The (Scheduled) Return of the Traveller

Brian may not know exactly what day it is, but he does know that it’s time to come home.

An e-mail from Singapore. “I don’t know what day it is, so . . . “ I was instructed about the future status of our bank account. Singapore is expensive and funds were getting low. Luckily there’s an automatic deposit tomorrow that will enable there to be beer in the fridge for his return.

Yes, Brian is finally coming home, and just in time. All these days alone with the three dogs, 10 so far, has left me feeling like barking at the mailman and thinking constantly of food. But the on time departure came a little too close to going the other way.

A previous e-mail stated, “Earlier today I thought I was going to have to stay for a couple more days, then we got word that the government extended the deadline two weeks! Up and down. Anyway, now I come home. ”

So for me it’s a relief to just know that he’s actually coming back, and for Brian it’s the end of a long time far, far away. Now all he has to do is make the flight. He’s asked me to get involved, “Call my cell at 3:30 p.m. EDT. The cab is picking us up at 4 a.m. and I’m setting the iPhone alarm to 3, but call just in case at 3:30 p.m. EDT “ I'll do my best, but hope I don’t get distracted by any squirrels in the yard.

And let’s hope it’s a safe and gentle journey. All 21 hours of it.

Oh, and he’s scheduled for a trip to Utah on Monday.

Arf!

- - David

The Never-Ending Story

Prunus x yedoensis, the Yoshino Cherry tree,
is in full bloom right now in the Dennis Street Garden.

Ginny called, my contact with civilization. We’re confiding with each other about our canine elder-care issues. Ginny’s Nala is suffering with pancreatitis, daily therapy at the Vet, and like Anioł, the pangs of old age. Anioł has another bladder infection to add to her other long term issues.
Ginny and I sigh, worry, and offer each other encouragement. It helps, we plod on with our caregiver duties.

The conversation turns to our yards.

Ginny says, “I got some raking done, are you done with your garden yet?”
I say, “It’s never done . . . there’s always the next thing to do.” An obvious comeback, but true.

There is always an overwhelming amount of projects to do outside. Wasn’t it less than a month ago that the snow was deep and I was itching to dig? Less than three weeks ago I was posting photos of the first flowers to come up in the woods.

Now all the shrubs and trees are in flower or bud. The perennials are creeping up. I’ve been shredding leaves for days and edging the beds and moving things out of storage, repairing hoses, and yep, weeding.

AND there is so much more to do. I try to keep focused or I end up running in circles. Actually, I’d end up running in circles more than I already do.

Is this the lesson of gardening? Staying calm, staying focused? The plants themselves are slow and deliberate and definitely on their own schedule, not mine. Can I learn to do things at Mother Nature’s pace? Enjoying the process, not the finish that will never come? Is the Zen of gardening within the grasp of this westerners mind?

Probably not, But I can try.

Janis, my sister (in-law), has caught the gardening bug in Seattle. She uses it as an escape from her life of retail, (like I used to.) Janis emails me and lets me know what projects she is working on, what’s blooming, what’s next. She asked what my current favorite plant in our garden is.

Two days ago it was the Bridal Wreath Spirea with it’s thousands of teeny cascading white flowers. Yesterday it was the Yoshino Cherry tree, which is in full bloom. Today it’s the yellow tulips which opened up this morning.

Tomorrow?

- - David

iChat, bChats, weChat

Brian appears, from Singapore, on my LIving Room computer.
David manages to talk back.

Old dog, new trick? Anything is possible.

Brian was living his life at 3 A.M. on Tuesday, and I was living mine at 3 P.M. on Monday. The thing is, we were doing it at the same time, together, sort of. Brian was talking to me from the future on my computer screen. Is this a rift in the space-time continuum or what?

Some of you, fooled by the fact that I actually have a blog, may think I am somewhere near being computer literate. LOL. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I went to college, computers were punch card eating machines that we took a bus to on North Campus. I remember long nights of trying to key in code for the simplest mathematical functions . . . and failing. Now I have an iMac.

Today, here I am using a computer to talk to Brian, “face to face”, live from Singapore. Twelve hours into the future and half way around the world is no barrier to out chatter. You should also know that my experience with video conferencing or whatever we were doing on iChat has been limited to leaning over Brian’s shoulder and talking to Parker and Jeff in Seattle. Now, at least I know how to open it by clicking on an icon on my screen and then clicking on a few other icons when they make little noises.

I love the 21st century.

-- David

image: Wikimedia Commons

He's Here Today, Gone Today

postcard of Tokyo photo: Aichi University of Education Library

Brian got home on Saturday from his latest trip to California. And today I took him to the airport for his flight to Singapore. He’ll be gone for at least 10 days. His new job is involving more travel than we’ve known so far.

