thesalemgarden

Nemo in Salem— Down on Essex Street

As I expected, Blaire and her camera were out today. Here’s what she sent me:

Looking toward the Narbonne House. The Narbonne house is located at the Salem Maritime National Historic site and dates back to 1675. It’s used as a historical study house and can be toured on a limited basis. The other thing that’s interesting about this shot is that right below that huge drift of snow lies a beautiful bleeding heart plant that’s just waiting for spring to arrive!

The snow pile is very, very tall. I’m pretty sure it’s taller than the person who put it there ;).

Drifting snow, blocking the walkway next to the Narbonne House, with the Hawke’s House in the background. The Friendship is just beyond. If Blaire could have walked through that snowdrift we might have seen the Friendship too. Those NPS workers better get busy!

Thanks Blaire!

Stay warm everyone!

Michele and Blaire

Nemo’s In the Garden and On the Street— Update!

As promised, here’s a little update:

Same view as earlier, but shoveled.

This guy went rolling by a few minutes ago. I’m hoping that he works for the city.

Looking down at our cars. This may be an all hands on deck situation.

Kids getting ready to head out

Little guy’s awesome fort

Dino and Maddie, they have the good life!

Time for lunch! I’m hoping that my downtown correspondant, Blaire, will send me some stuff to post from the Common neighborhood a little later. What do you think Blaire?

We’ll venture out too, if the governor lifts the driving ban.

Stay warm!

Michele

#Nemo (28candles.wordpress.com)

Nemo’s in the Garden!

We’re having a blizzard today! We still have power which is a huge blessing. I’m not really awake yet, but here are a few photos while the power is still on.

The view from our front door yesterday

and today

Here’s Michael’s car and looking down the street. I just read on facebook that two city snow plow trucks have caught on fire. We may be snowed in for awhile. The roads are all closed with a $500 fine if your found driving. I sure wouldn’t want to be stuck in a snowbank and then fined $500.

And of course here’s the garden, buried under drifting snow. The snow is wonderful insulation and is often called “nature’s fertilizer.” My perennials are always happy after a really snowy winter.

It’s still snowing quite hard and I’m not sure about the total accumulation yet. It’s hard to tell with all of the drifting.

The kids went outside since I took these photos. I’ll try to get some shots of them a little later. They are going to have a great day!

I’ll try to update after my coffee~

Michele

Winter Storm Nemo Breakfast (newgirlonthechoppingblock.com)

A Blizzard is Coming!

So, it sounds like we might be getting snow. Every time I hear about it, it’s a little more. The guy who’s fixing my ceilings today just said that it’s up to 33 inches! I didn’t live here in 1978 when the biggest blizzard of all time hit New England. It’s the storm that every other storm is compared to, including the event that’s forecast for tomorrow and Saturday. I can’t help but think that it would be nice for my kids to have “blizzard memories” like my adult friends do of the Blizzard of ’78. We’ll see what happens!

Our preparations are well underway starting with the most important thing, what should I make to eat? I’m thinking chocolate chocolate chip cookies and a Pioneer Woman chocolate sheet cake should do it. I know that there are other flavors but we are chocolate people. I have a good stock of milk, juice, tomato sauce and pasta. There’s also some canned food and two pounds of bacon (thank you Michael). I bought bags of apples, oranges, veggies and even some blueberries the other day. Michael and the kids have the firewood stacked up and I may do a sweep of the woods to collect extra kindling a little later, just to be sure. I think we’ll be just fine here in the Salem Garden.

I have some fantastic snow day projects lined up. Last night we picked up the new white roman shades that I ordered for the office. I think that installing them while the wind whips at the windows will be fun! I also have a collection of matching boxes just waiting for all of my paperwork to be organized into. Hopefully we’ll spend some family time relaxing and playing a board game. I may brave the trip to Target to find something new and fun to play. My plan is that just as the troops get restless, I’ll whip it out and wow them, then peace and happiness will prevail until we can get outside to shovel.

I’m off to fill water containers! I’ll keep you posted as the snow falls.

Stay warm today!

Love, Michele

Blizzard watch, coastal flood watch, how bad will this really become? – Boston.com (boston.com)
Remembering the Blizzard of 1978 – Garry Armstrong Was There (teepee12.wordpress.com)

More Fluffy Robe Photos

We had just a little bit of snow overnight. It was so pretty that I had to wander outside with my camera for a few minutes. It was gorgeous this morning!

The buds on the pear tree are looking ready. to. go!! Yes!!

I miss the days of pushing my little kids on the swings in the middle of the morning. Hug those babies everyone, they grow so quickly!

I love our black pussy willow. Michael and the kids gave me this bush on our first Mother’s Day in this house. It’s one of my favorite plants in our garden.

Hi Zoe, my cute little compost factory…

Hi pretty chickadee…

and guess what?

I wore boots instead of crocs today!

