End of Growing Season

Today, December 5, 2009, the weather has finally turned decisively cold. Today we're seeing a wintry mix. The 2009 growing season for my corner of South Philly is now over.

New Poem

Oh Lord, Help me to write a single true thing, and it will be
Obviously Your handiwork. Like a sparrow taking flight
Or the daily sky-filling dance of the celestial host
Softly reassure the ostensibly incredulous men
Of a skeptical age. But a hint of honest work lurking
In my doughy frame, well, a global conflagration of faith
Would surely result. The new Philadelphia miracle
Pricking the pickled hearts of jaded reporters and jejune
Bloggers. I hear they say a prophet is not without honor-
I forget the rest, but if in your plenitude you could send
A doe-eyed fact-checker in a size zero dress I’d nail
The quote down. My story I would share the world over for a
Small fee to cover my costs, and a large fee to cover my
Wife’s. I pray you would not disdain my pleas for worldly lucre,
Or worldly fame, and perhaps goodly looks, for all are to Your
Glory. Help me, Lord, a procrastinating writer to start
Telling of your love, and capturing finally a small part.

Lotus Pot Yesterday

It's alive! Check out those floating leaves. You go, Lotus, you go.

More Plant Pictures

Beautiful red Celosia



Snapdragons! These are volunteers from last season. Check out the gorgeous orange. The parents were dwarf, but these look pretty tall.

The Chill

Today I had the disconcerting experience of walking into Rite-Aid, noticing the fine late glow of the setting day in the west, and then getting hit with a blustery storm as soon as I walked out. (Weirdly enough, to verify the URL I just looked at Rite-Aids site, and they've got a big link up for Swine Flu Facts. And a rebate program for the allergy drug Zyrtec. Hmm, maybe I should check out their page more often.)

Anyway...it's been very unsettled weather as of late.

The plants, of course, have varying levels of excitement about this chilly (55 degree) wet weather.

I have a big pot filled with both the Zowie Zinnia and a lovely draping of Nasturtiums all around it. Up until this week, the Nasturtiums were all leaves. Big, beautiful green leaves, but still, just leaves. In the just the last few days the first lovely frilled yellow flowers have started to appear.

In fact, I should probably note that Nasturtiums have generally been one of the most lovely, and reliable, of the flowers I've grown.

Oh, and there has been quite a show from some Snapdragons that overwintered in my big back pot as well.

The Weather Channel predicts that tomorrow and Friday will make it into the 70s. I hope so.

The News from NY is Good - I Passed

Back in February I took the NY Bar exam in Albany. Today I got an email saying I Passed. Tomorrow, it should be publicly posted! Woo-hoo! I am so happy I don't have to study again!

To all the folks who had to put up with me while studying...thank you!

Starting a Lotus

A long-time request for my garden has been a lotus. Doing a search I found a press release from Auburn University. They are looking for ways to commercialize this beautiful flower. From the press release, I went to Ten Mile Creek Nursury, and happily I was able to get a Red Dragonfly rhizome. Unfortunately it's been quite chilly this week in Philadelphia, so I'm worried it will just go dormant. When it quits raining I may try to snap a picture.

Early Spring Picture of Zinnia

This picture was taken today using a brand new point and shoot Canon camera with a fancy built-in macro lens. Springtime in Philly. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures, soon.

Flurries

And thus ends the 2008 growing season for Philadelphia, PA: flurries this afternoon.

I appreciate the fact that it still feels like Summer outside for at least another day

Unfortunately, over the past few days I was the victim of sunflower snatching. From all appearances the flowers were not taken far (there is broken sunflower litter near my porch).

Hopefully it was someone so hungry that they needed unroasted (indeed unformed) sunflower seeds for food. So far, the 10 day forecast shows no frost on the horizon, either.

Pictures from Today

Today was a wonder, do nothing Sunday. Woo-hoo for relaxation.

Close to the Autumnal Equinox

I've noticed the days growing shorter, and even enjoyed the seasonably cooler daytime temperatures this week, though I must admit I'd rather not see summer gone just yet.

I don't get to go to the movies that often, mostly just because of the amount of time I spend at work. But, I did get to see The Dark Knight, which I'm happy to report was awesome. And this time I didn't wind up taking a bad taxi trip.

Pomegranate August Outside Shot

Getting to Meet Some International Visitors

Last night was the IVC First Thursday Reception for international visitors. I had, as always, a lot of fun. I got to meet several Fulbright Scholars, Penn LLM Students, and visitors from Ferris University in Yokohama, Japan.

Celebrating 2008 Olympics

Today as I walked to lunch at the food court below the Comcast Center, I was given a flyer and a fortune cookie. Free food grabs my attention.

Both were advertising the Evening of Champions, celebrating the opening of the 2008 Olympics here in Philadelphia's Chinatown.

