Vern Yip, UNICEF and The Experience

Last night I had the pleasure of attending one of the most exciting fundraising events for one of my favorite charities, UNICEF.  

 As I child I remember going trick or treat with my UNICEF box and since that time UNICEF has been a part of my life.  

In Atlanta UNICEF offers lectures throughout the year, providing updates on their work and areas of focus but last night I had the "Experience."   Below are a few photos and experiences.   

As guests arrived we were given a card with our "child" and their personal story.   My child's name is Joy and she's from the Philippines.   Her home was washed away in a tropical storm that washed away hundreds of homes in her community.  Joy is still with me.   

 As the evening began the first thing guests were asked to do was to pick up and carry a 5 gallon container of water to see what life is like for those without water resources.  They must carry what they need and most of the time the distance from the water source is great.  Lucky for me I just had to walk down a long hallway rather than a long distance.

It was interesting to see how much water we use for simple tasks.   Having spent time in Lebanon during the war I know what it is like to have limited water though I'm guilty of taking a hot shower for granted (25 gallons of water to take a shower).

Throughout the banquet hall there were stations sharing facts about health, nutrition, education and disaster relief.   At each station were UNICEF volunteers providing details about UNICEF's work and how we could help.  

Guests were given cards with prices of each item and details on how each purchase meet needs. 

  I bought a desk for classroom.   One of the things that I learned during my experience is that after a disaster a classroom helps restore a feeling of community and normalcy, even when housing is still lacking.  

UNICEF brings communities together through schools. 

It was so precious that children attended the event, and yes, a few celebrities too, like Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Vern Yip.   Rebecca Gupta chaired the event and Vern is a UNICEF Ambassador.

It was an evening of immersion in the lifesaving work of UNICEF. 

End Of Month View ~ April 2012

"Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of March has perced to the roote"
~ from the Prologue To The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, c1343 - 1400

This snippet remembered from many moons ago study, has floated through my thoughts almost daily this past month. Luckily we are not in a drought area but still welcomed the rain that arrived after such a dry March but you can have too much of a good thing! No doubt we will be hearing more about the April temperature and rain statistics for 2012 for some time to come. Ironically after yesterday's biblical deluge the month is ending on a sunnier and warmer note - in fact there is a good impersonation of a spring day going on out there.

As far as the allotment progress has been painfully slow as I am a fair weather allotmenteer. Just negotiating the path to my plot and remaining upright whilst doing so involves great skill, as the main path is a slippery quagmire. Himself has put up a membrane around the perimeter fencing which seems to have thwarted the rabbits. I came up with the brilliant idea of putting cut off plastic bottles around the necks of the shallots that had been nibbled in case they suffered any more damage. I then made the error of leaving them on too long so now the new growth got rather squashed to say the least but hopefully will recover. I have got my potatoes in - 'Anya' and 'Lady Christl'. We have been eating sparse but delicious purple sprouting broccoli and rhubarb. The exciting news for our allotment community that I hoped that I might be able to reveal this month is still on hold.

The most pleasing event in the garden has to be the sight of our willow tree slowly sending out new growth. At the start of the month I began to despair that it would grow again, I was almost beside myself when I first saw a sign of green and since then there has been a daily inspection - well apart from yesterday. Regular readers may remember my dismay when this huge old tree had to be severely pruned after a storm at the beginning of the year. 'Thanks to all those who reassured me that it would grow again. The newly planted pear tree has blossomed well but her companion has not sent out any flowers. This together with the difficult conditions for pollinating creatures to be out on the wing is making me wonder whether there will be any pears this year. So now we are tip - toeing into May, my favourite month of the year and along with it some of my favourite flowers ~

The greenhouse is filling up nicely but it has been difficult to start to harden plants off and I'm already behind with sowing and pricking out. The occupants of the greenhouse are mainly destined for the allotment. Tomatoes, peppers, peas, beetroot, red onions are all growing away nicely.The peas and broad beans which have been braving the outdoor world are crying out to get in the ground. I have sown the basils, courgettes, squashes and cucumbers but hope to get more in this week. On the flower side sunflowers, nicotianas, cosmos 'White Purity', dahlia 'Bishops's Children', tithonia 'Torch', cobaea scandens alba have now all germinated whilst there other seeds hopefully still to germinate. Some non germinations - some freebie alpine strawberry seeds and cobaea scandens purpurea - possibly old seed. The other non - show which I am rally peeved about is what looks like a delectable aquilegia 'Miss 'M.I.Huish'. I feel a letter coming on. I still have more annuals to sow - again another job for this week along with sweetcorn, French beans and runner beans. Any surpluses will be heading to the plant sale in May at our local gardening club. A couple of us plot holders are having a plant stall and are hoping to raise funds for the allotment association.

Again with admirable self restraint I've kept plant purchases to a minimum this month. Joining the throngs to be planted in my cold frame are erythronium 'Pagoda', ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy' and dicentra formosa 'Bacchanal', all purchased from the local Country Market. I was hoping to attend my first plant sale of the year yesterday but the atrocious weather decided that it was a day best spent indoors. Now next month fingers crossed, I'm hoping to report on rather more substantial activity in the retail therapy department!

