In June, Brandon had a chance to see and photograph our old garden in Brooklyn.
June was always my favorite month in New York, but the garden already looks wild and overgrown. We left a number of projects unfinished and my short-sighted plantings are certainly in evidence.
It's weird to look back after a just a few months and see the garden living on without us.
Brandon watched one night last week as a woman dumped three live chickens into the park across the street. We speculated that they were easter chicks that had lost their cuteness upon reaching the awkward teenage phase.
Some neighbors of ours had a similar experience with chickens in our park several years ago and other friends found a bunny in Prospect Park.
Brandon brought them to over our yard and the next day called Animal Care & Control of New York City, who picked them up and took them to a place called Farm Sanctuary. Hopefully, they'll have a nice life now.
Came home one day to find our trash can missing. Didn't think too much about it — sometimes they get dragged off down the street, but we didn't see it anywhere. We asked our neighbors if we could use a spare one they had out back, which was fine.
The very next trash-pick-up day THAT one disappeared too!
Not sure what to think.
One of my most faithful readers, my sister Ellen, and her husband Travis came to visit in early November. It was rather chilly so we didn't spend much time in the garden, but they came out and indulged me for a photo-op. We had a great time with them.
My dear nieces, Arran, left, and Arden, came to stay with us just after we returned from Texas. We had a wonderful time running around the city and relaxing at home.
As you can see, my garden is a little wild and overgrown since I've had little time to tend it. Everything kind of sprawled while we were gone, but it could certainly be worse.
We visited Wave Hill where they especially enjoyed the aquatic garden which was full of leopard frogs.
Another garden visitor: my brother Randall. He's taking a road trip while on a break from playing trombone on a cruise ship. We snapped some pix before heading out to sing karaoke.
A dear friend and former roommate, Rachel and her husband, Sam, came to visit NYC from Durango, Colorado and brought their toddler, Nathan for me to meet for the first time. He enjoyed rock rolling, flower sniffing, yoga and general relaxation in our garden. We grew quite fond of him.
My sister Mary came to visit this weekend and since a friend had requested a photo of the two of us in my garden, Brandon snapped one for us while I was out pulling weeds.
Using my nifty new spade, I took out the last remaining bit of weedy grass on the west half of my garden, disturbing a bunch of rather docile, yellow-orange ants in the process. The whole yard was full of this tufty grass when I started gardening there and I've been slowly erradicating it as I gain new plants. I popped in another purple allium like the other one near the fence and a blue aquilegia as well.
Planted leek and collard green seeds today, too. I hope they'll germinate.
Brandon and his pal, James concocted a somewhat kooky scheme to roast a goat for Easter. In our front yard.
Of course, my concern was for the garden - that they would alight something on fire or possibly alert the authorities. But they built a nice pit from cinder blocks and purchased a goat from a neighborhood butcher and it all went quite smoothly despite the un-easter-like weather. There were snow flurries for part of the day and temperatures in the 30s.
Personally, I didn't love the taste of goat as much as the meat-loving, Australian-born James, but the event was fun and my garden remains undamaged.
