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Bzzzz July 7th, 2007

Today’s is a two-part post. First, about Annmarie Gardens here in Calvert County, Maryland. The second is more random facts about me and a request–PRETTY PLEASE!

Yesterday was Friday and not so terribly busy, so I took the afternoon off from work to take my son, Ben, out to lunch and then dragged him down to Annmarie Garden. We have lived here in Calvert County for about 10 years and in all that time I have never made it down to see the garden.

Annmarie Garden is a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and has a number of artworks on loan from the Hirshorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, D.C. There is a quarter-mile walking path through the woods that is dotted with these works of art. Naturally, because they are outdoors and subjected to the elements, many are bronze, other metal or stone. Most are abstract.

I have to admit that I was disappointed that there wasn’t more “garden.” It was really more of a park. The setting was quite lovely and I wholeheartedly approve of the concept of outdoor art. But everything did seem a bit brown and green. I could have used some swaths of color to add some drama.

Fortunately, there were some bits here and there that were a welcome surprise. Small parts of trees had been painted in clever tiny scenes.

More tree art surprises

I also enjoyed what looked like a children’s art project of plastic bottles that had been painted and speared onto rebar to make colorful totem poles.

Plastic bottle totem poles

The bottles were painted with little sayings. Most were inspirational, such as “Reach for the stars!” Maybe it was my mood, but my favorite was “Don’t Squat with Your Spurs On!” Good advice!

Don't-Squat.gif

Don’t Squat With Your Spurs On!

Because Calvert County is still quite rural, there aren’t many things to do or places to take out-of-town guests. Although it’s still quite young (founded in 1999) and establishing its “collections,” I think that Annmarie Garden will be a nice addition to my touring spots for friends and family.

One more funny thing…

It was quite a hot day–over 90 degrees. I made the mistake of taking my handbag rather than leaving it in the car. It was getting quite heavy, so I enlisted my big, strong, 16-year-old son to carry it for a while. See his comment below. I laughed and laughed…

Ben: “Here I am in an art park. Carrying a purse.”

More Random Things

Finally, Ruthie over at Nature Knitter, tagged me for her Eight Random Facts meme. Seems as if I just did Seven Random Things. Aren’t y’all sick of me yet?

According to Ruthie, here’s how the meme works:

–Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves. –People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. –At the end of the blog, you need to choose eight people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they’re tagged and to read your blog. (Participation is optional and it’s OK if you defer.)

Here goes. I will try to not be too long-winded.

1) I walk for exercise since, as I explained in Robin’s Immutable Laws of Gardening, it is physically impossible to stay in shape or lose weight by gardening. I generally aim for an hour, which is not quite four miles for me. In the winter, I actually go outside sometimes, but usually I go to the gym.

2) My favorite comfort food (which I define as easy to make, not designed for nutrition and extremely satisfying if you’re feeling like crap) is brown rice topped with steamed broccoli and smothered in hollandaise sauce. (Try it! You’ll like it!)

3) My first pet of my very own was a cat named Teddy. He was an awesome fellow I adopted from the SPCA in California. He had been hit by a car and was in bad shape. Fortunately, because I was very poor at the time, I was dating a veterinarian who patched him up.

After some coast-to-coast moves, Teddy started to have male-cat-acting-out-issues, if you know what I mean. We tried valium. We tried hormones. We tried everything. Mostly, he seemed to want out of the house. So finally, I relented.

He was run over by my mother-in-law about a month later. After I finished the first round of crying, I declared, “I need a DRINK!” At which my mother-in-law told me, sheepishly, that she drank the last of the wine.

Yes, I still speak to my mother-in-law. But NOT about Teddy. (She caught a RAFT of grief from everyone. No need for me to add to it. I really LIKE my mother-in-law!)

4) My first real job, at age 17, was at Roy Rogers, where I had to say “Howdy Partner” and “Happy Trails!” Thankfully, I have come a long way since then.

5) In my second job after college, I sometimes had to dress in a dog suit and dance around…Long story about that one. Thankfully, I have come a long way since then too.

6) I am allergic to dogs, pollen, dust and mold. That’s God’s little joke on Robin, the dog and nature lover. I have to get allergy shots, which have improved my quality of life tremendously.

7) I wear a size 9.5 shoe. I used to wear an 8.5 but then I had a baby about 16 years ago and nothing was the same after that.

8) I get mail every single day from Las Vegas casinos offering free rooms and play. I’m not really a big gambler, but there was that one memorable weekend in Vegas where I won $2,000. I figure they’re just trying to get it back.

Tha..tha…that’s all folks!

Who wants to volunteer to be tagged? Anyone?

