Once Upon a Garden Blog

The Artist at the Tampa Theater

2012-02-05T17:54:00.002-05:00

Since late 1926 the Tampa Theater at 711 Franklin Street has provided patrons with a magnificent setting for viewing moving pictures. It was by fortune that friends called me to an evening out in this old grand movie palace to see no other than the modern silent film "The Artist" set in 1927. It is unusual that it would take a French director, Michel Hazanavicius with a French actor, Jean Dujardin to tell us this wonderfully entertaining story of American silent films. Check out Dujardin's spy spoofs OSS 117 Lost in Rio and later OSS 117 Cairo Nest of Spies, funny, funny films. To me going to see this film was great but going to see the movie palace was spectacular for it brought back a lot of historic memories.

I grew up in Los Angeles where movie palaces were a dime a dozen. As a teenager I would go downtown LA to see 3 movies for 25 cents in the late 1960s. They were great, action, cheesy, and well you name it sort of movies. The audiences were strange at best but my friend Bill McCann and I would get money from our parents to get Chinese food and sit through multiple sittings at once great and now somewhat derelict movie palaces. We went to the Orpheum, The Palace, The Tower, The Million Dollar, The Los Angeles and I am sure I am missing one or two. My favorite was the Los Angeles which was a take off on the Palace of Versailles and its hall of mirrors. When I first saw visited it was a sad story, but in the dark, as they say, "all cats look gray".

As luck would have it the Tampa has a Wurlitzer organ that comes out from the floor and plays some dandy tunes prior to the showing of the main feature like I remember from many a wonderful performance at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The proscenium arch of the Tampa was meant to show classic framed movies from its period. CinemaScope or Panavision projected images would have a hard time at the Tampa with its small square screen, but for The Artist, it was perfect. It could not have evoked a more appropriate setting.

The issue with these limiting screen has been solved in a most unusual way at The Grand Rex, one of Paris' largest movie palaces from the 1930's. It was here that I saw the latest version of King Kong, dubbed in French no less, a few years ago. When the worms start eating the men I thought I would jump from the balcony for the immensity of the screen and its effect. Seating is limited to the upper balcony for these mega screen events and a massive screen the width of the building drops from the ceiling so you can see IMAX and other spectacular modern films. It is not so at the Tampa, but then there are many modern movie houses in all the malls for typical films. What is wonderful about The Tampa is that it functions as a performing arts venue and movie house showing classic film and film festivals in a day when most people stay at home glued to their 70 inch screens.

main hall and lobby below

Two images above by Preservation Tampa

The artist is a simple story of what happens to a silent movie star in the new world of talkies. Nothing shatteringly original, but it offers a film classic to the way silent films were made with over dramatization, animal performer and no major sound track per se. So it gives us a glimpse at when films were not so over produced as they are now. I was recently watching a science fiction spectacular Transformers: Other side of the Moon and I finally realized what they meant that these films are geared for teenage boys. It was so noisy I had to lower the volume down and finally abandoned watching a movie that was nothing but going from one massive special effect costing millions to another. Teen age boys have changed!

The details at The Tampa are wonderful. It is a Spanish Baroque colonial village with an open moonlit ceiling where you see flickering stars. Originally moving clouds would be projected on the vaulted sky. This type of movie palace was termed "Atmospheric". At one point there were doves loose in the courtyard main theater. That must have been fun! The theater has wonderful smoking rooms and water fountains and doors, and trim suffering some of the same ravages as my house has faced with termites. All in all is still all there and with luck and more interest it will be restored one day. The Tampa was designed by Australian John Eberson who also designed movie palaces in Europe and in Australia.

foyer entrance light

Michigan Theater, Detroit, image Bob Jagendorf

The Tampa Theater is a gem in a world of lackluster boxes with screens in malls. I am surprised how many cities have razed their old film palaces for parking lots or for no reason at all. I will say that the crowd the night we attended was small at best, but it is still nice to know that it is there and has a life for live performers and serves a very select film going audience to enjoy films the way they were intended to be seen. As I sat enjoying the baroque opulence I kept having this feeling that I had been in this theater before which was not the case. In fact, I had gone as a kid fresh from Cuba, to its sister The Olympia Theater also by Eberson also in 1926 and in Miami. It was a wonderful evening getting away from the kitchen remodel that has taken my every waking moment of demolition and recreation and will soon debut on the blog. Happy Gardening!

Epiphany or Dia de los Reyes Magos

2012-01-06T19:28:00.002-05:00

The year started without a bang although there were many fireworks going off around the Tarpon. Last year I was driving back to Collingswood for a short lived job. Thankfully I was smarter this year and enjoyed the tropics to full hilt. Although this Christmas was fairly mild everywhere, even Tryon NC only had a few days of coldish temperature and it was when I returned to Florida that I felt cold for the first time. That quickly passed and people returned to their winter outdoor activities. As you can see from the image above all kinds of yoga/tai chi was taking place on paddle boards.

This morning, during the prayer chants I was out reconnoitering where I would sit for the Epiphany celebration. Just in case you don't know, Epiphany is the Greek celebration when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. In Cuba, El Dia de los Reyes Mago marks Epiphany as the celebration when the Magi guided by the star were said to have arrived to give the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus. You figure it out. All I can tell you is that as a child I did not get my gifts until the 6 of January even though everyone had been partying since December 24.

Tarpon Springs with its thousands of Greeks celebrates its New Year with this occasion and parties were going on all around me at homes and at the large St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral Community Center. Yesterday the Archbishop was going around town blessing the ships, the fisherman, well you name it. When I first moved here my neighbors told me that I lived in a very good spot and that I never need worry of hurricanes because I was in the Holy Triangle between the Spring Bayou, St. Michael Shrine across the street and St Nicholas two blocks away. What can I tell you, I takes my blessing from anyone willing to give them!

This morning I was sitting with my friend and Minister as the people arrived by the thousands (25 to 30 thousand were expected) to claim a little bit of wharf, hillside or you name it. My minister is a good Unitarian was shocked that people were to going to the front of the line to get their spots for the spectacle instead of fitting in respectfully amongst the people who had gotten there early and expected to see the event sitting down. Very well dressed Greeks arrived in their glittery black finery to lay claims to the remaining spots usually walkways and block all those sitting down. Those fortunate to know the owners of the bayou houses were escorted on to private docks where pushing was to a minimum. The rest of us just sat in the slope waiting for the lions to come. Finally, it did not really matter because when the procession arrived with the kids all stood up to see.

An assortment of evangelical Christians were running around with Jesus Saves signs. I thought it was bit of like taking coals to Newcastle! After waiting for about an hour, the procession arrived with the clergy, city officials and the youths which serve as part of ceremony. This is primarily a male event with no girls allowed to swim. Women libbers here is something to take on. There is a young girl who releases a dove prior the 64 high school age boys take to the water. These boys undergo a special catechism to prepare them for the cross retrieval ceremony.

At some point the presiding priest gives a go ahead and the boys swim out a series of boats that are lined up around the promontory from where the Archbishop (I guess) throws the cross for them to retrieve.

This morning there was a mad dash for the boats and a bunch of boys capsized their boat and sat on it waiting for the cross. Don't fear the water is not cold and is about 4 feet deep. As a matter of fact the event has to be timed to the high tide otherwise they would all wind up in a hospital with broken necks! Today there was so much security you would think that a mad atheist like me was going to sabotage the whole thing. Truly, there were more cops and sheriff boats than it was necessary, but the times they are ridiculous! Kayakers came and could barely see due to the cordon of official boats protecting the youths.

These poor kids should have been more concerned about running into a small or a large manatee than anything else. Well, then there is the crud on the bottom on the bayou that divers were cleaning out this week so these kids would not suffer a cut or something and get an infection.

The cross was finally thrown in and they went at it for about ten minutes with no finder. In a rare upset a second cross was hurled into the water that was eventually caught by some boy.

Someone came out victorious and the story goes that he who carries the cross out of the bayou will have a long and healthy life. Let's hope so. As there are few divers these days getting the bends which use to curtail the lifespan of the local sponge divers, we can be sure that they will indeed, have a longer and healthier life.

Just as fast as it started the crowds dispersed. I was rooting for the smart kids that wanted a crack at the second cross that lay in the bayou. I am not sure what happened to it as it was hot and I was hungry so I went to the Glendi Festival at the Community Center for a Gyro plate. Well, I have now seen it and can refer our loving tourist to it in the future. Next year I am heading straight for the Gyro Plate! Chronia Polla (Happy New Year in Greek) and Happy Gardening to you!

January 7 Update. The newspaper this morning had this headline on the front page: Two winners, no 3! It appears that similar events have happened over the 106 years that the event has taken place. As luck would have it one boy retrieved the second cross and another smallish 16 year old found the first one. On the swim back a big 17 year old took it from him and lay claim to recovering the white cross (so much for the catechism training). The Archbishop queried those concerned and gave all three rights to good luck. Oh well, Christian charity!

January 10 Update. This year may prove to be the most blessed people in the 106 year old history of the Epiphany celebration. Another cross finder was deemed eligible for the blessings. It seems that in our world where everyone has fancy cameras, phones and access to every sort of published media that people attending the celebrations filmed and posted to Youtube the celebrations and the fact that yet another child was beaten by his confreres when he surfaced with the second cross. So in all, the newspaper reported this morning that not bowing to pressure from YouTube or anything the Archbishop was acknowledging a 4th recipient of the second cross which was retrieved first. If that is not complicated watch the following clip and you will see most of the event all in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8i2LCqDbk4 Greek! Enjoy

Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T02:02:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas! It has been a week of delights eating wonderful food and visiting with great friends and going out to parties. I have been wondering which of us would explode first from all the food and drink but we have all managed to survive and will hopefully continue a while longer. The dogs have been having lots of fun especially Limo who can't get enough play time running around the meadows and the wooded trails.

For a Christmas gift I was given a kit with greenhouse and all that is supposed to produce Sequoia trees. These are the famous California trees that live thousands of years and are four hundred feet tall. You are supposed to start the seeds in a refrigerator where they spend a month or so followed by similarly detailed instructions. Somehow, I don't think that they will thrive in the Florida sun and heat, so I guess I will try and propagate these and bring them back to North Carolina to see if we can get a grove started on the east coast. A bit of pie in the sky but it is a time for wishes and dreams. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Gardening.

Meanwhile Back in the Tarpon Garden

2011-12-24T10:17:00.000-05:00

When I first saw the Tarpon house one of the things that inspired me was the adjacent lot that was undeveloped and would be a blank palette for the creation of a new garden in the tropics. It has been slightly more than a year since I purchased the property but my attentions have been everywhere with little time to lay the foundations of the new garden. As much as I have done has been to plant within the existing fence enclosure and to add a few plants outside the perimeter in the anticipation that in a near future they would be free standing in the new garden. Well, the wait is over!

I have taken the house interior as far as I can for now and the time is ripe for the garden. The weather is wonderful. In summer to work in the garden is to exhaust yourself in vain; to work in the garden now is invigorating and good exercise. The first thing I had to do was to have compost delivered that would serve to improve my sand dune. I say sand dune because the garden, if I haven't said so before, I live on a pile of sand. Somehow, lawn has managed to take hold and eventually other things have grown, but when you remove the lawn there is little else like the rich soil I have experienced elsewhere. The breakdown of the compost will add some character to the sand and hopefully continue improving with more compost to follow.

I propose to introduce about a foot or more of compost throughout to the plantings beds that will enrich this sand base. In New Jersey I lived on top of a clay pan. A clay pan is an area that is not permeable to water and often floods but clay soils are very rich in nutrients. Eventually clay pans may deteriorate due to amended soils that improve the organic profile or its makeup.

As with all projects there are always people to be satisfied. It was not surprising to go before city hall and request permission to put up a new fence to be told that because I live in the "historic neighborhood I would be required to keep up the materials that were in place on my property. I was asking to put up chain link along my side neighbor and keep the plastic pickets up front. The chain link would have allowed plants to grow and populate the fence as a vegetative barrier. Well, that would not do for the city who wanted to make sure that my historic property be developed according to the accepted standards that does not allow for mixing up materials. All around me houses are comprised willy nilly but arguing gets you nowhere. It is also necessary to point out that a neighbor, a block away, has added a toilet to his dormer that is free floating, where you can see the piping exit the dormer running through the roof. Not a pretty sight. The town is trying to get permitting under control and it works to ensure that in the Historic District is diligently enforced. Meanwhile a block away and out of the historic district you can have a nuclear reactor emitting fission without control, but nobody cares, because it is not historic! Well, it is not exactly like that but you get my point.

So the new vinyl fence went in without a hitch and I finally met my neighbors as I was putting up the fence. For a year I have lived there but they were very private and I had not ever seen them up close to get or be able to say "Good Morning". Once the solid white fence came up they came out to inspect it and introduced themselves. They asked me how I was liking the house and the neighborhood. I reminded them that I had moved in over a year ago!

I removed the fence that bordered the sideyard and had four trucks fully loaded of compost dumped in my backyard over time I will distribute the compost and the garden will be quite remarkable. Everyone who passes by wonders if I have a little too much. The compost came from the neighboring town of New Port Richey which seems to produce more compost than their residents can use. So when I contacted them and asked if I could get some compost months ago for another project in the front of the house they said "Sure". I was pleasantly surprised that it was free and delivered and asked how that worked and they simply had too much and had to find people to take it off their hands. They don't come and deliver a cubic feet for you, but if you are willing to take 12 cubic yards, they will do it. I took 50 cubic yards and another neighbor of mine who has a whole empty lot took 62 cubic yards. So that should help them with their piles of steaming compost. For now it looks, my side yard looks like an unkempt bordello (not that I have ever been to one!).

Just as I was finishing the fencing a local nursery had a 50% off sale. I was surprised that in this time of year when the weather is perfect nurseries try and empty their stocks fearing some cold snap that might damage the potted inventory. Needless to say I could use a few plants so I got the new foundations plantings that one day will shelter and screen the side yard. They now look like lollipops but that will soon pass.

It was a close call trying to get the garden planted and mulched before leaving for the Christmas holidays. Now as I write this from Tryon, North Carolina I look forward to returning to see how it all looks and how much it no doubt has grown. The weather in Tarpon has been in the 80's and with some irrigation that a neighbor is providing the garden should be on its way. Happy Gardening!

Catching Up: Florida Southern College

2011-12-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

Florida is not really known for its schools. Great universities, it seems are left to the Ivy Leagues such as Penn, Harvard, Columbia, etc or the California schools such as UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford or Caltech. Of course, there are many other great universities in the US but one does not really associate them with Florida where beaches, sunshine, flamingos and Disney World seem to be the common currency. Yet, Florida has a very fine school system in the University of Florida. To ward off this limited view associated by Northeast coast intellectuals, some schools reached out to create great looking environments by hiring top notch architects. Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) was enlisted in the 1930's to design for Florida Southern College. The college has had various names over the years and different locations. It finally moved to Lakeland in the 1920's where developed an amazingly beautiful campus.

