This is walto.com

Month: May 2009

  • Camping at the Delaware Water Gap

    sunfishW. and I spent Saturday night camping at Worthington State Forest at the Delaware Water Gap.

    We drove out on Saturday afternoon, where we met up with 5 other scouts/families; unfortunately, we arrived just after the larger group had taken off for a hike up to Sunfish Pond.  Sunfish Pond is quite a hike – about 6 miles round trip, and would have been challenging for W. to say the least.  I’ve hiked up the A.T. at least twice, and the terrain can get very steep and rocky.  Instead, we setup camp and hung around until the group returned, then had dinner by the campfire.

    The temperatures during the day were pretty warm, but the overnight temps dropped into the 50s, which we got to experience first-hand when W. woke up for a 2:00 AM trip to the bathroom.  He really had to go bad, and the dam was about the burst; he did not even have time to put on his shoes for the 100 yard walk, so we grabbed our flashlight and took off into the darkness in just our socks.  Brrrr.  We were men on a mission, and focused on completing the task at hand without delay.

    The pace back to camp from the bathroom was a little bit more leisurely, and I noticed the pitch black darkness that lay just outside the small area lit up by our flashlight, and I remembered the warning signs posted all over the forest about the presence of black bears in the area.  I quickened our pace.  When we arrived back at the tent we tore off our muddied socks and jumped back into our sleeping bags, where we slept rather fitfully until sunrise at c. 5:45 AM.  By 8:30 we had struck the tent, broke camp and were in the car for the ride back home.

    This was W.’s first experience with real camping – out in the woods with real wild animals, amid the threats of deer ticks and poison ivy, instead of in the comfort of the backyard.  Despite the fact that we missed the hike, he had a great time.

  • Memorial Day, continued

    dscn4395_webSo much for kicking back and relaxing.  Guilt can be a powerful thing, and such a beautiful day as today is a rare thing indeed, so rare, that the opportunity to trim the overgrown hedges in the back of the yard under such pristine conditions might not have come again soon, so I abandoned my indooor plans and cleaned up the back fence and some other forsythias in the yard.  I must say, it looks hundreds of times better, and there is satisfaction in having completed the job.  Also, sprayed the front hostas to help keep away the deer and rabbits.

    dscn4389_webTo celebrate, I grilled up some zucchini, eggplant and vidalia onions, followed by a steak; we drained a 2005 Schloss Schönborn Estate Reisling that I had bought for W.’s First Holy Communion that was left unopened, which was simply outstanding.   The evening finished up with the backyard sunset while listening to Madame George.  Sweetness, indeed.

  • Memorial Day

    Front yard Bennington flag
    Front yard Bennington flag

    No doughnuts this morning, as we all slept in late…  another glorious day in New Jersey, temperatures in the high 70s, and the humidity a bit lower than it was yesterday.  Just finished watering the plants in the vegetable garden (K. calls them my ‘babies’) and some of the flowers that E. and K. planted yesterday.

    Now catching up cleaning up around my desk, and my workbench – nothing too strenuous.  I’ll be grilling some steaks later for some al fresco dining, to be followed by backyard lounging and watching the sun as it sets in the distance over the Watchung mountains.

  • Weekend Gardener, continued

    The vegetables are all in: 6 tomatoes (3 BIg Mama and 3 Beefmaster) 3 peppers (Giant Marconi) 3 eggplant (japanese variety) 2 zucchini (Burpee hybrid) 6 bib lettuce and a row of cucumbers (Streamliner.)

    I had planned to also trim up the overgrowth of forsythia and other shrubbage that is falling over the top of our fence from the back neighbors into our backyard but the humidity was a bit higher today than yesterday, and I just never got around to it.  It’s raining now, so maybe tomorrow – we’ll see.  For as much as I do enjoy gardening and maintaining the yard, I think tomorrow will be a day to kick back and enjoy the well deserved day off.

    E. usually takes the kids over to the Memorial Day parade in Berkeley Heights (compared to our town’s Fourth of July parade, their parade cannot compare) but I usually pass.  The bast part is when they all arrive home with a doughnut or two for Dad, picked up while watching the parade.  Mmmmm, doughnuts…

  • Weekend Gardener

    We’ve been incredibly blessed with some truly great weather the past week, and today was a spectacular day: temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s, low humidity, and a welcome occasional breeze,  This evening it is in the low 60s, which we are enjoying out on the porch, curled up on the couch with a couple of good books. 

    Spent most of the day doing gardening –  what else?  Trimmed and cut the lawn, and extended the vegetable garden by 16 square feet to make some room for 1-2 zucchini.  We tend to run out of space every year, and I find myself each year planting less than I would really like.  This year I simply decided to add more space.  We are incredibly behind with the vegetable planting, but I plan to put in the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants tomorrow, as well as get the cucumber and zucchini seed planted, weather permitting.

  • The Gardens

    img00122-20090522-1851_edited-1

    The flower beds this year look the best they have in years. Freshly mulched a few weeks ago, the perennials divided, thinned and trimmed some time ago, the plantings are beginning to take shape rather nicely. Still, some more weeding needs to be done in the large flower garden in the front of the house, a few more annual plantings here, some more mulch there.

