a southern gal in the north

is a good time to restart, don’t you think?  (ok, so it’s not the actual first day, but close enough).   A little absence maybe makes the heart grow fonder.  For the three of you that still check in here, well, surprise!

Actually meant to write this post much earlier today but something bizarro happened yesterday with my home wireless network setup – first it was the laptop’s network connection that went all flaky last night which led to a bit of time sorting that out (Vista is SO not user friendly regarding redoing network stuff).  And then today – another GORGEOUS day like the five before it (such a stretch that fingers are crossed)- was all set up on the patio table after a bunch of chores and feeling virtuous and ready to post and WHAMASLAM no wireless !  After much grumbling and door slamming (cats a flying ) finally realized that it was the stooopid Range Expander that had probably caused the problems all along.  Don’t even get me started as to why Manufacturer websites have the worst possible help data (although Linksys has considerably updated their website since I installed this RE months and months ago).  And that of course is the weirdness about it – this RE was setup months ago – sometime in early spring – and not a pipsqueak of a problem since then.  Was there some electronic wierdness in space yesterday?  (some websites were flaky too).  Anyway, one HOUR later – ugh – and a total reset and reconfiguration of the RE (with brand new settings and its own ip etc) and (knock on wood too) all is well (for now!)

isn’t that gorgeous?  It’s from this very old hydraganea that is thriving albeit with much neglect – it’s in the small front bed of the house next door which is for sale due to the last owner’s death (July 2007).  Need to get a good cutting from that plant – especially if the hosue ever sells – although in this economic climate – opps not even going there today .  Have no idea what the name of this hydraganea is … maybe someday will find it.    There were two blooms like this one – the other is on my desk in my study.

[now let me rant a minute about Scribefire… they don’t link to your Flickr acct so in order to get that photo, after uploading to the computer, then uploading to Flickr, then open Flickr and get url – hey WAY too  much work.  So while I truly like this program – so many of my images go into Flickr. This may be a deal breaker for image heavy posts – will have to use Live Writer or BlogJet (if it’s updated more recently) ok rant over]

Fiesty today aren’t I?  well blame the weather and two huge mugs of tea, which you can see in this photo below – the view from my chair on the patio.

That’s the state of the garden right now – not too bad considering the heat spells we had in July and August (and actually about a week ago three atypically hot days for Sept).  While in the Berkshires for my eldest nephew’s FIRST day of FIRST GRADE (Yikes!) the week after Labor Day, stopped at a great local place Taft Farm which is a favorite shopping place of my sister and her son (the first grader).  Filled the backseat with dahlias (huge pots of about 4 plants each for $5) and lots of coleus (you can see more shots of these in the 2008 Sept set at Flickr).  Just the ticket for filling in the spots where the delphiniums and foxgloves had bolted in the back rose bed and the disaster area that was the groundhog’s nightly supper – a spot where sweet william and daisies were supposed to grow, poor things in one of the side beds.  And of course being of the red family (the coleus) didn’t hurt!  

This is a grand time to be in the garden – no worries about spring/summer planting to do, gorgeously cool days and chilly nights to sit with a sweater and a hot mug of tea and enjoy the birds bathing in the bird bath (as now – there are about five little robins it looks like having a grand bath ); assessing the successes and failures of the garden (more shrubs, less perennials is my current opinion) and…

[just took a break to check email – dangerous thing for there was a notice from one of the area nurseries that there is a 20% off everything sale this weekend ]

well, the only worry is Fall Planting and Bulbs.  There is one huge whole in the very back bed – where at the very back of that bed is the point of entry by the dreaded GH (gr#*#*h*g).  Momentarily it has been stopped – by a dumping of lots of broken clay pots shards and pieces of glass and a liberal dumping of the cat litter box (a few times).  So either that has helped or it has already started hibernating or someone/thing else killed it – whatever, it (FINGERS CROSSED, CANDLES LIT) has not appeared for a few weeks.   But the damage was done again – with lots of bad dirt thrown onto the middle of the bed – poor astilbe and diantras.  And probably was the cause of the problems with the gorgeous hydraganea that had really taken off in that spot this summer.  Not sure on that one and will leave it for another post (its a little depressing ).

As for current events – the Met Opera had its opening night Gala last night – listened in on Sirius while participating in a very lively chat with other opera lovers sponsored by La Cieca at parterre.com.  Still pondering the whole evening – however, my initial reaction is that I would have preferred a different group of operas/scenas – yes, its a gorgeous instrument but sometimes that is all that we get with a lot of surface activity instead of emotions and drama. 

Tonight is opening night for SALOME – with Karita Mattila.  I was fortunate to have seen the first run of this (two times) and will be listening again.  KM gave a bravura performance then … tonight should be just as hot.

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It's been a bit of a busy summer and knitting has not been that constant. After a bit of a dry spell, I worked most of a Swallowtail Shawl in a yarn that in the end was WAY too heavy and frogged that = which was about a week of work (argh – good thing i like process).

