Rain, rain take a hike. . .
. . .grandpa wants a dry bike [ride] It was supposed to stop raining around noon but that never happened. So with 36 miles to finish the complete leg of Le P’tit du Train Nord, we don our rain gear and head off. We are fortunate that the base for the rest of the trail […]
Groundhog day
Another cool and cloudy day greets us as we start our ride toward Nominingue forcing us to layer up with windbreakers to thwart the chill. It’s an easy coast downhill toward Mont-Tremblant. Few other cyclists are on the trail and we appear to be passing through an alpine-like forest populated mostly with conifers separated by […]
An upward journey
It’s a cool, cloudy day for Ted and me as we start our 8-day ride in the Laurentians. The trail officially starts in St. Jerome and we will bike to a B&B in Mont Blanc, nearly 50 miles away, today. A giant arch signifies the start and we stretch our bicycle legs as we make […]
On the Road Again
Ted and I have hit the road again with our bikes for our annual Le Tour de Geezers. It is hard to believe but this will be our seventh bike adventure together in eight years. We return to Canada where we road and ate our weights in seafood through Prince Edward Island. But this is […]
Dying tree, woodpecker homes
Living in a house for over 30 years gives perspective to change. We used to have a trio of healthy sugar maples in the front yard and now we have just one showing signs of decay. But unlike the other ones that rotted out at the main trunk, this one is dying from the top. […]
Olivia pickings
After a cool and cloudy May, June has exploded with growth and harvests. For most of May, asparagus, greens and rhubarb were the only things we were pulling from the grounds. But with a shot of heat, rain, and sun, my other plants are catching up. The most anticipated (at least among my grandchildren) is […]
Teaching time
Though I have retired from Ann’s Place, I still have my hands in the horticultural therapy loam. I will be teaching an on-line course on Tuesday, May 7, 10-12 am, eastern time, on the topic of horticultural therapy as well as therapeutic horticulture. It is being sponsored by UConn’s Master Gardener Classes. In it I […]
Spring has arrived
In many ways, Spring is appropriately named. Its pent-up anticipation prior to the arrival of the equinox is akin to that of a child, Christmas morning, held back, unable to run to the tree to open his or her gifts. There are a few signs: snowdrop and muscari bulbs emerging, the slight greening of willows, […]
Golden ornaments
For the last few days, our feeders have been bombarded by countless goldfinches. They perch on a small dogwood in the back like so many Christmas ornaments waiting their turn at one of the feeders we have scattered around the property. This morning their numbers seemed to increase with a dusting of snow that added […]
Spring salads
It’s another year where we will start serving up Spring salads from the garden. I had pre-seeded both cold frames last Fall. Both had been doing well though December delivering delicious salad greens. But by mid-January a combination of extended temperatures in the teens and a rodent invasion basically stopped the harvests. Leaving for Florida, […]