posted March 07, 2014 08:00 AM            

Have you been emulating Ray Bradbury?

(Just saying, hehe)

Actually that story should appeal to a Neptunian such as yourself. I seem to remember some awesome imagery, not unlike that Daisy one, set in Long Island.

posted March 07, 2014 08:11 AM            

Figured I better get this one up, before they finish the Season.

I can remember looking out my bedroom window and getting the surprise of my life seeing these lovely little pinks winking back.

Then they became a carpet, a soft halo of petals peeping from the lawn.

Now, they are the last and the few. Did see a little honey-bee working the white one yesterday though.

Through the Raging Thunderstorm and the sheets of driving rain,

The HoneyBee

Thriving amidst a cloud of feathery white and green.

(Underneath the Brick Alcove, hehe.)

Nature Rocks.

posted March 07, 2014 08:36 AM            

Yes, I would put dandelions and whatever other little flowers were growing as "weeds" (those orange poppies grow here like that), and use small coffee cups as little vases. I suppose I just like the comfy look of it, as opposed to an ornate vase of some kind.

I'm going to try roasting dandelion roots this year, and throw some leaves into a salad!

posted March 07, 2014 09:33 AM            

I can't remember what temperature I used, it was a long drawn out process, what with digging them all up, scrubbing them down good (with my potato brush, I think,) then roasting them on a cookie sheet.

Here's the Bradbury I was referring to:

posted March 07, 2014 08:29 PM            

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, transiting Mars square my Mars!

posted March 08, 2014 06:24 AM            

There is a lot of rocks back where I lived, some I swore were still attached to Mt. Lassen somewhere down there...

I feel your pain.

Yours look more river-washed, though.

They do make nice walls, they taught us to lay brick, do brick on sand and oh, I forget, that concrete with little cobbles on the top layer, but we never built rock walls with the mortar.

Yours would look really good like that.

Of course, if you are only building for the season...

It's amazing what you can do bringing things in. Can you get a load of compost?

The only thing with the rocks, is be careful of possible harbouring of pests.

Especially with a young one.

You need to get hubby into building rock walls, if he is respectful.

posted March 08, 2014 06:43 AM            

Not strictly blooming in my yard, as they have a very wild nature and resent coddling...

The Native Redbud.

I do see them on the roadside on the way to the bus, though.

posted March 08, 2014 11:13 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ellynlvx:

Yours look more river-washed, though.

Of course, if you are only building for the season...

It's amazing what you can do bringing things in. Can you get a load of compost?

The only thing with the rocks, is be careful of possible harbouring of pests.

Especially with a young one.

You need to get hubby into building rock walls, if he is respectful.

---

Heh. Yes, they're left over from a glacier, apparently. When I dug the garden out last year, those rocks were what I had to dig up. Of course my Mars loves it, though.

No, we're building it permanently; we have a similar rock wall to our flower garden that was here when we moved in, and it's lovely. I go through and weed it occasionally, but it mostly just collects moss.

Erm...what do you mean about harboring pests? We do have an issue with hobo spiders up here, which is really frightening.

So I dust the rocks with Diatomaceous Earth to get rid of them (sorry Hobo Spiders...I know that you just prefer your privacy, but we don't want necrotic wounds if we run into you. Go live in the drainage pond next door).

Otherwise, no poisonous snakes up here or anything...

We did this last Spring, and it looked lovely. We left a square of grass in the middle so that we could go in and reach the garden from the middle, but...we didn't take into consideration that the grass would overthrow all of the rocks, haha.

posted March 08, 2014 11:20 AM            

(People can call me crazy if they want to.)

I also promised the bushes around the border that I wouldn't allow anyone to harm them, as my husband wants to remove them. So as I'm digging around where they are, I occasionally have to remove the smaller ones, but I leave the ones that have been there for a while, and keep my promise.

I remind my husband that when you make a promise to the Earth, you must honor that promise.

And when the bees are out, I try to be very careful not to put any DE where they might land. I try to just keep it in the crevices of the rocks so that they don't get hurt.

posted March 08, 2014 11:46 AM            

It's very sheltered at the bottom of a Northern Exposure hillside that rises up behind us.

There are matching ones on either side of the Grape Arbour.

Well, actually I guess it goes all the way across, it's just underneath the patio and out of sight.

It's only mossy on the West side, though, the Arbour shades it there. That's the gate you go through to reach the mini-orchard.

The Arbour is really nice; if a little ancient, in Season we have clusters of Thompson Seedless hanging within reach.

posted March 09, 2014 05:21 AM            

Really.

But I miss the Ocean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7MoZuP3JBo

The funniest thing happened to me yesterday.

You know how I was bewailing my fate regarding the nurtured Redbud reluctant to bloom?

Seems I was premature in my berating. Cause it now looks like this:

posted March 10, 2014 01:22 PM            

Green can be VERY Beautiful as well. I love moist wet ferny places. Where the rocks are all radiant with life.

You can just see it shining, like when I leave my bathroom ruffly fern in the sink or tub for a bit.

Reminds me of when we used to visit Mt. Madonna and watch the White Deer when I was a kid.

Did you know there's an Indian Retreat up there?

That Babaji guy from "Be Here Now" and his daughter run it.

You know, he moves rocks with his mind, when they are too big for the menfolk to pick them up.

I haven't watched, but I watched their eyes when they came back down the hill and told. Pretty cool place.

But I Digress.

posted March 10, 2014 02:09 PM            

That sounds amazing, and life changing. I'm going to mark that on my mental map of places to visit while we're on our adventure.

posted March 10, 2014 02:53 PM            

He doesn't speak, he only writes on a chalkboard.

I think they have one around Ramadan every year.

Almost moved there.

I want to say two-fifty for a two-week workshop, but can't remember for sure. They have tents and rooms, as well.

Ashtanga Yoga.

The Eight-Fold Path, was it?

Heavens, it's been years...