another visitor

Food for the palate and flowers for the eye.

I love okra in the summer time and it is so easy to grow. All it needs is a sunny location and 90 degree weather. Several years ago, before my wife and I got married, I lived in a house that had a very tiny yard, 15' X 30', and all of it in front of the house. I planted tomatoes and Okra along the front fence next to the sidewalk.. I also, crowded in several flower beds in the yard. One day a woman walked up the sidewalk and paused looking at the okra. I expected her to say something about okra the food. But instead she ask me "What is that beautiful flower" and pointed to the okra. The Okra flower is a thing of beauty, a cone about 1.5 to 2 inches across, but it comes off of the stem at the base of a very wide leaf that often hides the beauty.

champ's wild daylily

This is a share your garden picture site.
champ sent me this picture of a wild daylily.

Enjoy and thank you champ


"It was a cool summer morning in or about the ides of June when the Sun arose, slowly stirring the floral inhabitants of an undisclosed region of Pennsylvania. One of these inhabitants, to whom we will refer to as Bob, although its gender was of question, and for lack of a more appropriate moniker, sleepily began to stretch it ruddy-petaled limbs towards the radiant source of energy high above.

At about this time, a somewhat sleepy-himself gentleman whom we will refer to as 'champ', uncapitalized in the style of famed poet e.e. cummings and implying a sense of humility to cover for the laziness that was the actual reason for the lack of aforementioned capitalization, and known to many of the so-called 'blogosphere' as an ardent pursuer of truth and occasional antagonistic curmudgeon(despite his relative youthfulness), remarked on the beaty of Bob in its awakened state, and decided to retrieve a camera from inside the still darkened dwelling to attempt to capture that natural wonder in order to share with those with whom he had associated for the preceding spring and resulting summer.

Here, without further ado, is the result of that endeavor:

More Visitors

Garden Visitors

Our butterfly bush is just starting to bloom and it is living up to it's name.

Jacksmithing

Last week I went looking for a blacksmith that could custom make a shower curtain rod for our bath tub shower we were installing. We have a corner tub and there are no curtain rods made for it. My wife had a concept she wanted made. I did find a black smith, he estimated around $700 to make it. A bit more than we had in mind, we might of paid $200. So I stepped out the door mumbling to my self"how hard can it be to bend some metal and weld it together".
So I went down to Metal by the Foot and bought the stainless flat bar for the project. In 2 hours had the pieces cut and bent into the shape my wife wanted and ready for polishing. I spent part of the next day with my little orbital sander and some sand paper polishing it. Then the next day it was to a welder and more polishing with a rotary sander attachment on my drill and here you see the results.

My wife loves it, she thinks it is perfect. I'm not going to point out the minor flaws because I rather proud of it my own self. One problem though, It adds to her belief that any thing she can dream up I can make. I wonder what is next.

Jack

The new rose

buddha

Armed and dangerous

It seems that scientist have determined that Parrots and Falcons are close cousins. Some people may find that hard to believe. They haven't seen Tootsie here tear into a piece of sausage or terrorize the cats.

The before picture

A Success Story

Several years ago I worked as a volunteer community organizer in the neighborhood I live in. I created and developed a community organizing tool call "Beautiful Neighborhoods Initiative. It was a gardening approach to community developement. We passed out fall mums and then fall bulbs. I got over 50% participation. My goal was 25% and I had skeptics tell me I couldn't reach my goal.
Out of this program, a group of Mexican immigrants decided to clean up an abandoned lot on their block to make it a pocketpark. If I can find a before picture I will post it. It was a lot that was a dumping ground for trash and tires. Sometimes the city would mow it but most years it was head high with weeds. It was an eyesore and made the whole block look bad.

Here is what it looks like now, 8 years later these folks have maintained it and now are using it as a park, I drove by last night and took this picture.

Hostas

I knew about hostas before I met my wife but I didn't appreciate them. I had always viewed shade as a nusance to be tolerated so I could have fine trees. My wife introduced me to the concept of shade gardens. Here are several of our deep shade hostas. The folage is lovely, but what I had never realised is how lovely the blooms are.

Flag day

This used to be a neighborhood with drive by shootings but it is much more peaceful these days.

Today we had a drive by flagging.

When we went out this morning to breakfast there was a flag in our front yard. There were flags up and down the street one in each yard.

Today is flag day.

My neighbor Ed who lives down the street had placed a flag on every lawn on the block. I think that is nice of him. I'm going to have to think of something to do for him.

The Rose

I bought my first house here in Kansas City in 1989 and lived in it until My wife and I got together 6 years ago

The only yard it has is a 15ft X 33ft strip across the front. I bought this rose at the local hardware store for three bucks. It was the first perennial for that yard it is still there today I have bought more expensive roses but none that have given me the enjoyment this one has. I gave cuttings off of it to my wife when we were dating. I still give her cuttings, this one is setting beside her bed right now.

I have passed cuttings out to many neighbors over the years. I've given lessons to young boys on dealing with women. "Here take this to your mother, women love it when you give them flowers". I've got on the good side of God by giving them to gods supervisors. In this case the old Polish women in the neighborhood. I've always enjoyed old women, who aren't afraid to tell even God how to behave. In the case of one or two I know , God would be well advised to listen.

Jack

Buddha

I'm uncertain why we went hunting a Buddha for our garden. Part of the reason may have been the Catholic nature of our neighborhood. There are statues of the Virgin Mary in front yards all over the neighborhood. Also, when I first moved in I built a pagoda over the entry to the front of the house for my wife's birthday. A neighbor remarked how Japanese it made the house look.

Or maybe, it was the neighbor across the street who brought home a gargoyle/grotesque. It sat on the front porch surrounded by Virgin Marys in the front yards of the houses on both sides. He is sitting on the porch, staring out, with a lonely look on his face and his little anatomically correct penis aroused and erect.

So I think we settled on a Buddha as a peaceful alternative.

My latest stump

Some husbands bring their wives roses or chocolates. My wife loves it when I bring her sticks or rocks. I started this the first year we were together. I would go down to visit my mother on her Ozark farm. While down there I went down to the creek to look for an interesting water worn rock. We had only been together for a few weeks but I knew she liked rocks. While there I saw a cedar snag that was 3 inches around and had been bent over by high water into an arch. She loved it, so we started a tradition Here is the latest addition to our garden. An old oak stump and a moss covered rock found close by.