I had the fortune to go to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania where as students we were entrusted with great projects. One of my earliest restoration projects involved designing a solution for the mistakes that had taken place in the landscape at Fallingwater in Millrun PA - the Holy Grail of FLW projects. So you can imagine that when I moved to Florida I was quite excited by the prospect of seeing a great master project by this great architect. Well, it took a trip to see another project, but there was enough time in the day to spend rummaging about and inside these great buildings. The campus in Lakeland is rather subtle and hard to find as most of the neighbors see it as just another school. I suppose it is, but for those of us who have studied FLW we feel otherwise.

The campus is quite grand although in need of restoration, as are all FLW projects. This one has managed to survive as the materials are more suited to the tropics where freezing does not damage the stone or concrete blocks.

It is incredibly beautiful to see landscape and architecture so beautifully integrated. Yet at the same time it is shocking to read some of the statistics of the university that seems to have produced so little by way of graduates in spite of its gilded cage.

The integration of plantings and paint colors are synonous with FLW. Taliesin West outside of Phoenix, Arizona displays marvelous color, landscape and architectural ensembles. These designs follow a typical pattern of reaching for the stars and adapting to the practical. FLW was a man with a huge ego and talent. Unfortunately few of his acolytes or students have managed to go reach his level of creativity and make a name for themselves.

The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel was the first project begun by FLW in 1938 and dedicated in 1941. It was restored in 2007. FLW proceeded with numerous building projects that lasted until the 1960's with his wonderful dome fountain crowning the variety of projects.

The Original Library

Courtyards

To avoid the Florida sun, the breezeways work like connectors spines to shelter the public. A similar technique was used by FLW in Taliesin West for his own school of architecture

Of course during FLW times there were not ADA requirements. In this picture you can see some of the ramps that have been added to transition between the levels connecting these wonderful esplanades.

Water Dome partially completed in 1949 and restored in 2007 to FLW plans

The present campus comprises some 64 building on roughly 100 acres. It is the largest collection of FLW architecture on the planet. The Princeton Review (of architecture) listed it as the most beautiful campus in America. The campus is on the National Register of Historic Places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDxLbaRY-k

It is great to see that Florida has not lost its great desire for fine architecture to influence the learning process. This time, not far from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, the University of Florida is proposing a new Polytechnic campus designed by no other than Santiago Calatrava. The project is reminiscent of what Thomas Jefferson designed for the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. I hope that the future does provides this community and State with such a marvelous vision for education as we are more in need than ever to provide stimulus to everyone that education is certainly the key to unlock dreams. Happy Gardening!

Catching Up: Boktoberfest

2011-12-16T12:30:00.000-05:00

Hills around Bok Tower filled with Orange Trees

It is funny how you can go from time on your hands to so many things to do that it you fall behind on everything. Well retirement, even forced, can provide you with a rich life if you make it so. I have had so many projects going on that I have not been able to keep up with the blog. I am back visiting my friends in North Carolina for Christmas and this will allow me some time to relax from household duties, volunteer activities and provide a few fresh blogs of some wonderful things that I have seen or done around Tarpon Springs.

A couple of months ago I was invited to attend a plant sale on Octoberfest at the Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida. Bok Tower is a carillon tower located in the highest point in Florida in the middle of orange country. The Gardens are named for their creators Edward W. Bok, editor of the Ladies Home Home Journal and his wife, Mary Curtis Bok, who founded the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Surrounding the tower is a famous garden designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. in 1921. The gardens were dedicated in 1929 by President Calvin Coolidge. The original plans called for thousands of native plantings that included 1,000 live oaks and 10,000 azaleas as well as thousands more. The gardens have been added to over time. Today the gardens are lush and have the feel of a tropical jungle. There is an interpretive center, visitor center and horticultural facilities add to the fine gardens and the Tower. With the extra excitement of the Boktoberfest and plant sale it was really quite a fun Saturday.

Bok Tower

Inside the tower is quite a grand Carillon

Rare blue ginger

Water Lily Victoria Regina

Philodendron leaves are 5 feet tall

one of the many ginger

Entry to Garden Center Complex

On top of wonderful gardens we got music and beer in the gardens!

As the gardens were free for the garden fest they had a plant sale to make a little extra money.

Yours truly and my friends from the Gro Group

One of my favorites volunteer duties is helping out the Gro Group. A program for special need adults and and younger. Located in Tarpon Springs and sponsored by the Pinellas County School district these individuals are provided outdoor activities in the fresh air where they deal with plants and growing all manner of flora. I have taken to bringing rare plants to help propagate unusual plants that might be sold to the public and help fund special outings or projects.

35th Annual All Hallows Ball in Tampa

2011-11-04T10:58:00.009-04:00

As you know from past years, I like a good Halloween Party. This year I missed going to Henry's extravaganza in Philadelphia, but never fear Tampa Bay has a great party for all who want to let go. Typically, going out in Philadelphia meant costumes and coat so, often I abandoned the idea of costume and enjoyed myself with a simple mask. Here in the Tampa Bay area the weather this time of year is sublime and allows for a lot of bare skin and no lack on inhibition for great costumes.

I lucked out and got an invitation to the All Hallows Ball. This by invitation only party was quite a wonderful surprise. This affair seems to have been going on for quite many a year. I will tell you that there is no lack of creativity here. The theme for the party was Up in the Air - and everything was there. Costumes were mostly home made and ever so clever now that you can electrify or batterify just about any costumes. Unfortunately, flash photography has a tendency to wash out all the great effects of a darkened room. So as you can imagine there were angels to boot, fly-boys and girls, and given the TV influence on the public there were numerous take off on Pan Am and its shapely stewardesses. Some of the ones at this party were hilarious. So without further ado, enjoy some of the costumes, body and camp! Happy Belated Halloween!

Avenging Angels

Miss Piggy and Cosmonaut?

Great fun with balloons

Demure Angel

Greek God

Smurf and Pirate

Paratroopers

At the bar were all manner of get ups

Some of the Stewardesses

More Bodacious TWA Staff

A few Aliens from Uranus

Flight Squad

A guy in a Flying Saucer

Jetsons doing Liposuction

Queen Bee
Killler Bees

Flying Nuns

Great Harlequin

Showgirls?

Tornados

Yours truly as a lightning storm!

I was talking to a friend last night about an incident that occurred at the party where I was walking with this bobbing headdress and at one point I came to a tight corner and came into close contact to a man who was wearing a costume modeled on the Wizard of Oz balloon. He walked around in the basket tethered to this rather large rubber balloon measuring some twelve or so feet across above his head. Well, as fate would have it he entered the tight corner just as I did and some of my projectile lightning struck his balloon that quickly exploded and caused quite a sensational sound in the ballroom and a raucous of laughter from all. Needless to say, I was trying to hide from the faux pas but you can't really hide wearing a ten foot headdress. About half an hour later I walked around and ran into the same man with a new balloon afloat. I spoke to him from a distance and he explained that he came prepared for such a eventuality and had spare balloons! Only at a Halloween Ball!

It is not everyday you got take a leak and next door is a Flamingo doing the same.

Happy Halloween!

It might as well be fall...

2011-09-12T16:23:00.013-04:00

idyllic picture of my bungalow from the St Michael Shrine across the street

For a few days the temperature here has relented from its summer mode and the results are that of what could be considered Paradise. The sun is shining with a little less force and we have even managed a cloudy day. It has made some of us do something unthinkable: open a window. For months we have lived cocooned in our air conditioners not straying much outside except for the early hours of the morning when the temperature hovers in the mid 70's. Well, the seasons they change, change, change...

I have taken a subscription to the St. Petersburg Times which I find intellectual and uplifting and if I do say so myself, liberal and left leaning in these radical conservative times. It is a fine newspapers maybe better than those that I was used to reading back in Jersey. With the exception of the New York Times. Most of those papers were fairly uninspiring as they were produced in an environment where left leaning liberals were the norm. Here where we are rare it seems that we have a solid voice of support by this independent newspaper that is not part of any conglomerate chain and therefore has its own voice of liberal reason.

My voice was recently heard at our church as I was asked to give some explanation as to why I joined this faith. I, as the youngest member of this group and only a three year old UU had a few things to say. It was nice to hear from others who had their own revelation of the meaning of community and why they joined. Today we celebrated the 104th birthday of the oldest member of our flock, Augusta. She is quite a character with a joyous sense of life.

But in spite of Fall, cool off, or church sermons the project at hand remains to get the house up to snuff. I lived in such a wonderful space before that I am on a deadline to return myself to that environment as soon as possible. This week and for the past two weeks I have been restoring a closet that was, how shall I put it? A bit of a mess! It has a wonderful little window, but as I know from the past closets with windows are dangerous to bleaching out your clothes. So must have been the concerns of the prior owners as they nailed everything possible around the entire frame of this window to keep light out. My task has been to repair these as well as the other hundreds of holes they put in walls, frames, you name it. When fully functional I will share with you the results for now it suffices to say that this closet has a better view than most closets and better than many houses!

The project of the week has been looming for months since I first purchased the house. The central gravity flow furnace sat in the center of the house between the living room and the dining room. It measured roughly two by three feet but was about five feet tall. It hung from the floor and projected deep into the crawl space of the house sitting above the sand.

Lacking a truck or a strong enough assistant to help me get it out it has sat there until I found someone devoted enough to me and my cause who would lend the necessary muscle and pickup to get it out. I found one in a dear friend at church who borrowed a truck to help me and we got it out. On the side we noticed its patented date of 1940. Not surprising for a hundred year old house to have a 71 year old furnace. I should say that it has not been in use for quite some time. I can't say when it was last in service.

Once we got the furnace out of its hole we notice a certain rust line running about halfway up the structure. If intelligence serves me I suspect that during a storm in the past the furnace must have been inundated to about that magical rust line. If so, I am safe to think that the house has never flooded but not by much. If I project that line into the structure it would seem that water was about three feet off my porch.

As with the old A/C, the furnace has joined recycling efforts in Florida. I knew that everything was so clean down here because I saw cleaning trucks along our streets very often. In New Jersey, in spite of exorbitant taxes I could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times a saw a street sweeper. Here, they come all the time. Not only is everything clean but there is no large debris laying around anywhere. The reason for this zeal is a strong demand for recyclables and a poorer population that drags everything not bolted down to get some payment.

As you can see even golf carts seem to make it there and aluminum cans and other metals are also in high demand. My seventy plus year old furnace weighing roughly two hundred pounds provided me $20.00. Not bad for a piece of junk weighing down my floor.

On a similar subject I just saw an awe-inspiring movie of Artist Vik Muniz and his efforts to transform garbage, from Jardim Gramacho (the largest municipal dump in the world) out side of Rio de Janeiro, into art. Called Waste Land, the film is a testament to the will of humanity and its enduring strength to overcome conditions most of us can't even imagine.

On a lighter side I will tell you that the first lemon fell off my tree. Yes fall is here and citrus that flowered last winter are ripening. My efforts to feed all the plants in the yard are slowly paying dividends. The Ponderosa lemon appears to have a bumper crop and this medium-sized lemon was destined to lubricate my vodka tonic. Cheers and Happy Gardening!

One More Time Into the Fray

2011-09-11T15:22:00.009-04:00

Jatropha multifida, this beauty native to Nigeria and cousin to Poinsettia was given to me for the garden. As you can see it likes it here.

Yes, it is one more time into the fray. I say this because I thought that all the work that I had done in restoring my house and creating the Collingswood garden would pay off for a lifetime. Guess, what? I am lucky for I have had a chance to re-invent myself yet again and dispel any silly phrases such as this.

Yesterday, I received my insurance renewal and it made me think that the one year anniversary is coming up since I bought the Tarpon House. It has been slow going as I had two houses there for awhile and then that little job and the trying to sell the Collingswood house in the middle of our lovely economy. All that has passed and I had another birthday, closer to collecting Social Security - in spite of what that other moron Perry from Texas said about it being a Ponzi scheme.

I bought this house knowing that it needed a lot of work and I have been at it. I have taken out some of the improvements that the prior owner created and returned the house to its original configuration. A hallway that once connected the master bedroom to a nursery and bathroom was reassigned as a sort of a walk in closet. Unfortunately, some people need access to the bathroom in the middle of the night and don't want to go on a tour of their house to get there. The results has brought back some of the original beauty of this old bungalow.

In the process of this restoration I took on removing the paint from the original trim. Once a grey chocolate stain covered all the woodwork in the house. During what is no doubt a few prior inhabitants, the trim went from the original stain to mustard, to shocking pink, to multiple shades and coats of white paint. This is not that many coats given that the house will be a century old next year. Some heavy elbow grease has revealed the wondrous way that the woodwork defined this house.

The nursery had stayed as a child's room or even a sewing room when I first saw the house. Needless to say, I don't have need for a nursery but certainly enjoy the proximity that it has to my bedroom and bathroom and have allocated this room as a TV/Sitting room/Library.
Due to its small size and lack of closet it makes for a cozy arrangement that I enjoy. It also overlooks the rear garden which is another work in progress.

The master bedroom has also come a long way from the way it was. I had to modernize the closet to accommodate more items (given that I only have one closet now) but with nine foot ceiling you can be creative with all these closet accessories.

None of the rooms are finished as I am having some trim recreated by a mill in Tampa that caters to owners of historic houses. They have everything you can imagine by way of original trim, floors custom milled to your needs for the same price you buy cheap pine at Home Depot or Lowes. So much for the modern supplier!

But the story continues to be about the garden. In spite of all the time I have taken ripping out walls, fixing plaster, matching woodwork, I still prefer to garden more than anything. The tropical rains have been pounding us in Florida and you all along the Northeast with regular ferocity.

When it pours I either sit and read the paper in the long porch or work on another of my interior fixes. It will be a while before the inside comes together whereas the outside is shaping up fast. With all this hot humid and constant rain you can plant anything or make cuttings and stick them in the ground to see them flourish in a few weeks.

I have slowly removed nine hibiscus plants that bordered the front of the house and were stunted with over pruning to make them fit a location where they should have never been planted. I am slowly creating a planted front yard that will softened all the pavement around my corner lot. Initially I feared that the hibiscus would not survive due to the blistering heat and the shock I anticipated from transplant. I root pruned all these about two months ago and scaled the plants back to a third their size. Little by little I tested digging them up one at a time or as much heat as I could take outside before escaping to the air conditioned comfort of interior remodeling. Somehow I have discovered that Hibiscus are very hardy plants indeed. Far more than I ever considered mollycoddling them as interior plants in New Jersey.

