March is coming in like a lion...
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March- officially in like a lion
Comments (4)It's blizzarding here today...winds up to 100k/hr, blowing snow, -21C....sorry to bum everyone out. Perhaps we should make an offering to Spring to see if it'll come faster?...See MoreMarch: in like a lamb or lion?
Comments (16)Our weather here has been pretty bad. We got a huge storm with 51 cm of snowfall in one day last week. From what I'm seeing on the weather network, we will continue to have cold weather with below average temperatures. Also, following Marcia's theory of Good Friday, it's going to be colder than average here! I wonder if spring will ever come. As I look outside, all I can see is white. We must have 2 feet of snow out there and in some areas where the plows have been, the snow is up to the crown of the tree in my front yard. I am a little jealous of the people in Alberta who have had seasonably mild temperatures. My friend in Red Deer has been using her cold frame to acclimate her plants for the last week or so....See MoreMarch Reading - In Like a Lion
Comments (144)IÂve just finished to read The prince of Tides, which I read more or less twenty years ago for the first time. Of course I remebred very well what the book was about, but rerading it I was able to get back a lot of details that I had lost. In particular I remebered the strongest passages of WingoÂs family, and I had lost the "poetic" pages. An other thing, IÂm now able to compared the book and the film, because I saw it many times lately, in order to improve my listening-skills. In my opinion the book and the film are complementary to each other , the book tells Tom Wingo memories for 80% of the story and 20% is about Tom in New York, the movie is just the other way around. I think Barbra Streisand did a great job, and always in my humble opinion, she has improved a few naiveties of the author of the book, Pat Conroy. For instance doctor Lowenstein is far much believeble as psychiatrist, in the film than in the book. now I cut and past a little of the plot , for whom havenÂt read the book nor seen the film Things come to a head when Tom learns that his beautiful and talented twin, Savannah, has tried to commit suicide again. As she lays comatose in a New York City mental hospital, Savannah's psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein, urges Tom to travel to New York. Doctor Lowenstein realizes that the only thing that can help save Savannah is to unlock the secrets of her terrible childhood (something that all the Wingo children have long suppressed and refuse to talk about). Tom flies to New York reluctantly, and at first, presents Dr. Lowenstein with a façade made up of humor, sarcasm and even rudeness. But Dr. Lowenstein eventually is able to break down Tom's protective shell to discover the horrors that took place during the Wingo's childhood. She also realizes that in trying to save Savannah, that this might also be Tom's last chance to save himself. But it turns out that Lowenstein has erected her own protective mask to hide her own unhappiness. With a remote husband and a spoiled son, Tom is able to turn the tables and help the good doctor in promoting a little self-healing as well. Now IÂm nearly through with "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" and IÂve got conflicting feelings about it. I hope , with the beginning of the discussion I will be able to clear up my mind grelobe...See MoreIn like a lion - March reading
Comments (91)merry, the chap on the right could almost pass as English! A couple of books I just finished: Two Feet Four Paws by Spud Talbot-Ponsonby (a 'she' despite the odd name) who, with her dog, walked round the coast of England/Scotland/Wales starting and finishing at Tower Bridge in London. She covered about 4500 miles and raised money for a homeless people's charity as she went. Using family and friends as 'back up' she slept/ate in a 'mobile home' and took about ten months to complete the journey. Not a great piece of literature but it gives a good account of the odd people she met, the terrible weather conditions she faced and the sheer determination that helped her overcome aching limbs and exhaustion. I had earlier read her later book Small Steps with Paws and Hooves about a trek through Scotland she undertook with her toddler strapped onto a horse and the same dog. This journey was made after a diagnosis and treatment for cancer, which sadly did for her soon afterwards when the disease spread to her lungs and brain. It seems the walking even while having chemo gave her something to cling to. On quite a different note . . . I picked up a paperback The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George. Probably a mistake as it turned out to be a 'teen read'. I suppose I learnt how US young people speak/behave, or maybe how Ms George thinks they do. I doubt that the average young person would have stuck with this book for long as, although the premise was 'promising' with a girl who can 'hear' people's thoughts, the plot rambled all over an island in the Pacific NW (where EG lives in 'real life) each road, highway, lane was described in detail, what house was near what store/school/church etc. A map could have been provided to save reading-time. I kept going to the end only to discover it is the first book of three and I don't care enough about the heroine to read the rest. Question. Do US teenagers of both sexes refer to girls as 'chicks'? Somehow it seems dated. And does everyone live on fast-food and endless 'snacks'? I wont ask about drugs as most of these teens seemed to be 'high' from snorting, sniffing, swallowing illegal substances....See MoreVicissitudezz
