So, where was I?

It's early August and I'm already pulling up my tomato vines. That pretty much tells you how my summer has been this year. The garden was doing pretty well up until late June, right about when we had a freak derecho blow through town. We were lucky in that we had no property damage and didn't lose power for a week like some people did locally. Even my garden survived intact, but the derecho marked the start of the end.

After the derecho we had weeks of dry, relentless hot weather with little rain. My sweet corn started to tassel when it was only about 4 feet tall, but the heat caused the silks to dry out prematurely before good pollination occurred. My half runner beans got tough and stringy right away. The squash bugs took all my yellow squash, patty pan, zucchini, and pumpkins in just a week.

Determined to save what was left, we set up our irrigation system and began watering regularly. We traveled to Texas in early July and I worried about the garden, but it did fine in my absence with the irrigation. The tomatoes took off and were gorgeous. Tall, full of yellow blossoms, and repeatedly needing more staking to prop up the rampant growth. The okra, peppers, and tomatillos were looking good, but by golly those were the prettiest tomato plants I'd ever seen.

Then right before we left for a week at the beach in late July, I found late blight on my tomato plants. If tomatoes develop late blight in late August or early September, you can often still get a decent harvest in before the fungus kills the plant. However, July is early for late blight in our state. My plants still had small, hard green fruit. I didn't have time to get the material and equipment to spray my plants before we left for vacation, plus sprays for late blight are most effective when applied preventively, not after the plants are already infected. Nearly in tears I realized that there wasn't much I could do about my plants and I didn't know what might be left when we returned from the beach. And recognizing that our regular watering schedule, along with me planting the tomatoes too closely together, hastened the development of this fungal disease didn't make me feel any better.

Every one of my tomato plants was infected when we returned. (To add insult to injury, the corn ears that did develop should have been picked while we were gone and had already started to turn starchy.)

Late blight will infect tomatoes at all stages of development, so now in August I'm culling as much of the green tomato fruits as I can. I tried leaving a few infected tomato fruits on the vine to see if they would ripen more, but the blight lesions simply spread too much into the fruit before it changes color and the whole thing becomes inedible. At least I can cut the lesions out of the green fruit and make pickles with the remaining good part, but it's a lot of extra work that I hadn't planned on doing.

It's incredibly disheartening to pick all those green tomatoes and then pull the vines out of the ground when I should be up to my eyeballs in red, ripe tomatoes at this time of the year. Plus, late blight smells foul. The infected plants are susceptible to secondary bacterial rot and that part of the garden just reeks of decay. Luckily the spores won't overwinter on my tomato stakes and the infested plants won't be a problem if they rot down entirely, which shouldn't be an issue in early August.

So it's been a rough season in the garden. Other gardeners I know in my area have had similar problems with drought, disease, slow plant development, and various unwanted wildlife, so I know it's not just me. On the bright side, we were able to join a CSA through Steve's workplace while at the beach, so we do have fresh local produce each week now. And thankfully I'm not trying to feed my family out of my garden through the upcoming winter, but y'all can probably expect a jar of green tomato pickles for Christmas this year.

Texas Lorikeet

Truly, you have not lived until you've had a lorikeet stick its tongue in your ear.

The Yurt

Steve and I had wanted to visit the Charlottesville area for a number of years, but never really got around to planning the trip. We mentioned this at Christmas and Steve's sister offered us their time share points that were about to expire very soon, so we suddenly had free lodging right outside of Charlottesville. As luck would have it, this particular resort offered comfortable cabins and "luxury yurts."

Of course we opted to stay in the yurt.  Really, we couldn't turn it down and consequently spent the next month giggling at the phrase "luxury yurt."

On our arrival the yurt looked very much like a circular tent with weatherproofed tarp on the outside. These are permanent structures with lit walkways and a lockable front door.



The yurts are elevated off the ground with a naturalistic fencing hiding the plumbing and electrical necessities. Steve immediately commented that you know there must be possums or raccoons living underneath there.



But the yurt did not disappoint. (You can tell I'm not a professional travel writer because I waited until the last day before taking pictures of the yurt. Try to ignore the luggage and towels strewn every where in these photos.)







Yep, it's a completely circular room with a full size sofa and reading chair, electric fireplace and TV, and a queen sized bed with dressers.  There's a good size table for four behind the sofa and a full kitchen along one side of the room. The kitchen was fully stocked with dishes and cooking equipment. Behind the kitchen is a full bath with a generous shower stall.