With the arrival of the tropical rains most of the plants did not seem to even notice that I had transplanted them and started blooming. I also received some nice plants from Julia up north for my birthday. What a great idea to send someone a pineapple plant!

One of the great recoveries is that of my Plumeria that has wondered the country like me since leaving Los Angeles. It bloomed a few times in a pot while in Collingswood, but never with any vigor. Here in the tropics it has found the home it was looking for. In spite of this miserable soil lacking any nutrients it is a survivor - more than that it thrives! It has come home and has started anew.

Today is September 11 and I think of all those people who got up that day and went to work like I did, but did not get another chance to do much more than make it into our collective memory as heroes of that insanity not so long ago. So, I am very lucky to get to go once more into the fray of living and enjoying life even if it means remodeling another house and creating another garden. Happy Gardening!

Just when you thought you had done everything...

2011-07-30T09:28:00.008-04:00

The trip home to Tarpon was more or less the same. It was long and uneventful with the exception of massive downpours which are more or less the norm in Florida during the tropical summer. Yet, regardless of how much comes down by the morning it is usually bone dry thanks for our sandy soil. I had a lot of time to think about the time and future that lay ahead of us and how I wanted to spend it. Unfortunately, I was totally dead from the final week of packing and saying goodbyes and the stress of the sales transaction.

People often ask me how Limo survives these long trips. He has a way of rolling up into a ball as you can see here with even a prop to place his chin. He is no fool with no cares in the world. He comes up for air like clockwork when it is feeding time and time for his relief breaks. The trip between Collingswood and Tarpon is about 17 hours and I have done it straight through many times, but on this trip there was no hurry anymore for anything. The moving truck was a week away so we could take our time and find a roadway stop in one of the Carolinas like we have done when we spend the night on the road.
This trip was not much different except as noted for I was exhausted. As it was, everything went like smooth sailing and so did the trip south. Here near Smithfield, North Carolina at a fancier motel than our norm we found that someone had taken a corner out of the lawn to grow Okra, the gooey vegetable of the South. It was really quite a patch.

Eventually the truck arrived and I feared everything would be broken. Last time I hired movers to load the truck and in their infinite wisdom they placed fragile boxes underneath my library of 65 boxes of books. I was not going to pay for the expertise of movers again and experience some of the damage I had to find on the prior move. So, I figured that for the few remaining items and there were just a few, mind you, I could do the loading myself with a little help. Well like the educated person I am, I miscalculated the amount of my remaining possessions. Initially I packed everything carefully and beautifully stacked taking care to place boxes of fragile items on top of paper laden heavy ones. Unfortunately, this rhythm could not be sustained and by the end I had placed the bulkheads in place and threw whatever was left on top of my leaning tower of possessions. As it is, when I unloaded things in Tarpon there was not one casualty. I should clarify that I have not yet opened all the boxes and am hopeful that I did just as good a job as my professional movers from the last move....
In Tarpon a new puppy in the neighborhood. This marbled Great Dane is not quite a year and already weighs 120 pounds. I pity the person picking up after him.
Before leaving Tarpon for Escrow closing on Collingswood I had been doing my research for compost to amend my miserable dune into something more palatable to plants. From a neighbor I found that a neighboring municipality has mountains of compost available and will deliver it free to get rid of it. I called and made arrangements for a truck load of this free gold. The people were delighted with the fact that I could use massive quantities of it and they would give me as much as I will ever need. They will not help home owners who want the equivalent of a bag or two, but if you want the volume of a volkawagon bettle or two they are there for your help. The day my moving truck arrived so did ten cubic yards of loamy compost which I am slowly using to change the face of my garden. I need to get a better wheel barrow than the one that I borrowed for carting around the garden. As is, I have to garden between 7:30 and 10 AM as any later is too warm for me and I am pouring sweat as is. Nice early morning exercise.

The key to gardening in Florida is water. Above is a line of drip irrigation that I ran through the garden to provide irrigation as I develop the various garden areas I have in mind. I have been trying to figure out how to activate a system of cisterns that existed in historic time to collect rainwater. Two massive tanks exists buried in the sand that may have been holding tanks for a hand pump well or flow from the roof system. Most of my neighbors have wells which they use to irrigate with the aid of electric pumps. Water where I live is fairly close to the surface. The man at Home Depot explained how with a few of their tools and gizmos I too could have my own well that I can plug into my drip irrigation. This too shall happen, but this is the rainy season so there is no need to hurry things along we get rainfall of one kind or another just about everyday or thereabouts.

I got a chance to mulch the palms that I had planted on the side of my house. Now with the mulch and the drip irrigation I placed in the areas I intend to garden, I should be set to create a new tropical garden jungle.

The back of the house where once stood the above ground pool has slowly filled in with grass and is becoming definable as a garden with a multitude of fruiting and flowering shrubs that were there and to which I have added just a few plants. Of course this is one of 4 or five garden areas that I am working on so improvements will come slow.

I am not too keen on having a lawn which means gasoline and noise and fumes or a service to pay. For now I am going with the lawn but I have my sights set on a landscape groundcover peanut that is decorative and has a lovely yellow blossom. It does not grow more than a few inches tall and creates quite a thick mat of green that can be walked on. In Collingswood my wonder plant was Liriope, this may well be the liriope of Florida.

It took me eleven years to get my house and garden perfect in Collingswood. I am in no hurry this time. It is all about the journey and the process I know I will get there; wherever there is.

Just when you thought you had done everything stupid in your life you reach a new climax! Cleaning the cupboards I came across this package which I thought would provide me healthy sustenance snack along the trip down to Tarpon. It said healthy and peanut butter cups and corn and wheat free. Either I did not have my glasses on or was too much in a hurry to read the label in further detail. I had already packed Limo's food and snacks so I thought this one would be great for me. Along the trip I opened the package and took out a couple of the little muffins which I found were rather bland and tasteless. I figured it was par for the course as most healthy foods seem to lack in strong flavors. Limo was exceedingly excited and I had to get him to calm down as these treats were for me and not him. A few hundred miles later the same episode repeated itself with me feeling the same sort of letdown from the bland muffins. I came to an opportunity to stop and get something to drink and had a chance to read the label, with glasses, this time, to find out that I had been feeding myself very healthy dog biscuits. Well, all I can say is that I thank whichever friend gave me these for the trip home as I have been feeling a little bit more frisky than usual and I growl at strangers...Happy Gardening!

Arrivederci Collingswood

2011-07-03T12:24:00.015-04:00

It does not sound as good as the Roma version we are familiar with, nor am I leaving a love behind, but I will miss my old town nevertheless. The week has been grueling with non stop work packing and throwing away so much that seemed so important and isn't. Limo has been my constant companion in this exercise hoping to bring one of his toys to distract me and get some playtime. The reality that we spend a lifetime collecting objects to please our sense of worth and to validate our experiences and travels and for the pleasure of doing it. We receive legacies from relatives, professions and departed friends. Then one day you want to relocate and you know you must lighten your load. You question why it is that you have kept all these objects. Some people don't keep anything, others horde and then there are those in between. Every object has a story and a reason for keeping it.

Some of the remnants

I had a porch and sidewalk sale to manage to collect some money from things that might be worth something more than donating or thrashing would provide. A bit of an act of desperation when there is no real need for it. I normally have just given everything away to multiple AIDS groups to raise money for hospice care and the like, but our local AIDS charity went out of business from lack or patients or support; I don't know which. Other groups such as Purple Heart have a schedule, and Goodwill and Salvation Army have selective policies on what they take anymore. So I tried to make a few dollars and get a chance to see and talk with neighbors and passerbyers. It also afforded me a chance to rest from the boredom of packing. Everything that was left over was picked by a man who took to a children's charity. Mission accomplished.

Friends have come by to photograph the garden fearing changes to come or "as they put it knowing it's here and they will not have access"

Well that is done the packing is not over, but by the time this posts it will be. I am getting a head start to write this blog as the final days in Collingswood will be overwhelming with real estate transactions, utilities, Internet shut off...you name it. The week has been spent working and packing and unfortunately I have not much time to sit down and enjoy it all. Oh well, I guess I had twelve years of enjoyment.

Parting shot this morning

Collingswood has been home, whether great or small for twelve years and I enjoyed life there with many wonderful friends in a very pleasant community. This week has been about camaraderie of friends and neighbors. All my neighbors and most of my friends have come to help or offer refreshment or nourishment. I have just returned from my last night out in my favorite restaurant in town with some of my dearest Collingswoodites. Tomorrow with luck I will sign the papers get the check and make my way to Tarpon Springs. But as in the lyrics and without to much ado: "...it is time for us to part." So signing of from Collingswood for the final time, Happy Gardening wherever you are!

Limo at Document Signing

PS Another grueling morning with too much to fit in the car for the trip home. My friend Rich bailed me out at last minute taking extra stuff to his home as the moving truck had already left. Even Limo got in on the act. He came to his second closing. Enjoy the clip taken by Rich who at one moment calls him Taxi. She is still part of the scene. It all worked out and I am half-way back to Tarpon spending the night in North Carolina

Back in Collingswood

2011-06-25T10:45:00.009-04:00

garden slightly overgrown but majestic

I am sorry for the long time between blogs. Between setting up one house and a garden and selling another and computer problems you guessed it...

Well, I am back in Collingswood packing the last of my things tending the garden for one final time. After visiting the house I don't know how many times, a couple fell in love with it - I hope. The buyers found my shaggy practices a bit too much for them and wanted it restrained a bit. Quite frankly the garden had not been tended in three months and it looked quite splendid before I started grooming. But in all honesty, it was way over the top. I had always compared its grand walk to Versailles and called it Versaillette due to its formal aspect. Upon my arrival the gravel walk looked more like the Amazon surrounded by the primeval tropical forest. You can imagine that I am slightly, just slightly exaggerating the obvious. A dear friend called it embellishing when he did it. As, he put it "the truth sometimes needs improvement." My garden doesn't look anymore like Versailles than it does the Amazon; enjoy it just the same....

another view of the overgrown state

It has been anticlimactic to be home in Collingswood. As much as I love the house and garden, I now consider Florida home and wish I could return there ASAP. Closing on the house is due in early July and until then, I will have time to enjoy and get time to see my local friends whom I miss very much. You don't live in a house (what would be 12 years in August) and don't get to know your neighbors and develop long lasting relationships, whereas in Tarpon, it has only been eight months since I bought the place and it will be awhile before those deep bonds of friendship are established. Most of my immediate neighbors speak Greek and keep to themselves. The people who I have met are exeni (non Greeks) or Greeks not from there and we are slowly working on friendships to come. It may take longer for the Greeks to accept an outsider.

Julia with goodies on hand

It was Limo's first big party

Last night my Collingswood crowd assembled for one last time at the house. My dearest friends some classmates from Graduate School at Penn, others from the neighborhood and one just born a few years ago who is a delightful young girl I have seen grow before me. It was my Swan Song Party or so I called it. This time it was not a grand sit down meal with Cassoulet, it was a pot luck of appetizers. People arrived with wonderful goodies concocted or bought and bottles of wines which we indulged into the late night.

Friends around the wine cooler

Noshing amongst the boxes

Part of the evening was about catching up with me as well as my friends catching up with one another. Groups went about discovering the food and assembling into small groups throughout the house and the garden. I tried to catch up with everyone bouncing around from one group to another. The evening progressed until I had an idea that had been sparked earlier during the week when Limo started digging a hole in the garden. Normally I would have filled it in without a second thought but this time I saw it as an opportunity. I announced to the crowd that I hoped it would not seem inappropriate if we buried Taxi ashes in the garden. As all gathered knew her it seemed appropriate that while we were assembled together we lay to rest her remains in her garden.

Vori's images of the garden after cleanup

Taxi had for years protected the boundaries I gave her with diligence, now it was our turn to honor her. We all filled our glasses and I took the ashes and placed them in the hole Limo provided us - a wonderful sense of continuity. We all drank a toast to her and to our moment together. The night was truly magical as though there were natural fireworks while hundreds of fireflies were sparkling all around honoring the event.

Another potential buyer

Now what is left is to finish the packing, the throwing away and the loading of the truck bound for Tarpon Springs. I will get to spend one more Independence day in the region that is known for this great summer festival of freedom. I will more than likely spend quite times enjoying the garden and seeing what new surprises it has in store for me.

Upon arrival last week I noticed a box turtle who was sunning itself cushioned by the liriope. Unfortunately it was in the front garden next to the driveway by the for sale sign and how it got there is a small miracle. I picked it up and placed it in the rear garden to join the rest of the wildlife that is currently in residence. I can't imagine that I will see a race between the turtle and the rabbits, but it is nice to know that I have created such a desirous habitat for man or beast. Happy Gardening!

Learning the lay of the land

2011-05-28T11:26:00.010-04:00

When I purchased the house in Collingswood it had no garden. It was just a lawn sitting, in what I would later discover, a clay pan. A clay pan is a pretty daunting natural feature that is a layer of soil (if you want to call it that) better suited for cutting up and making bricks than for plantings. Yet, I persisted and eventually had the garden you all have seen.

Tarpon Springs is at the polar opposite of Collingswood; it is a reclaimed beach dune. Florida, fertility comes predominately from its sunlight and abundance of rainfall. The soil is more or less the weakest element. Yet, the soil because of its porous nature allows plants to tap deep roots into a water table that is not too far below the surface. The mangos around my neighborhood grow primarily under the shade of large Live Oaks. This co-existence would not happen if they did not each have a steady water supply. Very few houses around me have sprinklers and those that do use it to water their concrete. The Greeks in my neighborhood have an usual aesthetic nature so they concrete most of their yards and leave holes for planting. This is great for not getting too much movement of sand, but not necessarily great for plants. Yet this is Florida, incredibly fecund!

Above gives you an idea what I am working with. When I bought the house it had an above ground pool that left a circle of solid white sand. Add a little water and pull out the weeds and I suspect in a few months it will be a solid lawn. I had a bonfire to remove a lot of debris and spread the ashes around to add some nutrient to the soil. I am not thrilled with the idea of keeping lawns, but for now green will suit my purposes until other and better ideas for groundcover can be implemented.It is so fecund that the sprigs of vines or plants appear in the strangest places. Here coming out of my porch baluster cap a bleeding heart vine (some form of clerodendron) that appears to grow out of concrete in some places. It is quite gorgeous and delicate looking as you can see from the picture below.

If palms are the basic tree stock around these parts then Hibiscus are the prevalent shrub. They come in so many color and forms. There are single and double forms. There are up facing and down facing; some fully open and others remain always closed. Here are a few in my garden and the fabulous pink is from a neighbor who has agreed to give me a cutting so I can propagate my own.

