Meanwhile, Back at the Garden.

8-3-17 VERMONT: It’s been a while since mentioned the garden, supposedly the subject of this blog. The weather has finally dried out, and I might have to start watering soon. The beds here are so packed with established perennials that it’s hard to get something new going, even in what seem to be open spots in the spring.

The hollyhocks I planted in the spring are struggling, the Casablanca lilies are also getting overwhelmed, the Asclepias have disappeared from the wall bed, but are holding their own by the pond.

Speaking of the pond, it has stayed fairly clear for mid-summer thanks to the treatments with probiotics and the darkening dye that suppresses algae growth.

The kingfishers have been at the pond everyday, a family of three, parents and, what I guess is, a yearling. Fortunately we have a lot of crawfish and shiners. The indigo bunting has been back at the feeder a few times, but hardly sits still long enough for a photo.

Blueberries and tomatoes are plentiful and the basil is overwhelming us, in fact all the herbs are doing well this year except rosemary. Last year rosemary was gigantic.

The pasture is turning yellow with the various kinds of goldenrod starting and the mint beginning to bloom. I have seen no new monarchs or monarch caterpillars on the milkweed. There are generally less butterflies this year than other years.

New blooms: helenium, first aster.


Canadian Tiger Swallowtail poses very obligingly.

First Phlox.

The kingfishers, three of them, Momma, Poppa and a yearling have been at the pond almost everyday. Here, she eats a crawfish.

Ornate Tiger Moth found his/her way into the kitchen, but got helped out into the night, which made both of us happier.

Hasty shot of the Indigo Bunting who is quite camera shy, which explains the poor pic.

Helenium means it's August.

Gentian is moderately shade tolerant and stands in at six inches.

Hostas dominate the front yard. I cut all of them, that border that path, in half this spring and planted those removed pieces elsewhere. I might need to do that again next year.

Canoe Morning.

8-1-17 VERMONT: We got the canoe out of the barn for the first time in ages, lashed it to the top of the Subaru and headed for the boat launch at the confluence of the Ompompanoosuc and Connecticut Rivers. The launch site is next to the remains of a washed-out bridge over the Ompom. First we paddled downstream, passing under the Route 5 Bridge and then under the Railroad Bridge to get out into the Connecticut.

The water was very clear and still before the wind picked up from calm to a gently breeze and riffled the surface. There are a number of flat, reedy islands in the wide, shallow estuary. We paddled around a few of them looking for birds or other wildlife. We saw a couple bunches of female mallards.

We decided to go up the Ompom, so headed back to the launch site and past it to a big, shallow reedy lake. There were more ducks and a blue heron stalking along the water’s edge. Going under the I-91 Bridge, we disturbed a colony of swallows and entered the Canada geese domain. There were at least three dozen, avoiding us in the cattails. When we got to the Route 132 Bridge, we turned around and headed back to the launch, pulled the canoe, put it back on the car and headed to town on errands.

New blooms: gentian.


Early in the paddle, the water was as still and clear as glass, here at the railroad bridge where the Ompompanoosuc joins the Connecticut.

Mallards all busy grooming.

One of several low, reedy islands in the shallow Ompom/Connecticut estuary. There's a handsome farm on the NH shore.

Train whistling by as we paddle back to the Ompom.

Great blue heron at the edge of the water.

Canada geese.

Paddling through the reeds.

Good Fair.

7-30-17 VERMONT: Friday night we had dinner at the Lyme Inn with Eric and Joanne and Ann and Roger. We last ate there, maybe, ten years ago and vowed never to go back, but there’s new management, new kitchen and dining rooms and a new chef. It was good, we will go back. Saturday evening we ate at Shari and Dave’s and talked late into the night.

Saturday afternoon we went to the North Haverhill Fair. It’s a bout 30 miles north of us and in NH. We go every year. We saw horse pulls and lumberjack competitions. We watched rides for a few minutes, marveling that people do them, scouted out the games of chance, but risked nothing, Judy shopped, but found nothing to buy. We did eat the usual Fair food, visited the cows and other livestock, and watched pulling and chopping.

New blooms: goose-neck loosestrife, echinacea, first phlox.


So much stuff, but not that special thing...

Settling for a blooming' onion, and later pulled pork.

Lunberjack trials, lumberjills on the first beam doing two-person saws. The three teams all sawed three slices in a few seconds.

Tree felling with axes. That little, red square near the lower left edge of the pic [not the tool box] is a soda can that the tree is supposed to fall on. He missed it by an inch.

That yellow, wheeled device is a crucial piece of equipment in a cow barn.

The ladies are on break.

This team of draft horses are grooming each other. Only the horse on the left is working this single horse competition. His partner on the right, unharnessed, is just along to keep him company.

That horse pulling the sled, note the lady driver. They call this event, The Powder Puff Pull.

Cleated shoes for the pulling competition.

First Monarch.

