No, this isn’t yet another story about my poo-obsessed brother. I have a rotten, nasty cold.
Despite the recent claims of Cold Ease, Zicam and other cold-ameliorating medicines, my cold is not less severe or lengthy. I…Feel…Like…Crap.
I dutifully got my flu shot. But what I really needed was a cold shot. No such thing. Stupid scientists.
So this is just a friendly reminder to protect yourself, along with the tips you’ve heard before:
- Avoid people (like me) who are sick. It’s not just because you’ll get sick too. We are really cranky.
- If you are sick, stay the heck home. No one wants to see you. You’re probably cranky.
- Do not share: dishes, towels, silverware, telephones, pencils, cars, subway cars, busses, airplanes…Well, do what you can with this one.
- If you work in an office, use alcohol. No, don’t drink it. (At least before 5 p.m.) Use some cotton puffs and clean your phone, keyboard and other shared work surfaces regularly, particularly if someone else comes near it. I used to do this twice a day in the bacteria- and virus-infested ad agency where I used to work before retreating to my sterile home office. Some of this had to do with some of the creative department staff. (Another story.)
- Manage stress, which lowers your immunity and may make you more susceptible to illness. Maybe you should drink that alcohol earlier than 5 p.m. after all.
- Boost your natural immunity with regular exercise and a healthy diet. I did it and it didn’t work for me, but hey, it might work for you.
- Forget what the germ doom-and-gloom-scientists say about super-bugs developing immunity and use that miracle hand sanitizer about 50 times a day. After all, we’re talking about a COLD here.
- Go ahead and take those immunity-boosting vitamin concoctions that you pour in water and that taste like, well, crap. It can’t hurt.
So, I’ve done my public service hours for the month. Live long (and cold-free) and prosper.
Robin
Those busy folks over at Gardening Gone Wild are hosting another of their Garden Blogger’s Design Workshops–this time on arbors and pergolas.
These types of garden design features are among my favorites because, for me, gardening isn’t just about the plants, it’s about style, form and flow.
I fret over the outdoor design and arrangement as much as I do inside my home. In fact, the reason that I have been relatively slow to develop all this property is my concern for making sure the design is juuuuusssst right. I have to scratch my head and think really, really hard before I decide what to do.
The other reason I’ve been fairly slow to develop the larger landscape is that my big ideas often have big price tags. Which gets me to the topic of arbors…
The garden gate and arbor serve as an entrance to the Colonial garden. Fence, gate and arbor are from Walpole Woodworkers.
The ideal garden that lives inside my head was inspired by growing up in Virginia, where there are countless beautiful historic homes, most with gardens, and historic meccas such as Colonial Williamsburg. Our Colonial ancestors designed their gardens for beauty as well as function. Gardens were not just places to grow vegetables in tight little rows, but were extended rooms of the house, with paths, seating and tables that created outdoor rooms for family and guests to enjoy. Most often they mixed flowers, vegetables and herbs in a pleasing mix of form and function.
Once Harry and I finally put down permanent roots here in Maryland, I decided on a Colonial kitchen themed garden to try and make my dream garden a reality. The white picket fence provides a well-defined “room” for the garden and also extends the architectural interest of our white house as you approach down the long and winding driveway. But I knew that just a picket fence without some sort of vertical interest would look more like a pool enclosure than a true garden, so we added vertical interest with the arbor and gate. The view through the gate is to a bench at the end, which draws the eye and invites the visitor down the path.
Growing over the arbor on one side is a well-established clematis that blooms in late summer. On the other side is a wisteria that blooms in early spring. By mid-summer, the clematis and wisteria have twined together to cover the arbor gate.
I still worry about whether remove or drastically trim back the wisteria because of its Herculean vines. I haven’t done so yet because they actually are climbing up a white plastic chain that I installed so that the vines would have something to attach to. They twine on the sturdy arbor structure but not on the fence itself. The whack or no-whack decision will come in the spring.
Did I tell you that it takes me a long time to decide what to do in the garden?
Wisteria twines over the arbor. White plastic chains make excellent supports for small vines to cling to–and are soon masked by all the green.
We have added two other permanent vertical points of interest in the garden as well–a tuteur with a henryi clematis and a small Hakuro-Nishiki willow tree that is surrounded by boxwood and, if the squirrels allow, will be filled with purple tulips in the spring. (A nine-month view of the garden can be seen here.) In summertime, the cucumbers climb on bamboo teepees and the tomatoes on Texas Tomato Cages, adding more height to the garden.
Clematis henryi on a tuteur
One of the joys of working in a garden with such a well-defined structure is that it makes maintenance somewhat easier. Because I have raised beds I don’t have to tidy bed edges here. Also, the beds are small enough that I can reach in with my long arms to pull weeds or plant. When I need a rest, the bench is right there and provides a perfect location to plot my next big project.
Future big-ticket projects include extending our back patio into a path that leads to the garden. I plan to border the path with lavender and a wild array of useful herbs. Then there’s the chicken coop, the garden shed, the mosaic tile entryway, the container garden, the outdoor shower.
The list goes on and on and on…
Until it’s all done, I have a nice place to sit and plan my next, very slow, move.
Robin
This is the year that I will finally assemble and frame the side-by-side father and son photos I have been taking since Benjamin was born.
I love every single one because it shows how Benjamin has grown from a wee tot to a nearly 6’5 young man. (And he’s only 16!).
My favorite photos are the ones taken from behind, when they don’t expect I’m taking a photo and don’t have a chance to pose. This was taken where we vacationed over Christmas at the Isle of Palms in South Carolina.
Sometimes, the distance frontal shots are also nice. This one is at Mount Vernon.
And sometimes, I just like gratuitous shots of one of them looking handsome.
YIKES!!!! What’s this????
Whew. No. I’m not a grandmother. That’s Ben with his little cousin Caroline. I think he’ll be a natural…but not yet.
Robin
