round three

In snatches of time spent in the garden (mostly in response to two cats who have perfected “begging to go outside”), I’ve noticed the roses getting ready for the third round of bloom this season.  The salvias, star jasmine, and dianthus are also having another go at it.  There are buds on the lemon and lime trees.  And my dark blue agapanthus is still blooming.  Amazing.  Wish I had half their stamina.  My days have been busy and long, making for very short evenings.  But how can I resist these two squeaky felines, circling my legs always with one eye on the door?  Besides, it’s time to smell the roses.

The pink rose bed, starring Chicago Peace, Perfume Delight, and the indefatigable McCartney Rose.

Souvenir de la Malmaison has never bloomed as well as it has this third round.  Can you see the tiniest grasshopper?  He went to grasshopper heaven after I took this photo.

I’m still not quite sure where these will wind up.  For now, they’re in pots amongst the cutting bed roses.

The straggly, but fruitful, tomato.

Christina was right:  these eggplants have to get picked early or they are seedy and bitter.

Double Delight seems to be a continuous bloomer, barely deterred by my lack of deadheading.

I love this cranesbill geranium.  With more attentive watering, it’s thriving and blooming.

Molineux’s blooms look almost orange.  This year, he seems to bloom in small clusters after the big bang at the beginning of spring.

Blue salvia (azurea?) just starting out.  The hummingbirds have been hovering around it for days.

In my rose-greedy-buying frenzy several years ago, I bought Baby Faurax (about 3′ wide by 2′ tall) without really having a spot for it.  It got squeezed in behind Gilbert Nabonnand (who seems to want to be about 4′ x 4′).  So I consider it my “secret garden” rose to be visited on special occasions

White Pascali with a little friend in the background (possibly Gartendirektor Otto Linne).

is it typical?

For those of you growing tomatoes, is it typical for your plants to look its straggliest when the fruit is most plentiful?  Or is it just my poor vegetable gardening skills?  Don’t spare me, I can take it.

…….And this is the prettiest angle I could find.

nostalgia meme

Fabulous has tagged me with an interesting meme that, I think, started here.  It’s kind of fun to think back to earlier days.

1. Can you remember without looking what your first post was about?
It was possibly about fish sauce.  I remember adamantly not wanting to call what I was doing blogging.  It was just going to be a place to post pictures and descriptions of Vietnamese foods to help an American friend who had adopted a Vietnamese girl.  When I realized my friend didn’t have a clue what I was talking about (reading blogs, etc.), I decided to continue anyway, posting things that amused/interested me.

2. Where did you write it?
There’s a room in my house called the studio where all the computering happens.  I was uploading photos directly onto the blog host at the time and I had just gotten my first (used) digital camera — one of those old swivel Nikon Coolpix cameras.

3. Which was the first blog you read?
I remember reading a news article online and seeing this list of bloggers off to the side and clicked one of them just for fun.  I can’t remember the name, but he was a clerk for a judge.  He had a blogroll with some interesting names and I clicked on “Lileks” because I liked the sound of it.  Before I knew it, I’d entered a world chock full of interesting things to read.

4. Who did/do you tell about your blog, if anyone?
I think I sent a link once to my mom and maybe an aunt or two, but they didn’t seem to understand that it was an ongoing thing.  Currently, I have just a handful of friends who know.  It’s not a secret but I certainly don’t volunteer the information.

5. Has your blog ever caused a scandal?
Heavens.  A blog about cats and gardens and food?  No scandal that I know of.

6. Tell us something random which happened as a result of blogging?
“Random” is an interesting word choice.  I spent some time with my college-age cousin when we visited our uncle in France and she used “random” to mean crazy or strange rather than arbitrary.  But I’ll answer the question this way:  I love it when a comment shows up out of the blue from someone who followed some link somewhere and landed here and just wanted to say hello or tell me how cute the cats are or whatever.

7. Snog, Marry or Avoid - pick another blogger for each.
I’m not sure I’m ready to reveal who I’d snog, marry or avoid!  But I’ll leave the meme open to whoever wants to participate (lame, I know), though I’d be particularly interested in hearing how Flighty, Moody Minstrel, Louise, Diva, and Ellen got started.  Coincidently, Natalie also shared the beginnings of her blog recently and how it got its name.  C’mon, tell me how you started.

8. What’s your most amusing blog memory?
There was this little blogging community that came together at that first blog host with some excessively creative people. Someone would start a story and tag the next person to continue. It was a whirling click-a-thon of reading and commenting and laughing (and giving and receiving of sweeties). I’m sure my bit was the dullest, but it was a lot of fun to be connected with them. Most of these friends left that site (and I’ve lost track of a few of them) but I still recall that time and smile.

Roses at the Richard Nixon Library, purportedly the largest rose garden in Orange County

indecision

photo by beginninghere

Ever have something on your calendar for many weeks only to wish it wasn’t there when the date arrived?  My weekend had suddenly filled up and a busy week at work made me reconsider a long-planned visit with friends — an early birthday party for my friends’ mom.  Invariably, once I’m there, I find myself glad to have made the decision to go.  The narrow living room of my friends’ childhood home seemed an unlikely a place for a concert, but the rich, vibrant tones of the solo cello resonated beautifully.  It was an intimate setting with just seven of us enjoying the gorgeous music (Bach and old sacred hymns) being played just a few feet from where we sat.

The garden on an early summer morning

Some garden (in)decisions have involved:  roses (move or remove?), cinder-block wall (paint or stamp?), replace those dead carolinas or wait until fall, trim the hedge or let it grow, where to plant the lavenders, what to do for an ailing gardenia, where to hang the chime, whether to paint the patio cement, how much to take off the bush cherries…….

Happy coconut shrimp

For Independence Day dinner, my mom had arrived bearing a pound or so of the most gorgeous shrimp I’d ever seen.  They were smooth grey and plump and fresh looking.  She had meant them to be a contribution to the grilled food, but we had already taken everything up and the grill was set to burn off the bits of chicken that had stuck to it.  So I took these beauties home, still wondering how best to cook them.  I finally decided on a modified version of shrimp in yellow sauce:  minced garlic, ginger, shallots sautéed in coconut milk, crushed chiles, and a bit of fish sauce.  And since I’m the only one in my household who eats shrimp this way, it was all mine (well, I peeled some for roomie’s dinner - shrimp sautéed with asparagus).

Minou seal of approval

There are times when we love our pets.  We can’t imagine being without them and we have deep affectionate feelings.  And then there are times when we’d be happy to leave the front/back door open, take their ID tags off their collars, and hope they’ll run full speed after the first thing that catches their eye.  Minou has had the latter effect on me lately.  There had been a little too much “out of the box” thinking on his part and roomie and I were at our wits’ end.  Finally, we made some changes that seemed to meet with Minou’s approval.  And though the studio has undergone a lot of rearrangement (do we keep the desk or get a new one?), he’s dealt with them well and we’re all happier.

Sometimes life is full of decisions.  And there are a few more on the horizon.

Graham Thomas

GTS: only one

Perhaps I’m misremembering, but I thought early summer was a good time for my plumeria to really show off.  So far this summer, there’s just a soloist.

It’s Green Thumb Sunday!
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday;
visit As the Garden Grows for more information.