A simple red hibiscus. I remember these as a kid growing up in Cuba where they were as big as trees. Mine are up against the house and soon to be relocated.

A double or triple form that is referred to locally as the poodle hibiscus because when seen from a certain angle it does resemble the profile of a poodle. What can I tell you? I did not make it up!

This beauty is a towering ten feet and covered with these delicate flowers that do not flinch in 90 degree heat.

Well, all this fecundity is not going to waste believe me. There appears to be bugs here to eat it all if allowed. This is the lubber grasshopper that appeared one day as cute little darlings the size of a paper clip. My neighbor started stepping on them as he claimed they ate everything very fast even though they are not fast themselves. The one picture above is roughly four inches across! This one like most others were naturally removed by me or Limo who has developed an appetite for them. Good boy!

Of course, the Lubbers are not the only creatures around. These White ibis, are up early in the morning catching what few worms my soil has. So I have take to shooing them away in order to build up my stock soil producing worms.

There is every manner of lizard and gecko around. These keep the bugs at bay they serve a little like my birds did in Collingswood. Here for some strange reason I see few flocks of birds in the garden. There is very little for them to eat, but that will come. However, if I get too many birds they will probably hunt the lizards and other bug eating reptiles. Yes, reptiles. I saw a large black (three or four feet) one about a week or so ago making its way through the garden. I am told it is called a black racer. Harmless and beneficial as it eats fruit rats! Yes, with all these marvelous gardens producing bumper crops of fruits we have rats that eat them. Fortunately, there are snakes to keep them in check. So far I have only seen the snake and not the rat.

In my rain barrel a large toad appeared one day and the then there were two. Somehow these manage to survived buried deep underground and surface when the wet weather comes. I suspect they eat more bugs so that is good and possibly if too many they can be a snack for the snakes!

I guess you can see that I am having fun. It is marvelous to get up everyday and have beautiful blue skies and warm weather greet you. I never thought these two things would be so important to me. I have been meeting people and getting cuttings from their gardens. My friend Paula has misters where I currently have possibly 100 different plants growing for future planting. I guess, for now, I am on my discovery period, dazzled by all that is fresh and new and I am sure some of the new may not be so wonderful when it gets old, but for now....

It is not everyday that you wake up to find this magnificent White Egret perched on your kitchen chimney. Well, it happened a few weeks ago and it was there casing the joint (as it were) and looking for something to eat no doubt. Limo was actually quite taken by it and the egret did not run away until it chose another spot. I wonder if it might return like a stork and set up a nest. Well, there is something to investigate. Happy Gardening.

Happy Birthday Limo

2011-05-13T13:38:00.010-04:00

Yes, my boy is a year old today (May 12, Blogger has been out on repairs). He came to this world in a farm in southern Ohio. Little did he know what lay in store for him or for that matter for me. I had spent over a year researching shelters and potential female Dalmatians for adoption. All I found were deranged shelter owners, who wanted to know if my blood was blue and how much I could donate. All with one exception in Virginia where at Southwest Dals we made a connections, unfortunately I was late and it was adopted and then other pups did not fare out.

I am picky in case you have not figured it out. Better yet, I know what I want or so I think. I was looking for a female because all Dalmatians have a gene that predisposes them to kidney stones because of high uric acid. Females handle it better and are not prone to the costly and painful operations thats males endure. My friend Louise found an article about low uric Dals with a modified gene acquired through one breeding with a German Short Hair Pointer in the 1970's produced normal uric Dalmatians and I was off in a different direction looking at breeders for potential adoptions. Through the magic of the Internet I met a breeder of these special gene Dalmatians and later someone else who had bred Limo and his family.

I have only had him since last August and what a wonderful time it has been. Limo has grown from ten pounds to almost sixty. He was this cute little shy dog and now he is a very determined teenager. He is curious and confident and strides around the bayou parks like he owns them. There are few people in Tarpon Springs that don’t know him (we are a small community).

Limo with the Gro Group

After his birthday treats this morning I put him to work. There is nothing better for an animal than to have a purpose or a job. I took him to the Gro Group nursery center to meet and be with a group of people who would love him and get him started as a therapy dog. The Gro Group takes care of special need adults with all kinds of activities related to crafts but especially growing plants. I have been going there to propagate plants for the garden and spend some time with some very curious and special people. Paula and Claire create projects to involve these adults in meaningful activities.

This morning was special for all. Even Limo got a lesson he had not planned as Paula arrived with a one day one kitten that she was nursing with a doll baby bottle. She had been up numerous times last night to feed this kitten that was smaller than a handful. Limo pictured above did not know what to make of this creature.
Well, if you did not guess it, Limo is the love of my life. He is a great companion and we have a lot of fun together. We walk on the beach and he runs like a banshee from one end to the other. In the Florida garden, Limo has become my pest control best friend. I found these once small grasshoppers that have eaten their way to three inch bugs and are very slow on their feet. Limo has been decimating them. I feared he might get sick as they are not meant to be palatable, but he has figured that out on his own and now crunches and drops them. Oh, well what can you do? He is a dog after all!

Many, many thanks to those who were helpful and responsible for me finding and getting Limo. These include but are not limited to Louise Marshall for finding the normal uric Dals, Debi Smith for having adopted the Dal I wanted so I could keep hunting for another, Barb Allison for breeding normal uric Dals getting me in touch with Sally McDonnel who let me have Limo. Finally Vori Kriaris who drove from Ohio back to Philadelphia so I could spend 6 hours scrunched with my puppy in the hatchback of the Prius. Happy First Birthday, Boy. Happy Gardening!

Packing Remainders

2011-04-21T09:38:00.027-04:00

I have been back in Collingswood taking care of the fine packing. It is easy to haul books, records, and furniture because they are somewhat essential to your life. There are other elements of your life that are packaged in little boxes and put in out of the way places so you can visit them every so often but are not so easy to deal with. It is easy to throw away old records, linens and clothes but it is yet another matter when you surface your baby booties that your mother somehow managed to get out of a country that did not allow her to leave with anything more than three outfits.

I am going through the real elements of my life. My college papers from Occidental college. My original thesis from 1974 and all of its accompanying research and criticisms in French, no less. Some of the early gifts that were given to me by my parents such as a Bell and Howell Super Eight movie camera, projector and screen for high school graduation. I have it all and all the movies I made with them of my family. I sent the projector and the screen to Florida and just discovered the camera. These gifts cost a fortune in 1970 and today the camera is not even worth $10.00 on EBay. Do you know that they still make super eight film. Maybe, no, never mind.

It would be great if I had kids to leave all this crap to but I don't. Even if I did, I doubt they would want it. The meaning of all these things is locked up in my brain and appears to have no importance to anyone else. I also just discovered a collection of Airplane Trading Cards that were published in Chicago and a little research brought out hundreds of others who have similar collections. They are still held together by an old shoe lace ( I can't swear if it is Cuban or not). Mine are slightly different. The front of the card is in English with the color image and plane description. The back of the card is in Spanish with all the statistics. You see mine cards I got in Cuba and it was one of two toys that I was allowed to take out the country. Somehow, I have not thrown them away like I did the ensemble of Robin Hood plastics figures that like toy soldiers used to occupy my childhood play fantasies.

I have a multitude of items that I have carried with me for too long. Not having any siblings I am in charge of this patrimony, but these are not national treasures just my lost youth and infancy which we all have. It is painful to revisit with them and even harder the idea that they are nothing but junk with pentimentos of life.

There are also what appear now as questionable elements in interior design that cost too much money and somehow don't fit in your life anymore. I still have items from a great store in Los Angeles called the Akron that went out of business years and years ago.

I have boxes of my Father's personal items which I got when I went to stop him from committing suicide in Florida and failed. I have the clippings from the newspaper where he appeared as a victim of suicide by cop. I have an evening news video showing him spread out under a sheet in the middle of the street. I have the letters to the lawyer when I pursued suing the hospital and the doctors who released him due to Medicare coverage limitations when he was not of stable mind, depressed over his cancer. Maybe the Republicans should get rid of medicare and their own personal medical program at the same time so they can face the misery and helplessness I faced. My lawyer explained that because he was 80 years old and his life was valued on the remaining expectancy and because no doctor would have spoken up against another it would be a hard case to make or win. I could have ruined myself trying to prevent another such medical neglect but instead I dropped the entire matter and got on with my life. Even if I threw away this box, it is carved in my brain.

Fortunately, I also have my father's Zenith Trans-Oceanic Radio. Father purchased this to keep in touch with life in Cuba. You can imagine how weird it was to be in your living room in Los Angeles listening to all manner of programming from Cuba. Well, it will serve me well as the reception in Tarpon Springs is abysmal. I can barely hear public radio as it is sandwiched in between all manner of Christian broadcasting networks. Needless to say, not a personal preference. Also, I may want to listen to what is going on in Cuba now that I am that much closer.

Limo in a very green garden soon to be full of other colors

Last Saturday I attended a reading group at my UU church in Cherry Hill. The subject was gardening and I had been asked to lead the discussion. I told the organizer that as much as I wanted to do this, I was in transition and was not certain if I would be in Collingswood for the event. I also thought it not fair to give me the honor when I am moving on and there are many other local UUs to handle the task. Luckily, I was here and could attend. When it came time for me to speak I said what I will tell you. Gardening for me is as natural as breathing. It comes to me from as long ago as those booties. It is the only place I know that I can put my mind on hold and instinctually take care of the plants that nurture and delight me. It is also a place that calms me like no other where I can forget the hate and disappointment that I have faced in my life. So when I say to you happy gardening, I mean it!

Ava Gardner

2011-04-12T21:53:00.019-04:00

I have been travelling up and down the I95 corridor to Florida from New Jersey for many years. My first trip was to visit my father after a long estrangement in 1995. Along the way I drove by the town of Smithfield, North Carolina. There was really not much there at the time except for a sign that alluded to it being the home of Ava Gardner. In spite of my interest I did not stop.

My parents were strange examples of movie fans. You must remember that my parents grew up and courted each other in Cuba. Yet, somehow they seemed to know a lot of newsreel and film gossip on just about any of the Stars of their era. Much later growing up in Los Angeles it was hard to watch a movie with them even though it was fun to hear their passion for film and the stars of their youth. They would have so many constant separate conversations that it was hard to keep up with the film on television. There was a program called the Fabulous 50's which featured Hollywood's greatest movies even though many of the films were from the 30's and the 40's. I guess it was impossible to grow up in Hollywood with my parents and not be a film fan.

Ava Gardner was a star that evoked many comments. My Mother would carry on "How could she have married Mickey Rooney? My Father was one to comment on her class and how she had gone from Artie Shaw to Frank Sinatra. These stories would always circled back to her affair with famous Spanish bull fighter Dominguin. Of course they knew nothing about her other than the dribble put out by the studios but knowing that little they somehow felt connected to her and others. It is unfortunate that they were not able to meet her when she visited Cuba and was literally across the hill from us staying at Hemingway's house. Whether apocryphal or not Hemingway was supposed to have watched her swim nude in his pool and asked his staff not to empty the pool water.

I never did see her in too many great movies although when she was in a film it was hard not to notice her. In Mogambo she was nominated for an Oscar. Other of her films are nice but none are great dramatic roles. My favorite acting roll of hers was in Night of the Iguana where she played a boozy hotel owner having her fun with a couple maraca playing cabana boys. The Barefoot Contessa, again, is a nice role but not much more unless you consider her STAR power. I capitalize this because Ava Gardner belonged to a different world of film making than that which we have today. The Moguls relied on qualities of presence, beauty, sexual magnetism and if potential actors had these they would teach them the rest.

So on this trip from Tarpon back to Collingswood I stopped in Smithfield. The town now is a major discount designer mall destination and it has the Ava Gardner Museum. I was on the go early and the museum was closed but it was a retail building housing a collection of items belonging to the Star. I suspect that Ava Gardner might have ran barefoot if need be to Hollywood to get away from this ham producing sleepy town but that was not the case. Her beauty was spotted by a talent scout who happened on a series of her photographs that were on display at a New York 5th Avenue studio - the rest is history. I am not trying to be mean here but it appears that she returned to Smithfield to be buried after a glamorous life elsewhere.

I guess that I made this trip because to me, Ava Gardner, was a goddess for her style and beauty. Visiting her town and eventually her grave was something that I did in memory also of my parents and their "love" for her. I have on many occasions gone to honor a memory and the final resting place of famous individuals. I have been to Shelley's grave in Rome, Callas' cremains in Paris, Tyrone Power and Stan Laurel's in Hollywood and Celia Cruz in the Bronx. Cemeteries are unusual places. I wrote my graduate thesis on the evolution of cemeteries as a substitute for parks at the beginning of the Industrial Era. I visit them as a place to enjoy the landscape.

Ava Gardner is buried at Sunset Memorial Park. It is not a great cemetery, but if it is any consolation she is with her parents and brothers. You would think she would have rather been in some exciting place with her bullfighter Domingin but maybe not.

The Blue Bird Lobby Card starring both legends

All this comes on the heels of the death of Elizabeth Taylor who was possibly the last of the Hollywood Stars. We now have actors (whether men or women) trained in their craft and providing us entertainment in films. I wonder if any of these are providing juicy gossip for parents to share with their children?

Greek Independence Day

2011-03-28T12:38:00.005-04:00

Most cities celebrate St Patrick's day, Thanksgiving Day etc.; Tarpon Springs celebrates Greek Independence Day. It is done with the same fervor that strikes other communities to show their uniqueness. In Tarpon, a city already overwhelmed with beautiful blue skies, the Greek Community adds to it by painting most houses in the combination of colors of their flag. So there is no dearth of blue and white. So yesterday, Independence Day, the community dressed in their colors and waved flags to their heart's content to show their pride. It was a lot of fun!

As I have said before the town was founded by the rich from the northeast to escape the cold. Yesterday it was 28 in Collingswood NJ and 88 in Tarpon Springs! Then in the 1920'a the sponge industry took off. The Greeks came to fish for sponges and the industry still remains.

Today, on any street or market the language of choice is Greek not English. It makes for a very colorful town. The town has a section called the Sponge Docks where Greek shops and restaurants thrive catering to other Greeks from the area and the entire country. Greeks come from Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo and you name it to escape the winters. Their Mecca is Tarpon Springs in the U.S.

Yesterday, everyone was out and I have never seen so many flags being waved and all manner of costumes and dancing and floats festooned with more Greeks. The day was also referred to as GLENDI which for all I know means Greek Independence day. Not being Greek I don't know what that is, but I will check it out with one of my English speaking neighbors (not many!). If you know let me know

This little Greek made my day. Isn't she a doll?

