being not doing

Last Saturday we drove up to Boordy Vineyards, north of Baltimore, for their annual wine and herb festival. I was imagining something ‘a little more California,’ as my friend’s mother would say: linen trousers, platters of complimentary artisanal cheeses with crusty bread, and music wafting on the breeze. It was not like that. […]

The lavender bursting out in new growth.
My garden notes these days are trending more toward the ‘to be undertaken when I have more time, money and energy’ and away from ‘done done done!’ Happily, growth continues without me: the lavender has taken to its new home and is sending out all kinds of shoots, […]

Rhubarb Ginger Galette, round two.
We celebrated Memorial Day by attending a party at ‘our’ farm: Even’ Star Organic Farm, where we’re members of the CSA. We’d had a fun time at the autumn party and enjoyed the drive down, which included stopping on the way for pumpkins and honey at a farm stand in […]

Bloom from the peony that came with the house.
The peony bush in question.
My goal for this week has been to conclusively identify the peony that came with our house. It hasn’t been as easy as I’d hoped. Part of the problem is that I lack knowledge of the correct flower-describing terminology, which makes […]

This week we got up early on Saturday to travel to Delaware for the Migratory Bird Festival at Bombay Hook. Our goal was to see new shorebirds, and we were successful, even with the high water remaining from last week’s storms. After getting up at 4:30am, we were on the road at 5:20am. […]

The new bed of crested irises.
I took advantage of the few days between downpours this week to clear the liriope from under the smaller dogwood and prepare a bed for the crested irises I’ve had sitting on the porch in boxes. It’s far too late for them to bloom this year, but they’re reported […]

The new mini-bed of irises and prickly pear.
In keeping with my efforts to preserve all the plants I find around my yard, I volunteered to provide homes for any leftovers from the town’s annual plant exchange. I arrived home on Sunday evening to find bags of plants on the porch: bluebells, irises, prickly pear […]

Today’s article in the Wall Street Journal — ‘Latinos not the plague of society as previously believed‘ — is an excellent example of why I hammered away at my students year after year about their media deconstruction skills. It’s not even necessary to be aware of the retrograde politics of the Wall Street Journal […]