Beautiful At All Seasons by Elizabeth Lawrence for GBBC

This post on the book Beautiful At All Seasons was written by Annie in Austin for The Transplantable Rose.
Elizabeth Lawrence wasn't a TV star in charge of garden makeovers- she lived with her mother, made gardens in a couple of Carolina cities, wrote columns for local newspapers, corresponded with other gardeners and was the author of several beloved books, including A Southern Garden,The Little Bulbs, and Gardens in Winter. Bill Neal gathered up many of her columns in Through The Garden Gate, published in 1990. Now, more than twenty years after Miss Lawrence's death, we gladly pony up the price of another collection of her columns, written for a local audience back when the president was named Eisenhower, Kennedy or Johnson. The plants Elizabeth Lawrence speaks of may be regional, but her thoughts are abounding and universal and what a trip you can go on when following her words! Do not think she writes only for the South or that she has nothing to say to modern people. This classically educated woman may look ladylike but she is interested in everything and to get to the plants she'll join her friends in crawling across the forest floor hoping to catch a scent from early wildflowers, or confess to sneaking into the University of Padua Botanical Garden when it was inconveniently closed, only to be chased out of the park by furious Italian guards.

Beautiful in all Seasons, Southern Gardening and Beyond with Elizabeth Lawrence was put together by North Carolina writer Ann L. Armstrong and Lindie Wilson, the woman who bought Elizabeth Lawrence's house in 1986, thinking she'd bought a house but discovering that she now owns a garden shrine. The earlier collection, The Garden Gate, consists of columns written between 1957 and 1971, arranged rather like a daybook, taking you throughout the year. Beautiful In All Seasons is divided by subject matter, allowing you to read what EL wrote about the same plant, idea, principle, or holiday over the years. Since both books consist of short newspaper columns, they're perfect for quick refreshing dips when time is tight.

The introduction to Beautiful At All Seasons speaks of Miss Lawrence's "well-furnished mind" - a concise and exact description of what it's like to read her books. Do any of you know the Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn movie Desk Set, seen here in a poster from Amazon.com? The 1957 movie pits research and information person Katharine Hepburn's memory and retrieval skills against Spencer Tracy's EMERAC, the room-sized Electronic Brain. Somehow I think Elizabeth Lawrence would not only triumph over EMERAC, but would be a whiz on getting the best out of Google if she were around today.

I'm so glad MayDreams Carol chose this book for the Garden Bloggers Book Club! Although I didn't receive my copy until Friday, I've already taken quite a few refreshing dips, and was pretty pumped up when I read the article titled 'Importance of Garden Details'. Both Elizabeth Lawrence and I came up with the same Aspidistra/Holly Fern combination after trial and error. But she discovered this in 1963, while my reinvention took place in ...
Last week something EL wrote in 1970 added an extra dimension to my day. The cilantro was going to seed all over so I'd been harvesting some of the little round seed capsules, leaving some to reseed. You probably know that while the leaves are cilantro, the plant is Coriander.
I was collecting these coriander seeds for Chicken Mole, but while gleaning the seeds off the stems, I remembered that in a column called "Savory Seeds" from Through the Garden Gate, EL had talked about coriander seeds, along with others in the umbelliferae like caraway, dill and fennel. She said that coriander seeds were once coated with fondant to make a type of comfit, used to bribe children to be quiet in church. She noted that, "Alice had a box of comfits in her pocket when she followed the white rabbit down his hole. She produced it at the end of the Caucus-race....there was exactly one apiece all round."
I looked at the seeds - trying to imagine something that tasted like cilantro as the center of a candy, rinsed off a couple and gingerly bit them. The taste was quite different from the leaves - it was like some kind of citrus. With the outside temperatures approaching 100 °F and the A/C chugging away, it didn't seem like a good idea to pull out pans and a candy thermometer and make fondant...perhaps there was a simpler way to make a coriander candy. A few Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips smooshed around a couple of coriander seeds tastes enough like chocolate-covered orange peels to keep even me quiet for a few minutes.
This post on the book Beautiful At All Seasons was written by Annie in Austin for The Transplantable Rose.

