Happy Half Year's Eve to You! (PART THREE May and June 2011 Follow-Ups)

As  promised, I am continuing with my follow ups in honor of the half-year.

In terms of May 2011 follow ups, as you may recall, dear reader, I spoke about The Five Boro Bike Tour, at the onset of that month (in blog posts that you may refer to by clicking here and here). In the latter of these posts, I expressed gratitude for Max Osso being able to step in that the last minute when my regular captain, Zoe Waldron, hurt her Achilles tendon, but thankfully, she graciously loaned us her tandem, so that we could participate in the event. Fortunately, she ultimately recovered for the most part, and has cycled "solo" as well as with me on a tandem on a number of occasions since that time. 

Additionally, since my May 2011 posting, I have received photographs, purchased by Achilles from Brightroom, of Max Osso and yours truly in various stages of The Five Boro Bike Tour, and I have posted one of them above today's blog entry that shows us cycling in Central Park, and one below which was taken early on in the tour.

Also in May, on May 11th, to be exact, my flowers quoted Dr, Suess saying, "Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one", and now in this  half-year follow-up, I can attest to the fact that indeed, they are having fun as evidenced by the photographs of some of my honeysuckle flowers posted below..

...enjoying the trellis which, as you may recall, dear reader, was installed (to serve as a hedge) on  May 17th 2011.

In another posting, this past May, the birth of my H.F. Young Clematis's flowers was announced in an entry that you may refer to by clicking here. 

My H.F. Young Clematis's flowers were indeed a beautiful asset to my terrace garden; however, they have a short life. Since their departure, they have left me with beautiful, yet playful, "hairy" pods, as evidenced in the collage featuring one of them in both flower and pod which is posted below.

The follow ups for June  2011 include news on my Anethum graveolens (Dill), which I wrote about approximentaly ten days ago. (This may be referred to by clicking here.) Since that time, a change has already occurred, it is sporting little yellow flowers as seen in the image  seen below. (I am in the process of rendering this image into a note-card and will release details as soon as they are available).

Happy Half Year to You! (PART TWO: March and April 2011

In March, I posted a few entries about my appreciation for the trainers at the Apple Store on the upper westside of Manhattan, and if you'd like, you may refer to those posts by clicking here and here. Since that time a few trainers have left that store, including Tim Larsen, whose doing so was addressed in a comment, made by someone who read a blog posting that I had made this past November.

Happy Half Year to You! (PART ONE January and February 2011 Follow-Ups)

Happy Half Year Eve, to you, dear reader, Happy Half Year Eve to you! By the end of today, June 30th 2011, the year of 2011 will be at its half point, causing me to remember a quote that I heard sometime ago from Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, as I was "radio surfing."

The quote is this, "It is said the pessimist sees the glass as half-empty the optomist sees it as half-full, and the realist sees a need for a new glass."

Having been made aware of this quote, I ask you, dear reader, how do you see the date of June 30th 2011? 

Since this year of 2011 is half over, do you feel you are on your way to a goal in any New Year's resolutions you may have made at the onset of the year? 

Or do you feel that you blew it (in terms of your resolutions) early on, and have therefore abandoned a certain hope in terms fulfilling any promises that you made for yourself? In other words, is this half-way marker of the 2011 year a chance for you to begin again, or is it another reason to berate yourself for resolutions not kept, which is why yours truly does not make any such promises (as discussed in previous post which you may refer to by clicking here) to herself in the first place.

Since we are reaching the mid-point for the half year, I'd like to take the opportunity to follow up on certain blog posts that I have made for the year thus far. I am doing this because often I read blogs where the blogger will throw out ideas or concerns and then never mention them again. 

However, this is not the case with Ms. Fabio, whose blogs I cited in a post made a few weeks ago which you can read by clicking here. 

Ms. Fabio's blogs, unlike other blogs that I've read, makes it a point to follow up on incidents that she brings to her reader's attention, and since I appreciate that about her, and I imagine her followers do as well, I would like to offer follow-ups on some of the things that I've mentioned, and what better time to do so then at the year's mid point? I have divided these follow-ups into three separate segments.

