My Rear Window

In less than one month's time, on September 1st 2017, it will be the sixty-third anniversary of the movie, Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film starred Jimmy Stewart. And the synopsis (stated on Wiki, where I got the image atop this entry), states the following:

"After breaking his leg photographing a racetrack accident, a professional photographer, the adventurous L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies (James Stewart), is confined to a wheelchair in his Greenwich Village apartment to recuperate. His rear window looks out onto a courtyard and several other apartments. During a powerful heat wave, he watches his neighbors, who keep their windows open to stay cool."

Like Jefferie, my NYC apartment (with a garden atop a rooftop terrace, something which Jefferies did not have), my rear window, looks into other apartments, as evidenced in the photo below.

The image was taken by Juan V this past Tuesday when he was here to plant some Toad Lilies, pot my Angusitifolum curry, and to help me keep a drainage problem from getting worse.

My Toad Lilies are indicated by the larger of the two arrows affixed to Juan's image. The vantage point of the image, because it was taken from overhead only gives one a sense of where these plants are located within my garden. However, I have published an entry here on Blogger that features these beautiful plants; and if you'd like to reference, dear reader, please click here.

The smaller arrow is referencing my Angusitifolum curry, which I will write about in the coming days. And the square is highlighting a new centerpiece that's been added to my place. It can be seen in close-up format below.

I am likely to include in a separate blog entry, but the center-piece's photo is here now for purposes of reader known as Sara, for she was instrumental in my having it, and I'd like her to see it, as she lives too far away to travel here.

And with that info, I've digressed enough, for I was speaking about my rear window view being much like Jefferies' except for the garden. The Rear Window character of Jefferie is on my mind today as I have been somewhat confined to my home with a foot injury. I'm not confined to a wheelchair as he was, but I am much more limited in going about my usual routine.

The reason for this being that I have to wear a boot cast which makes it difficult to go up and down the seventy stairs that lead to my place. Going up is actually much better than down in terms of my agility when wearing this cast.

Therefore, I've been attentive to what's going out from the vantage point of my rear window, and have been most fascinated by my view of the array of birds who visit here (as always), especially in relation to "their" wreath-shaped bird feeder that holds the unshelled peanuts that they enjoy eating.

In the following picture, the feeder I'm referring to is indicated with a circle.

In any event, A couple of weeks ago (July 25th), I wrote about a Northern cardinal availing himself of whole peanuts from this feeder. He can be seeing doing this in the next set of pictures.

If you'd like to read about this cardinal's antics and see different images, please click here.

The beaks of a cardinal are designed for un-shelling nuts and seeds which is one topic that is  discussed in the book, Words In Our Beak Volume One. The soft-cover version of this book is  available on MagCloud and it's written in the voice of the female cardinal whose picture is featured on the cover, as evidenced below.

But getting back to my wreath-style bird feeder and the birds who dine from it, sparrows are a bird variety that take pleasure there too, but the task of them eating an unshelled peanut is difficult as their beaks are not designed to open shells!

I suspect this bird type observes other birds eating from the wreath-style feeder and want to get in on the action, even though it is much easier for them to eat black-oil sunflower seeds from my house style feeder that contains their favorite seeds (as seen below).

But maybe house sparrows are like some people, I'm not naming names, in that they like to have what they see others having! For surely it is much easier for a sparrow to eat something other than a  peanut in the shell! However, it was a sparrow attempting to asses the possible ins and outs of getting some peanut crumbs that kept me watching from my rear window. Take a look (the photos have very subtle differences in order for you to see the time and attentiveness this sparrow put into procuring his food choice).

Wednesday's Wisdom: Bring the Beach Home!

The bathing beauties pictured atop this entry posed for a photo shoot by sitting atop a bird bath in my urban garden.

All of them came to me through the generosity of my dearly departed friend, Donna De Solis, who loved spending time sitting outside at my place. Therefore, in her honor, we did our photo shoot outdoors.

Normally these bathing beauties stay inside my apartment and spend their time within the confines of my indoor succulent garden (two of them can be seen doing this during bygone years in the next set of images).

These bathing beauties are working on their tan before the arrival of a feisty group of beach loving visitors who are coming to NYC from Skippack (Pennsylvania).

Their trip has been made possible by Art and his wife Jane (who took the following picture of our anticipated guests).

These "cast of characters" look like a delightful, fun loving, bunch of "beach bums" and will be most welcomed by me for I am truly missing the beach!

Here's Tuesday's Truths WK 52: How the plant known as Tricyrtis, came to be referred to as a Toad Lily

Hello, and welcome to the fifty-first week of my Tuesday's Truths series, where I will shed light on how the plant known as Tricyrtis, came to be referred to as a Toad Lily. Details of the flowers from this exquisite plant (which was recently planted in my rooftop garden by Juan V) can be seen in the images atop this blog entry.

