Post Storm Adventures Continue

This storm has turned me into some crazed blogger who can't stop posting.

I was gong to title this fifty shades of orange and show you the pumpkin muffins I made this morning, using, ahem, local honey from our friends' hive instead of sugar and the pumpkin granola I baked next ( gotta do something with the other 7 ounces of pumpkin, right?) BUT we had a lttle incident in the night that deserves press.

We had a pretty painless storm. The power went out about 11:00pm, just in time for bed and came back on in the middle of the night. Lucky us.

We did though lose one of our leyland cypress trees, all 30 feet of it. It came down between our house and our neighbor Nelda's, leaving a large window into the alley right behind our house and the very unattractive hotel across the street. There had been a beautiful viburnum sweet spice in front of it, this also hit the dust.

But where the states have FEMA, I have GG and GG has a chain saw. 

I applied for assistance and she responded, quickly,

The tree is cut up into county approved lengths and is waiting curbside for Friday removal. The viburnum is standing and the questions remains what to do about the other 7 leylands.  Some have half of their root ball pulled from the ground and all are leaning to the left. They're planted on a berm so they have a shallow root system.

If we don't have any more high winds we can take a few days and maybe wait for the boys from the farm to come for dinner on the 11th and weigh in on the matter.

You've heard of a barn raising? Anybody want to come to an old fashioned tree removal party?

Any suggestions other that giving GG a well earned muscle relaxer?

xo jane

And Now An Update From Storm Center Virginia

Feverishly cooking our way through Sandy.  GG made beef stew and egg noodles.  We just stuffed acorn squash with onions, garlic, zucchini, ground turkey, parmesan and ricotta and will serve it with a brown rice/ black barley/ daikon radish seed pilaf. 

I know, I know, we're such hippies.

I'm rolling the idea of pumpkin muffins around in my head but don't know if near hurricane conditions allow  me to break the ban on eating sugar.

 hahahahahah.

And if the power goes out?

Not sure. We picked up a couple of cans of sterno and figure we can rig up a heat and eat station.  We are our own caterers.

I also have a pot of espresso made and ready to drink.

It seems so odd to think of the government shut down, airports closed, no buses or metro running. Guess they want us all to stay home, huh?

Unfortunately with the government closed there  is no early voting in Maryland or DC today or tomorrow.

And we all know every vote counts.

Thank all of you who came to FITH and than invited us to your house. It was a great distraction and I got to go to Australia and see a bowl of lilacs, all purple and beautiful, just sitting there screaming spring.

Thanks. I needed that.

And before I go, in case you were wondering what the kittens have been doing to help in our time of worry and stress.

Cleaning the bathtub.

And hanging the new liners.

And we need new liners why?

Maybe cause they liked to hang on the old ones.

Whoops.

We have just lost power once and the light are flickering away.........gotta run.

Talk soon?

Flowers in the House of Stormy Weather: October 2012

Oops! You can stock your pantry, you can storm proof your garden, you can batten down your hatches, but you can't control a migraine.  Imagine the weather map depicting Sandy. Now imagine that storm swirling around in my head.  I am a human barometer.

But storm or no storm, migraine or no migraine, we need a few flowers around the house. 

The last of the hydrangea, our own hypericum berries, fennel and ornamental brown hibiscus, spruced up with a few roses and hips from the shop.(Lucy is sniffing around right now trying to get into the picture)

And of course the inevitable nose gay, full of opal basil, yarrow, geranium and one of our favorite hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nigra'.  It turns out it's beautiful at any time of the year!

And now I will pick up the nose gay in one hand, my cup of tea in the other and retreat to the bed room to do what all of the other sensible critters are already doing...

     I shall be out to join the party
                    in a few.










       p.s.- thanks to GG for typing

Changes In Attitude

But no changes in latitude.  We stayed.  Logging 12 to 14 hours on 95 in two days seemed overwhelming.  Especially with pre storm jitters.

The last time we drove back in a tropical storm, the road crews were using snow plows to keep the roads clear of water.

Times like that call for a xanax. 

So we're here doing the prestorm workout.  Shoppng Trader Joes with 100's of our closest friends.Stuffed acorn squash is in our near future.

We bought batteries, matches,candles and shower curtain liners.

GG is mowing the yard and we're storing the pots and trellises in the basement.  Hanging baskets will come down and hopefully the kittens can be wrangled inside.

I'm about to do a big cutback of annuals and a few remaining perennial flowers. Plus I bought a few roses home from the shop. This begs the question, should we party on as usual on Monday?

I'm going for it. I'll post late Sunday night and pray for power on Monday.

Come on by, I have lots of food and the Lab loves company.

Game on?

( FIACH)

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere

Flying in the face of our own best thinking, we're off to Connecticut for the Hai's birthday this weekend.

We aren't totally ignoring the words "storm of the century" though. 

We'll party on Saturday night with the usual cast of scientists, journalists, fishermen and nurses.  There will be 4 dogs, 1 cat, Mr. Baby and some drunk yacht club boys. ( they are a new addition in their flag patterned belts and Nantucket reds)

On Sunday we'll go to brunch in the sweetest house on the Sound and meet the latest addition to the extended Guilford family, a baby girl.  Mr. B's all pumped up.

Then we'll hop in the car and drive back down to Virginia, quickly, quickly, where we'll reunite with the kittens and hunker down for some weather.

The forecast doesn't look good and neither does the possibility of FITH.

Perhaps we can show and tell the following Monday, the 5th of November?

In the meantime take a gander at flowers in a customers' house. Herefore to be known as FIACH :-)

Pour me something tall and strong, make it a hurricane before I go insane.

Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and expecting different results.

For those of you on the east coast: stock up on batteries, red wine, candles and water.

Your roving weather reporter, Jane

A Seasonal Disorder

Our house faces East and if the sun is shining and the skies are blue with a touch of wind, it always feels like spring.

Especially when you're planting pansies, picking lettuce and smell like sun screen.

But then you look to the left and instead of wearing bright pink blossoms the ornamental plum is covered in red leaves.

Backed by the limelight hydrangeas now blushed with pink and hanging under the weight of their heads.

The front door is sporting a rose hip wreath.

And the stoop: a new welcome mat.

Come on, how many posts did you think I'd write without an animal in it? 

If you said one you're correct.

Happy Days Are Here Again

It is the time of year when even the most jaded florist, the "I've been doing this for over 20 years type" comes alive.

When you are surrounded by flowers and berries in shades of reds and golds and purples and you have persimmons and lemons and artichokes for the picking, life is suddenly richer.

The skies are  bluer, the wind is cooler, the customers are back in town and throwing parties.

It almost feels like an election year:-)

And if the guest of honor is a politician you don't see eye to eye with?

Kill him with  kindness and ornamental cabbage.