Throwback Thurs.: January 17th 1863 + 1706

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING POST WAS WRITTEN AND SCHEDULED FOR THIS PUBLICATION TIME BEFORE I LEARNED MARY OLIVER HAD DIED TODAY.  OUT OF RESPECT TO HER, I ALMOST CANCELED THIS ENTRY BUT THAT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT EITHER. SO HERE IT IS:

I don't want this day to pass without giving a shout out to Konstantin (sometimes spelled Constantin) Stanislavski who was born on January 17th in 1863. I became "acquainted" with him during the 1980's when I was studying acting. Many quotes are attributed to him, but the one featured in the web-image directly above is a favorite of mine.

And I also want to give a shout out to Benjamin Franklin who I have written about in prior entries here on Blogger.

Franklin was born on this day in 1706 and like my appreciation for Konstantin's re a quote;  I have an appreciation for a quotation which is associated with Franklin: “Love thy neighbor — but don't pull down your hedge." 

Here's Tuesday's Truths WK 66: Facts re Benjamin Franklin and Turkeys

Hello and welcome to the sixth-fourth week of my Tuesday's Truths series, which is being posted on the Tuesday of  the week before Thanksgiving, a day when many Americans, unlike yours truly, who is a vegetarian (ninety-five percent of the time), will eat turkey. I happen to find it foul to eat fowl, and cannot eat turkey, but I can talk turkey about the myth that Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of The United States instead of the bald eagle being our avian rep.

Climbing Roses Create Another Urban Hedge!

The image atop this entry of my white climbing roses, is very similar to one I included in an FB entry for my author page, as well as in my post here on Blogger, this past Saturday.

As I indicated in both of the aforementioned cyber-venues, these rose are in a box-style container and trail up a trellis which has been attached to the railing that surrounds my rooftop garden. They are in between my Avellana corylus AKA Contorted Hazelnut (which is to their left) and my Continus Coggygria AKA Smoke Bush (which to their right). It was the intent of Juan V and I to create an urban hedge to give me some privacy in my garden.

In bygone years I wrote a series of posts for hometalk which discussed various ways to construct urban hedges; and I thought my urban and non-urban dwelling friends who have and/or appreciate gardens, might enjoy reading this series.* For as you know, Benjamin Franklin once said, "Love thy neighbor — but don't pull down your hedge. " 

*LINKS to my Urban Hedge series:
Part One:
SHELVING
Part Two:
BAMBOO TRELLIS
Part Three-A:
KIWI VINES
Part Three-B:
KIWI VINES

March the 26th

The poet, Robert Frost, was born on this day of March 26th in the year 1874, which would make him 133 years old if he were alive today. The photograph atop today's entry is of him on his eighty-fifth birthday (according to Wiki where this image is from) in 1959. He died four years later. When I think of Robert Frost, I recall his quotation, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

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.

"Love thy neighbor — but don't pull down your hedge. " (Benjamin Franklin)

The folks who live in an apartment two buildings west of me have an outdoor terrace that faces north just as mine does. 

Admittedly, their west view of the aluminum siding that has been placed over their brick wall is not appealing, and their northern view would be the entrance to and from their apartment to their terrace, but must they pull up a chair and sit there facing me in my terrace garden which is their eastern view?