"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-A (January — March 2012)

Happy first full week (ALMOST) of the 2013 year and with that salutation I welcome you to part two (portion A) of my post titled "another year over AND a new one just begun . . . "  

Since tomorrow is January the eighth, which means  the first week of the calendar new year will already be passing, it's high time I complete my garden's year-end review for 2012-2013, as promised in part one of this posting!

And, as I stated in part one, part two will be a quick look back pictorially over the "breaking news" of a given month in my garden from January 5, 2012 through January 5, 2013. However, part two will take place over thirten days, which will include today, where I will cover the events for the months of January-March of 2012; tomorrow, the eighth, where I will cover the events for the month of April 2012; Wednesday, the ninth when I'll cover the events of May 2012; Thursday the tenth when I will cover the events of June of 2012; Friday the eleventh, when I'll cover the events of July 2012; and, Saturday, the twelfth when I will cover the events of August 2012. 

Because the year 2012 brought with it a number of major garden upheavals, including a so-called renovation in September, Hurricane Sandy as well as a nor'easter in October, I will divide the review for those months and cover them over two — three days per month.

On Sunday, January the thirteenth, I will cover the events of September 2012 which occurred between September 1st and September 11th of 2012; then on Monday, January 14th, I'll cover the events from September 12th to September 19th of 2012; and I'll conclude September 2012' s coverage on Tuesday, January the sixteenth.

Then on Wednesday, January the sixteenth, I will cover October 1st 2012 through October 10th 2012; on Thursday the seventeenth, I'll cover October 11th through October 24th; and I'll conclude October of 2012 on Friday the eighteenth of January, when I will cover October 25th through October 31st.

I will cover the month of November 2012, on Saturday the nineteenth; and on Sunday the twentieth, I'll cover the month of December 2012 through January 5th of 2013. 

The numbers of photo-ops (in my Aperture Library) for this particular year in my garden are: 62 for January of 2012; 8 for February of 2012; 1,085 for March of 2012; 983 for April of 2012; 595 for May of 2012; 1,276 for June of 2012; 1,015 for July of 2012; 980 for August of 2012; 7,016 for September of 2012; 5,170 for October of 2012; 1,853 for November of 2012; 220 for December of 2012; and as of January 5th, 2013, there are already thirty-one images. Generally, when a given month has a larger amount of images  it is due to what has bloomed, which is still the case; however because an array of visiting birds came to my garden this year, my image-count for the particular months they spent time here is higher. 

Moreover a number of upheavals occurred in my garden during certain months, and this accounts for varying image quantities per month. And now — if you are not totally confused by my detailed schedule, without further ado, the highly anticipated year in pictures for The Last Leaf Gardener's garden!

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART ONE

GARDEN WINTERIZED AND HOLIDAY DECOR 2011-2012

GARDEN WINTERIZED AND HOLIDAY DECOR 2012-2013

Today is the first Saturday of 2013! The date is January the Fifth, the Eve of Epiphany, which is also the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and it is the day I've chosen for my urban garden's 2012 year in review as well as a great opportunity for me to return here to Blogger after not posting since "the Monday after Thanksgiving," as I have been contending with some health issues as discussed briefly on TLLG's tumblr and Facebook venues.

I realize that most accountings of a given "year in review" take place in late December of the year being reviewed; but since this review will solely be dedicated to my urban garden, I have chosen this particular date, because last year on this day, Juan V came over to help me complete my garden winterizing for the winter of 2012! Hence January the 5th 2012 through January the 5th 2013 was the last full year in my garden!

"The Monday After Thanksgiving" (in 2012)

Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a Christmas ornament — "floating" near some trees! Christmas is one month and one day from today, the Monday after Thanksgiving, and of course the stores and the media have been cashing in on this fact since Halloween. 

Moreover, a big portion of Macy's Thanksgiving Parade had (as it always does) a good number of floats and balloons "dedicated" to the Christmas holiday, including the ornaments seen here against the "back drop" of Central Park.

Tonight the neighborhood tree lighting at Lincoln Center will take place, and on Wednesday the Rockefeller Center Tree will be lit. "Normally" a tree lighting ceremony at The South Street Seaport this week, but, as per info on the web, "South Street Seaport's annual holiday traditions have been hampered due to the aftermath left behind from the enormous impact of storm flooding in our neighborhood."

New York City seems like several different cities at this time, as several areas are quite devastated by Hurricane Sandy, while others continue to go about business as usual. If one cannot donate monies or time directly to hurricane relief efforts during this holiday season, there is always something one can do locally for their friends in need, such as visiting the elderly, homebound and those that are in assisted living centers such as the one I have volunteered at for nine years.

But reaching out to others does not have to involve a lot of time or money, as every little bit helps! For example, yesterday, a man from my hood, helped me pull my Chelsea Larch (AKA Japanese Larch or Larix Kaempferi), out of a "high-end" container in which it had been planted in my urban (NYC) garden, as I wanted to donate the container to his garden at our parish, but, because the larch was root bound, I was afraid I would break the container getting the tree out, hence my need for his help.

It gets dark so early now that I was not able to get my tree into its "replacement digs," a container which has been awaiting my wonderful larch! 

Therefore I had to prop it up in the container without planting it properly and hope that it would survive the cold night in order for me to plant it today, which I plan to do (with Michael's help) later this morning or early afternoon on this Monday after Thanksgiving.

