Breakwall Icicles

Icicles hang from the cable railing along the harbor breakwall in Grand Marais, MN.

Molded by the Ice

When I went out with my camera yesterday, the ice still held my plants hostage - this relative of papyrus hadn't thawed a bit at 4 in the afternoon.

The cut -off stems of Hedychium coronarium/Hawaiian White Ginger bore an odd resemblance to the Cat tails that grew in Illinois swamps.

Over in the triangle garden, the 'Little Gem' magnolia leaves were gradually emerging, dropping clear replicas of themselves on the grass.

The Loquat leaves were still encased too, with most of the branches still bent. I experimented, holding a leaf and trying to slide off the ice, but it held on tight, so I left it to melt on its own.

But this turned out to be quite unlike my previous experiences with ice storms in the North. Many times ice would arrive just ahead of a thermal drop, so the ice would last longer, and the temperatures would be very, very harsh. I don't think we went below 28ºF here, and the unfreezing process was amazing to me.

This afternoon - ta da! My darling Loquat is rebounding I think, although one limb is now completely horizontal, blocking the patio exit at eye level instead of arching 8 feet overhead as it did a week ago. Ki has advised me that props may be necessary, and if we're going to use the patio, at least this branch will need support.

The ground is littered with browned and frozen loquats; the tiny fruits had just begun developing. A few remain on the tree, but winter isn't over, so my dreams of actually eating any this spring may stay dreams.

Today the 'Little Gem' magnolia [a small tree, shorter than I am] is standing straighter, but the center is more open, with the branches fanned out. The boxwoods look better, but have a new shape, too.

It's one in the afternoon, and we haven't thawed out as quickly here as Pam/Digging and MSS/Zanthan have reported - ice remains floating in birdbaths and in the pots.

I wonder if there will be permanent effects from the bending? From our decades of visiting the Chicago Botanical Gardens, I remember watching as trees were gradually forced into appropriate shapes for their Japanese gardens, with weights tied onto ropes, then suspended from branches. It took years in order to make them grow horizontally, but I may have a head start on that tortured, lateral look.

Is it time to start shopping for stone lanterns?

Glove, with snow

That's about it, really. Life is super-busy in our household just now, so anything more tonight is beyond me. As an example of our busy-ness: next week teenage son will be in Geneva for 3 days, visiting the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, off to Loughborough (England) for more aerospace engineering interviews 15 hours after he returns from Switzerland, at school for a day, then up to Aberdeen for a weekend orchestra project. There's more, but it makes me feel quite faint to think about it.

Crossing the gap

A couple good days of heat, head wind and excellent cycling have gotten me to Bisbee, AZ. Bisbee is a pretty sweet old copper mining town all stacked up on top of itself. Lots of historic, patchy, oak tree lined Lombard streets. Kinda like if a crackhead made cammels hump of a wedding cake. Complete with daily red light district and haunted house tours.
Just around the corner now from the old mexico border and bottom of the AZT. I'm gonna stock up on supplies, go thrash about and see if I can't be the first single speeder to thru-bike it to Utah. (If anyone knows anyone else who has let me know)

Itching for an NQ

Well... not these doggies, but moi. It was the first time I'd competed on grass and at this one certain point in the ring, you might have thought someone put scratchy powder there (although no other doggies did what I did). But tell you what: after I "did" it, I was like a deer in the headlights. I was totally flummoxed and didn't have a clue as to what I was supposed to do. I looked out at Dad, taking the movie, and standing stock still, looked at Ma. Was I supposed to go to her? Stay where I was? (After my booboo, Dad took pictures of the grass and surroundings, so since Ma doesn't know how to edit vids, you might want to stop after the "problem.")
Little did my rookie Ma know that she could have called me and just lost 3 points. Since I NQed at another show because Mom had to call me 2X on the "recall," Mom felt that I'd be disqualified if she called me to "come" after also saying "Heel." (2 commands again, in one exercise.) So we learned that it's an NQ to call 2x on the recall, but Mom could have called me in the heeling exercise with a minimum loss of points blah blah! Exasperating, but experience counts. And that is why, despite having earned my CD at the last show, I was here today - entered as insurance in case I didn't qualify at that last trial.
I'd rather be doing this!!!

R.I.P. Geckie

She was a good gecko.
I think her poor vision contributed to her not eating very well, especially lately. Or possibly something else was wrong. Leopard geckos can live to 25 years in captivity, and she was only eight, if the guy we bought her from was telling the truth. (She was supposed to be two when we bought her.)
She always went through periods of not eating, but would always snap out of it and make a comeback. But not this time. She died yesterday.
In this picture she was shedding her skin. Look how fat her tail was! (They store excess fat there.)
I think we're going to have to move her cage. Out of habit, I keep glancing down every time I pass it, expecting to see her. I didn't cry when we first found her dead, but that dang empty cage gets me every time.

Pat Conroy and His Cookbook

This is the view from the back deck which overlooks a small lake. I'm on Fripp Island for a few days to plan, rest, read, etc.
I brought Pat Conroy's Cookbook with me. I don't usually read cookbooks, but this isn't an ordinary cookbook, and Mr. Conroy isn't an ordinary writer. Put the two together, and you have one part lyrical autobiography and one part food from around the world.
So I began reading about making stocks when he says to take a whole chicken, wash it inside and out with cold water, then pat it dry. Why on earth would you do that, when the next step is to put it into a pot of water for boiling?
I've wondered the same thing at Thanksgiving. Why wash the turkey only to pat it dry? I never do that, and mine is always moist and flavorful.
Any of you cooking experts out there have an explanation? Seems a silly thing to me, but there's probably a good explanation I don't know about.