When Brian and I went to Paris, it was the first time he’d had been outside North America. We’d been to the Canadian Rockies for our honeymoon and then we traveled to Mexico for my 50th. He travels well and although he doesn’t share my fervor for art museums and marathon walks, he does share my love for exploration.

Now he’s on his way to a world I’ve never seen outside of Art History books. The first leg of his trip is a 13 hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo. Since Japan is 13 hours ahead of us, and across the International Date Line, he will be landing after 5 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time. After a brief layover he’ll get on a 8 hour flight to Singapore, landing there at 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday. That seems like a little more flight time than even I would love.

Due to the lack of flight time while he worked at WebMD, my golden elite husband has been down graded and is flying coach. I just hope he survives intact. But Tokyo’s Narita Airport is supposed to be amazing. Changi airport in Singapore has been described as one of the most amazingly efficient airport of modern times. So at least he’ll be in good hands.

Here’s to our traveller, may he become upgraded again soon.

- - - 大卫 (Dà wèi) David

Nice Lyrics, but can he dance to it?

Pope Benedict XVI met with United Nations International School music students during his visit.
Stan Honda/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

this is excerpted from an article from the New York Times

In Speech, Pope Urges Promotion of Human Rights

UNITED NATIONS — Benedict XVI, who was a young German prisoner in the war that forged the United Nations, addressed that body Friday as pope, insisting that human rights — more than force or pragmatic politics — must be the basis for ending war and poverty.
“The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for increasing security,” Benedict told the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters.
“Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair, whose human dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence, and they can then become violators of peace,” the 81-year-old pope said.

. . .

And in a passage that will have particular resonance for the current United Nations leadership, which is trying to establish the right of the outside world to intervene in situations where nations fail to shield their own citizens from atrocities, the pope said that “every state has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights.”

. . .

“If states are unable to guarantee such protection,” the pope said, “the international community must intervene with the juridical means provided in the United Nations charter and in other international instruments.” In an apparent allusion to countries that claim such international actions constitute intervention in their national affairs, he said instead they “should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty.”
He added, “On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage.”


Copyright 2008 April 18, 2008 The New York Times Company By WARREN HOGE and IAN FISHER



hmmm . . .

Intolerance teaches hate. Hate has lead to oppression and violence. How many gay children have to suffer, how many have to die? This may be the forced out “lapsed-Catholic” in me speaking. But the Vatican’s militant stand against, and open coffered support for the suppression of ANY gay rights might justly call for a little intervention.

See you in Rome?

- - - David

THIS Isn't a Dream!

map from the U.S. Geological Survey

Why is the bed shaking?

Brian’s not home . . . how can Lucy possibly have managed this one, she’s in her crate.
Did I leave the washing machine running? Sophie? The bed WAS shaking, and I could hear something outside moving.

An Earthquake? I had felt this before, but I used to live in Seattle. It IS my nephew’s birthday today, so maybe it was just my sister waking up and realizing that her eldest was turning 18.

It’s almost 6 A.M., So I’ll get up. Turned on the news. Nothing.
Had my coffee, read the FREEP, still nothing on television.
So I went on the internet. Nothing . . . nothing . . . AH there!

One of the first entries to post was from Wikipedia: “The April 18, 2008 Midwest Earthquake, the largest ever recorded in the state of Illinois[1], (Magnitude 5.4) occurred at 4:37am (5:37 EDT). It was centered near West Salem, Illinois, specifically 38.520°N, 87.873°W[2] and felt as far away as eastern South Dakota, including Cedar Rapids, IA”
You gotta love Wikipedia, they scooped the local news AND everyone else on the internet.

Others soon followed:
From The Evansville Courier: “The shaking, which started at about 4:35 a.m. CDT, lasted about 10 seconds. Early reports at the put the preliminary magnitude of the earthquake at 5.4 and the epicenter six miles east of West Salem, Ill. about 44 miles northwest of Evansville.”

From the Chicago Tribune: “The tremors could be felt in downtown Chicago at the Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave., for about 20 seconds beginning around 4:40 a.m. Numerous people from across the Chicago area reported being awakened by rattling windows and shifting furniture.”

Now the local news is all over it, you’d think they’d be embarrassed coming late to the party, but no, they never are.

The funniest part to me, Brian is in California, of all places, and missed the excitement. That’s what he gets for leaving Adrian, (the epicenter of Lenawee country).

But back to TOP story.

A big STOLAT to Jason.

