Easter Season Decor Ends (for the year) in the Indoor Succulent Garden

This past Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost, which ends the Easter Season, and, even though the Easter Season is a fifty day celebration, I am already feeling a bit unfulfilled —  despite my participation in the intense Easter observances as well as the preparation for them during Lent. 

Therefore, I was consoled to read the following comment by the blogger, Emily L. Hauser who is referring to her experience with her 2011 Passover celebrations.

Hauser writes, "It really does seem that every year, Passover goes by faster. One minute I'm hyperventilating over the inhumane amount of cleaning, the next minute I'm saying 'what, it's over?' But here we are. Tonight is the start of the second holiday, the one that closes the week, and boom — its back to bread." I realize that Passover 2011 ended quite some time ago, and that for Ms. Hauser the festival of Shavuot (which is symbolically and historically related to Pentecost) was last week, but it is aways comforting to be reminded of the fact that my emotions are hardly unique to me, and that, in fact quite often, they transcend cultures and belief systems.  

Additionally, as this Easter Season comes to a close, I am also reminded that it is probably time to remove the Easter decorations that are interspersed with my indoor garden of succulents which grow  (under a special lighting system using cold/hot bulbs) in containers that have been lovingly and strategically placed on top of humidity trays (that are laden with pebbles), which are resting on a space 

I've created for an indoor garden on top of my kitchen armoire. (Please see this past blog entry for details.) You may recall, dear reader, that I initially created this indoor garden during wintertime (a few years ago) to have a home for some of my plants that would not withstand winter temperatures and conditions. (Yes, this does happen with my outdoor plants — on rare occasions —  in spite of my attentive winterizing methods — methods that I have described in a previous blog post which can be found by clicking here.

In any event, indoor gardens are quite nice to have — even if you do have the space for an outdoor garden. You may recall that in an earlier blog entry I wrote about a neighborhood indoor garden, a garden that is a celebration of the textures of succulents; and if you'd like to reread it, you may refer to by clicking here.

As for my "armoire-top" garden, it now contains a variety of succulents found at the Greenmarket at Union Square in New York City. 

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.

My Freckle Faced Strawberries: This Season's Late Bloomer

It is said that strawberries are the first fruits to ripen in the spring, but apparently the strawberry plants which I have in my urban terrace garden, are not paying attention to the calendar, as they are only now beginning to produce fruit, and today is already June 7th 2011, thus bringing the first week of June to a close! It looks like it will be a while before I am able to indulge in strawberries and cream (as far as these guys are concerned), but, if truth be told, I think they are too cute to cut from their stems. 

Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside, prompting the name, Freckle Face Strawberry, which was given to a powered beverage (made by Pillsbury) in the 1960's and the 1970's, and a screen shot of its packaging can be seen in the image posted below:

Initially, Freckle Face Strawberry shared the "super-market-shelf-spot-light" with Goofy Grape,  Loud Mouth Lime and Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry as well as Chinese Cherry and Injun Orange

EIEIO! World Environment Day Eve and Danielle Rosa Making a Difference

Tomorrow, June 5th, is World Environment Day (WED), and, according to Wikipedia, it is a day which, since 1973, has offered a mission that "stimulates awareness of the environment, and enhances political action", taking on different themes in a given year, and giving different countries the opportunity to be the host. For example, in 2009, the theme was Your Planet Needs You — UNite to Combat Climate Change, with Mexico serving as the host, and, in 2008, the theme was CO2, Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy, with New Zealand hosting, and, in 2007, the topic was Melting Ice — a Hot Topic, which was hosted in Norway. For a list of themes and host countries, going back to 1974, dear reader, please, refer to the Wikipedia link mentioned earlier in this post.

I have chosen to mention WED in today's blog entry because folks who refer to blogs that discuss gardening, such as mine, often have an interest in the environment, and, that being the case, I would guess that many of you readers are aware of  WED. Therefore, I will leave the details of past issues that WED has raised, as well as the given host countries who participated in WED's promoting awareness on environmental concerns, to focus on my thought for today's blog post, which is, on this eve of WED, to give a shout out to Danielle Rosa, who has taken the opportunity to make the environment a better place in ways that do not always bring as much recognition as they do when efforts are made on a global scale. It is my hope that Danielle's actions will inspire others to do the same.

Danielle Rosa is the youngest daughter of Patricia Rosa, a textile designer and quilt maker, who recently attributed much of her inspiration to nature's colors. You may recall, dear reader, that I mentioned this fact in a previous blog entry (on April 19th 2011), and, if you'd like to refer to that blog post, please click here. In that post, I made mention of Ms. Rosa's daughter, Danielle, and now, Danielle, and her recent gardening endeavors, is the topic for today's post.

Commentary on Ascension Day Observance

My dear reader, for any of you that are procrastinators (like yours truly), and never got around to sending Easter cards to those near (and not so dear) to you that honor the day, fear not; it's not too late for you to send a card to express your thoughts (and hopefully you will choose ones from the selections in the store-front of my web-site for such purposes) because we are still in the Easter Season, and will be until Sunday, June 12th, 2011, when the Feast of Pentecost will close the Easter Season. Meanwhile, today is Ascension Day, one of the feasts of the Easter Season. The observance of Ascension Day dates back to the latter part of the fourth century.

Happy June!

Well, dear reader, according to the comic strip Mutts, created by Patrick McDonnell, which is an animation that I adore (and one that I have sighted in a previous post that can be found by clicking here), we are in "half time", and, while I appreciate this animation (and often the sentiment that goes with it); I do not think "half-time" officially begins until the end of June, as that is the time the calendar year is half over, or perhaps, and maybe even more important, is the time of the onset of the remaining part of the year, and a chance to begin again.