Quickly abandoned for dining and other amusements this Trireme facsimile decorated a street near my house. But all was not white and blue. Around town Spring is in full bloom. The Azaleas and camellias are almost finished, but what remains is truly wondrous. Above, Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia) is one of two hundred species of plants that share this name and flower in a variety of colors. The small tree or large shrub can get to be a 20-25 feet ball. I was speaking with two gardeners who were tending their front yard where a solid white version of this flowering tree stood. One gardener told me to come back in a month and I could have all the seeds in the world. The other told me not too bother with seeds. He will pull up hundred of trees that volunteer in this tropical paradise. He also said that it was way too much work for the little time it is in bloom. Oh well, you can't win them all.

On a less than glamorous old property, the greatest of the local beauties is the majestic Red Kapok Tree (Bombax ceiba). It blooms on bare wood before any leaves appear. Typically it looses the leaves during the dry season, although here there has been enough cold to warrant a rethink on that premise. It is a towering tree some 50-60 feet tall and across. The flowers are fleshy and a most incredible carnelian red color imaginable.

Years, ago when I visited Cuba I was astonished to find versions of this tree towering in the landscape but with spines on its trunk and an orchid colored flower. I travelled there during December and did not see any of these marvelous red flowering varieties which I suspect have a small window of time when they bloom. It is a very magnificent tree and must provide that little house a lot of shelter from the summer sun. Maybe I need to consider one of these for my empty lot? Happy Gardening!

Going, going, almost gone!

2011-03-15T08:48:00.012-04:00

Contact Rich if you are interested

Well, Spring is here, the crocus are up and movement is afoot for selling my house. I have also resigned my Federal job. I tried, truly I did, but I am still a talented and creative person and not an automaton. So much for that experiment.

Picture from listing

Sun room from listing

I have decided to clear out and move to Florida. Well, almost. I consulted a friend who has experience in house staging and she told me I needed to simplify what sellers were seeing. That is what I had done months ago when I cleared out all my family pictures and miscellaneous bric-a-brac. Anyway, that is what I thought. After a room by room appraisal of my house it remained certain that there was way too much of me and too little house to be seen.

Living Room from Listing

As much as I had removed small things, way too many big things remained that certainly detracted the from truly appreciating my lovely house. I have been reading for a long time. One of the things that changed my life was going to Occidental College and changing bad habits into good ones. Reading was one of them. My first degree was comparative Literature acquiring a small Spanish library. My education in France brought another language into play and I kept reading acquiring a classic French library. Then two more Masters Degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Historic Preservation and Landscape Architecture and of course all my plant books. You can imagine how they have added up on these topics alone.

Lovely image of my Dining room/ Reading Room

Unfortunately for my house it has been holding a library acquired during a lifetime. I can tell you where each and every book (almost) was acquired or a particular story about them. Try and do that with an electronic version on an Ipad or an kindle? It all becomes the same but they don't have my problems moving it all. Well these lovelies are camouflaged and distributed in over 12 large book cases around my house and more are in units in the basement.

I have packed 50 book boxes and will be sending them to Florida this week. Along with bookcases, and all the excess furniture that made my dining room into a multi-purpose room with a reading corner, similarly the mudroom, or for that matter an upstairs sitting room that is the true master bedroom. Numerous trips to the Collingswood library has left volumes of Greek accounts of the Peloponnesians wars, to Dylan Thomas, to Flaubert at their disposal. I have culled. I have packed what I consider to the finest editions, books or groups for my future enjoyment. At some point my Landscape Architecture library will be added to one of my Alma Maters.

Another listing image of the Dining Room

Kitchen Listing image

Well, I have stripped the house down packed and packed and given away as much as I can and the rest comes to Florida with me. The house will be all the better for it as people will be able to focus on what they are buying not my stuff.

Master sitting room instead of bedroom

I guess the truth is that when you are a single man with a dog in a three bedroom house you kind of design it for yourself. I took one bedroom and made it an office and eventually an exercise room. The Master bedroom has a nursery attached to it where a full size bed fits nice and snugly. That is where I sleep. I kept the middle bedroom for my guests who feel they are in the lap of luxury when they spend the night.

Guest Bedroom

It has been an experience greeting potential buyers or answering their questions. It may sound unorthodox but I did not mind telling them about the house, that is, those who were interested. There have been all kinds of buyers come through the first ones drove by as they thought the house was totally wrong. Another couple came in and after an inspection with their agent told me it was "too historic." I think if they knew what they were looking at the might have known from the street. Or maybe it was just that bathroom was too period. Regardless, there have been numerous couples who have seen it and thought it was perfect.

Foyer and Stairs

Foyer and Stairs minus pedestal and statue plus a few boxes

I asked a neighbor to help me dismantle my garden urn. I have the perfect spot for it in Florida and I will no longer have to move the agave in an out according to the seasons. The agave is also wrapped up for the trip. I can't wait to get back to gardening in the tropics.

I have stripped the house down will go to Florida to organize and then will return for what I hope to be the final push.

It has only been three weeks since the house went on the market. The weather has not been great so only 7 potential buyers have been through the house. My broker, Rich Troiani of Drexel Realty thinks that is great and it only take one to make your day. So be it! Happy Gardening!

2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show

2011-03-06T16:22:00.013-05:00

Floral Display inspired by Hector Guimard Paris Metro entrance

The 180th something Flower Show opened to the public today. The theme this year: Springtime in Paris. Yes I give it this dubious title as we don't really know which one this is or if we do we don't focus on its longevity - a shame! A shame because in this world of copy cats this is the most original thing in Philadelphia since the Declaration of Independence from the British. Yesterday I spent the day judging the showcase exhibits and seeing friends that I see once a year. The who's who of the plant world and botanic gardens are involved in the judging of this hallowed event. Besides them there are local designers and other personalities that are enlisted in the event.

I got my start as a judge doing garden clubs and minor categories about a dozen years ago. One day I wondered if I would ever judge anything more important and I mentioned it to a dear friend. The next year I was judging major exhibits. Since then I have been judging chair of the Landscape Division and when the new category "Showcase" was developed two years ago I was its first chair. Well, regardless of rank or category, I would not miss it for the world. I am in my element seeing extraordinary designers test their metal with creative designs and still trying to make a buck. Yes, this is a commercial endeavour for many of the participants. The exhibits cost money and must make a return for the many companies that use it to advertise their expertise. It is not just for art. In these economic times, I appreciate that even more. With any luck next year, I will be asked to return as judge. If I am, I will be coming up from Florida to visit my friends and hopefully see an even larger event if the show expands into the enlarged convention center. Regardless, enjoy the images and if you can, go see it for yourself, it is worth it!

The show centers its display on a central event put on by the Pennsylvania Horticultural society. Top notch florists test their mettle with wonderfully creative arrangement like this floral maze done in roses.

A simple wedding in Notre Dame
A different take on the "Tour the France. "This wagon was filled to capacity with all things French: Fashion to Bordeaux.

Clever designers created typical clipped tree hedges seen throughout France. However this one was a hydroponics attempt with the trunks serving as the delivery system for water and nutrients to the ferns, grasses, sedums and other clever plantings that represented the tree canopy. A marvelous display.

Floral massings of banksias in one of the many florist display.

Take a guess, I don't know what these were either, but they were beautiful, filled with orchids and topped with carnations.

On a more traditional note these carousel animals surrounded the central display which was a stage and a carousel. Most of the animals were throughout the area. Here a butterfly in the background and a wondrous Ostrich.

Yet one more: a peacock.

More frivolous flower arrangements. Truly stunning work of plant material.

Even a dearly departed Gardener's specialty shop had a great and creative display. Now associated with Target, Smith and Hawken produces a line of plain items for Target featured at their stores while still offering their renown products through a catalogue house within the Target website. I am going to check it out. I remember years ago when there was only one Smith Hawken in Mill Valley, north of San Francisco and I made a pilgrimage there to then mythical store. Well, their success eventually imploded and I guess they are trying to revive it again.

The Flower show was very Frrrench (pronounced with an accent). This Salon was exquisite even if the photograph does not do it justice. Here flowers, dried and fresh were integrated and coordinated to match with tapestry fabrics to create an rich effect of a Turn-of-the-Century Salon.

On a more modernistic feel this water garden with blue columns made reference to the 1927 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs from which we now have the term Art-Deco. For its effort this exhibit was awarded Best-in-Show.

Another exhibit played off the plantings off a water feature of paintings reminiscent of Monet.

Nothing could be about Paris and not include the Eiffel Tower. The central feature reproduced a fairly good facsimile of the lower tier of the tower that could be seen from everywhere. Truly very Ooh La La! Happy Gardening!

On the Market

2011-02-27T15:58:00.006-05:00

It has been a few weeks since I have blogged. As you might imagine I have had my hands fuller than usual. For 18 months besides a few things, my only concerns was finding a job and keeping this blog going. Well, as of January 3 I have been employed by the Federal Government. Better yet, I have been in training for a job working for the Federal Government. I will not tell you much about it because I am sworn to all kinds of secrecy and they might shoot me if I actually said what I was thinking. Let me make it clear: I know why a toilet seat costs two hundred when the Federal Government buys it.

Seriously, the other day I received yet another piece of mail from my employer stating that my security clearance was granted and unless "they received any derogatory remarks regarding me", I was cleared to work for them. I said "yet" because I have been getting on average two to three pieces of paper for all the benefits, websites, security passwords, and you name it. I need a secretary to keep up with my correspondence regarding my new job.

If I were making a few hundred thousand dollars or doing anything of a vital nature I would understand, but I am not. I guess we are all possible terrorist these days so beware!

Well, back to basics. The weather has stabilized. Today it is actually sunny and in the 50's. In preparation for putting my house on the market I have cleaned the front and some of the backyard from the winter debris and the miserable seed pods from the Liquidambar tree. In LA I loved this tree because it grew there and gave a semblance of fall in a land of palm trees.

Here with its spiny, tripping seeds it is just a pain in the a....!

The garden has recovered from it downtrodden appearance. It has slowly lifted from being crushed by the snow. I have still to do surgery and remove dead or broken branches, but there is time still for that.

I have taken out all the willow's broken branches from the pond. I don't know how the poor kois and goldfish have managed to survive in all that mess. I wish I could take them to Florida when the time comes as they are part of my family but I fear that this will not happen from logistical and practical reasons.

In spite of the harrowing winter the garden still is looking good. The bones are there and just a little sun and warmth will bring back its emerald quality to make us all forget how tough a winter it has been. I suspect that once I am gone from here and permanently in Florida I will somehow miss aspects of this. It will certainly not be the cold.

Yes, the house is officially in the market since last Wednesday. It is not even March so I got it taken care ahead of schedule. If you are in the market for a nice house check out the following link with the Trend MLS: http://www.trendmls.com/mls/Client/Email/EmailClick.aspx?s=98776840&k=1131962032 (You will have to accept the MLS terms to view the listing). There have been few inquiries as I have been beating the drum for quite some time but there is plenty of time. When it all happens I will figure out a new job in the Tampa region. What I am now doing is not for me.

I will miss my old house when I finally sell it. I bought it a particular hard time in my life when I was breaking up with someone I loved very much. It served to shelter me and give me a reason to carry on. I have celebrated in it with multitudes of friends and I shared it with my dear Taxi for oh so many years. I wanted to scatter her ashes in the garden and I probably will before I leave. It will not be as easy as all my friends think it will be for me to leave. Many think I am escaping and in many ways I am. I am not escaping from, I am escaping to a new life and a new beginning. For a boy that escaped from Cuba at ten, I have gotten used to a gypsy life. I love new adventures. Happy Gardening!

How Much Snow is Too Much?

2011-02-06T13:46:00.003-05:00

I don't know if I have lost my tolerance for winters because I have already moved my soul to Florida, but this winter seems like a test to all in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the country. Philadelphia has had more snow so far this year than just any other year on record. If this were the end March or April then there would be nothing further to discuss. The reality that we are barely starting February and another major storm is anticipate Thursday, is something to concern gardeners and all others alike.

The garden has really gotten pounded. Everything is on its side, squashed, or broken. Normally, I manage to get out in the garden with a broom and shake of the snow off to keep the plants from caving under. This year, I have had the flu or cold or whatever you want to call it and have not been able to keep up with any of my usual snow clearing duties. Normally this time of year it is cold but I start pruning and cleaning up beds because we can have odd nice sunny days with warmish cold weather between 45-50 (like it is today). Unfortunately, I am worn out with this flu. I guess this is why some people move to warmer climes, they just get worn out. I am feeling a bit like my garden. I am trying to get up but just can't quite make it.

The recovery from this weather in the garden will be tough going. It will require propping up plants that are not beyond recovery until they regain their vertical stance. Many will require minor pruning and some will require major pruning. Some will have to be cut to the ground if not pulled out entirely. At this point, I advise against doing anything more than uncovering them from the snow or whatever ice has hardened them to the ground as has happened in my garden.

Many of my roses were staked to create particular floral patterns. The one above bloomed along two arches that seemed to create a half circle. In some ways this one is better than most as it has been flattened to the ground. So when I can, I will reattach it and try to recreate the visual effect for house sale time this Spring.

It has taken quite a bit of effort keeping the pond from freezing over. The nearby lakes are totally iced over. I would not mind having a small rink in my backyard if it weren't for the Kois. The would die high concentration of the methane gas created by rotting leaves on the bottom kept in by a solid layer of ice. I have run the pond filter round the clock not allowing it to ice over so the methane will escape.

I have been holding putting the house on the market until the garden would reel in potential buyers this Spring. I guess, it will probably still happen, but the garden will not be up to its past splendor. I guess, they won't know what it looked like them and will quite happy to have it in any state - I would! Happy Gardening.

Old Man Winter

2011-01-22T12:34:00.009-05:00

Well, our Canadian neighbor has been sending us a lot of unnecessary cold weather. As I write this the weather is hovering around 9 degrees. I don't know how long it has been since it was this cold in Collingswood. I know I am getting older, but my memory is quite in place about this kind of weather. Just last week we had quite a snow fall. My new colleagues were all hopeful that we would be closed and have a snow day. Alas, the Federal government like the mail is pretty much always open.

As I looked down my street I kept thinking of my cousin Marylin in Tampa who has never seen snow. She has this wonderful childlike attitude towards snow that I still retain even though it is hard to be idyllic shoveling your sidewalk or driveway. Yet when all I have to do is photograph or read in my sun room I don't mind it either and imagine myself in that final scene from the film White Christmas. What could be better?

I parked my car in the garage and let the snow fall. I have been taking public transportation into Philadelphia so no need to shovel the driveway and the sun will eventually melt it.