Not many of us here in Michigan have the earth move on our 18th birthday.

- - - David

A New Leaf

Tour Guides: liaison between view and viewer

Famous 60’s Disney Tour Guide Julie Reihm and Mickey Mouse

Wednesday, the journey continues.

I’ll be attending training this week to be a tour guide at Hidden Lake Gardens. I don’t know what exactly the job entails, but it sounds like fun for a know-it-all.

Being a “Master Gardener” means doing 40 hours of volunteer work the first year, to me that’s a bonus. Since I’ve left the store I’ve been looking for the next big thing. A lot of you have heard me sigh when asked, “What do you see yourself doing?” or even better, “What would make you happy.” A lot of times the answer, after the sigh, involved plants.

I can see myself in a smock and working in a greenhouse or a garden shop. There’s even a farm in Ohio called The Chef’s Garden that sells specialty vegetables to restaurants from NY to Vegas (baby), but the commute was a bit much to consider. I dream of owning a tree nursery, tending the stock with the dogs at my heals.

I have loved growing things since my Granny gave me a blue spruce when I was a toddler. I grew a pea patch by the side door in Grosse Pointe. I pulled up cement in the “back yard” of my New York apartment, hauling bags of dirt in my boyfriend’s Porsche from New Jersey. In Seattle the vegetable beds began, Brian and I dug up the yards of our rental house and spent thousands of dollars on things we just left behind. And here in Adrian, the beds and borders get bigger every year. Now, I’m afraid, this enthusiasm may develop into fanaticism. Can an addictive personality prove to be an asset? We’ll see.

I’ve signed up for almost every volunteer opportunity Hidden Lake has for the months of April and May. I’ll be at the Earth Day fair that the good sisters at Sienna Heights are organizing. I’ll be at the plant sale at Hidden Lake on Mother’s Day Weekend.

And this Wednesday i’ll be joining the ranks of revolutionary costumed docents, flag carrying sprinters, mouse-eared automatons and the safari jacketed alligator wrestle-farians bringing fun facts to the masses.

Can’t you just see me leading a group of school kids into the woods?

Hope they bring more than bread crumbs to leave a trail back to their bus.

- - - David

November 1958 Disneylander, © Disney

Romancing the Storm

photo and image from Wikipedia Commons

Today we have the first tornado watch of the tornado season. So Lucy and I have been outside, watching.

When I was 12, I climbed up the television antenna tower that was attached to the back of our ranch house in Grosse Pointe Shores. My mom and sister and I had already gathered water and flashlights and taken them down to the basement. There was a tornado warning. A twister was spotted heading up I-94 and I desperately wanted to see it. I went outside while my mom was glued to Sonny Eliot on the console TV in the den. I climbed the antenna like a ladder and tried to spot a funnel, aware of the danger, but not caring.

I wonder why I am so fascinated with the idea. Even though tornadoes occur everywhere on the planet, except Antarctica, most of them occur in the United States, and though Michigan isn’t officially in “tornado alley”, we are in the active zone. I grew up with tornado warnings, so I’ve been waiting.

When I saw the movie Twister, I was enthralled. I totally identified with Helen Hunt’s character Dr. Jo Harding’s fixation. But she watched her father being sucked up by and F5. She wanted to develop an early warning system, she had a plan. I don’t have that excuse.

Me, I just want to see one.

In my right mind, I realize the pain and deaths that these terrors cause. I will never forget getting a phone call from my sister when I lived in New York. She was calling from her cell phone, driving on M-59 with the niece and nephew, then toddlers, in the car. In her always calm voice, she left a message saying she just wanted me to know that there was a tornado warning, the afternoon sky was jet black, that there was big blinding hail and the wind was moving her car.

The message ended abruptly. I remember hours of panicky dialing because the phone system went down. Everyone was alright, but the memory still makes me cringe.

Still, in my un-right mind, I continue to go outside looking for the funnels.

Why?

- - - David

The Crocus Rises

There they are, nestled in the back border by one of the Serviceberries, (Amelanchier arborea).

We have bloom!

It was nice to see flowers at Hidden Lake, but seeing growth in the vast brownness of the backyard is much more astounding. Yesterday, when I was outside for hours cleaning up some of the brown leaves, sticks and other skeletal remains of last summer, I kept walking over to this lone patch of color. I am amazed at the miracle of nature’s perseverance, not least that which remains safe from the yanking, digging and trampling of the wild beast we call Lucy.

