Hectic day

Today was horribly busy at work, due to being short staffed (more than usual). Here are a few garden photos from earlier this year to provide a moment of zen.

Renewable Energy Fair

This weekend we went to the Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair in Custer, WI. This featured wind and solar power displays as well as workshops for installing your own wind turbine, growing vegetables, composting toilets, and other advice for "off the grid" lifestyles. I was startled to see several Amish salesmen at exhibits, having seen them only in their local farming and craftsman roles. I suppose they have more experience with off-grid lifestyles than any of us.

Midafternoon, a big storm blew overhead and we were all herded into the exhibition hall. We found ourselves parked near the Public Radio booth and had a chat with the host there. After about 45 minutes, the hail and lightning had ceased and we returned home after a long day.

Summer Solstice

Ani and I enjoyed the balmy evening and sat on the front steps to catch the sunlight of the longest day of the year. It stayed light until about 9 pm.

The Idli Stand

On our last visit to Devon St, we purchased an idli stand. Here are some of the first results of our efforts.

Jasio arrives

Jasio the Polish guest has arrived at my parents' house for the summer. They came over to visit the other day and he demonstrated his ability to play Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody from memory.

Ned, the alphabet cat

Today's issue of the Vine St. Gazette is brought to you by the letter "j".

Hot and steamy weekend

The Suki blog is up and running again! Check it out at http://sukiupdates.blogspot.com

In other news, here are the new flowers in the garden. Roses, lupine, bellflower, and daisies are brightening up our yard.

Cat on a hot tin roof

Here is Rowena enjoying life on the balcony. She doesn't seem to mind that the tin roof and trim is badly in need of painting!

Here she is acting goofy on the railing.

















And a nice rose photo of rht William Baffin Canadian Explorer Rose

Robin nestlings

Two robins have made the rather questionable choice of building their nest in the magnolia tree right next to the front door of the house. It's about 6 feet off the ground and you can look right into it from the front steps. The only good thing about this site is that there is a thorny wild rose climbing the magnolia, and that might possibly deter a cat. I doubt it, but it's possible.

Yesterday, Seema and Vinay and Ani's aunt came for a brief visit. I got up at 5 am, because Ned had gotten outside and I was worried that he might kill the birds. They were making quite a racket as soon as the sun came up. I went outside and looked for Ned, to no avail, and when I looked in the nest, I only saw 2 chicks. There were originally 4 eggs, so two were missing. Ned showed up a little while later, but the robins kept up their racket all day.

When Seema's family arrived, about 2 pm, Vinay said that there was a robin chick on the front curb. We debated for a while whether we should leave it there for the parents to tend, but felt there was far too much traffic (people and dogs) for the chick to survive. So I picked up the chick and put it back in the nest, and the robin settled right now and quit their distress calls. I wasn't sure if the parents would feed the chick since I had handled it, so I fed it some worm-sized slices of turkey which it quickly gobbled up.

Later on, Mom and Dad Robin returned and brought some sustenance for the chicks, so I beleive all is well in Robin Land.

Sari photos

I wore the red silk Kanchipuram sari the other day. Here are some photos!

Roses and Spiderwort, garden news

Summer flowers continued to put on a lovely show in the back garden. Here is a "William Baffin" climbing rose and a closeup of tradescantia, otherwise known as spiderwort.



I dug 60 gallons of soil from behind the garage when I got home from work, and planted about 20 hot pepper plants. The veggies planted in buckets seem to be much happier than the ones in the ground, so I had asked Dad for some more buckets to plant in. Hopefully some of the bushes will bear something for Avinash to eat this summer!

DVD Project:
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast

A Beautiful Day

Today I painting Grandma's Mission-style rocking chair. I took advantage of the warm sunny weather outside and painted on the back patio.

The rocker was something that Jim had gotten from the dump, I think, and grandma painted it brown and had it re-caned by an elderly blind lady living in Mountain. It's always looked pretty dingy and I repainted it in a glossy green color.

DVD Project:
Mary Poppins
The Iron Giant

Marketplace:
Aristocats and Egypt Treasure Chset - Amazon

Survey payouts from the last few days:
$5 from Pinecone
$50 to Ani for a diversity study
$10 from Lightspeed, which now takes 1150 points :(
$15 from BI

Here's a photo of Ned cooling it on the pack porch, snuggling with Ani's environmental engineering textbook.

More June flowers

Summer flowers are out!