The first part will feature a few follow-ups from things discussed in blog selected entries made in January-February of 2011, the second part will feature follow-ups on selected entries made in March and April of 2011, and the third part will focus on follow-ypos from selected entries made from May and June 2011. So without further ado:

Do you recall, dear reader, that back on January 27th of this year, when my terrace garden was buried in snow, that I wrote about the fact that the snow-filled branches of my Continus Coggygria (Smokey Bush) resembled snow cones? The image in the top left-hand corner of the collage posted below may strike your memory, and, if you'd like to refer to that post please click here. 

In any event, the "look" of snow-cones, on my Continus Coggygria (Smokey Bush), has  obviously changed with the season, especially now that the "official" season for indulging in snow-cones has arrived in New York City. Meanwhile, while folks are enjoying their summer by sipping on snow cones, the beautiful burgundy leaves of my Continus Coggygria (Smokey Bush), are loving the summer too, as evidenced by the photographs in the right portion —  as well as the lower right-hand corner of the photo-collage posted above. One nice thing about seasons is the realization that life is always changing; and if you are going through a rough moment it will eventually change just as the seasons do.

Where is my Spilanthes oleracea when I need him?

The unusual looking plant in the photograph which  posted above is a Spilanthes oleracea plant. Its flowers resemble pimento olives and it is somewhat of a funky plant to have in one's garden. (I can just imagine the Spilanthes oleracea plant saying 'what do you mean by funky?' — if he is anything like my Physocarpus opulifolius aka Coppertina Tree, who took homage at being called Copper-Tone — not by yours truly by the way — and took it upon himself to express these thoughts in a blog post which you may refer to by clicking here.)

Whether you perceive the Spilanthes oleracea plant to be funky or not, it does provide a unique purpose to one's garden as it is a documented fact that when one chews on the leaves, one experiences a numbing effect on the mouth. 

According to an herb guide (source can be found by clicking here), "a decoction or infusion of the leaves is recommended for stammering, toothache, stomatitis, and throat complaints," and that eating a whole flower bud results in an extremely strong tingling sensation accompanied by excessive saliva production."

In 2006, I had a Spilanthes oleracea plant in my terrace garden as pictured below:

I was not taking many pictures or blogging during that time, but I can assure you that he can be seen in the far right hand corner where the purple arrow is pointing (on a direct diagonal from the SODAS sign which I only recently removed from my urban terrace garden, a gesture that I wrote about in a previous blog entry that you may refer to by clicking here).

The normally perennial Spilanthes oleracea plant, in the zone where I live and have my terrace garden is an annual. Therefore, I am not always able to find them in any of  the green-makets when growing season arrives; hence, I have not had one in my garden for a number of years. However, the Spilanthes oleracea plant is on my mind today, as I am scheduled to have a tooth extraction this afternoon —an unfortunate necessity precipitated by its being fractured.

"Cows, Bread and Autism", Bobolink's Answer To What's Cheese got to do with it?

Last Saturday, June 18th 2011, I left you dear reader, with photographs of mouth-watering cheeses, (known as Drumm and Very Special Cave-Aged Cheddar respectively), and a promise to tell you a little bit about them as well as discuss the folks that make them in today's post. So, without further ado:

Anethum graveolens (Dill): Anise's Misnomer

Like parsley and fennel, dill (Anethum graveolens), is a member of the Umbelliferare family, known for its distinct umbrella-shaped inflorescences.

I grow  Anethum graveolens, and it is truly an exquisite addition to my garden. It is wonderful to use in  homemade soups, scones, and in cookies. 

However, I confess that I rarely use it for such purposes because like my Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) and my Strawberries, (plants that I have discussed in previous posts which you can refer to by clicking here and here respectively), I often find  the beauty which it adds to my urban terrace garden, keeps me from cutting it.

I have just recently learned that dill "regularly appears under the misnomer 'anise' throughout the King James version of the Bible", and, that "confusion has continued to be perpetuated partly because botanists and zoologists were not part of the team of transcribers of this authorized interpretation; and so the apricot that Adam and Eve ate became an apple, the crocodile became a whale, the bull became a unicorn and dill became anise."

My source on this trivia is credited to Abbie Zabar who included it in her book, The Potted Herb, a delightful read with beautiful drawings.