There are days

-


There are days that I get discouraged.  Seriously, in today's world, who doesn't.  However, it doesn't take long for me to turn around once I get outside.  I have been waiting for these tithonia diversifolia (Mexican sunflower) to show and I am not disappointed.  My picture doesn't do it any justice as the flower is a brilliant orange.  Now, I don't know if I would recommend growing these in warmer climates unless you are ok with them taking over, but here in upstate NY these little false sunflowers are annuals.  I have them in two different locations to see how they do, but the front garden looks to be the winner and the flowers are just gorgeous in the morning sun.  Oh, and yes, there is a rooster ornament in my front yard garden with lighting (yep, I am that guy).

I am growing 7 different types of sunflower this year (counting the "false" varieties) and I am so pleased with it that next year (that's right damn it - next year) I will be adding even more varieties to the ever growing sun flower garden.




In that last pic you can see a leaf (and the edge of some leaves) of a pumpkin plant.  I also have a test corn to see how it does in a portion of the yard.  I think folks imagine that I have these sprawling gardens and though I have the room for one, I keep it pretty small and manageable.






For now, I'm good (MMGA).

- JJ


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No more social media

-
Image
Gotta love the phone reflection in my glasses   I have decided to call it day when it comes to social media.  At first, back when I joined FB and Twitter (at their infancies), I thought that the concept was a good idea – I am not so sure anymore.  Maybe at its core the idea of social media works, but with the amount of advertising and forced visibility algorithms, I've just had enough.  Ultimately, it was a time waster and time is a luxury (we just don't always realize it).  Even after several weeks, I find myself almost instinctively typing the URL for Facebook or Twitter in my browser the minute I open it.       So what am I going to do instead?  Learn some things I have been avoiding (you are never too old to learn new things!). Probably use this blog to post my stream of consciousness stuff.  Honestly, I do these things because my brain won't shut up.  It doesn't matter where I write it, I just have to type it out so my hea...
Read more

A break from the nostalgia

-
Image
I am going to take a quick break from the search for past greatness and just write about the now.  We are in the city (again).  I wish we had more time to explore and enjoy, but that isn't why we are here.  To say that this isn't great, would be true, but not totally.  I'm in a good room, actually more of a condo, nice veranda, and lots of ads on the TV for Leon Ellis's restaurant  Chocolat  (if you live around the city and watch cable you must have seen this commercial – it is on all the time!) and ultimately, I am with my wife which makes everything great.   We have come to NYC a lot in the last 3 years and outside of Saint Patrick's Cathedral we haven't done a lot of sightseeing.  You may think that all that is going on in my life that I look backwards all the time, thinking about "better times", but that isn't true.  To say the last 3 years have been hard would be a massive understatement, but many things have happened that I wouldn't wan...
Read more

There are some things you can't use your teeth for

-
Image
Once again, this picture has nothing to do with this post "Uptown got it's hustlers   The bowery got it's bums"       - Jim Croce, You Don't Mess Around With Jim, 1972     As I was thinking about my life and my search for my past "greatness", I was torn with where to start.  Many times we talk about what we remember from our youth and I wonder sometimes if I remember something because there was a picture or it was something the family talked about.  I will be honest, my early years are a blur at times.     I was trying to think back to my earliest memory, but it truly is difficult.  I do think I remember an incident that left me with two scars just on the inside of my bottom lip.  One Christmas when I was extremely young (maybe 5), I remember trying to unplug the Christmas tree from the extension cord.  Being the kid I was, I put the cord in my mouth and pulled.  The prongs hit my lip while still making contact inside...
Read more