"The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and disappears." (REPRISED)

Today is Groundhog Day! This is a "holiday" with events whose celebrations date back to 1887 in the United States. However, traditions re this day started long before that, and the Romans looked to hedgehogs — not groundhogs — to forecast the ending of winter or the arrival of spring. However, when folks migrated to Pennsylvania, there weren't any hedgehogs to be found — so they used a groundhog instead!

One of my hedgehog figurines, who has spent time in my indoor succulent garden, has always been a bit "miffed" that the "role" of predicting the weather was delegated to a groundhog! Therefore, to appease him, I included his photograph, which is very similar to the one at the top of today's blog entry, in blog posts that I've made here on TLLG in bygone years. You may refer to those entries by clicking here as well as here.

My other hedgehog figurines seen in the pictures below,

have no aspirations to take over the duties of the groundhog at will-he/she-see-his/her-shadow events, especially in NYC.

It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day! (And my Salad Greens want to know what he has to say!)

The things which I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, and I, would like to wish you a Happy Groundhog Day. Today marks the point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (this day is celebrated on August 1st for those living south of the equator).

Did Mayor Yury Luzhkov tell Bloomberg about spraying the clouds?

When I went out to check on things in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, I found one of my shrubs, the Continus Coggygria AKA Smoke Bush, also known as 'Grace' (pictured above), in the throes of deep prayer, as evidenced by the upright and open position of her sweet little branches in the image seen here. 

'Grace' confided in me that she was inspired to "lift (her) arms to pray" because she had remembering hearing of Joyce Kilmer's poem, where the quote is from, in past postings here on this blog which you can find by clicking here as well as here and here.

My Continus Coggygria is not prone to prayer, but she confided in me that she felt if trees can lift their arms to pray, why couldn't shrubs? And she said that she felt the need to pray because of the lack of snowfall we have had in New York City this year, as she is very worried about global warming!

Happy February! Tomorrow is Imbolc Day....What will the groundhog have to say?

Tomorrow, February 2nd, is Imbolc Day, the day that marks the point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (this day is celebrated on August 1st for those living south of the equator), and a day also known as Groundhog Day, when in New York, a rodent known as Staten Island Chuck annually makes a prediction on whether the coming days will be an early spring or prolonged winter. He does this by coming out of hibernation to see if he sees his shadow.

The deal is this: If the groundhog sees his shadow, mend your mittens, as winter will remain fast and furious; but, if he does not see his shadow, an early spring is in the wings. As an urban gardener, I am certainly eager to undo my urban garden winterizing although I hardly rely on a groundhog's predictions — even though in New York the groundhog has been right 85% of the time. A true New Yorker, this little rodent even stood up to Mayor Bloomberg (in 2010) by biting Bloomberg's finger in response for allegedly being coaxed out of his warm home and deep sleep to perform his see-or-not-see-his-shadow task.

I say allegedly because there is speculation that Staten Island Chuck was miffed at Bloomberg (for cutting the Staten Island Zoo's budget from 1.6 million dollars to 1.3 million dollars), and grabbed his chance to retaliate by biting the mayor's finger.

Now, with the mayor's recent arrogance over the response to the mishandling of the December 27, 2010 snowstorm, and his lofty manner regarding third term limits, New Yorkers are waiting in anticipation for tomorrow's event — not only to see if Staten Island Chuck sees his shadow, but to see if this little rodent will reprise his role of standing up to "his honor"— as only he seems to be capable of doing, as evidenced in the video posted below:

Chekov's Olga Seregeyevna Prozoro and me. Remembering my father's last days.

Following up to yesterday's post, I will tell you that my father did not leave the hospital on the "Monday after Thanksgiving," as he had hoped to do, which is indicated in the audio playing during the video clip in that post. Instead he was still in the hospital on the "Monday after Thanksgiving" and declining quickly. He died a week after that Thanksgiving — November the 30th, fifteen years ago today at 7:35 AM, due to complications with septic shock.


The year he died, Thanksgiving Day was November 23rd. He had evidently recorded a tape (that is being played in the movie-clip in yesterday's post) on the eve of that Thanksgiving, November 22nd — the day Kennedy was assassinated thirty-two years prior — as I recalled in an earlier entry.

My father had been in the hospital due to consequences brought on by severe emphysema, which was caused by his intense Pall Mall cigarette smoking. Although he had quit smoking a few years prior to his death, his wife continued to smoke. He insisted her second hand-smoke did not bother him, and even through his wheezing, as he was declining severely in health, he joked that when he died, the tobacco industry would raise the price of cigarettes in a phenomenal way, saying they would begin to miss his revenue.

Daffodils: A contendor for NYC's flower + an inspiration to poets (Tuesday's Truths WK 211)

Welcome to my 211th segement of Tuesday's Truths, where I'm pointing out that evidently Michael Bloomberg, when he was mayor of NYC, wanted to designate daffodils, the flower type featured in the image directly above (which was taken in Central Park) to be our city's flower (the state flower is the rose). 