The end of the month view is most kindly hosted by 'The Patient Gardener's Weblog' - many thanks as usual Helen for encouraging us to press the pause button and "stand and stare".

Portrait in Monochrome

I used the set-up shown here: Portraits in small places

Georgia Market Bulletin

 Every year for as long as I can remember I've enjoyed reading the Farmers Market Bulletin.   I'm not a farmer but I did grow up in an agricultural area and have spent many a summer in the field or in the yard, picking, shucking or shelling by the bushel.   

Until now I'm still a big fan of the Bulletin which has ads for just about anything agricultural you might need.  Equipment, animals, bees, land, etc., and also recipes but my favorite listings are the plants.   

Thanks to Summerhill Seeds for the photo

 This year I bought seeds, yellow datura, ginger lilies and found a new friend!  In the bulletin you can also post items that you are looking for and there was someone looking for a swamp hibiscus.   I called the number posted in the ad and what do you know, Ruth lives just 5 minutes from my house.   She stopped by to pick up her swamp hibiscus and brought me a tree lily!  I'd never heard of such but it's already about about four feet tall and can reach heights of eight feet or so.   Ruth brought several other plants including lemon balm and we had so much fun going through my beds picking out other plants we could swap out.   

My mother always told me never to say thank you for a plant, and before I could tell Ruth we shouldn't say thanks, she reminded me that we better not thank each other for the good health of our plants (I'm so superstitious)!  Instead exchanged lots of hugs and decided to keep in touch so that we could continue our swaps.  This week Ruth sent me a beautiful card with the sweetest note. 

The Market Bulletin is more than just ads, articles and agriculture, it's a connection to some of Georgia's finest.  It was great to meet you Ruth.

Today as soon as I link up with The Tablescaper, I'm heading out to the garden.   

Esrum Lake, Fredensborg, Denmark.

BlogCamp

Last Saturday saw me head off to Birmingham where I spent a day at 'BlogCamp'. You may well ask what 'BlogCamp' is. Much to my relief it did not involve canvas of any description. Some hundred plus bloggers from all over the country were gathered under one roof, to attend a one day free workshop for independent bloggers designed to hone our blogging skills. BlogCamp is run by journalist Sally Whittle and the team that runs Tots 100, the largest community of active parent bloggers in the country. Fortunately it is not a prerequisite to have your own tot to be able to attend. There were other sections of the blogging community there including crafters and foodies, although gardeners were perhaps thin on the ground. It was a pleasure to catch up with 'Michelle from 'Vegplotting' again and to briefly meet Emma Cooper. The venue for the day'The Studio' was central, less than a five minute walk from New Street Station and a most comfortable learning environment. The day started with registration and a welcome hot drink plus croissants for those who had not breakfasted. After a lively introductory session from Muireann who blogs at 'Bangs and a Bun', there were three workshops to attend from the menu on offer, a break to enjoy lunch in between, before we all got together again for a plenary session. It was difficult to choose the workshops but after some wavering I attended the following sessions :

Setting Up Your Own Self - Hosted Wordpress Blog - this session covered buying a new domain, setting up hosting, installing a theme and everything else you need to know about this topic. It covered both the pros and possible cons of doing this. I came away with the impression that the process was neither as expensive or as complicated as I thought it might be. It was well delivered by Phil Szomszor in non - teccie language. You can see the slide presentation we saw and some explanatory notes over at Phil's blog 'The Red Rocket'. Whether I will go self- hosted at some stage in the future remains to be decided.


E courses - photographer and writer Susannah Conway shared with us her experiences of developing e - courses. I must admit that from what I had read about the session beforehand I thought it was going to be aimed at people wanting to write e - books but this turned out not to be the case. Still Susannah's experiences were fascinating to listen to and she was generous with the information she shared.

Using photo editing software - up to now I've not done much in the way of editing photos than the odd bit of cropping but this is one area that I would like to develop skills in. I would especially like to learn to use colour palettes to frame and compliment photos as so exquisitely done by Rosie over at 'Leaves N'Bloom' and Liz at 'Gwirrel's Garden'. The session was delivered with humour by professional photographer and lecturer  John Arnold who had stood in at short notice as the original speaker was ill. John's session covered 'Picmonkey' the free photo editor which replaced 'Picnik' earlier this month. Like 'Picnik', 'PicMonkey' can do all photo editing jobs including rotate, crop, edit, apply effects, adjust light, colours, add frames, text, objects, watermarks, etc, etc. I had used 'Picnik' once or twice in the dim and distant past so it it was most useful to be reminded of 'Picmonkey's' similar features and to see practical demonstrations of these features applied to photos generously shared on the day by other attendees.

'Picmonkey' is still in the developmental stage and there are other features waiting in the wings to come online soon such as collages. Since getting home to my own computer I've had fun playing with photos and hope to put some of what I learned into regular practice so watch this space. What is frustrating though unless I have missed the obvious, is that I seem to be unable to save my altered images in 'Iphoto' and also that there does not seem to a simple one step method of uploading them directly to 'Blogger'. I do not think that 'Picmonkey' will be enable me to introduce colour palettes so that is something that requires further research. 


