A Short Tour of Part of My Yard

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A Typical Morning

Having my coffee at the Bistro on the patio. Birds at the feeders, a toad comes hopping along in front of the table while a mourning dove waddles on the other side of the Daylily bed right in front of me.

The combined chorus of our feathered friends is beautiful. Morning Glories are open, the four o'clocks in bud for later, the ornamental lilies hang effortlessly all around the yard. Tomatoes are getting red, more yellow summer squash is coming on the vines and the Brown Eyed Susans  are all over.

This is typical morning in my backyard.

Beating the Borers

Each year I plant those wonderful yellow summer squash seeds. I get one or two squash and then the healthy plants droops and dies. The enemy is a borer germane to Long Island but I would imagine elsewhere. There have been hints to avoid them. One suggested planting these seeds after June 20th or around Father's Day. The borers are a June pest. The problem is that the summer squash is at its peak here on Long Island in July and planting them that late misses the peak of fruit bearing.

I decided to try something else this year and it has worked! We use seaweed to fertilize the tomato plants. i took some and heavily went around the squash seedlings. Evidently there is something in it that keeps these pests away because here we are coming up to the last week in July and all is well with the plants. They look great!

Experiments like this take place all the time in my backyard. Happiness is success!

Take Me Out to Ball Game!!!

For 51 years I have been attending Professional Baseball games. I have never gotten a foul ball. Last night at the Long Island Ducks game that streak ended. We came close 12 years ago at Shea Stadium. Moe Vaughn was up. My son-in-law, Michael Ludwigsen, was up  getting food. My Dad used  to say, "I came  here to watch the game, not to eat!"  Mike had brought me some food, then went back to the   concession stand to  get food for my daughter and himself. While he was there Moe hit a foul ball that took one hop and whistled by me right into the glove of a kid who was seated behind Mike's seat. When he came back he asked, "Did I miss anything?" I said, "No, just the chance to catch a foul ball hit by Moe Vaughn." I explained and pointed to the kid behind us admiring his newly acquired treasure. I couldn't even try to catch it because my lap was full of food and my hands were balancing it. If you have been to ball game recently you know how expensive the food is! 

Last night I as Mike, Tristan, Chris and I sat down in beautiful seats off the suite provided by my daughter's company, I said, "I got a feeling tonight you are going to be redeemed for that Moe Vaughn incident of 2002, Mike." My words were proven true when the foul ball bounced into our box. We both scrambled for it, with our hands going for it. Mike got it, then he gave it to his son, my grandson. Memories were made that will last a lifetime last night under Long Island's skies. I told stories of going to my first Met's Game with my Dad, Poppa and Uncle John. Then we went to the Peter Pan diner at 10pm and got the boys ice cream sundaes! I hope my daughter isn't reading this or I am going to get in trouble! Last night we were all kids again!

Baltimore Orioles and Mimosa Trees

There is nectar in the Mimosa Trees blossoms that are attracting the Baltimore Orioles. I had a pair of them there today. They eat caterpillars and other insects. The beauty of the mimosa and the orioles is a sight to behold!

Thoughts From an Early Morning

I am sitting in my backyard at the picnic table. This table has been in the yard for 25 years now. It is old faithful. I have had to do some repairs to it but it is in good shape. It is situated in a small grove of Wisteria, White Mulberry, Mimosa and Maple Trees. I love this spot!

It faces south. Go two miles straight ahead and you will be at the Great South Bay, go another mile and you will come to Fire Island National Seashore and Robert Moses State Park which brings you to the Atlantic Ocean. I would not want to live anywhere else. I have spent nearly 50 years of my life on the South Shore of Long Island. It is the best!!!

We get used to seeing the planes fly in to Kennedy and LaGuardia. Even though one is passing over every few minutes it often goes unnoticed. But for those of us who are forever kids at heart we look at them with awe and wonder.

Since I have flown  out of the country a number of times it amazes me even more.

One just flew by, over the ocean within full view from back here. I thought about the passengers. It came in from the east, possibly from Europe or Africa. It is carrying people. Some fly in business class and are coming here to do work. Others are coming here to unite with family. We used to go to Idlewild Airport (what Kennedy was known as  back in the early 60's) on Sunday afternoons, to the old International Terminal to see the travelers come in. Seeing family members greet one another was better than any movie or drama you could see! It was heart warming!

To this day I love to go to the airport to take someone or to pick them up. I hang out for a while and watch. It is sweet. Well that plane has now landed and will be unloading soon. Let the celebrations begin! Have a great day! It is a beautiful one back here with birds singing, Day lilies blooming and the sweet scent of  the Mimosa blossoms in the air!

Positively

People comment to me frequently about how positive my posts here are. I even overheard one person say about me, "Doesn't this guy ever have a bad day?" 

There is such an advantage in getting older. Experience teaches much. While I love being positive I also know enough about electricity and life to know if you don't have a negative terminal you are going anywhere and you are in danger of burning up.

The negative is often called the ground. A number of the Ten Commandments are in the negative. We need this in our lives for balance, for power and to move. We read in the Proverbs,  Proverbs 25:16 If you find honey, eat just enough—too much of it, and you will vomit. 

I have watched for my life the proponents of a just positive message rise and fall and afterward there is nothing left. Be careful what you listen to and read. Stay grounded in the Word of God.

1 Peter 1:23-25 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the LORD endures forever.”And this is the word that was preached to you. 

The Daylilies back here are such an example of this. The words of Jesus come to mind as well.

Matthew 6:28-30 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 

Truth

Nature is a second scripture in which we behold God.

St. Columbanus

Mimosa Trees and Butterflies

Because of the large amount of blooms in the yard and because there is Butterfly Weed growing (Yes that is what it is called) there are butterflies here from early morning to dusk.  I let a few mimosa trees grow and they are in bloom now. Enter the Monarchs, and the Red Admirals and the Spice Bush Swallowtails. The scent from the mimosa fills the backyard as the lilac did a few months ago. With the gentle breezes we always have on the coast it makes it even more spectacular.

I love Butterflies and Mimosas! They naturally go together!