Coastlines

Coastlines: Images of Land and Sea is the latest exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art and how apropos. BP's deep sea disaster is still befouling the Gulf, the President is scooping up tar balls on the beach in Louisiana, and all of us are wondering whether we need to cancel our summer sojourns to the sea shore. According to news reports, the British Petroleum people are "disappointed" that their latest efforts to stem the flow of oil have failed. Aren't we all? Especially if in the future we can only remember the beauty of our coast line at a museum.

May Flowers

Back at the bloomin' beautiful Dallas Arboretum on a morning when the weather guy predicts that the temperature will rise into the 90s. Well, to quote one of big D's more famous residents, "Bring it on!" (We know there are misters in the fern gardens.)

These hydrangeas are my current favorites.

Of course, the oak leaf hydrangea has always been a favorite. OK. I admit it. If you are a hydrangea, I love you.

Since our last visit, the gardeners have replaced the daffodils and tulips with annuals, such as ageratum and salvia (the blues) and other colorful stuff. Do they uproot all those spent bulbs and save them to plant in the fall or do they simply dig and discard?

We bid you adieu after having seen the results of April's showers, but we shall return. We have a membership.

Quite Contrary

You're looking at my current garden. I know. It's a breathtaking sight, and you wonder how I manage to tend so many plants without complaining about aching muscles, dirt-spoiled manicures, and ugly calluses on my palms. Why, just pulling the weeds alone .......

Meandering back through time finds us in a garden that required a wee bit more tending, but its produce was a little more nourishing than basil and thyme. I'm not even sure I knew what basil was at that leg of the journey.

Further down the road and still digging in the dirt. Obviously it's the fourth of July, and that corn is not as high as an elephant's eye. If you have the space, you should try to grow the maize plant. There are some requirements but I forget what they are - something about so many rows or some such. Google it. That's what the Internet is for. Hard to imagine, but there is some information you just can't find in blogs. Very little, I'll admit, but I digress - you've never tasted corn, no matter how fresh you think it is, until you've harvested it from your own garden and eaten it right away. In fact, eat it right in the garden. Raw. So sweet. Class dismissed.

The gardens in the last Eden just about killed us. That's what happens when there's too much land and you've never met a flower you didn't like. So while I'm on this sabbatical, I'm content with my window herb garden and the geranium on the porch.

Bar Talk

My niece (I only have one) recently posted on FB the oft-repeated live-in-the-moment suggestion. Hard to argue the point because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow has not yet arrived. Oh my. Have you noticed that it is mostly the elders who remember when, and the youngers who can't wait for what comes next? Of course, the explanation is that once you reach middle-age, you're at least halfway down the road, and the journey is not getting any easier even though people say "it's all downhill."

At any rate, I'm all for today being the best day ever, and if there's a glass of wine at the end of it - that's good too. Cheers.

Beautiful .... Like a Rainbow

Must I repeat yet again .... it's Texas, people. You know. Where everything is bigger. Where the rainbow sprawls across the whole wide gol' dang sky like some ephemeral, ethereal hoochie mama, and one needs a wide angle lens to capture it all. And yes. Yes, that is my finger covering the lens. You take what you can get with the iPhone.

Here's hoping they see the rainbow on the Gulf Coast too.....