We were lucky to have had a few warm days of 33 degrees enough to melt down some of the snow, but after that reprieve it got cold again. Now the remaining snow cracks like walking on glass. I know many northerners may find this information rather boring, but for my family and friends down in Florida in somewhat warmer climes I offer these thoughts and images

Even my rain barrel has almost frozen solid. I can't remember this ever happening before.

I don't think that there is much activity happening in my compost bins. The one without the lid I emptied to take down to get started in Florida, but I ran out of room in the Prius. The other bin's compost is pretty much frozen solid waiting for spring to be emptied into the garden.

I guess I could be doing some pruning. This is a perfect winter chore as there are no leaves, plants are dormant and you can see the shape you need to improve or shape. If you know what to prune where you can get ahead of the season doing this now; that is, if you can stand the cold. For me, I have the Collingswood garden where it needs to be so I will be in my sun room with a book and a cup of cocoa.

My Liquidambar ( Sweetgum) street tree is being the mess it always is. It many pronged ball seeds are falling by the hundreds if not thousands. It is a beautiful tree but it makes a great mess with all these seed balls that fall and get locked in with snow to create lovely traps for the walking public. I am always looking after the mess to keep the sidewalks clear of the booby traps. It makes no sense how thinking municipal officials allow this variety to be planted to line the streets given its hazardous seed pods, but who says that municipal officials know anything about planting street trees?

My boy Limo had his eight month birthday on January 12. To celebrate this milestone I took him to be fixed. He wore this collar for a week to keep him away from his stitches and he looked so cute in it; just like a Pierrot (even if he does not look very happy about wearing it. It is hard for men to do this to a male dog. I talked to many friends and all the men I spoke to seemed as bothered as I was. In contrast, all of my women friends seemed perfectly attune to the idea that it would make them live longer and remove some of that extra energy that pours out of puppies. I wonder if they had their druthers if they would do that to their husbands?

Finally, winter is the time of year I head into my sun room and read all the magazines that came during the year that I put off because I rather be gardening. I also get a chance to focus in on my recently acquired or gifted Christmas Books. It is also the time of year I start going through plant catalogues for seasonal interests or new garden tools and fun gadgets. This year my focus it out of shift. I had been designing my garden in Florida and laying out ideas on paper and even building a computer model of it. I got a great new book about Florida plants from my friends in North Carolina. It is a marvelous book by the University of Florida and boy am I going to have fun when I get back down there. Happy Gardening!

Back to Jersey

2011-01-09T15:35:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year! Life is really one of the best roller coasters you will ever get a chance to ride. If you take life like an amusement ride you will never cease to amazed by the turns and the ups and downs that this ride has in store for you. I say all of this because I was minding my own business watching the tourists watch the Manatees in Tarpon Springs on a warm sunny day when a friend went to my house in Collingswood to check on my mail. His thoroughness got him to look at my phone answering machine which I had failed to turn off as I always do when I go away. Besides the few bits of nonsense left on the machine was a message from the Federal Government saying that I had a job waiting starting on January 3.

I will tell you that I had spoken with them a few weeks before heading down to Florida with no news except that all jobs had been cancelled and there was not anticipation of any potential start date. I told the human resources people that I was in Florida and could be reached at my cell number. Well, they called the house and thanks to my dear friend who is as thorough as he is scattered I was relayed the news of this job.

The Manatees would be there a while longer I said to myself and decided to accept the position and move back to my Collingswood home which had been closed for the winter as I expected to pass most of it in Florida. I had been cast at sea for too long a time and wanted the company of other working people and the benefit package of a Federal job before my real retirement came along a few years from now.

So I packed a crate of lemons from my garden told the news to my family who were not at all pleased as they thought I would have no problems in finding a good job in Florida. I told my Florida friends who were happy for me because jobs in Florida don't normally pay that well and because I told them that I hoped to get a transfer back to Florida as soon as I could request it.

I left beautiful Tarpon Springs on the 1st of January. The 31st I had gone to spend New Year's with my family and it had been a magical and balmy warm day. As I drove north the foliage of the trees soon disappeared and traces of snow were on the ground here and there. I had been in North Carolina for Christmas and we had gotten quite a bit of snow for the holidays. Jersey had been the recipient of about 6-8 inches of snow. As I entered my driveway patches of snow lay everywhere.

I accepted a job in a field totally unrelated to anything I have done before. My greatest skill for this job will be my ability to speak Spanish and help the public. It is a job with few responsibilities, no people to supervise, no special projects that require you to work late into the night or until you project is accomplished. This is, for better or worse, an 8-4:30 job. Nobody will look at me for leaving at 4:30 when there is work left to be done. Best of all it comes with some of the best medical coverage in the planet. I was given a 300 page book of medical options and varying benefits plans.

Limo has been the one to suffer the most from this affair, but that is probably overstating it. He has had me around him for almost every second since we entered each other's life. I feared that he would howl and miss me when I crated him the first day I went to work and left him for 9 hours. Like Taxi, who endured my working life, he adapted with similar ease. If he has separation anxiety you cannot tell. He is a well adjusted and loving animal. He goes crazy when I return from wherever regardless of whether I have been gone for 9 minutes or nine hours.

The weather has been frigid lately and walking him has been difficult so he has made due with a quick run in the garden to take care of his needs. We got another snow storm that made life all the more interesting. This weekend we went to the park I first introduced him to this Fall. We had not been there since leaving for Florida and as you can see from the images he was intrigued and exhilarated with the cold stuff on the ground. He ran like a banshee or posed pensively looking at the frozen lake. Florida is nice and warm but crawling with flees. No such problems in our Jersey winter.

So comes to an end 19 months of unemployment. For now, I will work and await Spring and the sale of my Collingswood house. While I am here I will have new working colleagues and a place to go to and leave the house regularly. Yes, this has put my Tarpon Springs home restoration on hold for the present, but this too shall pass and before too long I will be at it again. My Jersey friends are delighted the new job and that I will stay around longer. The next task will be to figure out how the transfer process works or how to get a similar job in Florida. Of course, now that I am employed finding another job will hopefully be less of a hassle. Somehow I will still manage to work designing gardens. This, after all, is just another turn in the roller coaster...Happy Gardening!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T15:32:00.007-05:00

from Left: Poppie, Vange, Suki, Limo, Me, Sparky, Vori, Landfill, Terry and Zorro

We decided that we needed a group shot of all of us for family and friends. That is simpler said than done. Specially when there are six animals and four people. It is bad enough to get the people to look in your direction, imagine what it was like to get the animals to pose. Surprisingly, the animals came out more natural than the people as we tried to steer them for a pose. Regardless, we all had a lot of fun posing for this sort of family portrait.

Limo, Zorro and Me

Limo, has been running around like a 7 month old Dalmatian, which says a lot if you know anything about the breed. He has been a little crazy while at the farm. He runs around full tilt through the woods like a deer or plays with his pals Suki, Sparky or Landfill in the dog pen. All three are wonderful dogs that have been rescued at one time or another by Vange and Terry. Of course, his favorites are the horses. He has was not really around them in the farm where he was born and last time we were here this summer he was impressed by these giant dogs! Well, enjoy the holidays and lets hope that 2011 is good for us all. So until next year. Happy New Year and Happy Gardening.

Back to North Carolina for Christmas

2010-12-20T10:32:00.010-05:00

Limo checking my whereabouts

Last year at this time I was packing the car to join my friends Terry and Vange in North Carolina. Vori, Vange's brother and I made the trip on the Prius in the famous Christmas blizzard( Happy New Year blog January 10 2010). We drove right through it with hundreds of cars abandoned along the road and it and it was hell on wheels. We left the house early am and after abandoning the car at the bottom of the hill made it up to the ranch to have warm delicious soup at about midnight. What a drive!

Also, what a difference a year makes! At that time I was sure that I would move to Asheville, North Carolina to join other retirees and find paradise in that mountainside community. Well, as you can see I am little further south. Many reasons prompted the decision to come to Florida that range from weather to home values and property taxes. Certainly the house I found in Florida could not be passed up.

Just this weekend, I went to a party in the Seminole Heights section of Tampa. This is a historic neighborhood of Florida bungalows similar to mine. The party was at a friend from New Jersey that exited there about two years ago. He lives in a glorious house which has been for the most part restored and modernized to make for a splendid home. As a consequence of its condition the house was purchased for almost three times the price of mine. It made me happy to know that when I get through with my remodel I will have something that will command quite a price as I am by the beach, more or less.

A little plaster opening for the new vent grew quickly!

For now, I have a lot of work ahead of me. As a matter of fact, while I write this blog a repairman is fixing the damage caused by the AC/Heat pump people last week. The new more powerful system needed an additional vent and a return. The crew installing the new vent cut the hole for the new vent and created a little damage around the vent. Plaster is great but if you break the way it is attached to the lath it starts pulling away from the ceiling and can pull more plaster in the process. The repairman has made quick fix of what was a sore on the ceiling of my house. The AC people are not happy about paying for the repair but it was their inability to deal with the plaster correctly that caused the problem. They tried worming their way out of their responsibility blaming the old house, but I applied Teddy Roosevelt diplomacy without a big stick and it is now almost repaired.

Meanwhile, I have a few more simple gifts to wrap and a little packing to do. I am sure I will have to clean up after the repairman as part and parcel of this adventure. Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn we shall take to the road again for a ten hour trip North. With any luck there will be no snow this time and even if it is cold I will be able to drive all they way up to the front door. Limo, I am sure is awaiting a chance to go running with horses as his Christmas wish. Enjoy yourselves, we will.

Christmas in Florida

2010-12-14T09:06:00.014-05:00

I am back in Florida. I spent my last day up north, until next year, with my friend Julia having some quality time and in many ways revisiting our life in Center City Philadelphia. I can be somewhat melodramatic without any intention but as we walked the streets of Philadelphia I felt a sense of change and loss as so much of it has changed so dramatically since I first arrived in 1992. So many businesses seem to have changed hands and even for a recent arrival such as myself, I have seen multiple iterations of culture and institutions in very little time. I remember saying to Julia that I needed to go to a place where I have no history, where I don't have to think of all that has come and gone before. I want to discover something new, even if it is not as grand or established.

One such institution is the Old Wanamaker Department Store that has since been Lord and Taylor and now Macy's. Regardless, it still displays one of the most wonderful Christmas musical shows anywhere. I remember a winter in the 90's when my mother came to visit and it was so cold we took refuge in the Wanamaker tea room overlooking the display to warm up and enjoy the show. The tea room and my Mother are both gone and but the display continues as our memories...

In Florida they don't take themselves too seriously but I suspect they manage to enjoy Christmas just the same. I have been to a Victorian Party at the Safford House, the oldest house in Tarpon Springs around the corner from mine where volunteers use the season to celebrate and no doubt to raise some money for their causes and to keep the termites at bay. I say this because the house was built in 1883 out of heart pine and it was restored in the early 2000's only to need a fumigation soon there after for all the new wood that was used in the restoration managed to provide a feast for the little critters. I have slowly started to discover that my house is not all heart pine like I thought and it has suffered more at the little feet of the termites. Oh well, something gone eat you sooner or later.

I have come down in part to install air conditioning/heat pump which my old house needed. The system in place was installed in 1986 and regardless how good it was then it had long stopped working as intended. The recent cold spell here had tested its ability to produce heat and I knew it was not producing cold when it was hot here when I first saw the house. I did not need this expense but what are you going to do? At least there is a tax credit for the new system which is incredibly efficient and will hopefully last another 24 years!

As you can see from the image the old one looks like a little rust bucket and the new one like Darth Vader. The system was installed in a day and the house went from 1986 to 2010 in heating. The heat pump comes on for an hour and the house is toasty. The old one worked all night and never managed to get it beyond the low 60's. Although it is not the heat that I am worried about. I am confident that when summer comes it will be ready to extract gallons of water from the humid air and make life comfortable here in the tropics.

After the Wanamaker show I came home to finish packing for my trek to Florida. I realized that this trip was the beginning of saving some of my oldest friends: my plants. I don't say this with any disrespect to my two legged friends, but I have known some of my plants longer than many people. They have come to me in all manner of ways. I have some of my Mother's plant. One in particular, a Croton, which I have managed to kill and bring back from other cuttings more than once. The Croton, being one of my most important plants from my childhood, as hedges of it lined the entry walk of our home in Cuba. Well, I brought the last two remaining cuttings I had made and figured out that they could go in the Florida soil/sand as soon as I got here. Wrong, the weather turned cold and just as soon as I placed them outside I managed to salvaged them the next day. One more or less okay and the other a bit traumatized by the cold it has never known. So back in a pot they are waiting for warmer days to return outdoors.

This poor little Staghorn fern was given to me by my friend Shinichi Tanaka in Laguna Beach California some twenty years ago. His partner, and one of my dearest friends Niels Dahlerup would put up with me often in their backyard as I directed gardening traffic fixing this, pruning that and helping out as a way of paying for my supper for the many weekends I spent with them. They had a Jaccuzzi garden overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Staghorn ferns clung to walls and plants making this already delicious place look more inviting. Just before leaving California to go to Graduate School at Penn I visited one final time to have Shinichi give me two of the ferns to remind me of California. This year I lost one and I figured the remaining one should return to a place it can flourish.

I have packed a few others for this trip. My Agave Americana was wrapped and ready to come but the car was full so I was forced to leave it behind. Agaves are indistructible so when I return it will be there waiting for the next trip South.

A plant that made the trip was this Calamondin orange. It has a story and a half! My friend RJ picked the fruits from his homestead in Brownsville Texas. He saved the seeds and grew them in a small south facing window in his Co-Op in Manhattan. Somewhere along the course of events he grew more that a dozen plants and handed them out to many of his friends. I have had mine for six years or so which I brought down from Manhattan and have nurtured into a small topiary potted plant. Well, no more. It now resides in the sand next to the Ponderosa Lemon, the Tangerine and the Mango hoping to inspire it to grow and produce its strange fruit that is somewhat bitter but has a sweet edible rind.

Similarly many of my plants have stories, some not so romantic or complicated but they have been with me for some time. When I really have to cull my life of many things I will worry about lightening my load for now, I now have a house twice the size of the one I have lived in New Jersey so I figure I can take just about anything I want. Most of my dear plant friends will reside in my new Crescent garden, just off my dining room. As you can see it is not much. I have been at work even in the local cold temperatures putting some nutrients into the powdery sand. What a job I have ahead, but the journey is exciting and new.