For three years, the little outcrop of bloom always reminds me of my dad, and of the kindness of friends. The Crocuses are in a little planting that came as a pot of flowers sent to the house by Jenna, Audee and Laura when my dad died. (That was in late winter of 2005). The flowers lasted for weeks in the house. The greens lasted into the late spring. Then I took the mass out of the pot and planted the whole in the back of the yard right by the Amelanchier. That tree was one of three I got from the saint-like Mama Zahn (aka Sharon).

I remember not being sure the flowers would have the strength to survive the winter. I didn’t know if they’d be hardy. Now they are lasting for years in the yard. I cherish the flowers, the memories of my dad and my friends.

And now I celebrate that they, I, and everyone reading this, have survived another winter.

- - - David

Something IS in the air

The subject of my last Master Gardener class at Hidden Lake Gardens was Flower Gardening. Annuals, Herbaceous Perennials, Bulbs. Vines and Garden Design. The speaker was great, the slide show was intoxicating. But there was a side effect, it made my spring fever even worse.

I left the class, got in the car and immediately took off into the woods.

Hidden Lake Gardens, where the classes were held, is a 755 acre Botanical Garden and Arboretum near Tipton, on the eastern boundary of the Irish Hills. Driving in, off Highway 50 the drive curves around some very nice specimen trees. You get to see the pond next, and on Thursday I spotted the swan couple making their way to the water. The Visitor Center is a smallish 60’s building on the namesake lake. The three domed conservatory is modest but has been a warm retreat this winter. My favorite part of of the gardens, though, are the woods; a snaking drive, roller coaster hills and utter quiet.

It was driving in the woods when I spotted my first official spring flowers. A sweep of Snowdrops at the base of a tree. I stopped the car. I grabbed the camera and got down to snap the pictures.

My fever got a little worse, but now I was smiling.

Right now, it’s only 42 degrees, but sunny. The forecast is for 62 degrees this afternoon. I know I’ll want to go outside, grab the rake and try to wake up the lawn. There’s a long list of other yard work waiting. That noise you hear is me, chomping at the bit.

Outside, it’s actually warm in the sun. Could this really be happening?

--David

My way, or the Malay?

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This morning, Brian got a RFP* (see ridiculous business lingo) from the Singapore Health Promotion Board National Health Portal, (SHPNHP?).

This means it is highly possible that Brian’s second trip outside of North America will be to that Malay Peninsula equatorial city-state. That could be as soon as he gets back from another trip to California, next week, (this time to a conference in Palm Springs.)

All I know about Singapore is what I read on Wikipedia.
I can only think of one person, Miss Sybil (?), who may possible have travelled to Singapore and could offer him some tips.

Anyone else?

--David

*request for proposal

orignally posted on iWeb

44 hours of class, 4 to go

11 classes down, one to go. 

My last class at Hidden Lake Gardens is tomorrow. But I won’t be a Master Gardener yet. First, I have to complete and pass my final. Then I need to complete 40 hours of volunteer work. (Digging in my yard, or yours, doesn’t count.) But I think I am having a fun.

When I was at the orientation I was a little concerned about my ability to sit through a 4 hour class. It’s been quite a while since I’ve tried to learn anything. Even back in college, the only 4 hour class I had was “studio” where I was on my own and could wander down to get coffee. But now, after 11 classes, I am amazed how fast it went and that I almost never fidgeted in class.

The Master Gardener Volunteer training program covers a lot of ground. This is the curriculum, in order of appearance:

• Plant Science
  
• Soils for Plant Growth and Backyard Composting
  
• Diagnostics and Plant Identification
  
• Tree Fruit Culture
  
• Small Fruit Culture
  
• Vegetable Culture
  
• Water Quality and Master Gardener Volunteering
  
• Woody Ornamentals
  
• Lawn Care
  
• Plant Health Care
  
• Indoor Plants
  
• Flower Gardening
  

The class comes with an 800-page manual and supplement. But not everything in the manual is covered in class. The MSU program offers some leeway to the individual counties on setting up their own class schedule.

Our county has a gem of a coordinator, Karen Gentry, left, who is on staff at Hidden Lake. Karen decided to let us read the information on  

• Household Pests
  
• Managing Wildlife and 
  
• Poisonous Plants. 
  

Thank you Karen. 

But if any of you have questions, I have the manual.

I had many AH-HA moments while I was in class. I discovered that I’ve made a lot of missteps in my 40 years of digging and planting, some very recently.

I’ll be re-reading the manual when I complete my final exam, thank the gods and Karen, again, that it is a take-home. While I am studying for the final, I will probably write a little about the lot that I’ve learned. And as I’ve said before, I now know just how much I don’t know.

Old dog, new tricks? Life is all about learning.

--David

Originally published on iWeb