Write ups of these sessions as well as the others are due to appear here soon. Topics included how to be a snark (not sure what one of those is), creating video blogs using Windows Movie Maker and a beginner's guide to search engine optimization to increase your blog traffic. I will be keeping a look out for these write ups as I'm sure I missed a lot of useful information.


There are more blogcamps at other venues in the pipeline for later this year. If you are not already on the mailing list you can get yourself on it here and you will receive information about new BlogCamp dates as soon as they are firmed up. As far as I am concerned the day turned out to be a pleasant learning experience, which took place in a most friendly atmosphere. Although I didn't partake of the cake on offer at the last coffee break of the day, it certainly looked delicious - just wish that I had remembered to slip my camera into my bag to take photos for you. Thanks to Sally and team for such an enjoyable day. 

Weekend getaway??

Why not…

 

Head to  Miami Beach

and the height of South Beach art deco

for a visit to the legendary

Raleigh Hotel

It is said that Ester Williams swam here…

Of course. Makes sense…LOOK at that iconic pool!

I want some plain old black inner tubes for our pool

…remember those?

Great outdoor oasis…

throwback actually.

Maybe enjoy a dirty martini

it is the weekend for Heaven’s sake.

 

The Raleigh…

learn more here

Beat ya there…

Asminderød Kro, Denmark.

Local inn and restaurant in the small Danish town of Asminderød.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 25th April 2012.

Photo taken at Hampton Court, Herefordshire ~ May 2011.

'Not Waving But Drowning'

Himself has suggested to me that the title of this blog should be 'The Theoretical Gardener' before quickly ducking for cover. There may well be something in this. I will read avidly about gardens and gardening, visit gardens and nurseries until my feet give up and take great satisfaction in growing fruit and vegetables and propagating new plants. However when it comes to putting it all together, the design side and maintenance I think that I will never progress beyond wearing 'L- plates'.

The above glimpse is a case in point where I have crammed in too much for the space to cope with. Just how do you strike the balance between unsightly patches of bare earth and being cramped in too close together for comfort and optimum growth? I am unable to gauge how much plants will grow, how long this will take and to adjust accordingly. This back to front spring can take some of the blame this year  - growth got off the starting block at phenomenal pace in March, with the perennials sprinting away faster than Usain Bolt. I was away for a short time during that warm spell, when it would have been a great time to get in there to move and divide. Since then it seems to have done little else but rain, so time to spend outdoors has been at a premium - in fact taking up permanent residence in the greenhouse seems a more attractive option. Somewhere in the space between the dicentra specatablis (yes I know it has a new name) and the lamium orvala is a most attractive 'Pacific Coast' iris - you can see the strappy grey leaves as well as plant with a real tongue twister of a name - Mathiasella bupleuroides 'Green Dream'.

I bought the iris many years ago on a visit to a NGS garden on the outskirts of Liverpool. It was in flower at the time which is the very reason why I bought it. It flowers in May sadly but briefly and is a most bewitching colour. I will try and post a photo when and if it flowers this year, providing that flowers are visible underneath the canopy. The mathiasiella is a more recent purchase - 2010 vintage I think. It did nothing last year - in fact it looked very poorly after the cold winter and I was resigned to its loss. However it slowly and miraculously perked up so I was looking forward to seeing its subtle flowers this spring. Now I'm not sure how well it will do - it certainly could have done with moving away from the dicentra and allowed some breathing space. I'm sure that plants like us quiver if somebody invades their personal space.

Hopefully somebody will sooner will invent an app which will solve my dilemma. In the meantime perhaps I should be ruthless and divide/move even if it is not the ideal time. Is it just me or do other people find this aspect of gardening the most challenging? Answers on a postcard please!

The title of the post is borrowed from the poem 'Not Waving But Drowning' - by Stevie Smith - not the most cheerful of poems but I thought it an appropriate description for how my plants must feel.

I have always said….

That if I were to have a place on the ocean…It would have to be ON

the ocean

Not big or pretentious

But maybe a place where you are reminded where you are…

through site and sound...and smell

Nothing futzy….because this is my escape home.

are ya with?

Simple furnishings

Hear it? See it? Feel it?

Hmmmm. Do ya?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             images from here

ASA Decorators' Show House & Garden

It's open and it is wonderful!  If you live in the Atlanta area this is one event you will not want to miss.   For the past 10 years I've volunteered as a docent and though I'm never disappointed, I have to say this house is my favorite.   You are not really allowed to photograph the house so you will have to see it for yourself but I've posted a few photos just to give you an idea of what you'll find.

A radiator put to use as the plate warmer

It was wonderful to spend the day with a number of local designers especially Melanie Turner.  I also loved visiting with Kellie Griffin and her mom as well as Bill Murphy.

Great company and lots of fun

Loved the spoon plate holder

 

Amazing...Melanie made this settee

 The architectural detail was beautiful

 

The floor is handpainted

 

A mosaic floor...this photo doesn't begin to show the detail

I'm linking up with The Tablescaper to enjoy a Seasonal Sunday.