"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 36 (But First The Birds Survive Hurricane Sandy)

Today, October the Thirtieth, or rather the eve of today, is what is known as Corn Night or Mischief Night, and according to Holiday Insights, “Mischief Night appears to have roots in England back to the nineteenth century.” It occurs the night before Halloween and typical acts on this day include, “soaping windows, egging houses [as well as] cars, tossing a few rotten tomatoes, toilet papering house trees et ceteras, (and) knocking on doors, then running away.

I never really understood honoring mischief, but even if I did, New York City, where I live, has already endured enough “mischief” through the perils of Hurricane Sandy, which slammed us (and our surrounding areas) yesterday, which is why I did not post here on Blogger, which is normally what I do on Mondays.

Sandy wreaked havoc, which has resulted in (among other catastrophes) power outages, including damage to a back-up generator at a prestigious New York City hospital, causing them to have to relocate all their patients by ambulance to other hospitals!

WEDNESDAY'S WISDOM: Is there really "Much Virtue in Herbs [and] Little in Men"?

The photograph above today's blog entry was recently posted on The Last Leaf Gardener's 'Facebook (FB) Page, and I am including it with today's post for my readers who "don't do Facebook" as this image relates to today's content (however I said something else about it on FB).

This picture shows bundles of some of the herbs (which I grow in my urban — NYC — terrace garden) hanging out to dry, before I grind them and put them into jars to give to those near and dear to me for the holidays.

I grow an array of herbs in containers placed throughout my garden, and, I confess, that their scent appeals to me, as well as the classy way in which they appear in their "terra-cotta homes" as evidenced by this photograph of one of my types of Rosmarinus officinalis AKA Rosemary pictured below.

This fact often makes it difficult to cut them, much less harvest or grind them for "fresh herb" culinary purposes! However, I concede that, just as humans have to trim their fingernails and toenails as well as cut their hair, herbs, too need to be clipped and pruned. Usually, the delight that my fresh herbs bring to my friends and colleagues is worth the discomfort that I have in relation to cutting them. If I give folks fresh herbs, I package them in attractive clear bags and then put unique labels on them.

This Season's Charming Lavandula angustifolia

Perhaps, you recall, dear reader, that over three weeks ago (May 14th 2011), I posted an entry titled "I've NEVER seen a billboard lovely as a tree . .  " (which you may refer to by clicking here).

You may also recall that an antique sign bearing the word "SODAS", was the subject of that post, and was an item that used to be placed where I now have Lavandula angustifolia, growing in a window box placed inside an old fireplace fixture that has been located in almost every area of my terrace garden over the years.

Monday Morning Musings #1: Challenging the adage "bad things happen in threes"

My Ajuga plant (seen in the photograph posted above) located in the northwest corner of my urban terrace garden has just given birth to triplets bearing a spectacular color somewhere in between purple and blue, a color that puts RGB charts to shame.

From the looks of things, my Ajuga will be giving birth again soon, but I wanted to capture her first three arrivals of the season, and to challenge the statement that bad things happen in threes, both with the subjects of the photograph posted above, and with all the subsequent ones in today's blog entry.

Exhibit "A", my Basil Triplets (pictured below), which I had in my terrace garden in 2007; not only did they provide a nice scent to my outdoor haven, but they were an asset to my Blue Coat Gin and Q Tonic cocktails infused with Basil. 

Moreover, they looked great in a container created from an abandoned fireplace accessory, and, most importantly, they provided somewhat of a "hedge", giving me some privacy from my neighbors who live to the west of me, and who have put up white aluminum siding over their exterior brick wall; I guess they missed the suburbs.

In any event the "hedge"that this trio of basils provided, inspired last season's "hedge" created by a Passiflora (Passion Vine), seen in full force in the photograph below:

Exhibit "B", is actually my first "hedge", created when I first began gardening towards the end of the 1990's. 

It was a" hedge" that consisted of three wooden window boxes (sitting on top of bamboo shelving) that I filled with different annuals as the season dictated.

This "hedge" was built out of a necessity to provide privacy from a neighbor, whose bathroom window is just to the left of the gutter in the photograph posted above, and who insisted on exposing himself whenever I had guests in the garden. I was a "baby"gardener then, and, therefore, into the instant gratification annuals bring, instead of appreciating the joy in "watching grass grow', as I do now, which is a concept I discussed this past April which you can read by clicking here.

And speaking of grass, I give you Exhibit "C", in this case of mine designed to prove that things that happen in three are not necessarily bad, as seen here in the photographs below of my Ophipogon planiscapus (Black Mondo Grass) triplets,which looked lovely in my abandoned fireplace accessory (prior to moving out to give way to the Passiflora),

but, look even more spectacular in their other location on the opposite side of my terrace garden, where they are supported by a copper wire that's been tied lovingly around their containers to secure them to the railing that surrounds my terrace garden, and where they have been thriving under my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida (Kiwi Vines), as seen in the selection of photographs posted below, which are a close-up as well as a long shot of my Ophipogon planiscapus taken a few days ago and this past fall respectively.

Exhibit "D" in my case to dispel the-bad-things-happen-in-threes adage are these Echinacea Triplets posted below, that I grew a few years ago when I replaced my "window box hedge" of annuals with the fun-looking Echinacea triplets, that would become an inspiration for a petite wrap around greeting card* that I created.

Exhibit "E" features the triplets known as Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary), seen below,

the herb of remembrance, as well as the herb which represents friendship (as you may recall from a previous blog post which may reread by clicking here), and the herb that looks great in color, and black and white (due to its unique texture) as seen below.

Exhibit "F" (below) features Japanese Painted Fern triplets, who resided in my terrace garden a few years ago.

And lastly, but not least, in my challenging the adage, Bad things happen is threes, I offer you Exhibit G, as in G for girls, and in this case, the girls being my sisters and me seen in the photograph below with our grandfather,

who clearly did not seem to believe that bad things happened in threes, and who, as you may recall is where I most likely received my inclination to garden (as I indicated in one of my first blog entries, which you may refer to by clicking here).

And with that, dear reader, I rest my case in my challenge of the adage bad things happen in threes.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

MY BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally,  I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.