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When He Just Doesn't Get Me

I ordered Desperate for my daughter who's in the middle of childrearing with six small children but thought I'd read it first. This paragraph on husbands resonated with me.

"One more example of my unhealthy expectations: I expect that my husband should "get" me. Oh this. How many of us just wish our husbands "got" us? We want them to understand us in profound ways, and then accept us with open arms. We want them to admire who we are, how we're made, and who we are becoming. We want to be known and loved.

What happens when they don't "get" us? What happens when they don't understand why we have to leave the dishwasher open all the time, or why we like Taylor Swift, or why we can't enjoy our time away if our feelings are hurt before we leave?

The "I expect" voice is a killer of joy and true contentment. My husband is not going to understand all of the inner workings of my soul. He's not always going to think I'm fabulous, and he is not always going to agree with me (he might even think I'm crazy sometimes). When we let our husbands off the hook and are content to be who we are for the glory of God and not the approval of man, life is greener and more full. I want to please my husband, and I want his unconditional love, but he's a sinner just like I am, and humans can't really give unconditional love; it's hard enough just to love.

We've got to snuff out that voice or it will burn our marriages. Find contentment in the overwhelming fact that you are perfect to God; He gets you because He made you. Live free in that truth."

Whew! That's a tall order. I confess that I've struggled with this issue for longer than I've been married; which is a long time. I'm a people pleaser, to those I truly love, in a big way. For the most part, I've let go of my real and unreal expectations, and life is surely more peaceful. But here's where I still struggle. When my husband DOES "get me" now, it doesn't mean a whole lot. I've hardened myself to not need his praise, but the fact that I've done that, I guess, really means that I truly still want it?

Human interaction is so extremely complicated. Especially when you've been with someone so long. It's impossible to unravel events, emotions, wrongs, rights, and whatever else goes into a marriage to make sense of it. So what to do? More next time and an analysis of the book What Alice Forgot.

Frustrating Day

I was up VERY early this morning. Watched TV until there was a place to have breakfast. Was one of the folks in line at Ruby's waiting when the Restaurant opened. After breakfast, I quick stop back at the room and drive into the park to shoot some photos at sunrise.

A little late in getting in position. Actually, the sun was just up when I got Bryce Point. Was able to get a couple shots.

Was cold this morning - in the upper 30s. Loaded up the car and headed toward Red Canyon. Was still too cold when I got to the West end of the bicycle trail. So, figured I might as well head to Zion.

Zion National Park was a zoo. Traffic backed up at the entrance and tunnel. Most of the turn-outs were full. My plan was to get at the Visitor's Center to that I could check out the scoop regarding the shuttle buses. All of the parking lots at the Visitor's Center were full. Signs said to park in the town pf Springdale.

Even though I was needing to use a rest room, I said "screw it" and headed to Hurricane to find my hotel. Checked into the hotel. The desk clerk did not give me any hopeful signs that tomorrow morning would be any better at the park.

Decided to leave options open - plot some alternate plans. Since i also wanted to check out dirt trails, I found a bicycle shop in Hurricane. At Over the Edge Sports found out that this is Fall Break. That's why so many people in the park than it was a week ago.

There really isn't a good other place to spend the next 3 nights. So, guess I will rest, check out some singletrack, and do some local tourist activities, May go up to Cedar Breaks. Could even go the the Grand Canyon North Rim (it its still open). Across southern Utah, I found places closing for the season within the next week.

Awesome Day, Sweet Ride

What a beautiful day. When I decided to head out to ride, it was about 65 deg, sunny, and no wind. The 4300 needed to be checked out after derailleur repairs, so brought it to the bike shop, switch pedals to the full (no flat side) clipless. Rode out from the shop.
Was not sure how far I would ride, see how I felt. Stopped at the Trail Center (10 miles). Feeling great to went on to the pedestrian bridge, rode over to Omaha, and took several photos. Went up to Millers Landing (first time there) and down to Lewis & Clark Landing. Finally, headed back across the bridge.
I have to comment. When I was a kid, I learned to look to watch for others around me. These days, just walk on the sidewalk, go to the the store. People do NOT look were they are going, do not watch for others near. I have many times when people would walk right into me, had I not stopped and back up. Well, the same thing is happening on the pedestrian bridge. They walk like they own the bridge. Hell, they don't even pay attention to on-coming traffic (walking or cycling). When I come behind them and call out "On your left!" they keep on walking like they never heard me. Today, I was coming behind 2 on the right, and 4 abreast coming my way. I called out to try to get through. NO ONE stepped over to make room. They kept walking, passing 6 abreast. WAKE UP, PEOPLE. There are more folks out here than you and your group.
OK, I will get off my soapbox.
Great ride on the way back to the shop. Much of the way, I was riding at 15-17 mph. Sweet ride. Ridden 30+ miles, gone for 2 hours and 40 minutes, 20 minutes stopped. Logging, I calculated the ride at 12.9 mph over the length of the ride, pretty good with the traffic on the bridge!