Bordering the Spring Bayou where the Manatees are wintering in herds to stave of the cold I noticed the local little illuminated train (sorry for the blurry image I left my tripod in NJ) that reminded me of the Wanamaker Christmas display. It is solitary and small by comparison but just as heart filled to those here. My new friend Paula was disheartened by the budget cuts that eliminated some 1500 Poinsettias from the display. Strangely enough that reminded me of another plant to put in the garden. In Cuba and in California as well as Florida, Poinsettias grow and bloom outdoors at this time of year. A house like mine would have had an old plant or two to celebrate the holidays. It will again, Happy Gardening and Merry Christmas!

Historic House for Sale, Collingswood New Jersey

2010-11-28T08:25:00.018-05:00

Fall in the Collingswood Garden

Neighbors are often the people you least know. In spite of the fact that you live next to them, there are always aspects of them that elude you. I mention this because I returned to Collingswood to spend Thanksgiving with my extended family of friends. My family is near Tarpon Springs and scattered around Los Angeles, but I figured that they would not be disappointed in not spending another Thanksgiving with me as I have not in the past. So I went home to my friends and neighbors for one last round. In the future, I figured my house would be settled enough and with plenty of room to receive any of them and I would start celebrating once again with my family and hopefully with new friends I have made down in Florida.

Of course the trip to Collingswood continues to be about arranging for the sale of the house. I have held off selling and awaiting Spring because I applied and tested for a Federal position which I was told I was the highest score. However, this said, the federal government is stranger these days than in the past because of the change in political power. The position that I had in the pocket has vaporized until who knows when. It is a shame because I was relying on this bureaucratic post to provide excellent medical coverage. So life goes on.

Interiors article in the Philadelphia Inquirer some years ago

I continue to evaluate my possessions thinking if I will ever need this or that book or notes on a subject I could teach or hundreds of other items that attach me to a life that I no longer have and may never have again. Still, I am in the process of cleaning house to make it more palatable to potential purchasers. I am told by all my cable connected friends that in order to sell my house (according to the many, many shows on cable filling the airwaves and time) I must depersonalize it. Of course this is strange to me as my house has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer because of the way it is decorated and the garden has been on numerous newspaper and magazine articles.

I don't get it! Part of a house is who lives in it. We look at Architectural Digest or Country Life or any of the many other voyeuristic magazines that allow us to snoop at houses and properties around the country and the world. These magazines make their business on selling personality. Why must all the sudden my house be castrated of me?

Regardless, I am taking away the excess. I don't think I have much and most will agree with that but no one really wants to see pictures of me and my dead family and friends prominently displayed on my triple dresser in my bedroom. I don't have a grand piano or I would have them on one like I see all the time on Architectural Digest. I am packing boxes of nick knacks and personal items and getting them ready for my next trip to Tarpon Springs.

The house will be a little less me, but the color on the living and dining rooms walls will be the lavender that I painted years ago that everyone thought was strange, but they now realize was a good choice. My kitchen will still be filled with pots and pans and be Mandarin Yellow. It will still look like a chef lives here even though I haven't cooked any major meals lately; one more meal will hopefully unite us again. The paintings on the walls depict some of my own earliest efforts to gifts, inheritances and purchases that trace my life and could belong to no one else in this configuration.

Plumeria (tall) and other plants awaiting transport

Even the garden is loosing a few plants. For years I have made a habit of growing plants from other climates that required over wintering in the basement or front porch. A Mexican Blue agave that can get the size of VW beetle I have managed to root prune and keep from escaping my garden urn must be put in the basement each year. No more, I dug it up, as I will dig up some other plants that would rather be elsewhere and bring them along to the sun and warmth of Florida. One very special plant that I almost gave away last year is my Plumeria from the house in LA. It has managed to slowly fight off dying in this weather for the last 18 years. In the tropics it would be a three story tree. Here it still manages to blooms every odd year but in the future it will grow and bloom every year.

It is hard to say goodbye to a place or to friends. A friend acknowledged my feelings that some of my friends are still angry about me leaving. Oh well, they will get over it as I am less mad myself about some of the decisions I have needed to make hopeful of a nicer future.

A chop at the property line

I, however will not miss my rear neighbors. These are newcomers to the area. If they are any indication of who will be able to afford these houses in the future, well, then my departure is perfectly timed. For the last year they have taken and plasticized every inch of their house and garden. Vinyl siding has been plastered on top of vinyl siding. A new white vinyl fence went up on day one. It was such an abrupt change that it was shocking and disconnecting from what landscape existed inside the, now, Gulag. It contains three of four yappy dogs, so I guess they were doing me a favor. Over the year they took out all the plantings that existed and applied sod and little gnomes and other unique decorations. Upon my return from Florida I discovered that a long swooping branch from my willow was cut at the property line. I had contemplated removing it before they did, but they started hanging bird boxes on it and I thought I was making a contribution. Well, no more. Total sterility has set it. So be it.

So you if you want a wonderful three bedroom historic house in Collingswood, New Jersey with Chestnut interior woodwork and a fabulous garden, drop me an email. I am sure we can work something out. I am off to church so happy gardening!

Chores & Gardening in Tarpon Springs

2010-11-19T20:20:00.011-05:00

If you ever saw the Money Pit with Tom Hanks or Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House with Cary Grant you will know some of the passion and the fury involved in building or restoring a house. I have been through this three other times and swear I will never do it again, but here I am with tools in hand on a new adventure that involves the creation of a new garden and the restoration of an old house.

I came down to take on some of the hundreds of repairs that are needed in my old house. The escape came at a wonderful time as the weather was getting pretty bad up north and here it has been like a bit of paradise with tropical breezes blowing and hovering in the high 70's to the low 80's. Not bad, at all! However, I have spent time going back and forth from hardware stores to Home Depot to the house and slowly repairing things that bug me. For instance, all the hardware in this house has been painted, not once but twenty times! The door escutcheons are so deformed with paint that you can't tell weather they have detail or are smooth.

solid brass escutcheon paint free waiting to be brushed and paint encrusted one

So I went to a Thrift shop and found a classic crock pot and have cooked all my door and window hardware for ten to twelve hours. The results are that 40 or 50 years of paint have fallen off without much effort to reveal solid brass hardware that had rusted between paint coats. I took a brass wire brush and rubbed with a little mineral oil and now I have historic patina hardware like the fancy ones purchased from high end suppliers.

I have fixed lots of small details from window screens to remove hundreds of nails and patch all the walls. What they held, who knows? I have fixed the sash cords on some of the double hung windows. Windows that in part did not fully open or close and had the gap filled with caulking and newspaper. Real smart for a place crawling with termites! Somehow the quality of the original construction and materials are the only things that has made this house survive almost to its first century anniversary.

Nature is very bountiful here and you are surprised how fast things grow and how they get established with very little effort and in the strangest place. Palms in particular can established themselves in the most precarious places. This one above found the empty corner of my porch. It started as nothing more that a seed the size of a grape and I decided to take it out and transplant it to a useful site, but palms are tenacious. It would be a while before it tore the roof off as it grew.

This one had been in the ground maybe 3-5 years and had managed to build a stalk almost a foot thick with string roots coming out to establish a connection to the sandy soil and keep it in place when the hurricanes blow. I spent better part of two hours digging this one out in easy to work sandy soil, but the roots where everywhere! I also managed to take another one out between my neighbor and my back fence that would destroy the fence and even one more that had established itself in the drip line of my air conditioner drain. Clever plants.

On an errand I ran into what appeared to be a garden school. There I met my new friend Paula who runs the Gro-Group with her friend Claire. The two of them teach gardening, help with assorted projects and talks at the Library and other cultural institutions around Tarpon Springs on plants and horticulture. Part of the program teaches plant propagation and as a result they had a lot of very interesting plants. As I have said before when two plant people get together all the limitations that might exist in a traditional first encounter totally disappear as their bond for plants is so strong that a friendship quickly forms. Such was the case with Paula and me. She and Claire showed me around the small plot and all the plants that they had available. They had wonderful plants and were eager to find them a good home.

I had been told by the City of Tarpon Springs that they would plant Street Trees for me but only on the public right-of-way. This nixed the front of my house which has a sidewalk next to the curb and the planting area is on my land. Paula saved the day with two Live-Oaks (Quercus virginiana) that I hope will grow fast to shade the front of the property from the blistering summer sun.

Paula not only provided me with some wonderful and inexpensive plants but she also gave me a bunch and had her husband deliver the big stuff for free. She then lent me a tool as I broke my found shovel trying to remove one of the palms. I don't have it all in the ground but will before I leave to go home for Thanksgiving.

Spider lily Crinun

Box of mixed sedums and kalanchoes

Aspidistra (cast iron plant)

Wonderful native begonia

So as you can see I have started an assortment of projects that are manageable and that I can alternate from one to another so it does not become tedious and in the end I get more accomplished. In the midst of all this work I had my first house guest. I was not thrilled at first because I have a lot of work to do. I say again, A LOT OF WORK TO DO! But I thought it would be fun to receive someone in the state that the house is in and take a much needed break from all the work. For four days I have been running around and doing light projects and meeting other of my new plant lover neighbors and getting connected to that world. Tarpon Springs is a most unusual place as there are people here from all over the country and for that matter from all over the world. The climate and the natural beauty have attracted people here every corner of the US and from Canada, Britain and other parts of Europe.

Bounty from a neighbor

Garage sales occur here like every place but the ensuing conversations that come up when you are done dealing can be funny and friend creating. I have had a few of these situations occur as I was looking to pick up very cheaply things that I already own, but am not in a position to bring down. As is these garage sales are a way to meet your neighbors and begin forming what I hope are some lasting bonds. In the process of these sales I have met some great people as they all seem to know me in advance for the house I purchased is a bit of a landmark.

I guess for this Thanksgiving I am glad that I discovered this community and hope that as the tide of employment returns we all find many things to be grateful. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Gardening!

Two Gardens

2010-11-08T10:32:00.007-05:00

Fall has certainly arrived if not winter. The weather has been cold and the gray that I hate so much now tarnish the skies over my garden. My NJ garden is falling apart rapidly and with the impending move to Florida I have not taken the time to do much work on it except to bring indoor all the potted plants that will perish or that I don't want to be cracked by the cold weather.

There is a little bit of color all around. The hydrangeas are on their last legs but still display marvelous hues of the season. Similarly the Fall Sedum is so covered in flowers that you can barely make out any of the leaves.

Probably the most striking plant in the fall garden is Amsonia hubrichtii pictured below at my friend Carmen's garden. No flowers just gold threads to fall all over. Here she has contrasted it with cobalt blue glass which even intensifies the gold and the cobalt more.

Just 18 hours by car south of my Collingswood garden in Tarpon Springs the gray is entirely different. It can be seen in the sky but as moss hanging from the branches of the Live oaks.

As you can see the skies are rich blue and sunny and the flowers are as brilliant as ever. Everyone here is complaining that the weather is too cold. Yes, there is a cold spell going on, but temperatures are hovering in the sixties! People I have talked to from Nebraska, Michigan and upstate New York said that when they first got here they found temperatures in the 60's warm, now after years in exile they find it cold and stay indoors. For me that is an experience yet to come.
I am still enthralled with the discoveries of so many wonderful and fresh experiences, like hedges of mixed hibiscus plants rather than hedges solid stalwart puritanical privet.

A Clerondendron vine locally called Bleeding heart vine has surfaced on my privacy fence and may make contact with the mango. I am not sure if these two are to meet as I don't want the fence destroyed over time, but for now it looks exotic and strange to me.

Bromeliads are everywhere, they are used as groundcover and as I use liriope up north. People plant them as ground cover and then they bloom! Wow! There are so many different types of inflorescence that defy description. I look forward to working with them. I have many around my garden scattered here and there.

Walking the edge of the bayou is slightly different than walking around Newton Creek in Collingswood. As I mentioned before waters here can mean gators and manatees, but then there are plants you can only dream of like this baby red rooted mangrove getting a foothold along the banks of Spring Bayou.

There are many trade offs that take place leaving the sophistication of northern living and coming to this very laid back relaxed environment where nature is so prevalent and people contemplate creation in a different manner than northerners. For one, I thought that during the previous election Florida was showing good progressive signs away from the days of Terry Schiavo in which Governor Jeb Bush intervened on behalf of Christians and right to life groups to prevent the husband from disconnecting his wife to the machines that kept her alive for 12 years in a vegetative state. Of course there were the hanging chads and if you dig even further back you can find Anita Bryant banging the drum of intolerance. Yes, most of the blue to be seen in the area has certainly disappeared in the current election. Tampa's Hillsborough County is the only blue left along with a few other spots near Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale. While I think of it, back home in Collingswood it is still blue in Camden and Philadelphia Counties in a sea of red just like here.

I left Cuba because of the conditions of intolerance, lack of freedom and opportunity faced by my parents. Regardless how I may feel about all the red around me, this country will recover and the tide will swing in another direction. I will help, as the area has just gained another Democrat. For now, I will concentrate on surviving the best way I know how and in the process enjoy the tropics. Happy gardening!

Henri David Halloween Ball 2010

2010-11-01T10:56:00.014-04:00

In spite of our current economic woes, people refuse to stop enjoying themselves and Halloween is probably the greatest excuse for all of us to escape some of the madness around us. We gathered last night at the Philadelphia Sheraton Grand Ballroom for Henri David's latest extravaganza. Every manner of costume home made or rented was there. Few wore nothing much. Although the extreme costumes of the past seemed fewer, no one could deny the spirit of the crowd for fun and having a great laugh. Even, Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania made his appearance as usual and schmoozed no doubt on some political subject or other. For the rest of us wine, women/men and song seemed to be the order of the night. We danced photographed each other and had a great time. Take a look at some of the evening's costumes and catch all the photographs on my Picasa album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/renelctorres/HenriDavidS2010HalloweenBall#

Henry as the "Great Pumpkin Jack in the Box"

Ghoul Wedding, one of the great costumed ensembles

Still this year's party was topical as usual. We have the infamous plug

A Chilean miner who spoke no English and could fit in the escape pod.

My friend Vori as the Plague of Modern Hotels: "The Bedbug"

Of course there were from elements of the Exotic to the Criminal

Medusae abounded this year. Here is Paul, Henri's significant other as a refined Medussa

Fun was everywhere

The Na'Vi wearing sneakers were there and enthralled with Dracula

This very elegantly neoprene uniformed couple was a hit.

Cave people anyone?

Then of course there is this character who was unique last night.

On a more southern and traditional note Rhett with his Scarlett

On a French note: Marie Antoinette and Louis made a visit

The day started for me at the Unitarian services were most of the congregation appeared in some manner of costume including our Minister who briefly appeared in Papal garb with an incenser! I then proceeded to go to a landscape project where I shopped for plants at a local nursery and installed them to create a small screen at the clients property. Afterwards I walked Limo around Collingswood to see the kids and get his exercise. So you can imagine that by one in the morning I was wiped out. The party continued until the wee hours of the morning. Last year, Daylight saving ended the night of Halloween so we relieved two in the morning over again. This year, Daylight saving is this coming Saturday. By the time I made it home Limo was ecstatic to see me even in my mild masked antennaed look for a final walk at that strange time of the morning.

