Music Monday Tuesday?: The Life of Riley

"Although this World is a crazy ride,
you just take your seat and hold on tight..."

Though not quite as alliterative as "Music Monday," this impromptu "Music Tuesday" is courtesy of my dinner this evening with my wife.

While waiting for our food to arrive at a small restaurant within walking distance of our home, I was struck by how fortunate I am. In light of my recent birthday (which always seems to put me in a somewhat reflective mood), and the incredible fortune I have in being who I am, where I am, with the folks who love me, I couldn't help but recall this song (and "band," The Lightning Seeds), both favorites of mine the summer after graduating from college.

I still believe that in this world, you've got to find the time for the Life of Riley...

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Staking Out Over Spring Break

"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides."~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show.

After briefly looking back at gardens past last week, this week's Spring Break served as an excellent time (with unusually cooperative weather!) to begin staking a claim on some turf for this year's edition of our family vegetable (and fruit) garden. As previously mentioned, the big change this year is that we will further be turning over what passes as our lawn to garden space. The hope, of course, is that more spec will equate to a higher yield from our garden.

The small area of our backyard (note: both pictures were taken this past Monday with an inexpensive Kodak disposable camera) as currently configured for growing a variety of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash:


The same are, but now staked out to add an adidtional 2' x 5' area to eb used for the inclusion of more vegetables and to allow for more growing space in bewteen rows of plants:


Next up: hopefully this coming weekend we can begin turning over the soil and mixing in some of the compost from our pit with the hopes of planting in mid-May. Stay "tuned" for updates!

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Looking Back at Gardens Past

"The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there."~George Bernard Shaw

Though it's still only mid-April, the beautiful weather has Anne and I thinking of our small urban garden and how we might improve on its past performance. This morning we began staking out some new area, extending the garden by about an area of 3' by 5'.

This work is being done quite a bit in advance our purchase of the plantings from the local farmer's market, likely in mid-May. Before continuing with a visual and journaling record of the 2009 edition of our garden, I figured I'd offer a brief look back at how things went in Spring 2008.

This first image is of the garden bed as it appeared just before our initial attempts to turn over of the soil. The day prior, I had removed a small wooden fence which had separated the area from our lawn in the interest of creating more space for the plants. As you can see, Gracie (our dog) also enjoys assisting, too:


This "story" actually began two years ago (I can't even begin to fathom that it's been that long already!). It was in Spring 2006 that my sons and I constructed our composting pit (pictured at the top of this post), the contents of which we had hoped to use in our own gardens. Last Spring saw the fruition of that goal. Last year, filled with another years worth of kitchen waste, grass clippings and jack-o-lanterns, as in the first image, we had plenty to work with.

This year's pit looks even more ready to go... I'm looking forward to posting some more current pictures soon:


Each year, after tilling the soil in an effort to better turn it over, and removing and weeds, Anne and I willy-nilly dropped a good amount of compost into the dirt. Some of it was rather smelly, which I guess is to be expected:


We then spread it out evenly over the entire area, working it into the soil:


Wallah! It took Anne and I about two days to fully prepare everything for greeting the plantings. Given our goal of increasing the variety of vegetables and amount to be harvested, we can only hope for as fine a pre-planting experience, this year as last!

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Bird-a-palooza: Suddenly... Birds!

My apologies regarding the sideways video, but if you look carefully at the center of the tree, just above the hanging suet feeder is the White-breasted Nuthatch, to the right on the roof of the shed is a female Northern Cardinal, and on the ground to the left is a Blue Jay. This "archival" (though representative) video was taken a year ago August in my backyard

Date: April 16, 2009
Time: 5:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Location: The back yard of our home in the upstate New York city of Rochester.

Bird Species/Markings/Features: After a long, cold winter with nearly zero evidence of bird-life in our backyard, the past few days have witnessed a veritable explosion of activity. Last evening, while eating a bowl of cereal at the kitchen counter, I noticed two Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) (1 female and one male) flitting between the large tree in the back left corner of our lot, to the fence running along the back, onto both our seed and suet feeders and finally onto the neighbor's small tree to the right of the panorama.

Using the binoculars which we have at-the-ready on the counter to follow them around the yard, it was exciting to see their somewhat vibrant plumage return to the yard.

Notes: I certainly am glad that I took advantage of the warming temperatures this past weekend to fill the feeders. Despite the fact that the North American Grey Squirrels do their best to eat the suet (even after the cakes have been dipped in anti-squirrel hot pepper) the birds don't seem to mind taking what they can from the leftovers caught in the grates of the suet holder.

The increasing number of interesting visitors (Anne saw a woodpecker this evening!) we've had recently to the feeder has made for a fun post-dinner diversion nearly every evening. I need to get more suet this evening while I am out and about...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!