Maintenance

Getting back in to "writers mode" takes quite a bit of self reflection. Everybody has their own style or way to do things. For me, writing was something I used to do on a regular basis and it worked best if I sat down at the same time every day.

I'm a morning person, evenings are quiet time, usually spent with a book and rarely spent writing. Now that I work full time in a bank, finding time to write has been difficult. Thanks to my new MacBook though I have discovered the perfect solution. Simply bring my Mac to work and get used to writing on my lunch hour.

Yesterday was a tough day at work and I must say that posting to my other blog Melanie's Perennials was the best tonic ever!

One task I've been working hard at is going through all 396 previous posts (wow, not too shabby!) and making sure they have been labeled. Without a label on the post, they won't show up on the side bar here for you to be able to read. So I urge you to scroll and click away, more than 300 of those posts are already labeled and by the middle of next week all should be up and ready to go.

I've been thinking that once a week I might simply post a direct link to an old post that I find timely or amusing, what do you think about that idea?

Side note: How cool are these Saxifraga stolonifera (Strawberry Begonias)? They were growing in a small corner in my old garden. As many times as I tried to move them to another spot, they would not take anywhere else. Hopefully they continue to thrive without any added maintenance.

Of course the word "maintenance" also applies to physical work in the garden. The little town of Centerport that I live in is along the water on the north shore of Long Island. The land is hilly, most property lots are quite small with many homes being built into hillsides. Having a lawn is not a possibility in many places, instead we have huge Oak trees.

This photo was taken after Hurricane Irene hit last September. Most of our streets were totally impassible, we were without power 5 days (not too bad in comparison with some others). The gardeners in my neighborhood will find quite different growing conditions this season. The scars are still visible and some areas that were totally shaded will now get several hours of direct sunlight. It will be interesting to see what the season brings us.

melanie

Testing for Photos

Over this past weekend I took on the Herculean task of downloading 20,000 photos to my new MacBook. While my children have been Apple users for years, this is a new venture to me.

Trying to find my way through that maze of photos is daunting, although I'm sure I'll eventually learn ways to catalog and file those images to make things easier.

For now it's just easiest to steal a few shots from late winter 2008 (a file that popped up quickly :-))

The wonderfully mild winter here as been a boon to Pansies that smart gardeners planted this past autumn. One never knows what to expect though, especially after last years record breaking snow falls.

I am missing my Hellebores dearly. Wish I had thought to bring one or two here, maybe I'll hit a nursery or two this weekend and see what I can find. They should thrive well here in the shady gardens of my little cottage.

Snowdrops are up all over my neighborhood. None are on this property, right now there's a few crocus here and there but no Galianthus. A home near me has a nice mass planting of them along with some nice fancy Chickens that roam the tiny yard.

My dog Calie is fascinated by those chickens and when ever we walk past the house she has to thrust her nose through the chain link fence trying to catch a glimpse of them :-)

This post was mostly to test out grabbing and posting photos. Hope it works out!

melanie