Category: Flowers

Freeze-Dried Monday

Timothy Price1 Comment

 

It was a “real” Monday Monday. First of all, my weather widget on my computer said the low in Corrales would be 25 F, so I figured 15 F or so. When I got up the thermometer on the fence showed 5 F, which means it was near zero in other parts of the garden. The roses and flowers that were holding up against lows in the high teens and low twenties under the protection of the canopy are now freeze-dried, and my water filter, which I forgot to disconnect, was busted into pieces by the hard freeze. The weather widget says the low tonight will be 29 F — Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! The temperature is already down to 20 F. We are definitely doing our part to fight global warming.

But the Monday Monday didn’t stop at near zero temperatures. After I got the work one of the modules in the phone system went on the blitz, I had to restart a server and it didn’t want to reboot, clients upgraded their computers and their browsers were not reading javascript properly, so our web apps were acting up — just one thing after another.

Although one bright spot for a Monday is our Christmas Cactus bloomed (3rd photo). I think this is the sixth year in a row that it has bloomed for us.

 

 

 

 

Love & Manx

Timothy Price3 Comments

 

Between nights in the low 20’s and day time temps reaching into the 70’s, the rose bushes have a variety of fresh to freeze dried blooms. Mama Manx was looking in the window hoping one of us would let her in. Laurie made note of how cute she looked, while I photographed her. The kitty was very patient staring through the glass and screen until we finally let her in.

We headed out early this morning, in sub-freezing temperatures, all bundled up,  with coffee and Kindles in hand, prepared to brave the line and elements to exercise out right to vote — but there was no line. The poll workers outnumbered the voters, so we ended up spending about as much time saying hi to an old friend attending the vote scanner as we did voting.

 

 

 

 

El Dia de los Muertos

Timothy Price6 Comments

We went to a live performance of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” last night (wonderful performance), then went to the Frontier Restaurant to eat and visit afterward, so we didn’t get home until almost midnight. Laurie reminded me that we set the clocks back an hour, so I set all our analog clocks to 11:20 thinking we were almost ready for bed. However, by the time I remember I needed to go outside and turn off the water to the drip system, did a kitty count, messed around on the computer some more, and finally herded the cats to the bedroom it was 12:20 again — I ended up staying up past midnight twice last night.

We went to the Marigold Parade and Festival as part of El Dia de los Muertos after choir practice this afternoon. The Marigold Parade was great fun and people from the various cultures in the Albuquerque area participated and showed off their creativity.

Bob’s MAD

Timothy Price1 Comment

Politics! Need I say more? I had to go to Costco before they closed tonight, so I missed the moonrise over the pink Sandias. The moon had risen and only the tail end of the pink was still splashed on the granite along the top of the mountains by the time I could get a shot of it. We have had two nights with lows of 20 degrees F, so most of the flowers we didn’t bring inside got frozen. The flowers in the third photo have been defiant so far, and are still blooming despite the cold nights. I got an old crow flying overhead and then notice a Cooper’s Hawk watching me photograph the crow.

Hollyhocks Hanging In

Timothy Price1 Comment

Despite hard frost every night for the past two weeks, the hollyhocks have been hanging in and putting on new blooms. On the other hand, Wagner’s corn is making its last stand — the leaves are showing signs of frost bite.  The corn stalks will get plowed under in the next few weeks, which will make the cranes and geese happy to have a freshly plowed field to forage.

Sleepy Moon

Timothy Price2 Comments

On their way home from our birthday gathering last night, Laurie’s parents left me a message that the moon looked really good. I went outside to check it out, but I couldn’t see the moon because of the trees. I got up on the roof, but the moon was low so the trees still blocked it. So I ran back inside, got Laurie, and we drove up to the top of the road just before the sleepy moon slipped below another tree line. The birthday dinner was perfect, the cake was heavenly, and the moon added I nice surreal touch to the end of a great evening.

We dropped by Laurie’s brother’s new house on the way home from the weekly rehearsal for Handel’s Messiah, and a roadrunner was in the yard foraging for insects or whatever it could find to eat. I got a couple of orchids for my birthday that replaced the dried peonies that had hovered over my computer all summer and into the fall. They were making their last stand on the railing of the front porch before going into the compost.