Honestly, this is a much nicer shower stall than we currently have in our master bath.



The roof is a tarp over the support beams. There's even a ceiling fan and a skylight. I think this must get pretty loud during a good thunderstorm, or in the fall when the oak trees start dropping their acorns.



Behind the yurt was a small deck with wooden Adirondack chairs, deck lights, and a gas grill. I've stayed in nice hotels in large cities that didn't have as much to offer as the yurt did.

The resort was sparsely occupied but we did hear a fair amount of noise through the yurt walls (cars driving by, a rooster over by the stable). I'm not sure I'd like staying in the yurt in high summer when the resort was at high occupancy and the pool across the road was full of screaming kids. Still, I wouldn't turn down another stay in the spring or the fall if I had the chance.

Mid-winter Trip, 2012

Steve and I recently spent a long weekend trip in the Charlottesville area. We ditched Ally and the dog at Grandma's in Roanoke and immediately celebrated our new childless freedom with french fries at McDonald's.

(Yeah, we don't get out much. We're working on it.)

During our trip we visited James Madison's home Montpelier. There's a walled formal garden on the estate that was renovated in the early 1900s by Annie du Pont, after the duPont family purchased the property in 1901. The garden is beautifully landscaped with sweeping beds, boxwood hedges, symmetrical layout, and marble urns and statuary.

The brick walls surrounding the garden, with the horse stable beyond it.

I'm not a big fan of formal gardens, but I do find them impressive in terms of the landscaping and the effort it takes to maintain all that symmetry. 

Being the dead of winter, there weren't many plants to look at beyond the boxwoods and some other evergreens, but the statuary was impressive.

I'd like to have a pair of these urns, but they're not something you can just pick up at the local garden center.

And then it hit me....we have a pair of matching almond colored toilets that Steve took out of our house. I've been waiting to find the perfect project to use them in this summer! I was thinking about filling them with water and adding some goldfish for a water feature, but now I think I'll fill the bowls and tanks with potting soil and putting in some plants instead. I could have a tall, arching daylilies in the tanks with some nasturtiums spilling out of the bowl. Or maybe a mounding clump of coreopsis in the bowl and some sweet potato vine in the upper tank. The possibilities are endless!

The hard part will be deciding to position the toilets at either side of the entrance to our driveway, or flanking the steps to the gazebo.

The Blizzard of Oz

When I was a little girl, my paternal grandparents took me to the Land of Oz and Tweetsie Railroad attractions in western North Carolina. I still have vivid memories of that trip, along with a very well read and tattered copy of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, which my grandparents bought for me at the Land of Oz.

As it turns out, The Wizard of Oz is one of Ally's favorite movies. When I heard about the annual Autumn at Oz event held on the grounds of the old Land of Oz theme park, I knew I wanted to take Ally there to experience it, too. Like in the old theme park, the Autumn in Oz actors play the roles of Dorothy and her friends and they escort you along the yellow brick road to key scenes in the book. You meet up with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and vanquish the Wicked Witch of the West as you find your way home to Kansas.

So the first weekend of October we decided to take a short family trip down to Boone and Banner Elk, North Carolina. About a week before we left, the forecast for Banner Elk was sunny and mild, with temperatures in the 60s. Perfect! I had picked out a sweet blue and white outfit for Ally that she could wear with a pair of red glittery shoes for a great photo with Dorothy.

About three days before we left, the forecast had changed to sunny and cooler, with lower predicted temperatures. The event organizers sent out an email asking all the visitors to prepare for possibly cold weather. Um, okay, it would be too cold to wear the blue and white outfit but Ally could still wear those ruby red slippers.

The night before we left, the forecast had bottomed out to highs in the 40s with snow and sleet showers. The event organizers sent out another email reminding visitors that the event would take place as planned regardless of the weather, so please dress warmly. Well, carp. I immediately dug out an assortment of scarves, hats, gloves, and warm shoes. Banner Elk has an elevation of 3,701 feet, but Beech Mountain, the site of the actual event, has an elevation of 5,506 feet. We were going to freeze our Munchkins off.

