Flooded and Muddy

Roofscape's garden in Boston's Fenway has been flooded since Hurricane Irene struck coastal New England a glancing blow in late August.

... Work in progress.

December 14, 2011

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Thought for the day ...
Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of this liberty - his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.
... Aldous Huxley.

Image ... Geese over the Muddy River.

July 21, 2010

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Edward Hopper once said ... All I really wanted to do was to paint the shadows on the side of a building. Now this is recalled from memory and I'm probably paraphrasing, but the sense and the sentiment have stuck accurately in my mind all these years. And it's a statement I completely understand.

That's Frederika, my wonderful garden partner, with her parents when they visited from Germany last year. She's being all shy as usual.



Freddie or Fred, as we call her, is from Berlin and currently a post doc at Harvard doing genetics research. She's been taking care of the garden while my bike's been in the shop. Here's her recent report.

all the plants say hello to you - they are really well watered now, i was just there.

'****The crisis is just too stupid to say. I'm an utter moron. I paid for it and made everyone sign a cast-iron non-disclosure. No one will ever know.****

... SO? now i am REALLY INTERESTED !!

and i seemed to be right, your bike actually is an UFO now (and a pretty cheap one)!

I picked my first large tomato today - i'm totally excited how it turns out.

I also picked some of the basil, because it started to flower and i was afraid that it otherwise stops to grow too soon.

and i picked few leaves of your kale/cabbage - they are really massiv and these leaves treatened to turned bad soon, so i picked them. however, i think it is not even noticable that i picked these leaves... you should definitely take a huge bag with you next time you visit the garden!

and your lettuce is about to flower - however, it really looks beautiful the way they grow there!

when i watered them, on of the lettuces however was bent, so i decided to take it home - i hope that's okay (i can make sure we get new lettuce plant, if you like)

I also watered the little piece next to the fence in the small garden, however, this part doesn't seem to do so well... maybe it is also too late in the year for this part? well, few things are still growing, so what.

SO, summing up: the garden is wonderful, everything grows like crazy and it's a paradise!!.

Translation of comment (below) ... Love is a great teacher, teaches us to turn over a new leaf. Courtesy of WorldLingo. This is the first comment from China that's made the least bit of sense. Just learned that Google now offers translation and here's how it rendered ... Love is a great teacher, taught us rehabilitated. Ouch! It also detected the language automatically.

Cleaning the back porch, deck and railings on hands and knees with a sponge and bucket - scrubbing. Sweat pouring off me. Cat keeping me company. Cicadas singing loudly. A walk of a few blocks in the noon heat and sun exhausting.

Working on the Calabi-Yau article again, studying string theory.

Made a zucchini puttanesca with with what was on hand.

Quote of the Day
Thinking is one thing no one has ever been able to tax.
Charles Kettering

Image ... Shadows on the Side of a Building. The Fenway, Boston.

July 19, 2010

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A view looking up the Muddy River from the Richardson Bridge, Boylston Street. The Fenway Victory Gardens are off to the right, Mother's Rest is on the left. The building beyond the bend in the river (top left) is the fire department's alarm headquarters.

Song stuck in my head ... that would still be Fire in Cairo by The Cure.

A project for Kelly's Underground Dog Grooming today. Breakfast at Charlie's. Stopped by Community on way back to check on progress of bike. Yes, finally progress, over $250 worth of it in fact. Shocked but not surprised. I did say something very bad when I got the news though, it's true. This bike, a classic Schwinn Collegiate from the 70's (according to Tommy Long, bike collector and drummer for the Dogmatics), is a labor of love and insanity (the two being the same). I could have bought a brace of Bianchis with the bucks that I've shelled out for this baby. But it is the best bike that I've owned. It just has some issues. Like it wants to bankrupt me. And of course a Bianchi would have disappeared long ago.

Charles emailed from Costa Rica. They're off to look for jaguars in the jungle. Freddy checked in from the garden. She's holding things down while I'm bike-less and dealing with domestic disturbances. The cicadas and crows are chorusing together with the wind chimes - bamboo, metal, shells - for a backup trio.

Finished the first Number Detective installment. I have no idea if kids, or anyone, will dig it. Anyway, it was fun to image and write. Who knew that there were happy and unhappy (also called sad) numbers? Moreover, that's a concept I totally get, although like much of math it's really very mysterious. But we've got the Number Detective to help us out now. Next up is 17, one of my faves, the least-random random number.

Quote of the Day
If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.
Katharine Hepburn

Image ... Muddy River, Boston.

March 25, 2010

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Greeted at the garden by four hawks soaring together, a sight I've never seen, two couples circling one thermal. Maybe they were double dating, but there were none of those entwined daredevil courtship dives which precede mating.

Roofscape's garden was flooded, about half the beds were under water and all the paths turned into treacherous quagmires. I didn't have my camera with me, but the photo above shows a typical spring high water mark along the banks of the aptly named Muddy River. This might have been the year that, sitting high and dry on the small island surrounding the sunroom, I saw a muskrat swim through the garden.

Image ... Late spring flood in the Roofscape garden. The Fens, Boston.