A New House on Our Block.

5-25-14 SHORT HILLS: Today was beautiful, a perfect summer day. We had over two inches of rain during the previous three days, enough to wet the basement floor and get the sump pump running.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Brooklyn Heights to see Maggie, just back from her first year of college. We all did a walk along the new waterfront. NYC has re-purposed the abandoned piers for recreation and parks. There are facilities for every sport, for BBQ, a pool, a sandy beach, kiddie playgrounds, ferry stations, nature and garden areas and bird habitat. It was filled with users. A hotel and condo units are under construction. It’s all comes with views of Liberty Island, Ellis Island, lower Manhattan and loads of river traffic.

A new house has gone up on our lot. Judy thought the new shrub bed that I made where the oak tree died needed a focus of interest. She bought a birdhouse that arrived while we were in Brooklyn. We went to Home Depot and got a post, some extra plants, and I painted the post, added a crown molding and today we mounted the house on the post and planted it amid the shrubs. I added two clematis vines at the base and put in a few more of the ‘White Nancy’ lamium.

New blooms: black chokeberry.


Brooklyn Heights beach, but no one's in the water.

A new eight unit condo on our block. The fence is to keep the dogs from digging it up.

Black Chokeberry with friend.