Quick Look III: Flowers, History, and Lighthouses

Our day of exploration took us to Roanoke Island, which lies between mainland North Carolina and the islands that I refer to as the outer Outer Banks.  Specifically, we explored sights in Manteo.

Our 8:00a departure from the campground made for perfect timing.  We arrived in Manteo an hour later, just as the places on our sightseeing list were opening their doors.  Our plans called for starting out in Fort Raleigh, but when we saw three busloads of kids in the parking lot, we made a quick adjustment to the order of our sightseeing stops.  All in all, our day worked out quite nicely.

In the morning, we visited …

The Elizabethan Gardens
(above and below)

Fort Raleigh ... Home of the Lost ColonY
(image from an informational poster in the visitor center)

Although we’d packed a picnic lunch, we toyed with the idea of eating at a restaurant on the Manteo Waterfront instead.  Once there, however, we had another change of heart (actually, I did; but Mui didn’t put up much of a fight).  Spotting a gazebo jutting out into the water, we headed there for an al fresco meal.

My hat stands in for me for the lunch photo op.

The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse … the view from our lunch spot.

We had planned to spend the afternoon at the North Carolina Aquarium.  That was before we learned that there were several busloads of kids there intent on doing the same thing.  Switching gears, we rounded out our afternoon in Manteo at …

The Roanoke Island Festival Park
(celebrating the first English Settlement in America)

And, on our way back to the campground, we capped off our day with a stop at the last of the four Outer Banks lighthouses …

Bodie  [pronounced “Body”]  Lighthouse

We were back at the coach around 5:00p.  A few minutes to check our emails; another hour to prepare and eat our steak and shrimp dinner (cooked to perfection in our microwave/convection oven since there are no grills at Camp Hatteras, and we’ve not yet bought one for the coach).  It was 6:30p before we knew it.

Although the clouds had moved in and the winds had picked up, we decided to walk over to the section of the campground that overlooks Pamlico Sound to watch the sunset.  Unfortunately, the stiff wind made it impossible to wait until 7:38p to see the sun disappear over the horizon.  Slightly chilled, and more than a little disheveled, we returned to the coach to enjoy a quiet evening at home.

A day of realisations

Sunday turned out to be a memorable ride for a lot of reasons. The Glasshouse mountains were spectacular as always.



I discovered a new route from Peachester to Maleny over Bald Knob (this may be an even prettier climb than Mt Lindesay).





There was the brutal climb over Obi Obi to a great view near Mapleton Falls (not a lot of water over the falls, but who cares?).



There was a spectacular descent on dirt through a beautiful forest into the Obi Obi Gorge to begin with.



There was even a new, out of the way spot which I might just turn into a lunch stop next time I'm in the area.


All that was "missing" were a few extra kilometres to turn the ride into a "century (that would be 100 miles as opposed to 100km). However, as I was standing on the Blackall Range watching the awesome light show provided by an approaching thunderstorm, I came to a realisation. I have been obsessing over mileage too much in recent times. To be frank, who really cares if a ride like this is a century or not? Is it really that important? Sure, I'll probably lose three places in the "contest" over at bikejoural.com, but so what? It's the scenery that will bring me back here next time around, not the mileage. It's the scenery that I will remember from this ride, the distance is something that I will have to look up should I ever think it is relevant in any way (unlikely).
With that, I descended to Nambour just in time for the 2.30pm train home, feeling rather satisfied.