He, he, he…no splat for me!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Coyote Sighting In Salem!

Michael was walking Winnie this morning and as he came up our street he looked ahead and saw a “really big” coyote coming toward him. The coyote took a left and ran into our yard. He and Winnie took a right and came right into the house. We’re not really afraid of them, but it’s a good idea to keep coyotes and family dogs separate. We’ll be keeping a very close eye on Winnie when we’re in the yard. The coyotes are here year round but they seem to suddenly appear around early February, with lots of neighborhood sightings from now until late spring.

Of course after I got almost everyone out the door (my little guy is recuperating from his late night superbowl viewing, I’ll run him up to school soon) I had to head out there with my camera and see if I could take a photo of the tracks to share with you.

S/he came from the street, then went across the yard and down the hill.

The tracks look pretty cool up close.

It went right up the path in the middle of the photo and past the kids’ fort.

I didn’t go all the way up there because I was wearing crocks and my fluffy robe. Of course that meant I landed on my you know what.

Crocks and coyote tracking aren’t such a good mix 😉

Enjoy everything today!

Michele

More Coyote Sightings Possible During Mating Season (chicago.cbslocal.com)
More Coyote Sightings Keeping Residents On Edge (chicago.cbslocal.com)
Coyote sightings on the rise (cbc.ca)
Coyote Capers (essexonlakechamplain.com)

I See Blue!

There it is!

Right over the chicken coop!

The dogwood tree’s buds are happy to see it.

so am I!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

I’ve recently been following this really cool blogger from the midwest. She’s originally from New Zealand and posts about her life on the farm here in the USA. I enjoyed this junkyard post… Isn’t it right up Michael’s alley?

The Kitchen's Garden

We scoured the junkyard yesterday. Looking for trim, beams, boards, flooring, doors, windows, all the bits and pieces that will lend The Coupe (the Tiny House we are building) its character. What I find here is sturdy, solidly built, made from good heart timber and of course cheaper. Real. Here you have a look too! Do you need anything?

Good morning. You know there is a difference between wanting and needing. Though I find it hard to tell the difference sometimes. Although this was supposed to be an exploratory mission, so The Kiwi Builder could see what was there and start his list, Our John just had to take this phone home.

Good morning. The man who has rescued all this stuff saves barns and old houses, he takes them down bit by bit, while the farmers stand by with their gas cans and matches saying, hurry up, get a…

View original post 127 more words

Winnie’s New Doo

Yesterday morning my little girl took this photo of Winnie hiding in the closet before school. Sometimes he just likes to camp out under the coats and surprise me. When I least expect it I reach in there for something and he moves and I scream and he thinks it’s quite funny.

He didn’t actually scare me yesterday but he needed a good wash and some grooming, so just after the above photo was taken I made an appointment and took him up the street for a nice bath and trim. I asked them to cut out around his face so he could see better and not be so messy looking.

Here he is now!

I’m getting some push back around here about his new look. My family thinks he looks like a sheep. Some other words used to describe his new doo were “ridiculous”, “he looks like a poodle”, “I can’t take him seriously” and “he doesn’t look like a real dog.”

I think he looks like a real dog! He’s my baby! And now he’s a cute, soft little puffball.

He’s the only one who keeps me company while I work on these financial aid forms.

When he’s not camping out in the closet.

Stay warm today! Winnie and I are!

Love, Michele

Help Me With This Poor Apostle Plant

Knowing that I absolutely love iris, my dear friend Luis gave me this Apostle plant several months ago.

As much as I love to garden outside and grow things in pots I have this weird difficulty with houseplants. The light in my house is completely filtered almost everywhere and we keep the house on the cool side. I think it’s too cold (60 to 65 degrees) for most tropical plants that do well in filtered sun and there’s not enough sun for plants that would do well in cooler temps as long as they have lots of light.

So, getting back to the apostle plant. It’s also known as a walking iris and it can be grown as a perennial in warmer zones, up to zone 8, we are zone 5/6. The flat leaves are actually flower stems. I haven’t seen that yet but I hope to soon. As I read about them it sounds like it may become dormant in winter then bloom seasonally. I’m really hoping that happens! I’m wondering if I’m watering it properly. It’s in filtered light. Of course it is, it’s in my house.

This is it’s little sister, who I’m afraid isn’t doing well. When she arrived there were lots of leaf/stems. I’ve moved this plant around quite a bit trying to find a spot where it will be happy.

So what do you think? Has anyone grown apostle plant successfully? Do I just need to wait a little while?

Here’s what it will look like someday:

Neomarica flower (walking iris, apostle plant) (Photo credit: Joel Abroad)

Of course what you really want to know is, did I finish the financial aid forms from the other day? The answer is no, not yet, but I have made tremendous progress. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel so I treated myself to a quick blog post.

I’ll also treat myself to reading your comments and suggestions about what’s up with my plants 😉

Help me out!

Love, Michele

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