I KNOW!!!! Instead of me tagging people, why don’t YOU post random facts about yourself–along with your website–here!!! So tell me a random fact (or eight) about you!

Posted In: Gardening, Lifestyle

Tags: gloriosa superba Rothschildiana

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Bzzzz June 27th, 2007

I was (more or less) tagged by Carol over at May Dream Gardens to post seven random things about me. Carol was tagged by Colleen at In the Garden Online. It’s a meme.

The original idea is steeped in science. You can read about memes on Wikipedia. In the context of the blogosphere, a meme is about propagation of an idea–in this case seven random things about me (or whoever). You state seven random things and then “tag” seven other people to do the same. In this meme, the responses are supposed to be related to your blog.

I hope it’s not like a chain letter when you drop dead if you don’t fulfill your end of the bargain. I’m not sure that I even KNOW seven people with blogs who will do this. So if you’re reading this and are willing to post seven things about yourself, will you please let me know in the comments area and include your URL so we can visit?

Okay…seven random things.

1) I have always loved plants. When I was a kid my mom would take my brothers and me to the Great Big Greenhouse in Norfolk, Virginia. It was one of my favorite places in the world. It felt magical to walk in and be surrounded by such an astounding variety of plants. And the smell! It was so fresh! So moist! So earthy!

Mom allowed me to drag home any number of plants, which I set up all over my room. At one point she threatened to evict me if I brought home another plant.

I continued this love affair through college and into adulthood. In college I was the only girl living in the dorm with DOZENS of plants. And a rocking chair. And a coffee pot. Moving days were hell.

2) I cannot STAND to listen to music when I garden. And I LOVE music. In fact, from the time I was thirteen until after I graduated from college, I wanted to be an opera singer. I kid you not. I studied voice, piano–even organ–for YEARS. My parents spent an absolute FORTUNE on music lessons. Sadly, the reality is that I do not have the DRIVE that it takes to compete in the world of music. Also, the neighbors pounding on the wall from the apartment next door when I moved to Monterey and tried to practice singing didn’t help.

Anyway, about the garden…The birds are my music. When I am outside in the garden, I listen to the sounds of the birds. Every day is different. I have come to recognize some, although not nearly as many as I would like. I always know the crows, of course. And the “plunk plunk” of the cow birds. I also recognize the Pur-DEE Pur-DEE of the cardinals. I bought a software program with bird songs a while back but have not had time to indulge. That will be winter time activity.

3) I went through our county’s Master Gardener classes, but didn’t take the final test. Similarly, I went to graduate school, wrote my thesis and NEVER TURNED IT IN.

The reason for the thesis-incompletus is that I landed a very lucrative two-year writing project with a big-named pharmaceutical company that swallowed me up. The reason for the Master Gardener-incompletus was a bit more complicated. And since I have a positive policy with Bumblebee Blog, I will refrain from outlining my reasons. But I do I plan to become involved at some point in the future.

4) I suffer from serious garden envy. I try really hard not to compare my yard and garden to those of other people, but I still do. I often feel inadequate. Or competitive. I am working hard to just BE.

5) My manicure looks like crap 90% of the time because I have the habit of digging into the dirt with my fingernails. In fact, when I travel on business, I will often realize on the airplane that my hands look like those of a farm hand. As a result, I have DRAWERS full of nail care products that I have purchased in panic mode at airports across the country.

6) When I’m not gardening (or working), I am reading or cooking. I LOVE to cook, although I perhaps don’t LOVE it every single night. I do insist on a family dinner. I am a HUGE advocate of the family dinner. Our little family of three sits down together six nights a week. Benjamin, my teenager, orders pizza on Friday nights.

Although the experts quoted in the newspapers extol the importance of the family dinner in family communication, happiness, keeping kids off drugs, kids getting better grades, kids not getting obese…the list goes on…we do it because we just ENJOY our family dinners. We talk about what is happening in the news, why we believe what we believe, history, what is happening in the garden, things we hope to someday do–you name it. In the summer our dinner are most often al fresco.

Managing a family dinner has meant that we eat at 8:30 p.m. because my husband doesn’t get home until 8. Some of the people who come to visit and have dinner suffer mightily, even though I offer tiny treats to tide them over.

7) When I die, I want to go like my Grandpa M. An avid gardener from the time he had to quit coal mining because of black lung, he grew flowers. As many flowers as he could possibly manage to squeeze into his tiny lawns. My most vivid memories were of him escaping family get-togethers to hand water his garden–always wearing his little-old-man-hat.

When he died, he was outside hand watering his garden. Grandma M. said that it looked like he just got tired, stretched out in the grass and pulled his little-old-man-hat over his eyes for the shade. That is how he died.

And that’s seven random things about me.

Posted In: Lifestyle