However, before I go into detail re this awesome flower, let me digress a bit, and apologize for not posting an entry for week fifty-three of my Tuesday's Truths series! Unfortunately, the truth for that day, which was August 1st, is that I did not feel well, due to an injury I sustained to my right foot.

Therefore I was preoccupied with the logistics of getting my boot cast to fit properly and other pesky details associated with recovery from my injury! But if truth be told, and it's about to, what I had planned to point out that day was the fact that the beginning of this month of August was a good time to point out that (according to a web-news page) "there are almost 4 million newborns delivered each year in the United States. Of that amount, 9.05% (or 353,000) babies are born in August alone, making it the biggest month for births. July comes in second with 349,000 births, followed by September."

A number of years ago, I was one of those 353,000 born in August. Moreover, I was born on a Tuesday, which, according to the aforementioned source, is "the most common day of the week for little bundles of joy to be delivered is Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find that on average there are 12,323 births on Tuesdays, with Wednesday and Thursday close behind."

Be that as it may, I admit that this news may not be particularly relevant to those of you who read urban related blogs; but, hey, you never know when the topic might come up in conversation; and you also never know when you might be selected to be on the game show Jeopardy, with details of birth months and days of births being a category worth mega bucks.

And, now that what I would've written on the fifty-third week for Tuesday's Truths is out of the way, I'll move on to my intention for the truth re this fifty-fourth week, and tell you a little bit about the back story of the Tricyrtis flowering plant being nicknamed "toad lily."

Honoring National Lighthouse Day 2017

Today, August the seventh, is the first Monday in 2017's month of August, and it happens to coincide with National Lighthouse Day. Therefore, in honor this unique holiday, I'm offering some thoughts.

According to Wiki, "on this day in 1789, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation allowing the federal government control over the creation and maintenance of lighthouses.  This special holiday evolved out of this event, and in recent years, through efforts to preserve lighthouses as a important historical symbol in America."

Wiki goes on to proclaim that "National Lighthouse Day honors and commemorates a beacon of light that symbolizes safety and security for boats at sea."

And they explain that "throughout maritime history, Lighthouses have shined their powerful, sweeping lights through the fog and storms, allowing ships of all kinds to find their way back to port during inclement weather. With the advent of radar and GPS technology, lighthouses have taken a back seat in guiding ships to port. However, they remain the universal symbol of safe harbor to ships and communities that rely upon the sea for their livelihood."

In bygone years on Blogger, I've written about this holiday, and I've also discussed a few of the lighthouses which I've been able to visit; including The Little Red Lighthouse seen in the image atop this entry. This lighthouse is located on the Hudson River in NYC. I've been to it on many occasions when I've participated in tandem cycling. And the last time that I cycled to it (which was this past July for my fifth ride of the season), I noticed that the light was on, which is something that I don't recall ever seeing at this particular lighthouse.

My only memory of seeing a beacon of light coming from a lighthouse is the one I've seen coming from The Fire Island Lighthouse in the town of Kismet on Fire Island. The following pictures show this particular lighthouse (with its light on) from two vantage points.

These images might look familiar to you, dear reader, as I've included them in my cyber venues when discussing The Fire Island Lighthouse.

But today, what I'm being reminded of (in relation to both The Little Red Lighthouse and The Fire Island Lighthouse having their beacons shine), are Motel Six commercials with Tom Bodett promising that. "We'll leave the light on for you."

Another thing I'm thinking of re lighthouses and their shining beacons is an Anne Lamont quotation: “Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”

There you have it dear reader, some info and asides on lighthouses, should you find yourself in a situation where National Lighthouse Day is being discussed.

Friday's Fact: My blog's been given a badge! (THANK YOU, Feedspot!)

I'm thrilled to announce that I received word (from Feedspot) that my blog, The Last Leaf Gardener, has been noted as being one of the top one hundred urban blogs! The honor came with a badge to display, which can be seen at the top of this entry.

Here's what Feedspot has to say about this award:

"CONGRATULATIONS to every blogger that has made this Top Urban Blogs list! This is the most comprehensive list of best Urban blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this! I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world."

Thank you, Feedspot for this recognition! It came as a complete surprise! So nice to know someone's appreciating my content, and I'll do my best to keep up my work!

Wednesday's Wisdom: Food for Thought

The other day I witnessed a blue jay offering his/her soul mate a peanut, while they perched on a stand that supports a bird feeder in my rooftop garden. Seeing these birds feeding each other prompted me to do some research! Here's some info on the matter (according to Silalis):

1. This might (one bird feeding another) be to "test" the male's ability to forage and provide for young. It could be an indicator of the odds of successfully breeding. It can occur during copulation, nestbuilding and/or egg laying.

2. Or it might be to reinforce or maintain a pair bond.

3. Another option is it might be to increase a female's fitness by providing her with extra food, which probably increases the quality of her eggs or may advance the laying date.

That's food for thought!