However as much as I like process knitting I am itching for a product..so before I succumbed to the siren call of the latest HOT sweater on Ravelry (the clever adult working of the February Baby Sweater by Pamela Wynne) I decided to suck it up and deal with some UFOs.

after a bit of time in the UFO pile… out comes CECE. Started last summer (I think) and left with the body done. I am actually making this a variation of the famous CECE pattern by adding much length to the body.

Below is the saga of this WIP. (Updated photos soon).

8/1 re picked up this UFO and immediately screwed up the lace pattern but caught it and quickly knitted up to the length i think will work. i am making it much longer and a bit looser than the pattern.

8/2 picked up the first sleeve and finished the inc and knitted up to where it seemed to be a good length. then discovered that the pattern i am using is the FIRST version without the 3/4 sleeve length – so had to find the later version and print it out and then recalculate.

8/2 started the second sleeve and after catching up on a lot of recorded shows and listening to Gotterdammerung from Bayreuth got almost to the pattern specified length of 13 inches.

8/3 NOT happy with all the SS along the increase seam. after reading the pattern again and reading a bit on the Chic Knits group, decided to rip back to first increase and incorporate the lace pattern along the increases.

Much better. Finished that sleeve and ripped the other one (done with no increases along the seam line) and restarted it.

8/3 am going to run out of yarn. Damn and blast after searching at Yarndex, find this color (3426 Claret Tahki Cotton Classic) is DISCONTINUED! Search of Ravelry and the Nets comes up with NIL. MAJOR AGRO and hair ripping!

Joined the sleeves and started on the decreasing for the raglan top. This will be interesting to see how long before I run out.

8/6-7 a very frustrating night. reached the end of my yarn and still have 28 stitches in the front sections to decrease to 6. after a mad search and claw (at 2 am ) thru all the boxes of my stash (my database said i had more!) could not find any more of the yarn. So after a bit of nail biting, decided to unravel the bottom of the sweater (SUCH A PAIN) . Am starting with the four row border. if that is not enough will have to go higher.

However, I had made this MUCH longer (tried it on and it hits below my bum) so there is a bit of length to work with but the unraveling is a pain.

Oi what we do for knitting!

I think I get to cast on for the February Lady Sweater to assuage my pain. ;o

the Lady B from Lexie Barnes

in the garden working…

see here for what's going on.

Saturday spent a long afternoon and early evening in the garden. More cleanup and all those little things like:

– cleaned up the ivy along the back wall.
I know this may be really anal but I am not going to let this ivy take over – I spent a bit of time pruning, cutting back and redirecting i.e., winding the ivy thru the ald rusted cast iron fence (left over from who know's when).

-tied and cleared up the clematis (Sweet Autumn) along the same fence.
Some of it had grown up and over the adjoining back fence of the neighbor behind me. There are new owners in that property and they spent that last week (thank goodness) clearing out the bamboo stand that the previous owner had let take hold of one of the back corners. I will NOT miss this – it shed and shaded that corner and back of the garden and is much appreciated. I feel like taking them a cake! Anyway, pulled gently on the runaway clematis vine (it was a nice big fat chunky one) and retied it to the top of the fence. By today there are already lots of little sprouts (yeah)

-pruned rather aggressively the tall Rose of Sharon in the back corner.
I only keep these cause the landlady likes them. But they get pruned back as far as I can get away with each year. This one was about 20 feet tall and by lots of stretching and using the extra long lopers I was able to prune the branches down to a reasonable height (and cut off all those deadheads too).

-cleared up around the climbing roses along the back fence
These are coming in very well thank goodness. Planted late last year in June I was worried about their winter survival. Both are New Dawns which I love . Happy to say that they are growing beautifully and sprouting lots of leaves and branching out – hopefully will have some nice blooms along that fence this year – and will be able to develop a nice framework for next year and so on.

-clematis upkeep
All of the clematises (pl?) are coming up and some very vigorously – so thrilled. I love clematis with a wild unreasoned passion. Don't know why – I have seven and will order probably a half dozen more. There is a lot of vertical space to cover in this backyard and what better way? Anyway, tied up tendrils to trellises and fences on all of them except for the one that is a little behind the rest – but will be catching up soon. Unfortunately, several shoot ends were broken off but they are rooting nicely now in glass bottles (kept specifically for this).

-potting bench cleanup
took everything off and bleached and cleaned it as well as the slate tiles that act as the cover (found in a heap by the side of the road two years ago). everything was bleached and cleaned and dried and rearranged.

-general cleanup
Lots of little prunings etc.

So that was a good day. Sunday spent most of the afternoon with the laptop on the patio (with a very weak wireless connection that has been resolved since – more later) updating my spreadsheets from last year as to what was bought etc

Started a master spreadsheet of the CURRENT Growing Things. Need to continue to work on that.

Yesterday was a big house chore day.

Which brings us to today. After much research, had ordered a range extender for my wireless network. Although had regretted becoming an Amazon Prime member earlier this year with its annual fee, I reaped the benefits by getting the item TODAY after ordering it Monday.

There were lots of posts on the Nets about the configuration of this – but my wireless router is Linksys and so decided to take a chance on the Linksys range extender. After faithfully following the instructions which got me nowhere except with a RESET of the router's settings (including new keys! argh), decided to go with my gut and "played" around for a bit.

