rainbow tree

growing up in berkeley, i am familiar with eucalyptus trees: they're tall and they smell good. but i never saw one that looked like this rainbow eucalyptus! wow!
via colourlovers.

butterflies are not free

let butterflies migrate to your living room on this papillon chaise by d.sign21. the designer envisioned hundreds of butterflies chasing each other: i am not sure if it comes in custom colors, but i like the concept!

via contemporist.

earth day blasts on

today is earth day and the navy introduced  a partially bio-fueled version of it's gas hog f/a-18 super hornet called the green hornet. the twin engine jet made its test flight from pax river naval air station filled with 50% bio fuel derived from the crushed seeds of Camelina sativa. the hornet cruised the bay and tried to break the sound barrier.
 it could see my house from up there!

plum peonies

I love the idea of peonies: big gorgeous fluffy heads bursting with color! in reality, mine had always fallen over and became infested with ants, so even if I wanted to bring them indoors I couldn't. but then I ran across these plum peonies this morning: standing erect despite the rain and looking gorgeous! I might have to rethink peonies...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

future flower

i love tonkin liu's future flower!

installed as the premier project signaling the resurrection of widnes waterfront, the big blossom stands almost 46 feet tall and 15 feet wide and has solar powered, wind activated lights in graduated shades of red: wow! a lot is riding on the future flower: a local councilman states "it is an amazing piece of artwork. we are proud to see how quickly the widnes waterfront area is developing and expect thousands of people to enjoy the future flower over the coming months".

right on!

read more on contemporist.

why does my neighbor do this?

i am not sure what precipitated this installation...at first i thought it was halloween, but it remained and then changed at thanksgiving...then christmas. did they clean out their garage, find this old wig head and not want to part with it? oh...its up-cycling!, i declared. but then she got a new sparkly outfit for new years. and, yes: red and pink for valentine's day, followed by green for the st. patty's celebration. thank god easter came and went, because this fantastic spring planting outfit appeared this week. oh, man: cinco de mayo is next.

white house garden tour

the national park service will distribute free tickets for the white house garden tour starting at 8:00am this morning. tour the jacqueline kennedy garden, the rose garden, the white house kitchen garden as well as the south lawn of the white house from 10-3 today.

magnolia

in the middle of the woods i found this lone magnolia petal, laying there looking gorgeous...

men at work

i never see women at my vegetable garden plot: not sure why, but it's true. maybe they know something. today all the mens worked the field. not hard enough though: i'm calling in the farmer for a deep plow, otherwise these weeds will be taking over in a few days.

moss covered tables

these moss covered tables for a secret garden are by ayodhya trade (could not get a valid link for them) and are fantastic. i bet they could be adapted to a diy project for my shade garden or patio!

(i dont have a patio).

i ♥ pansies!

pansies are so awesome: why are they associated with light-weights? my first flower box planting of the year is pansies! why? last year when the weather broke, i planted amazingly decorative sweet potatoes: 9 inches of rain followed by a freeze later: my potatoes were dead...so this year: i am starting with the velvety flowers that can cope with the unpredictable ups and downs we call 'weather'.

cherry blossoms

the heat...the wind...the rain...the wind...the cherry blossoms are gone! they were gone by last tuesday downtown, even though the national cherry blossom festival ended this weekend, and the few that made it through the weekend are, unfortunately, in the gutter.

Common Good City Farm

today is the opening day for
common good city farm,
a half-acre of earthly delights located @ 300 V street, nw. this fantastic
ledroit park farm grows fresh organic
produce for low income residents, as well as conducts edible gardening
workshops for everyone.
celebrate the greening of d.c. with live music, tastings and an easter egg
toss (wasn't that last weekend?).
anywho...the farm starts today, and
will be open monday
and thursdays 3-7 and wednesdays
and saturdays 10-1.
today's festivities run from 11:30-1:30.

hot weather

last year at (about) this time, we had snow: not today, though.

@tacos el gringo

must be sunday...