8 years agoVicissitudezz
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoVicissitudezz
8 years agoVicissitudezz
8 years ago
summersrhythm_z6a
8 years ago
AquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI got my Mme de Sevigne from Long Ago Roses. I had a 'Mme Isaac Pereire' which I brought with me from Buffalo, but it suffered too much Winter damage from trying to wake up too early in its pot, then died before I could plant it. I really wanted a fragrant long-caned Bourbon of "that type", but by the time I realized mine wasn't going to make it, I couldn't find a replacement. Linda at LAR said she didn't have any, but recommended MdS instead. And I'm glad she did. If you can imagine MIP with more of a stretched-out habit, growing like a "free-standing climber" which may require a prop or two to keep some very long canes from falling to the ground, that's how it grows for me. If you can't find that one, Deuil de Dr. Reynaud is another Bourbon of similar type.
MdS for me is surprisingly healthy for a Bourbon in a no-spray NJ garden. Below are some thread-hijacking shamelessly-enabling pics.
These three were taken in 2014, one year after MdS came as a band. In the first, MdS is about dead-center in the pic, middle row of the bed, taken as it was leafing out in Spring. The second shows some of its first blooms from about a month later, in late May. Note the strong new basals emerging in the second pic -- they grew huge and in different directions, eventually giving about a ten foot spread from tip to tip. The third shows it blooming behind 'Botzaris'. Also note that in this part of the bed, MdS is the only rose with big pink "Bourbon" blooms. So when you see flowers like that in later pics, they ALL belong to MdS. The closest in appearance belong to 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau', but that one is past 'Golden Celebration' further away.
The next pics below were taken in late May and early June 2015. By this time, that part of the bed became full of growth, so I skipped the pre-bloom pics because it's hard to pick out MdS. But you'll see those big deep pink blooms below. If you follow its blooms, you can see how wide MdS spreads out in this bed, two years after coming as a band. The clusters of smaller purplish-pink blooms belong to 'Purple Skyliner' against the fence.
To be continued....
:-)
~Christopher
Vicissitudezz thanked AquaEyes 7a NJAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years ago
The four pics below were taken in mid-July 2015, by which time blackspot had hit the garden. So seeing all the fresh green healthy foliage on MdS was a refreshing change. You'll also note its second round of bloom -- there was a short pause before this began. I got another small round of bloom in September, but I didn't catch pics then.
In the pic below, you can see the base of MdS, and how those main canes go in opposite directions. This is why MdS spreads so wide.
:-)
~Christopher
summersrhythm_z6a
8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoThanks!
:-)
The white climber on the fence is the rose Bubble Bath. There are also Clematis between the roses.Purple Skyliner will get huge if you let it -- think of it as a bushy repeat-blooming rambler. That one I got from Kim Rupert as a rooted piece of thick cane back in 2013. Below are two pics I took of it a few weeks after it arrived, potted into a 1gal container. All that growth happened after arrival. It's probably hardy enough for you -- mine barely gets even any tip damage after Winter, but I cut it back a bit hard knowing how big it will get again. By this I mean taking canes which tapered off to thin tips back to where they are thicker, cutting laterals back to just a few inches, and removing entirely any canes not going where I want. I've seen other pics on HelpMeFind showing it as more of a loose shrub -- it can grow either way.
:-)
~Christopher
summersrhythm_z6a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agosummersrhythm_z6a
8 years ago
Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agosummersrhythm_z6a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agosummersrhythm_z6a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agoPoorbutroserich Susan Nashville
8 years agoAquaEyes 7a NJ
8 years agoPoorbutroserich Susan Nashville
8 years agosummersrhythm_z6a
8 years ago
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
8 years agoPoorbutroserich Susan Nashville
8 years ago
AquaEyes 7a NJ