more that a tenth of an inch - so we're DRY! It's a pain to have to water daily, but i try to look at the bright side - few weeds and few mosquitoes! If you garden or farm, one thing is certain - you can water constantly, but it never has the same effect as one good rain! Plants will look 3 times larger the day after a rain, but so will the weeds! After a couple of good mid summer rains is usually when the weeds overtake the garden so much that i can't keep up, and if i DO have time to weed in the evenings, the 'skeeters won't allow me to! So, yes, i have to water, but i control it, so it's not all bad!

i have also rediscovered old fashioned gardening ~ that is, I have a tiller, and sprinklers to hook up to the garden hose, and all kinds of garden gadgets (remember THIS thing?)

but this season i've just been tending the garden quietly, watering with a watering can, hand picking the weeds or hoeing them, and mulching, reconnecting intimately with the garden soil. So, a slightly more relaxed season so far...

*****Late news flash ~ we DID just manage to get about an inch of rain two days ago, so that helped a bit!******

7/10/11

Bean There, Done That...

i collect things. i collect all KINDS of things! Salt dips, coins, Hostas, stamps ~ anything that comes in different colors or patterns. When i first discovered beans (OK~ i knew about beans long before that, but not THESE beans!), opened a catalog consisting of heirloom plants and saw names like, "Jacob's Cattle", "Snowcap", "Orca", and "Molasses Face"....well, i was hooked!

So for a few years i grew as many kinds of beans as i could find, dried them and saved them in jars. Did i EAT them? Oh, no! i don't really LIKE beans!!! i love snap beans, but i don't really even like dried beans in chili!