Thursday's Testimony: Completed Ride Two (Since Being Back in the Saddle)

As I mentioned last week in an entry here on Blogger, the month of May, is National Bike Month. I also discussed the fact that on Tuesday, May 2nd, I went tandem cycling with my captain, ZW, for the first time since I had an accident (not related to bike riding) in May of 2016. And I spoke about the aforementioned bike ride, recalling that ZW and I cycled up the portion of the greenway which runs parallel to the Hudson River and made our way to The Little Red Lighthouse. 

Last evening and into the night, I returned to the saddle for the second time since my accident; and instead of heading north on the greenway, which had become our routine, we cycled through the West Village heading towards the East Village; and then cycled through Soho; as well as the Lower Eastside, before cycling up the ramp of The Manhattan Bridge; in order to head to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. 

It is a route we've done on a number of occasions, including times when we met up with a group of cyclists to cycle through The Lights (Christmas) in the Heights during the cold winter months. We have also taken this route to witness a ceremony of Mayor Bloomberg lighting the menorah; and we've done the course with reasons in mind that were the same as our motivation for last night: to enjoy cycling a loop in Prospect Park, while being serenaded by an array of birds.

After we completed our Tour de Prospect Park last night, ZW parked her tandem, against a lamp post (as seen in the photo atop this entry); and we enjoyed a picnic of May Day Pesto atop a baguette, while a statue stood behind us who seemed to be interested in the tangerines we were having with our meal. 

The statue I am referring to is statue erected in the likeness of James S. T. Stranahan, and it can be seen in the following picture.

"poignant omissions"

The recent snowstorm buried my roof-top extension urban garden in blankets of snow, as seen in the photograph at the top of this post. The composition isn't so great, but it is a good indicator of how much snow fell last night if you compare it with the photograph in yesterday's post. The heavy snowfall was accompanied by thunder and heavy winds, so I have not ventured into Central Park to see if there are snow sculptures. Central Park is quite close to where I live, and it is lovely when quiet from the snow. The stillness and quiet brought by such a heavy snowfall normally fills me with peace, but I confess I did not feel much peace today on this third day of Christmas.

9/11 TWENTY YEARS LATER

There a number of things I will never forget in relation to 9/11. Twenty years later the horror of it all has not worn away, and indeed, I will never forget.

One month and one week prior to the attacks, I interviewed for a job with a company that was located on the eighty-third floor of One World Trade. 

The day my interview took place was one of the hottest days on record and a receptionist who identified herself as Margaret Mattic offered me a cup of water.

I was subsequently interviewed by Lashawana Johnson.

Ms. Johnson told me she enjoyed coming to work in the morning because she could shop for her young children.

Ultimately I did not get the position but when I heard the news over the radio as the first plane hit, I instantly thought of Ms. Johnson and Margaret Mattic.

Fortunately I had saved the contact information of a woman named Carmen who worked the night shift. I was able to reach her by phone and she gave me the sad news that everyone in the company who worked the morning shift had been killed.

To add to  Carmen’s horror, she witnessed the planes flying into the buildings because she had a view of the towers from her Brooklyn apartment.

I know of many people who perished including someone (Josh Rosenthal) who lived in the apartment building where my dearest friend VB was living at the time. 

Evidently that very morning he was joking about possibly being late for his job in an office on one of the higher floors of the towers.

Unfortunately for him he was not late in getting to work and perished with scores of others on that morning. The street where he lived was named in honor of his memory.

On a bittersweet note re 9/11, in the Dutch bulb supplier Hans van Waardenburg sent one million daffodil bulbs as a gift to the city. ... 10,000 initial volunteers joined the first planting efforts, and Mayor Bloomberg made the daffodil the city's official flower in 2007. 

Every time I see daffodils in the parks, public spaces, and tree pits, I think of those who lost their lives on that day; and I also think of those who now have 9/11 related illnesses. 

There are no words…

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-J (December 2012 — January 5, 2013)

Today's entry here on Blogger is part two-J of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my urban garden for the year 2012 (the schedule for this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic), and this particular post is also the conclusion of my series; in it I will be covering the "events" in my garden from December 1st 2012 through January 5th 2013.

The beginning of the month of December 2012 brought with it the return of Cam, my lone female cardinal visitor, who can be seen in the picture — as she appeared upon return — atop today's blog entry.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be . . ." tumblr. Week Twelve "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

It's Tuesday, so it must be tumblr but before I  lead you there, here's a little (as usual) digression: The images posted above are of my still-flowering-in-December Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) and White Swan Echinacea both of which I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden. 

Additionally, my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers) and the roses, from all three of the shrubs that I have of them, are still thriving. This is quite unusual for this time of year in New York City, as by now we have usually had some snow.