We piled into the car Saturday morning with our cold weather gear and drove off to western North Carolina. In Boone we saw a car with what looked like an inch of snow on it. After lunch we drove up over to the little town of Beech Mountain. Snow flakes began swirling out of the sky. There were police officers in the road directing visitors to the entrance to the Autumn at Oz event. You know it's cold when the police officers have enough cold weather gear on them that you cannot even see part of their face.

We had tickets for the 2 to 4 pm time slot. We began driving up the road to the event around a quarter to 2 pm. It looked like we were driving up a back road into an old ski resort (which is exactly what it was), and then we came upon the line going into the event. All of the ticket holders for our time slot arrived at the same time and we crawled up the side of the mountain.

We had been driving up the mountain for about an hour when Ally woke up from her nap. She marveled at the snow sticking to the trees and ground outside her window and then informed us that she needed to go use the bathroom.

We didn't know how far we were from the entrance. There was no end to the line of cars in front of us (or behind us, for that matter). We didn't see any buildings for a long while, and then we only saw private residences. No bathrooms in sight, and there was really too much snow on the ground to contemplate peeing behind a tree. Then Ally announced, with an greater sense of urgency, that she had to go poop.

Desperate, we called the Beech Mountain Chamber of Commerce, the event coordinators, to ask if there was a bathroom nearby. They were exceedingly unhelpful and didn't even seem to realize that there was a major traffic jam trying to get into the event. Ally let out a whimper.

Nothing will instill panic in a parent like the thought of having a bathroom emergency. Since we were at a standstill, the line of cars having advanced only a couple of yards over the past ten minutes, Steve decided to take Ally and walk up to the entrance. In his haste to go find a bathroom he nearly left without a jacket, let alone gloves or anything else.

I got in the driver seat and waited. And waited. And waited. The line of cars continued to creep. About a half hour later I spoke to Steve on the phone. They had *just* gotten up to the top of the mountain and found a Port-o-potty. I would call them again when I got up there and parked the car.

Long story short, it was almost 4 pm before I was able to pull into a very small and very muddy field that served as the parking lot for the event. It took 2 hours to get to the top of the mountain! Thankfully Steve was able to take Ally into the event while they waited for me, so they had already met Dorothy, Auntie Em, and the Scarecrow.



Ally had even gotten to pet Toto.



Ally had been a trooper while waiting for me, but the weather had taken its toll. My poor child was wearing only a fleece windbreaker and a pair of tennis shoes in the middle of strong, gusty winds that kept spitting wet snow. I brought Steve and Ally their gloves, hats, and coats, but it was too late. Ally was cold and tired and ready to leave and go home about 15 minutes after I found them.

I had hoped for a fun-filled family outing but instead it was an absolute disaster. Thankfully Steve had the idea of ducking back into the event at the end of the yellow brick road so that Ally could have her picture taken with Dorothy and the others all together.


Right after that we headed straight back to the car and left. Really, it was our only option. It was getting late in the day, the event was closing down soon, and the weather wasn't improving as the sun started going down. Ally was upset and we were disappointed, but risking hypothermia simply wasn't worth it. So we drove down the mountain, had dinner at a barbeque restaurant, and then checked into our hotel in Boone.

The next morning Ally was very excited about having breakfast at the hotel's breakfast bar. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth trying to have a family vacation, or if we should just check into a local hotel for a night or two just so Ally can eat at the hotel's breakfast bar. At least we'll have vivid memories of our trip to the Blizzard of Oz.

On a Clear Day

On a clear day you can see forever. (Grandfather Mountain, NC)

Trip to the Outer Banks

Last month we were fortunate to spend a week at Southern Shores, NC, with my parents. We stayed in a nice beach cottage only 500 feet from the ocean. The weather was nice and mild and the real tourist season hadn't begun yet, so we pretty much had the cul-de-sac to ourselves.



We spent a lot of time on the beach playing in the sand and picking up sea shells.

















Ally built a sand castle.



And doodled in the sand.



Seems like we spent most of our time stooped over to look at something.







We found sea shells.




And little crabs.




Oscar dug.




The ocean was too cold for swimming, but we spent a lot of time playing in the surf.







And when we weren't on the beach, we visited the NC Aquarium in Manteo.

We got to know the locals.

We played at the town park in Duck, NC.





We played in the pool.



Which was much, much colder than Steve let on in the previous picture.



And Ally mastered the art of riding a scooter.



Best. Trip. Ever!