Back in Collingswood

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

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.

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

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

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 or gossip papers of the time 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(a common practice of the day was to fill and empty the pool after use).

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 located in 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 photo 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.

Limo accompanied me and I was careful to make sure he did not relieve himself anywhere

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

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!