I don't know if I'll make it or not, but I think it'd be a fun outing.

While I don't watch a lot of sports, I reckon the Olympics are a good bet for pretty good show.

A site I like to read

A lot of questions about property development come to me as I walk around the city. One of my favorite places to learn what's going on is . I appreciate the site's humor, awesome pictures, and the intelligence. It is also refreshingly optimistic about Philadelphia and her people.

I've been busy, so I wasn't able to make it to this year's IVC BBQ. But I do appreciate all of the work that they do, and am happy that I can help support them.

This weekend I've got both days off, so I've had a chance to read a gift from my father-in-law: Phillip Bobbit's Terror and Consent.

Friday Evening Fun

I was over at J.L. Sullivans. Besides it's other charms, it was a friendly recreation of a 1920's style speakeasy, including 1920s flapper style outfits on the folks outside. I stepped in and greatly enjoyed the place. It was a wonderful refuge from the summer sun.

As many folks may know, I happen to love The Great Gatsby, one of the best stories of all time by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I'm altogether happy to support a speakeasy, including ersatz flappers.

As I Live

As I live, I know the day will come—
She will say, “Dost thou still retain thy integrity?”
And when she does, should I take the advice that follows?
I guess that’s the question, right?
Is love worth it? Happiness in gold-illum’d light
When for an infinite moment you love her
and she loves you
and the whole world seems right, and good, and the
Possibility of the future seems both safe and grand—
The sort of life
Promised at the end of fairy tales.
But then, who still says “…and they lived happily ever after.”
Unless they’ve steeled themselves with the vulgar irony of this low age.
Oh yeah, everybody’s a fucking comedian.
Aren’t you?
Aren’t I?
But regarding her—
Well, that’s something different.
Now there, God help me, there is something worth living for.
Let the sniggering cynics laugh and make their cracks,
But I will love her, with all of my heart, forever.
My Lord, who sustains the world, keep me steadfast to my pledge,
And all the world will fall to dust before I fail.

ahd, 2006

Plant Pictures of the Fourth of July Weekend

A three-day weekend, woo-hoo! So, how's the summer gardening going so far?

Here's the first Zowie Zinnia of the season:

Here are two of my big pots. The Sedum Matrona is still trucking right along on the left. It has already been in bloom a while. And the green "lavender" pot is on the right, although you'd be right to notice that the big green things in there are definitely not lavender.

There is lavender in there, though (having come back from last year.) The robust green leaves are from burpee's giveaway packet of sunflower mix. Taking a cue from history, I decided the best way to fix the drainage problem was to task some sunflowers with sucking up the extra water.

Waiting for Spring

Two weeks ago, Sunday March 16th, I began prepping for the coming spring. Inside a southern-facing window I set out Zinnia (Zowie), Echinacia (Magnus), Marigold (Fireball), Salvia Lady in Red, Butterfly Pea (or Clitoria ternatea), Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena), and a seed of Pacific Blue Giant Primrose (Primula x polyantha). The first four are from Burpee, the last three from Whatcom. All are growing in peat pots filled with commercial seed-starting mix.

I believe it was last year I attempted to direct sow zinnias, and they just kept disappearing. It's possible a pest got to them (since I do recall seeing the seedlings), but part of me just suspects that they were too small to hold together in a storm, and got washed away. So this year I'll just start the plants in the peat pots and then set them outside after they've got some extra size on them.

As for the survivors from last year, I was very surprised to see the dwarf snapdragons making a comeback in their window ledge. Several of the larger snapdragon plants simply never died over the winter, and so new growth is popping through swollen stems. And although I never recall purposefully letting a flower get away from me, it appears that at least some snapdragon seeds made it to self-seed. I noticed tiny little seedling starting yesterday.

I fully expect the morning glories to come back as well. I left last year's vine in place to give this year's growth a helpful foothold. But I plan to add the Butterfly Pea to the pot as well as the Zinnias.

The lavender pot looks awful. That's okay: it's supposed to. Last year I'd cropped it fairly close to the soil line, and then dumped left-over soil on top. But I expect it to come back just fine. Now that it's a well-established plant it has plenty of roots just waiting for springtime. Even though we haven't been getting a lot of warm weather here in Philly, we haven't been getting freezing weather, either.

That same Sunday I undertook a frightening task: seperating and repotting the pair of Organ Pipe Cactus that I'd started from seed. It had gotten to the point that they were starting to poke each other, and so I risked replanting. The roots were small and near to the surface of the pots. I put each cactus in its own pot, and now I've just been waiting to see if one or the other will keel-over from failure to set. I should point out that even though this cactus can theoretically become quite large, it grows slowly. Even now the larger one is only about two inches tall and an inch wide, the smaller one is about the same height, but thinner. Hopefully each will get some additional growth this summer hanging out in my window!

I'll try to post pictures later, but figured that updating the text while I had a chance would be nice.