    We stopped at a local nursery this afternoon, K., W., and I, after I picked up W. from school; we met Mom there, and picked up a few more lantana, salvias to pop in some open spaces, and a few other border plantings.  Sometimes I do feel like a kid in a candy store, with so many beautiful plants to choose, but I generally am able to control myself.  In the past few years we’ve really been able to focus on perennial plantings, for the ease of maintenance, for a consistent design to the gardens year over year, and to avoid laying out loads of cash on new plants every year!

    The irises in the front (photo above) have just started to bloom; I just love their color.  I purchased them a few years ago from White Flower Farm; this particular variety is called Butter and Sugar.

  • Busy Busy Busy

    will_communion3I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but time has been tight recently… we hosted W.’s First Holy Communion shindig last weekend, which turned out to be a blast.  Much prep work went into the backyard celebration, between cutting the lawn, digging/mulching/planting the flowerbeds, power washing the patio, tent/tables/chairs setup, coordination with the caterer, etc., … The celebration of the Holy Sacrament was held at 10:30 AM, and was very, very nice.  I barely recall my own First Holy Communion (I remember the date – May 10, 1970 – but very little else) in Holy Child Church in Philadelphia.  I don’t think I internalized the event at all, and just went with the flow and followed the kid in front of me.  W.’s First Holy Communion was much more intimate, and hopefully made a more meaningful impression on W than mine did on me.  W. actually was picked to read two of the petitions during the mass, and he did a great job.  Even while at home today, he was humming one of the songs his class learned for the celebration.

     

    The shindig at home lasted into late Saturday night.  The next morning, W. and his class helped to celebrate the crowning of the Blessed Mother in the May procession at Sunday mass.  To make the day even busier, of course, we celebrated Mother’s Day with gifts from W., K. and Dad for Mom, and visited E.’s mom/grandmother in the evening, bringing some of W.’s left-over cannoli filled cake.

    flying_monkeyFriday and Saturday night, W.’s school staged The Wizard of Oz.  W. played a munchkin in the first act, and a flying monkey in the second.  The kids certainly practiced enough over the past few weeks, and gave a pretty good performance.  I was kind of surprosed, because I know that some days at rehearsal W. enjoyed running around chasing his friends more than practicing his song and dance routine, but evidently he really was paying attention.   On Friday afternoon, he was genuinely bouncing off the walls excited – it was fun watching him perform, remembering my own grade school shows back in 3rd and 4th grade, and then years later in high school.  Fun stuff, for sure.

    Yesterday was catch-up day on the lawn.  The weather forecast for yesterday was iffy – cloudy in the morning, with rain showers in the afternoon likely, so I jammed in the iPod ear-buds and fired up the mower early.  The grass had grown quite a bit in the 10 days since I had cut it last, but that was nothing compared to the neighbors’ grass.  Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen much of them around the house for the past couple of weeks.  I heard the husband on his back porch last week or so when I was outside in the flowerbeds, and I had seen the missus a little before that, but pretty much every day their cars are both gone, all day, and I haven’t seen them in the mornings when we’re all getting out the door to work.  It made me kind of wonder if something wasn’t quite right, and sure enough, it wasn’t.  Turns out E. was in the local Target on Saturday afternoon when she ran into the soon to be former wife-next-door: the happy couple who bought the house next door a year after we moved to the neighborhood is filing for divorce and pretty much leaving the house to the bank.  They bought when the market was high, re-mortgaged again when the market went even higher, and now that the housing market has tanked they are well under water withan asset worth nearly 100K less then they owe on it.  Obviously, I am concerned as to the maintenance of the house right next door to mine and its impact on my own house’s value.  We’ll see how this story progresses…

    This afternoon W. and I flashed some leather and had a catch in the backyard; his throwing has improved a lot in the last year, and he’s doing a better job of getting his glove on the ball.  He doesn’t always make the catch, but he’s reaching for it better, getting in front of it, and following the ball into the glove.  It’s good to have the 6 foot fence behind him though, or he’d be chasing down a lot of balls that got behind him.

    On the weekend of May 30th, Scouts is planning an overnight camping trip to Worthington State Forest out in Sussex County.  I haven’t been out there in many a year; I think the last time I was there was to hike along the Appalachian Trail when I got caught in a downpour coming down from Sunfish Pond and had to strip down and drive home in some very wet underwear.  This time, we’ll be prepared for rain, just in case.

  • Getting Ready for the Big Day

    dscn4305-copyWe’re hosting a backyard shindig this weekend to celebrate W.’s first Holy Communion, and we’ve got our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates.  It’s been raining all week, except for a few hours yesterday when I was able to take a couple hours off from work and leave early and get the lawn cut.  It rained last night, but was somewhat clear this morning when the tent guys came and set up in the backyard.  However, as I type this, it is raining again.

    Pray for sunshine!

  • May 1979

    may_1979It’s that time of the year again… May rolls around, and I can’t help but remember what I consider the truly formative years on my life, in 1978 and 1979.

    Now 30 years have passed, and times and lives have changed, but for a few weeks each year I recall some truly magical events, places, and people whom I still hold deeply in my heart for their role in helping me to become the person I am today.