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city farm

today is the pre-opening day for
common good city farm, a half-acre of earthly delights located @
300 V street,nw.
this fantastic ledroit park farm grows
fresh organic produce for low income
residents, as well as conducts edible
gardening workshops for everyone.
celebrate the greening of d.c. at the

public opening on april 10th with live
music, tastings and an easter egg toss.

first spring weekend

this was the first weekend of spring and it was worth the wait! temperatures were in the mid 70's and after a long hard winter, it seems like things are actually looking up... especially the daffodils! i spent as much time as possible outside trying to soak up any and all warmth available. i ran the dog down to the creek so he could have a quick swim and through the woods to see if we could find where the eagles have nested this year. i watched the mister relocate leaves and rake thatch. we paddled yesterday and today, but stayed in our creek as the potomac river and chesapeake were a bit on the choppy side with all the warm wind blowing in from the south. i watched a crow couple build a nest in a loblolly pine and wondered if their babies would be adorable or evil. i drank cocktails and watched the sunset.

meyer lemon meringue pie

friday night i made a meyer lemon meringue pie, shown above. this is a recipe i remember my mom making and everybody loving. those meyer lemons made it sweet and tart to perfection...so much so the mister ate half of it friday, and then the remaining quarter saturday morning!

all that work for so little pie!

meyer's lemon meringue pie

crust

20 finely crushed graham crackers

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

combine ingredients in pie pan.

press with the back of a spoon to fit pie pan

bake at 350° for 10 minutes

set aside

filling

fine grated rind of 2 lemons

1 cup fresh lemon juice

4 egg yolks

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

beat egg yolks until smooth and lemon colored

fold in condensed milk

add lemon juice and rind.

blend til smooth

pour into pie crust

meringue

4 egg whites chilled in chilled mixing bowl

8 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
dash of salt

combine sugar, salt and cream of tarter

whip egg whites 

add sugar mixture one tablespoon at a time just before peaks begin to form.

whip thoroughly after each addition

whip til stiff

top filling with meringue.

spread with spatula or back of spoon to form peaks.

bake on top rack of oven at 350° til top browns, 10-15 minutes.

mushroom time

yeah, it is that time of year again: mushroom time!
these were tiny ones.

stormy skies

the storms blew through earlier this week...

now its all sunshine and smiles.

rainbow

storms are ending- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

@ tacos el gringo

so super fresh!

 Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

spring has sprung...and i like it!

before the rain started, I spent a couple hours raking out my flower beds, doing a little weeding and prepping for mulch. the sedums are starting to froth and the crocus are up!

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flood alert

i get alerts on my i-phone when anything bad happens or is going to happen in the dc metro area. right now, its a flood alert , and that is not good! all of the sand, salt, garbage, asphalt scrapings, car drippings, kitty litter, dog crap, and varied rubbish from the last few months of wintery hell will be washing down the sewers to the creeks and rivers, and finally into whatever water you live near. polluted stormwater overflows into our water supply. here are three ideas from the audubon naturalist society we can all do to try and reduce the toxic stew.

1. fix leaky cars

2. choose organic fertilizers, but don't apply them if your yard is frozen or before the big rain storm. 

3. use CMA-calcium magnesium acetate- for future de-icing ventures

here are ten other very easy household ideas to help our local waterways and reduce your carbon footprint.

pansies and violas

today was 60-something degrees and it made me want to plant some flowers-but i know that's wrong! we are in early march, and freezing temperatures can hit at any time during the next month here in the mid-atlantic region. so, what to do when you want to see some green with a punch of color? plant violas and pansies! these hardy little beauties sneer at frost and smile through snow.

they often re-seed themselves, also.

green house envy

as the snow melted and the sun heated up the earth, i passed lots of steamy greenhouses this weekend: i covet one.  a little one, though: not a huge, gorgeous one like this beauty at the botanical garden in curitiba, modeled after the crystal palace.

snow drops

now that the snow has finally receded, spring is emerging! snow drops are everywhere and trees and shrubs have begun budding out.

i couldnt be more thrilled!

a beautiful tree

i really hate cold weather, like the kind we have all winter. but one cool thing about winter is that deciduous trees get to show off their true forms.  the black versus white contrast is very striking.

cactus collection

i collect cacti and succulents: i have one cactus that was found in the yard of my parents new (to them) house in 1968...another plant, a rosary bead succulent baby, was my grandmother's: my dad remembers it being around over 60 years ago. i also have prickly pears in the yard, euphorbias, a variety of hens and chicks and many many different types of sedums. if you dont collect cacti because you dont like needles or refuse to house succulents because you forget they need water occasionally, try these great candles from the candle factory. they will fill a space with ambient light but are not poke-y at all.

karim rashid discovers roots

crazy-prolific designer karim rashid  designs vlek planters for spanish furniture manufacturer vondom. the self watering vessels maintain optimum moisture up to 120 days, and also have a self feeding ability.