catching up

We are busy as bees working in the yard and tending the garden, which is doing very well despite numerous snails and slugs. We have been sprinkling the sluggo around and it disappears quickly. The other day we suspected the birds might be eating it... yipe. Besides slugs another groundhog is on the loose. We have not yet captured him/her but will post it when we do. A deer came by the other morning to eat apples from our tree that fell on the ground. Alden did not seem that interested at the time but later talked about it all day.

Alden has finally taken up the harmonica. I know this is a 'careful what you wish for' but I have been trying to get him into it for several months. He is the type of chap that really enjoys watching others do things and is a bit shy about trying new things himself. It was nice to see him finally take to it.
We also have a chipmunk living in the hollow of our apple tree. Alden and I saw him the other day and we were both delighted. Alden promptly dropped about a dozen apples in the hole for the critter to eat. Hilarious.
I took Alden to visit Grandpa Scott for the day when I went for a conference in New Hampshire last week. They had a good time looking at the chickens and driving the tractor. Alden figured out the scoop control lever and the steering wheel this time around. Clever lad.
Ilana, Karen and Barbara all got together and got Alden a riding lawn mower for Father's day.

Deer trouble

Variations 3

Artdogs exhibit Variations III (June 18 - July 14). Featured artists, Karen Adrienne, Nancy Barron, John Carnes, Kerstin Gilg, Karen Klitgaard, and Scott Minzy. Opening reception was held on Sunday June 20 from 4 - 6 PM. The exhibit investigates the ways in which six artists viewed and responded to separate objects that were selected and then exchanged.

Object 1- the history book (on the left)

Object 2- The brass star lantern

Object 3- vintage binoculars (on the left)

Object 4- wire cage with five balls in it (right)

Object 5- A Cripple tag (right)
Object 6- vintage box of Atlas tacks (left)

Got him!

Not to sound crazy, but I think this is the groundhog I saw when we got back from Arizona. He/she looks like the one.

Fortunately we got him before he could get to our garden.
He was taken to Peacock Beach as is the custom.

Beth Eisen

We lost our dear friend Beth on Sunday, May 31st. She lost a battle with cancer that began almost a year ago to the day. Beth was an extremely gifted person -- a gifted artist, writer, knitter, community organizer and developer, the list goes on and on. But she was also a prolific gifter, a testiment to her tremendous generosity of spirit and thoughtfulness. After her death, I walked in stunned silence through our house and found her presence everywhere I looked -- on our bookshelf, in the kitchen, in my cookbooks, my closet and even the little toys that Kerstin placed on the door frames and sills of our home. Beth often gave us little gifts when we'd get together, always lovingly presented with the I-saw-this-the-other-day-and-thought-of-you sentiment. It amazes me to this day how much she thought and cared about others. But there was one gift that stood out among the others. Three years ago, after we closed on our home, Beth appeared on Karen's doorstep with a brown paper bag.
"Potatoes for your new garden!" she proclaimed.
They were beautiful and smooth, all blue and gold, fresh from the Fedco Sale.
"I don't know what varieties they are," Beth went on to say "but I saw them and I thought you guys would enjoy them."
So we planted them in our new garden and watched them grow large and deep green, then dug up bushel after bushel of warm spuds in the late summer. These potatoes have fed our family for the past three years, as we've been reserving a few and re-planting them in the spring. Last year, they blackened and wilted under the scourge of the late blight outbreak and we decided to eat our entire harvest and plant new varieties this year to break the cycle of the oomycete pest. This spring, we tilled as normal, hilled our rows, set down row covers and weed blocks and planted peppers and beans in that area of the garden. Last Saturday, the day before Beth passed away, I was rooting around in the garden when I came across a large bulge under the row cover next to one of the newly-transplanted peppers. I unpinned the cover and found a beautiful, perfectly-formed blue potato sprout, emerging green and purple, graceful and defiant. Somehow this potato survived the blight, the winter, the rototiller and the hoe. This was Beth's potato, her generosity and spirit endured every hardship.

We transplanted Beth's potato to it's own private plot in a little corner of our yard. We will let it grow this year into next, for as long as it will in the years to come.

They're back

Yep, when we got back from Bisbee I saw this little chappy in the back yard. Fortunately the garden was not disturbed.

Lots More Bisbee Pictures

Reuniting with Ben in the rental car lot.
Sleeping on the way to the big surprise.
The moment of revelation! I love this shot.
Mom and Uncle Rob.
Levin's first taste of watermelon.
This looks like some kind of bottled water ad. What a ham!
The boys are checking on their new lizard friend hanging out by the observation tower at the top of the mountain.
Shopping cart fun with Auntie Kay.
Dinnertime at Casa de Cobre.
Sasha, Aaron and Liz's dog, accompanied us on many of our outings.
The Bisbee aesthetic was definitely bohemian and funky. There were a lot of galleries and homes filled with sculptures made from found objects and old trash from back when the miners ran the town. It was a great place for exploration. We spent several hours just roaming around town and I feel that we only just scratched the surface.
The steps are the most famous Bisbee feature. There are over 1000 of them nestled in the narrow passages between the houses on the hillsides and they can run from dozens of feet to hundreds of yards. For some homes, they are the only point of access (i.e. no adjacent road to speak of). This prompted a spirited discussion about parking logistics and how one would go about moving furniture. Aaron, Ben, Mom and I went for a jog on our first morning through a good portion of the Bisbee 1000 Great Stair Climb race course. It was brutal. Mom dropped out after the first 200 foot climb, although to be fair, she was a bit under the weather that day. At a 6,000 feet, I was really feeling the elevation too and I ended up walking a good portion of the steps.
Some of the stairs literally lead nowhere -- like this one that we decided to explore and ended up in the sage bushes above the town. We managed to bushwhack our way back to a road eventually.
The ocotillos were in bloom. Absolutely lovely.
Panorama of downtown.
Enjoying the chiminea on the deck with Ben's homemade margaritas after a day of hiking.

At Cafe Roka, they serve a four course meal, with a palette-cleansing lemon sorbet as the third course before the main dish. Alden, who is a huge fan of ice cream, was really excited about this whole ice-cream-before-the-meal concept, but the sorbet was a little more sour than he expected, causing this fleeting grimace (seen above) after each eager spoonful. He kept going back for more though, and was completely determined to like and to finish the sorbet dammit. The whole episode was thoroughly entertaining for the rest of us.
Bonding with Favorite Cousin Ali.
Hiking up a road to a trail head somewhere in the Huachucas. The park rangers closed the road about 4 miles before the trail head itself, and made it about 2 or 3 miles up the road before the babies started to melt and had to head back down. The rangers opened up the road when we got within 500 yards of our car and muttered a rather sheepish apology for getting confused and closing the wrong road. How lame! We still enjoyed the hike and the views from the road overlooking Sierra Vista in the valley below.



The architecture in downtown Bisbee was very deco and hip. You really could get a sense for how much of a destination this place must have been in the 1920s. I liked the plaque that accompanied the copper man -- a statue which all the locals called Iron Man for some mysterious reason.


Levin, our nephew, learning to crawl and looking downright adorable.