Gave my laptop a static ip and attached the extender by cable to the laptop. Went into the extender's setup and configured it with the correct WEP key.

Voila!

Set the range extender in the kitchen high up on a shelf. All is well now and am getting the same speed as get when in the next room from the router. (54 mbps)

So right now I am sitting on the patio (its after 8 pm) with my wireless speaker playing whatever WQXR has programmed (something baroque) and typing this entry while watching the dusk descend. [and my neighbors are listening to the ball game with one of them smoking a cigar which is not too obnoxious – the joys of the neighborhood backyards]

And thinking of the Grand Garden List.

1. Plant the few perennials that overwintered in pots (ran out of steam last fall) – some astibles, mums and veronica, a hydrangea which may or may not be alive.

2. Plant the fig tree which means moving a bunch of bulbs (probably to one of the containers).

3. Figure out what to order to fill in what did not survive. Graceful Gardens and Bluestone Perennials and some more bulbs from Becky and Brents. If I get the GG order in tonight, maybe Amanda will send it tomorrow so I can plant it this weekend (having ordered before I know it takes about two days). Have to be careful about ordering so that the plants don't sit in a warehouse over the weekend!

4 Figure out what seeds can be started now – its been pretty warm this week but each night has plummeted back to the low 50s. Already planted sweet peas in their planters by the back corner behind the bench. Need to check the dates and temps for the rest (long list = another post)

And your treat for reading this…

It was a nice sunny warmish day, by 300 pm it was in the mid 70s, rather warm for mid April.

This is the third year of this garden, not much hardscaping to do anymore, with one exception (a bed to rebuild due to an overzealous groundhog last year).

So its nice to see in the last few weeks many of the perennials coming up as well as the roses and clematis getting a good start on their growth.

Its really the first year that many of these are coming up since from the first to the second year many were lost due to very late planting that first year. However, last year planting was a bit earlier although still end of May – due to an international trip over the first two weeks of June.

This year there is another trip during mid June but as its only April 19th and so much is coming up… allowing the holes to be seen… an order to the favorite garden website (Graceful Gardens) can be placed shortly and planting done by the beginning of May.

Also will be growing a lot of annuals and vines from seeds (Renee's Garden). Last winter ordered rather a large amount and only planted a few of them (and a bit latish too). Part of today was spent reviewing the seed packets as to planting recommendations. Surprise there are quite a few that can be planted now. Most need to wait a few weeks til the nights are above 50 degrees.

Anyway. There is a lot of growth. Photos soon.

Photos later … too tired. (ADDED)

Today was the BIG CLEANUP for the garden. It was in the high 60s and sunny most of the day with a brief rain shower around 430 pm.

Returning to the blogsphere from a short break. Just watched the incredibly moving and emotional documentary about Jock Soto during his last days at the NYCB.

Water Flowing Together by Gwendolyn Cates

It is being shown on INDEPENDENT LENS (PBS) thru out the country this week. I caught it on the WLIW WORLD channel but it is listed on Channel 13 this Friday night in NYC.

If you ever saw Jock dance at the New York City Ballet, you will enjoy this incredibly personal look as he grapples with the end of his dancing career and his steps toward the next phase of his life and a new career in culinary arts (although he continues to teach and play a very active part in the life of NYCB).

It was a terribly personal film for me as going to the NYCB has been a very precious thing for me and one of the reasons I lived in NYC.

I moved to NY just as Jock was rising thru the company from the corps to soloist and principal very quickly. Over the years, he has been my most favorite male dancer in the company and one of my most favorite performing artists ever.

Watching him again in the film tonight – in rehearsal, in a very few brief film clips – brings back so many memories.

One of the very first luxuries I permitted myself as a starving temping musician was a subscription to NYCB – it was such a treat to have those tickets and the evenings were always wonderful in those days. Although Balanchine had just died, his aura was still hanging everywhere in the building – on the stage and still fresh amongst the dancers. And the evenings were full of Balanchine ballets and of course Suzanne Farrell was still dancing among other great dancers – but that’s another post.

And I won’t go into here the ways that the company has changed – and yes I know that all things change – and the people who should be there in the midst of these newer postGB generations of dancers imparting his works, techiniques, philosophies. That is covered in many places.

At another point in my NY years, I was able to take advantage of seeing NYCB much more frequently due to my proximity (I worked at a fellow company at Lincoln Center). It was such a wonderful joy to find out if Jock was dancing and to go over and see him perform – he was always a most generous and gifted performer. And if he was partering Heather Watts – which was the majority of the time during those years – the level of excitement increased. I am grateful for the opportunities to see them perform as much as I did – although I know there are fans who went every night – I was content to see them as much as I could and drink in their love for dancing and obvious affection for each other.

One sees artists like Jock Soto and Heather Watts and feels close to them thru the openness of their performances and wishes them to dance forever which of course is impossible.

The courage of the openess of Jock in this film – touching on his family life and heritage as part Navajo and part Puerto Rican as well as homosexuality is admirable and moving and a tribute to the man behind the performer… someone whom it would be nice to get to know away from the stage too. (Or at his restaurant – his current dream).