Repost: How Bagpipes Changed My Life

March 12, 2014March 24, 2014 / Kevin / 16 Comments

In addition to lack of seed starting, there is another consequence to my escaping the cold for health reasons: the loss of my marching through March with my piping and drumming brothers and sisters. While the temperature here in South Florida comfortably rests in the low 80s, my mind and spirit are with my band, which who has marched in two to three parades each chilly weekend — so far. This Monday, St. Patrick’s Day, they will parade up 5th Avenue in New York City — and for the first time in years, I will not. Here’s a clip from a few years ago — that’s me front row center.

Watching it, I’m feeling a little green — with envy — that I can’t be there this year, and so I thought I would revisit a post which is as much a tribute to piping as it is to the band that took me in.

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The Biggest Seed I Ever Planted

March 4, 2014March 12, 2014 / Kevin / 39 Comments

It’s seed starting time — and by now, I should have flats of impatiens and petunias and geraniums planted in my Long Island potting shed, with dahlias, cosmos, and gazanias scheduled for the weeks ahead. But as I’ve said in previous posts, this is a season of a different kind — in so many ways.

For starters, I’m away from the potting shed. Instead, I have south Florida — and as my northern garden and gardening friends have shivered and shoveled during this winter’s harshness, south Florida has enjoyed exceptional warmth. By northern standards, it feels like summer.

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A Weed By Any Other Name . . .

February 25, 2014March 4, 2014 / Kevin / 29 Comments

Weed all about it! Florida Pusley; Richardia scabra.
The multitude of small flowers close up at night and then reopen with the sun.

When it comes to my lawn, I’m pretty basic, following one important rule. Be green. I’m not too fussy about what’s actually growing — but as long as it’s green, it has a place in the lawn.

When I see that in writing, it sounds as if I’m a bit of a colorist, embracing one color over all others. In actuality, though, the green weeds are welcome to bloom in any color they like. I just find that my color requirement for admittance into the lawn is one way to keep me from having to resort to herbicides and liquid fertilizers. I have no intention of having my little piece of suburbia become one of the stops on a national golf tournament.

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Field Trip: Local Color At The Farmers Market

February 20, 2014February 26, 2014 / Kevin / 46 Comments

A few posts ago, I lamented the fact that I was to be a garden blogger without a garden. Imagine my delight, though, when I read in the local paper that Oakland Park, FL, has a weekly Farmers Market. In fact, it’s just one of the many towns in south Florida with a Farmers Market. Suddenly, I’m a garden blogger among gardeners.

Join me for a sunset stroll among the stalls, when the warm light and aromas helped turn what’s usually a vacant field into a painter’s palette of home-grown, home-made, organic food.

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Ice, Snow & A Bit Of Frost

February 16, 2014February 26, 2014 / Kevin / 32 Comments

I owe all of you a great deal of thanks. Your kind and supportive comments from the previous post about my health issues and having to leave my garden were appreciated in so many ways. You and your words brought me great comfort.

Near the end of that post, I wrote, “I’ve made another difficult decision — to take a very brief hiatus from posting as regularly as I have, to wait for those beams of light to be strong enough to burn through the fog, to get to Florida and figure out how a garden blogger blogs without a garden.

“And when all that happens, you will be the first to know, because inspiration often comes from the most unlikely of seeds.”

That inspiration came soon after your gifts of words arrived. I was walking around the yard, tip-toeing through the areas of the garden that had re-appeared after a snowmelt and that’s when I noticed something. There, just barely above the ground, under the oak tree, was another gift — the tiniest bit of green.

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When The Fog Rolls In — And Out

January 26, 2014February 26, 2014 / Kevin / 88 Comments

There’s no other way to describe my brain during these frigid January days than this photo of a foggy, foggy night. I admit when I first saw the lights beaming through the misty mid-winter air, I thought of a scene from “The X-Files” — you know, an alien spacecraft had landed just on the other side of the trees behind my house.

But the more I stared at the photo, the more I thought about the tangled thoughts and clouded emotions and glimmers of light in my head. There’s a lot happening up there, and very often it’s difficult to make sense or to accept what it all is.

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I’ve Got A “Secret Garden” Winner!

January 19, 2014February 26, 2014 / Kevin / 6 Comments

Wow! What a week it’s been. Comments from all over the world arrived on both this site and my Facebook page. Not only did I appreciate your interaction with the post, but after reading each comment I learned so much about all of you.

The one thing you all had in common is that you are a very creative group! It was refreshing and impressive to see how many of you are not deterred by age, proudly holding onto crayons and colored pencils to use in all sorts of coloring books.

To select a winner, I created a spreadsheet of commenters, each one receiving a number. I then went to Random.org, where I inputted the number range in the “True Random Number Generator.” The next step was to hit the “generate” button . . .

And the winner is . . .

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How To Have Your Own “Secret Garden”

January 12, 2014February 26, 2016 / Kevin / 104 Comments

This post begins and ends with a gift.

Just prior to the Christmas holiday, a very dear coworker of mine, Lorraine, presented me with a silver-wrapped package tied with a string of sparkling stars. She explained that when she saw this item, she thought of me. It was whimsical, she said, and she thought — or at least hoped — that I would understand.

Her only instruction was to open it on Christmas morning.

And so I brought the present home and placed it under the tree and stared at it, wondering what sort of whimsy was hidden beneath the silver foil paper.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Window

January 10, 2014January 10, 2014 / Kevin / 6 Comments

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

I’m not sure how many photos I can include in these Weekly Photo Challenges, but I wanted to again share this photo from a previous post about vacation spots I’d like to see again.

After Joe and I arrived in Pamplona, we checked into a small hotel and looked out of the window. If we leaned out a little bit and looked left, we could see over the wall of the neighboring convent, capturing a nun walking through its walled garden. Although it was technically spying, I like think it was curiosity — and for Joe and me, a treasured memory.