"The Monday after Thanksgiving" may be a "phrase" that will remain with me throughout my life as it was one of the last things my father said before his death in 1995. On November 22nd of that year, my father recorded a tape from his hospital bed stating, "The doctor hopes to have me out of here by the twenty-seventh . . .  that would be Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving,"  but alas that was not meant to be, for he took a turn for the worse and ultimately died on November 30th, 1995 — three days after "the Monday after Thanksgiving." This is something I have written about in prior posts here on Blogger, including an entry which may be found by clicking here.

In any event, seventeen years later, on this Monday after Thanksgiving, among other things, I hope to be successful in giving my Chelsea Larch a comfortable new home!

As for this day also marking the count down for Christmas, I won't start writing cards or decorating my home as I do not like to rush the season — or any season for that matter — as I have indicated before when folks were rushing the onset of spring, the onset of fall and the onset of events in general! 

However, I do confess that I've put a number of "pre-Christmas" figurines (deer) in my indoor succulent garden as it is an "installation" where I frequently change decor. In this instance I wanted to remove my Thanksgiving figurines, yet not fully decorate for Christmas at such an early stage, so I "replaced" the Thanksgiving figurines with a deer family until I "officially" decorate for Christmas. Photo-ops of this lovable family enjoying my succulent garden as well as the back story on the man who created these deer will be posted some time this week, so please stay tuned! Meanwhile, a "sneak preview" (image) of one, a "member" of my deer family can be found below.

By the way if this adorable guy looks familiar to you, his "extended family" were a part of my terrace garden decor last season.

Change of Heart?

(Note the "scratches" you may think you are seeing are strings supporting "Bob")

It seems Sponge Bob (pictured above) was as surprised to see me as I was to see him yesterday morning, a "mild" one (weather wise) for Thanksgiving! For on this particular holiday, in bygone years in New York City, where I live, weather conditions have often been either rainy or windy or both, not exactly a "comfortable" atmosphere for a parade — especially one so huge as the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Sponge Bob is one of the participants in the parade, and since I have not watched television since the 1980's, I don't know much about him. I'm more familiar with good ol' Charlie Brown, the beloved Charles Schulz character who is pictured below, where he can be seen "marching" in yesterday's parade.

(Note the "scratches" you may think you are seeing are strings supporting CB)

Although I now live very close to part of the route of the Macy's Parade, it is an event that I prefer not to make an effort to attend, as the crowds are often massive, as well as aggressive. 

Be that as it may, one of the first times I made an effort to go to the parade was when my grandmother's sister (and hence my great aunt) Ruth came to New York City to visit me. 

The time period was during one of my first few years of living in Manhattan, and during those years I was living in a rooming house (or SRO as "we" refer to them in the city). It was a miserable place to live, but I managed to procure a room for Ruth, and she insisted we navigate the crowds to travel and to see the parade — even though it was very windy and rain was pouring down.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 38

As you know if you follow TLLG's venues, if it's Tuesday it must be tumblr! I usually post the link to take you there much earlier than this so I apologize for the delay. A new feathered friend (a tufted titmouse) pictured here has been visiting my urban garden and has distracted me! I'm sure that upon your gazing at him/her you can surmise the cause for my distraction! 

However, I'll have more info on my new friend in the days to come, so please stay tuned! Meanwhile, the link to take you to tumblr can be found by clicking here.

Lumpy, Bumpy Greenmarket Thanksgiving Pumpkins AND THE WISDOM OF BIRDS

There are an array of greenmarkets all throughout New York City where I live, and one such market at Tucker Square takes place on Thursdays and Saturdays where, in by-gone years, have purchased Rosmarinus officinalis  AKA Rosemary  from a grower who participates in this particular market. And I've often gotten cheese from Bobolink, a cheese-maker that I have featured on Blogger in the past, including a post which you may refer to by clicking here.

In any event, this past Thursday, November 15th 2012, I went to the Tucker Square market with coupons for "freebies" in my hand as I was in search of pumpkins and gourds to photograph for my line of autumn and Thanksgiving cards. What I discovered was some pumpkins which were "lumpy and bumpy" (seen in the back row of the image above today's blog entry), and I immediately thought of them as a "visual" way of describing how the lumps and bumps that I have all over my body (as a result of being born with the neurological "disorder" known as Neurofibromatosis Type-One or NF-1) appear.

I asked the grower about these "odd" looking pumpkins and she referred me to an Internet source where I was informed that this lumpy/bumpy appearance "is not a hideously disfiguring disease that's suddenly stricken one of America's favorite autumn staples – these pumpkins have been genetically engineered to look that way. It takes at least 10 generations of cross-breeding to produce a pumpkin that's adequately covered in warts to be sold under the Super Freak label, according to Roy Pearman, director of sales and marketing for Siegers Seed Co., based in Holland, Mich., which "puts the genetics together" to create seeds for the bumpy, heavily wart-covered pumpkins and gourds."

This info leads me to believe that there is no political correctness in pumpkin patches when it comes to describing "favorite autumn staples," which is not surprising, given the type of verbal abuse I have experienced re my lumps and bumps; and an innocent pumpkin cannot defend himself against cruel remarks such as being considered a "super freak" and cannot get legal representation against such injustices!