Quote of the Day: John Greenleaf Whittier
Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall;
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all.
~ John Greenleaf Whittier
I think of this quote when I visit gardens that were planted and tended many years ago like: Pierre du Pont’s Longwood Gardens, Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello, and F.A. Seiberling’s Stan Hywet. All of these men had riches and they chose to invest some of those riches in their gardens, which we all can now enjoy. Here are some photos from Stan Hywet in Akron from a couple visits in 2009, if you want to see the slideshow in full screen click on the little icon in the top left corner of the first photo.
[flashgallery folder=”Stan_Hywet”]
I really enjoy going to gardens like this, I’ll never have a grand garden filled with rare plants, but I often find little ideas to incorporate in my own garden. There’s something quite wonderful about visiting an established garden that has been around for a long time.
Do you enjoy visiting botanical and public gardens? What’s your favorite?
Share this:
A Valentine’s Day Surprise
Last week Ethel Gloves contacted me because they wanted me to take a photo of their gloves for a Valentine’s Day promo. I didn’t have a pair of the lovely red Expression gloves, so they overnighted me a pair for the photos. Because of the ice storm that came through, the gloves were delayed and didn’t arrive until right before sunset on Thursday. I had a small window of opportunity to take a few photos for them, thankfully the lighting was PERFECT. With Mr Chiot’s help we braved the single digit temps and got a few great images for them.
I was thrilled to open up my e-mail yesterday to find one of my photos looking back at me. I went to their website and there it was again. If anyone is interested in getting a pair of Ethel’s (perhaps you can leave this blog open for your husband to see) there’s a special Valentine’s Day discount, use code: VALENTINE15 until February 28 to get 15% off your purchase.
I’m not a procrastinator so doing things last minute under the gun stresses me out big time! It was also super stressful because I’m not a professional photographer by any means, I simply love doing it for creative expression and to document what’s going on in my life and my garden. I’m definitely not a professional!
Are you a procrastinator, do like working under the gun, or are you a get everything done way ahead of time kind of person?
Share this:
Just Call us the Gerhke’s
Edward and Margaret Gehrke, a childless couple from Lincoln, Nebraska, began traveling together to the national parks in 1915, when they stopped at the Grand Canyon on the way home from a trip to San Francisco.
For the next quarter century, traveling first by rail and then in a succession of new Buicks, the couple would visit all of the national parks that existed at the time. During each summer journey, Edward snapped photographs and Margaret recorded their adventures in her journal. The journals and photographs were eventually given to the Nebraska State Historical Society.
In the 1930s, Edward built a “house-car,” but he died in 1939 before they could drive it to a national park. In 1948, Margaret traveled once more by train to Rocky Mountain National Park, the couple’s favorite destination.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (PBS)
Gerhke’s journal pages from Nebraska Historical Society
Mr Chiots and I enjoy traveling, especially by car. We tend to go camping, hiking and all those kinds of activities while vacationing. We favor traveling on the back roads and talking to local people. A while ago we decided that we were going to visit all the National Parks. I visited many of them growing up, as my family enjoyed long driving/camping vacations seeing all the wonderful things this country had to offer. There are a few parks that our minivan never made it to, so I’m excited to add those to my list, especially Crater Lake. Mr Chiots is super excited to see all of them, but is especially looking forward to Mr Rushmore.
We have visited the Smoky Mountains several times and were able to visit Acadia on our trip to New England this past fall. We live fairly close to Cuyahoga National Park and have spent a lot of time hiking/driving around it.
This summer we will be spending a week in Seattle with friends, so we decided to drive out through the Northern States, visiting Theodore Roosevelt, Glacier and North Cascades National Parks. Our friends will fly out and meet us in Seattle. While there we’ll visit Mt Rainier and Olympic National Park. On our way home we’re planning on coming down through Oregon to finally check Crater Lake off my list and then head back through Idaho and Montana to visit Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, the Badlands and any others we can fit in.
Of course we’ll be driving our MINI and hopefully pulling a little teardrop trailer we’re hoping to build this spring. We’re planning on starting a new blog just to document our travels, a journal of sorts and we may make a video diary our trips, since that’s what we do for our day jobs. I’ll be sure to let you know when that is up and running so you can check it out and see what we’re up to.
The only problem with taking three and half weeks off in the summer is that it severely cuts into my gardening time. But driving out through the northern states isn’t an option in the winter. Since you all had such great tips for our trip to New England, I figured I’d ask for any great tips, restaurants, places to see and things to do on our trip. We have yet to nail down our exact route home and we’re pretty flexible with time on that portion of our trip.
So any great suggestions for things to see/do while in Seattle? Any great recommendations for our travels to out west and back?
Share this:
A Great Excuse for Good Food
I’m not a football fan, I grew up in South America so soccer is more my speed. Every year though we get together with friends for a super bowl party. It’s not so much about the football but about the food. I always enjoy having an excuse to make a bunch of delicious things.
I spent the day yesterday baking away. I make two batches of kaiser rolls, one whole grain, one white. I made some enriched dough to wrap around little smokies (one of Mr Chiot’s favorite Super Bowl snacks). Some whole grain olive oil crackers were also pulled out of the oven, they were quite tasty (I’ll share the recipe later).
I also used some of those lovely Meyer lemons to make a lemon pound cake. Ina Garten’s recipes never let me down, I find then to always turn out beautifully.
The cake was fabulous of course, not too sweet, perfectly tart and deliciously lemony. I took lots of photos and will share the recipe with you later this week.
Do you attend a Super Bowl Party? What kinds of food do you eat?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Wayne Winterrowd
“A garden that is not worth a little trouble
is not worth anything”
Wayne Winterrowd
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Wayne Winterrowd this past fall, his gardens have always been inspirational to me. The first book I ever read about the Gardens at North Hill was Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill. It was the book that got me thinking about living a more seasonal life. Savoring things, especially foods, in their season when they’re at their best. This book is out of print, and I wish I had purchased a copy back when I could get one. I’ll keep my eyes peeled at used books stores for it as I’d love to add it to my bookshelf.
photo courtesy of Cheryl Pedemonti a Flickr friend
I’ve been wanting to visit the garden at North Hill ever since I read the first book by Wayne and his partner Joe, but I have yet to make the journey. I was really hoping to attend their kitchen garden symposium this summer, but sadly I’m busy that weekend. Now that the gardens are going to be open to the public on the weekends, I may have to make a trip up there during one of my free weekends this summer.
Who’s been inspirational to you in your gardening career? Is there one book, person or event that you can pinpoint as having a big influence on your life?