7-26-17 VERMONT: Less than a week of July left, where does it go and why is January so long? We had two days of rain, but today it’s sunny.

I’m installing a new, glass shower door in our bedroom to replace the leaky shower curtains that sometimes let the water spill down into the living room below the shower stall through the board floors. I spent most of yesterday at the project and have a bit to go today.

The first Monarch butterfly of the season appeared in the pasture a few days ago. I got a shot of him near the milkweed patches. He hasn’t been posing, but continuously flitting around except for a few moments.

There’s been so much rain that some phlox and hollyhocks have mildew/fungus infection. I sprayed once and will need to do it again because they got soaked again by the last rain.

New blooms: ligularia stenocephala [rocket ligularia].


First Monarch of the season is this male hanging out near a stand of milkweed.

Hat trick.

Daytime serenade.

Ligularia stenocephala.

Red Admiral.

Red admiral too.

Guests, Billings, Pesto.

7-23-17 VERMONT: We have had weekend visitors, keeping us busy. Conor and Lucy arrived on the bus Thursday from NYC, and Lily and Sam drove here from Madison, WI, arriving Friday, just in time for dinner at Cloudland Farm in Pomfret.

During the day on Friday, Judy, Lucy, Conor and I went to Billings Farm and hiked the Pogue Trail to the lake. It’s an easy 1.4 mile uphill, shaded, moderate to gentle climb on a gravel road. Afterwards we explored Woodstock, had lunch, and visited Billings Farm to see the cows and horses, a cheese-making demo, and a stop at the dairy bar for cones, mine was maple-walnut.

Saturday L and C did the Norwich Farmers Market, shopped with Judy and me at the Coop Food Market, and then we left them at the Norwich Fair for the afternoon.

Lily and Sam were in Hanover for the day. We all had dinner here, Judy made pesto from the basil in the garden—this year the basil is thriving. Last year it did poorly, so I planted extra this year and the veggie bed is awash in it.

Now, Sunday morning they’re all planning getaways.

New blooms: meadow rue [second variety], butterfly weed, A. tuberosa.


Billings Farm, the herd is hard at work in the fields.

The lake at the top of the Pogue Trail.

The trail is a gentle to moderate, 1.4 mile uphill on a wide, well-groomed trail.

Common Wood Nymph in a field near the lake.

Butterfly weed. Asclepias tuberosa by the pond.

The Harvest Begins.

7-19-17 VERMONT: Today has been dry, so far, and yesterday was good except for a brief shower with less than 0.1 inch of precip. Val and Steve left early yesterday on their way to Boston to visit Maggie.

Yesterday I did a bunch of weeding, and today I replaced three fence rails. The dratted rails are as fragile as potato chips. Tired of paying for them, I just find a small sapling near the broken rail, cut it down and trim it to fit.

Judy saw the Indigo Bunting on her walk around the pasture with the dogs today. That is the first sighting since the big storm. I went to that spot with the camera after the fence mending, but didn’t see him.

Yesterday I picked two quarts of blueberries and one quart of tomatoes, that made it into the house, and re-filled the hummingbird feeders.

New blooms: Queen Anne’s lace, Shasta daisy.


Another glorious hybrid daylily.

Queen Anne's Lace with a drop of Anne Boleyn's blood in the center.

Song sparrow doesn't come to the feeder, and you can see why.

Pearl Crescent was the only butterfly to hold still long enough for a portrait today.

Shasta daisy.

Block Party.

7-17-17 VERMONT: Judy and I hosted a block party on Saturday for about forty neighbors and a couple other friends from the Metro area. Everybody brought food, all delicious and surprising, and at the end of the evening took away the left overs and dishes, leaving fewer clean-up chores for us.

We had set up outside anticipating a dry day, but, just at the beginning of the party, it started to rain so we brought the tables and dishes inside, then ten minutes later it all went back outside when the rain stopped. It was a Vermont Fire-Drill.

Old friend Alan and Val and Steve were all big helpers with set up and take down. People met neighbors they didn’t know, and friends they hadn’t met. There are no pix. ‘What happens in Thetford, stays in Thetford.’

Yesterday was perfect, cloudless, dry, hot but not humid, and cool at night. Today started the same, but we got a T-storm in the late afternoon.

We visited the llamas and alpacas at Janet and Bill’s yesterday. Judy got a lot of attention from Bobbie the llama. Today we all went to Bradford, VT to get new shoes and boots at Farm-Way where they’re on sale. We visited the waterfall at Bradford and the historic green at Haverhill, NH.

New blooms: biennial foxglove.


The falls at Bradford, VT on the Waits River just before it merges with the Connecticut R. I should have done a video, the water is rushing and booming and has several stranded tree trunks.

Bobbie the llama giving Judy a kiss, he doesn't seem to mind that she's wearing an alpaca shirt.

Another hybrid daylily, this one in white....

and this one is pink.

Partially ripe apples are falling from the trees, pleasing Brady the horse and this friend to whom we haven't been introduced.