Next year, even if I am in Tarpon Springs I will return to Philadelphia to be at Henri's next ball. Oh well, Happy Gardening!

Parting glances!

Tarpon Springs here I come!

2010-10-25T09:23:00.011-04:00

Yes, I got! It took some negotiating but this old Florida Bungalow is now mine. I am seven feet above sea level and a block away from the "Grand Canal." Tarpon Springs used to be known as the "Venice of the South." There are historic pictures of rich tourists staying in the grand bayou hotels and floating on Gondolas throughout the bayou and canal system. I haven't seen any recently but maybe I can bring back an old tradition.

I signed the papers a week ago and spent my first night in the house that same day. I was very excited as the weather was glorious, the light was bright and luminous and I could not ask for a more beautiful spot to call home. Limo and I walked around the Spring Bayou (pictured above) that evening after my cousins went home after a brief celebration. It was magical evening with stars and palm trees swaying to the tropical breeze. I can see why James Michener fell in love with the tropics and wrote so many books about its beauty.

Live Oak ( Quercus virginiana ) covered in moss at Spring Bayou Park

Although I was born in Cuba, I have only spent less than a month there in the last 50 years. I have travelled far and wide from Tahiti to Brazil to Mexico in search of the sultry magic that is evoked so readily by the word Tropical and all that is associated with it. I am a tropical creature at heart although I am not sure how I will survive those blistering summers, but for now and the next seven months it will be a bit of paradise that I will cling to as much as I can.

I will share the bayous with all manner of creatures and fish. The Manatees make the bayous their winter home as it stays warmer than other places plus they forage in grasses that carpet the bottom.

Upon arrival in the area I took Limo for a walk in a wonderful park near where I was staying with my cousins in Tampa. I was so focused on so many things that I failed to check out the water. Every now and then there would be objects that resembled floating sticks but I noticed that they would disappear! To my surprise, they were not sticks at all, but Alligators. Baby alligators, measuring not more than a foot and some a little bigger. The parents use the drainage basins as nurseries in which to raise their young. These drainage basins are everywhere! I started getting a little paranoid as to the idea that there would be gators coming out of every body of water around. My cousin assured me that they are very much scared of us and rarely is there an occurrence between the species and that if ever an aggressive one is found they are relocated. Yappy little dogs do seem to disappear in Florida more than in other places. As for Limo, he will be on a short leash on all nature walks!

My new house is all lawn and palm trees. The biggest palm is a Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) that is in front of the house and was once matched by a second to create a matching pair. Unfortunately, something happened to that one, which I saw in historic pictures of the house and which I may try and find a replacement at some point. Aside from the Date there are numerous Mexican Fan Palms (Washingtonia robusta) of varying sizes and which are procreating babies all over the place. The other large plant is a Live Oak that is in the back side yard and of considerable size.

Not having a lawnmower or being in Florida all the time, I hired a landscape contractor to take care of the property until such a time as I reduce the lawn footprint or am there to take care of it myself. I own a lot and a half and it is all lawn. It was nice to see the crew of workers come and quickly take this gem of a property that was a little let go and spruce it up. By the end my neighbor, Maria a renowned chef and owner of several restaurants in town was telling me in Greek how nice it all looked in her broken English. I will have to start learning Greek to make deep in-roads into the community.

Some of the other plantings include a hibiscus hedge along the front porch and range of bromeliads growing in the northern shadow of the house to exotic flowering vines and flowers and a few citrus plants. I have a Tangerine and a Ponderosa lemon that produces fruits the size of grapefruits. I brought a bag of them for my friends to share the bounty of Florida. I don't think anyone around Collingswood, New Jersey has ever seen lemons this size.

But the crowning glory for me is a large Mango tree! Yes, I said a Mango, although it is recovering from the cold burn that it got last winter which was a particularly cold winter and that managed to prune about 2 feet of the canopy of my tree this tree will be the focus on my Florida garden. I love Mangos! To me there is no more refreshing and tasteful fruit. I can't imagine what it will be to have a 20 foot ball tree filled with Mangos. Mangos bloom in January and the fruit is ready by July and August.

Mangos and my front porch swing will all have to wait. I now have to deal with New Jersey and the sale of my house there. Given the economic climate, who knows how or when it will all happen. I may also have a job with the Federal Government that I interviewed for before heading South. If that comes through then that will complicate my Florida future until such a time as I can transfer or? For now I am Tarpon Springs dreaming... Happy Gardening.

10-10-2010

2010-10-10T14:06:00.005-04:00

Happy Fall, as a matter of fact Happy 10-10-2010. I have received various emails from friends being hopeful about the Feng Shui implications of a month with so many similar numbers and containing 5 Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They claim it happens once in 823 years. I don't know how many times anyone has tracked it before, but for as far as I am concerned, I will take all the luck and good fortune that can come my way.

The garden is closing down for the year and I am not ready. I have kept quiet for a while as I have negotiated the property in Tarpon Springs and all it has involved to get to this point. I am leaving to go down to Florida for final inspections and if all goes according to plans, to sign the ownership papers.

At the same time, fate or luck has a funny sense of humor. I am interviewing for a federal government job which of course will complicate matters as far as Florida is concerned, but I don't have a house or a job yet and we shall see what happens with either one. I don't know if I am becoming a Buddhist in attitude, but very little fazes me anymore. I am not sure what switch has gone off in me to have made such a change in attitude as I have been very A-type in the past. So be it, I suppose knowledge or attitude has to come to you in a lifetime and I am glad if it has finally arrived.

It is funny how there seems to be some balancing act in the Cosmos. I have felt abused by taxes in New Jersey and found this wonderful property in Florida with negligible taxes that seemed perfect. What nobody told me and I never considered was the property insurance angle in Florida. Well, guess what? That's is were they are screwing you in Florida! I guess with Katrina and all the other hurricanes that forced insurance companies to pay out in the greater gulf region, the insurance companies have taken retribution to refill their coffers by insuring properties at 5 to six times (totaling more than my NJ Taxes) their non Hurricane inclined states. I guess that only seems fair if you are an insurance company although I am not sure if you are the insured. The only salvation, if you can say that, is that you can't avoid paying your taxes or they will sell your house from under you, you can, however, not insure your house if you own it outright.

I was watching a movie the other day that showed people arriving at an airport elegantly dressed for their travel adventure. The airport lounge was beautiful. The staff greeted you politely and put away your carry-ons. Then, they offered you a menu from which to choose from various sumptuous sounding dishes. Eventually, the food arrived on china with silverware (this was coach) and everyone had fun. My first trip to Europe was on TWA and I received similar sounding service. I flew from LA to London for $395.00 round trip. Today that trip probably costs twice or three times that, they cram you into a seat you can barely fit, they charge for everything from reservations to carry-ons to some who want to charge for bathroom use. De-Regulation! Banks, Insurance, Airlines, be careful what politicians propose next. Both parties seem keen on proposing extremes to get people to vote for them...

On a different note, my boy Limo will be 5 months on Tuesday. He is a joy of excitement and curiosity. He is growing by leaps and bounds. He now weighs 37 pounds. I am not sure where he is headed as I never met his Father, but his Mother was on the petite side of things. He is totally house broken and has his routines down more than less. He is a font of energy that sometimes drives me crazy, but what can you expect with a five-month pup? He travels well and I am sure he looks forward to his return trip to Florida. Wish me luck. Happy Gardening!

A Tale of Two Landscapes

2010-09-29T12:37:00.012-04:00

Woods at Pearson's Falls

The return trip from Tarpon Springs is long so I made a stop at my friends in Tryon, North Carolina where I spent the blizzard last Christmas. They wanted to meet Limo while he was a pup and this made it a nice break in the drive and a time to catch up with old friends.

The Carolina's are wooded places with wondrous wildflowers. Not far from Tryon is a very special place called Pearson's Falls. It is run by the Tryon Garden Club and is located in Saluda (yet another town). The people who run this place are a bit snooty and they give you a nice brochure when you pay your admission and a yellow paper with all the things you can't do printed for your pleasure. Stay on path, watch your step, no wading, no pets (sorry Limo), no trash, no diapers ( in case you decide to change yours!) and on an on with a $50.00 fine if you break any of these commandments.

I suspect they have reasons for fear, but of course the things you can't do have nothing to do with the impending doom to this area. Pearson's Falls is a Smithsonian Institute Archive Garden. In it are located over two hundred species of native plants in a ravine that is maybe a block or two wide and possibly a mile long. A very special place it is

Cardinal Flower along stream bank

You meander up a stream path and see a lot of garden plants in their original species variety and habitat. That is to say no cultivars. Only the real McCoys. It was fairly moist and at least ten degrees cooler in the ravine than in the neighboring exposed countryside. Ferns, walls of ferns where trickling rivulets flowed covered some of the ravine.

Native impatiens. Nothing like the tropical one we grow in our gardens.

The walk meandered on both sides of the stream exposing us to a variety of plant material and flowers. This was late in the season and it was surprising how much was still in bloom. My camera was confused and could not focus in the shade so I lost a lot of the shade loving flowers. Regardless, here are more of these great wildflowers.

Native Hydrangea less fussy than the garden variety but very elegant

There were unique flowers that you could only guess at and no labels or plant list to help you out.

A great many varieties of delicate maidenhair ferns

Eventually you made it to the falls and got to see what whole hoopla was all about. In reality the falls are nice enough, but for me the place was more exciting and certainly the plants provided an education in habitat and original species.

Road is kept clear with chemicals Kudzu is above and below road

Leaving the Pearson Falls we took another road. It provided a fascinating look at what happens when we don't do our homework: Kudzu. I have never seen it this up close and on the attack. I have seen the odd clump near home but because we have a colder climate it does not have enough time to regenerate. The Carolinas are not so lucky. Their summer is longer and as the birds keep eating the seeds and crapping them everywhere, Kudzu is omnipresent!

Up close the vine is like any other. It has a nice flower and fragrance. It was introduced from Asia in the Southern States for slope stabilization in the late 1800. Well, it has stabilized the slopes and apparently it is doing so adding about 150,000 acres a year ( if you can believe Wikipedia ) and a patch was discovered in southern Ontario, Canada. All I can tell you is that it is everywhere in the Carolinas. They spray it with herbicides and kills the leaves, but the crowns remain intact to grow again. I was told that in some places they let goats on it who eat it all up, crowns and all. Although I wonder how many goats it would take to control a plant that is spreading by 150,000 acres a year?

Sea of Kudzu

These two landscapes are not compatible. Maybe Obama's strategists should attack Kudzu on a head on assault and put those Obama bucks to work and give people jobs clearing up this mess. With what must be millions of acres around this country and the apparent anti-foreigner sentiment in the land, we may want to attack this truly menacing Asian invader. I suspect we will need Mexicans to do this work too because it will be grueling work and as Americans have certainly not done it so far. There is enough Kudzu to be removed, and if it isn't, little Pearson's Falls just over the hill, may not be a Smithsonian Garden Archive for too much longer! Happy Gardening.

Tarpon Springs

2010-09-14T18:31:00.017-04:00

Prospective new residence in Tarpon Springs

After much debate I have come to Tarpon Springs, Florida to look at a house. As much as I can stay in my beautiful house and garden, the cost of living of New Jersey just no longer makes sense. I feel sad in this admission because, I have dear friends that I will miss. I have established myself as a professional in the area and the work and projects I have done are here. I am also part of a caring religious community with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill. It is also sad because I love my house and garden. But I have left places before. The moment seems ripe for Florida.

My unemployment situation has not changed and being 59 I am beginning to feel that what worked before needs to be abandoned and something new created. Nevertheless, the continued economic crisis seems to be affecting us all except for the greed of some politicians who continue to raise property taxes where they are the already the highest in the country in spite of new caps to control it or the necessities created by this economic crisis. At $7500.00 property per year for a small house in a normal town, I give up! I can't keep up no matter how wonderful my life has been there.

Some of the neighborhood

Old Sponge Warehouse (now artist housing)

For sometime I have watched a house that was listed for sale in a community called Tarpon Springs. Located twenty some miles north west of Tampa on the Gulf coast. Tarpon Springs was incorporated in the late 1880s by Greek immigrants who founded a community fishing and diving for sponges. The community has a wonderful foreign flavor and the language heard around town is Greek even though it is here on our shores. As Florida seems filled to capacity with Cubans it is nice to find a place where another minority is the majority. The town is located along a series of bayous along the Anclote River. Fishing boats line Dodecanese Boulevard filled with the latest catch of sponges and varieties of fish. The sun is powerful and the bright skies are "Galanolefci," blue and white like the Greek Flag.

Neighboring bayou

I have watched this house because it was built the same year mine was in 1924 and in some ways it reminds me of my house although this one has a wonderful palm and a tropical hibiscus hedge by the front porch instead of the rhododendrons and other temperate plantings of mine. The house although in the same style is bigger and the taxes are but a fraction: $615.00.

Of course this comes with strings. This wonderful house is in need of lots of work. Work that I performed on my current house when I was younger. Work that I thought that I would not need to do again, but with the current employment situation maybe this is work that is best undertaken again to regain purpose, restore a lovely house in a beautiful neighborhood and become part of a thriving cultural community. If this sounds too pie in the sky believe, me it is not. There are wonderful places around this entire country where people are picking up and doing the same.

Limo with my cousin

Limo has been enjoying all the attention he has been getting from my family. I have cousins nearby whom I visited last year when I first considered this option. Now spending time with them again I feel a sense of family that I lost living alone in California so many years ago with my parents.

We have been to a wonderful doggie beach on Honeymoon Island where all the locals bring their pooches with all kinds of doggie life vests and other floating devices. It was a hoot seeing dogs swim openly and see people interact with their animals.

I know I should not have encouraged this but he was having so much fun...

Doggie, Honeymoon Beach at Sunset

Strapped to go on the road again, he has gotten his car legs and no longer gets sick.

We are starting our trip back tomorrow. My offer was not accepted, but it is on the table as they say. We shall see what we shall see and with any luck I will start a tropical garden this winter. Happy Gardening.

PS An email announcing new members to my UUCCH community focusing on me was just sent. Many know of the troubles I have had finding work and hopefully will not be surprised by my announcement. I am saddened, as I said, by the actions I have been forced to take. I know, I am not the only one doing this exodus from high tax states as it was a feature on the PBS news hour yesterday describing people leaving California, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for their high taxes. It is a sad day when you have to leave your home because the taxes are consuming what income or pension you have.