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Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Vegetable Garden Sucks

Posted by Melanie at 19:28 1 comments

First we had a heat wave then we had a flood thus the garden is not doing at all well although I am harvesting radishes, big juicy bulbs with a nice sharp flavour, the lettuce has barely sprouted if at all, the dill has some weird bug causing its leaves to curl, only two of the three zucchini came up, the spinach is barely two inches high and has already starting to go to seed, germination of other things peas, carrots, turnips, collard greens, swiss chard etc is spotty. If that isn’t enough to make me want to cry consider this, I’m also plagued by mushrooms.

Explosion

I know very little about mushrooms so I’m pulling them up and chucking them into the bush. There are at least five different sorts. I’m sure I could sell them to various markets if I just had an inkling of which ones were which. Maybe It’s an excuse to visit a bookstore.

poppies

The other BIG problem is horsetail, Equisetum. It an ancient plant, a living fossil, which once dominated the understorey of the late Paleozoic forests. Last year I thought I had successfully killed it with roundup. Ha, to horsetail roundup is just a challenge it has to overcome. Digging Horsetail out is difficult since it has a complex, extremely deep rhizome network of roots, as well it reproduces by spores that easily spread all over the place. Horsetail likes poor damp soil with a low PH. The soils around here are clay. Clay is generally acidic and damp especially when there is a lot of rain. I rushed out to the hardware store and came back with several bags of dolomite lime. The other thing of course is to improve the soil. Well I have no interest in improving the soil in the bush. I spread manure on all the gardens. My only hope is that the other plants coming up in the bush will out compete it. The horsetail in the gardens, except the vegetable garden, is spotty and weak due I hope to the nutritious, slightly alkaline, drier and lighter soil.

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Film Festival of Garden Tours

Posted by Melanie at 17:17 0 comments

The horrid weather didn’t discourage anyone from coming out to the garden tour a couple of days ago. I don’t own an umbrella so I spent a lot of time under the roof of the thyme terrace eating Nanaimo bars, talking to acquaintances I didn’t know gardened or huddled against the eaves of the house chatting to gardening friends or hitching cover under other peoples brollies as they dragged me out into the beautifully arranged garden to identify a plant.

The rain leant an air of understated glory to the formal layout of the garden. The stone paths of the terrace area, planted with various species of thyme were softened and muted by the plants grey leaves and their pink and white flowers. The low stone wall built around the terrace made the sitting area into a room. From here, looking across the garden and along the path cut through the fringe of native trees and shrubs I could glimpse the Nechako river making its swift way to where it converges with the Fraser river and onward to the Pacific ocean. The ubiquitous Prince George rose, its pink flowers and delicious but not overpowering perfume made a natural backdrop for the many Thalictrums, Meadow Rue, allowed to wander, Peonies, Monkshood, Eryngium, Sea Holly, Colchicums, autumn crocus, that I didn’t know you could grow here and many other perennials.

It is the sort of garden I love. Plants are overgrow someone said blowsy, weaving together like a sort of living tapestry. Self-seeders and runners, plants with sideways roots, pop up in unexpected places. Left mostly to its own devices the garden looks better with age.

This garden tour reminded me of the one I used to attend in Dawson Creek. Unlike the garden tour here in Prince George, held every Tuesday evening for six weeks in the summer, the garden tour in Dawson Creek is an event held all on one day organized by the Dawson Creek Horticultural Society. Everyone is encouraged to go. Maps of the tour route and descriptions of the gardens are easily obtained from any downtown business, the art gallery and its even printed in the local Newspaper. If you don’t feel like driving a tour bus is available. Being a farming community many of the gardens are on acreages, sprawling all over the place, and almost everyone grows their own vegetables. There is plenty of room to accommodate everyone for the tea held at the last garden on the tour. Of course if you drive yourself you don’t have to attend the tea or even visit the gardens in the order specified on the map. You can start and end the tour whenever and wherever you want.

I used to really enjoy spending the day with friends, visiting all the gardens, talking to the owners, most of whom I knew anyway, and trying to absorb all the details, the way the gardens were arranged their design features and the plants. I came away with my head full of images and my mind full of ideas I wanted to try in my own garden. I felt the way you feel after spending too much time at a film festival but, that’s the point visit all the gardens and process everything you’ve seen, smelt and felt later.

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Monday, June 22, 2009

Recent knowledge

Posted by Melanie at 19:33 0 comments

After checking the official race results of the YMCA road race I did on June 7th I see I was even faster than I thought. My official time ( chip time) from the microsecond I passed the marker is 57.47 My gun time was 57.52 and I thought my time was 57.57. That is a whole second faster than I thought. Hey it's like trying to eliminate grams from the total weight of your backpack. Seconds, like grams, add up and make a huge difference.

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Running Goals

Posted by Melanie at 17:18 0 comments

It’s time to break out the running belt Richard, one of the coaches at the YMCA running clinic, gave me. He had several in the back of his vehicle that he was anxious to unload on us novices. It’s a nylon belt I wear around my hips with pockets for gel bottles or energy bars and a spot for a water bottle. I doubt I will fill the pockets with energy bars since I hate them. I always took real food on hiking trips and see no reason to stop taking it now. I think I will wear the belt the next time I go running, mainly to get used to the feel of it but also because now I’m running longer distances I’m getting thirsty.

I’m hoping to do the 26 k fun run up Cranbrook Hill next weekend. I will definitely need food and water on a run of this length although I probably will just drink Gatorade saving the food for when I ‘ve finished. I know the furthest I’ve run so far is the 12 k I ran this morning and I haven’t run up any significant hills however, the point of this fun run is to do it with other people, more fun, and prepare myself mentally for the Popes Peak adventure run in October. I expect I will do a lot of walking and catching my breath.

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Another Notch on my Belt

Posted by Melanie at 19:58 3 comments

I have a huge desire to walk/run up the Grouse Grind. It is a famed Vancouver workout/hiking trail in North Vancouver. Most people either run or walk up it as fast as they can. It follows the same path, almost, as the sky tram up Grouse Mountain. Because of the trails steepness and tendancy to mud, no doubt due to the the huge numbers of people who use this trail as their summer workout, steps have been built into it using railway ties and stones.

I wasn’t surprised to learn the trail has only been around since the early nineties. I lived in Vancouver from 1978- 1985, jogging not running as it was called back then wasn’t really a mainstream activity. In fact I wasn’t into exercise except swimming or the faddy aerobics, yeah ok I was into exercise a bit but never running.

The Grind is 2.9 killometres long with an elevation gain of 800 metres. In parts the grade is 40%, supposedly this is not very steep, although, if I were out in the backcountry, skiing, I would be very wary of avalanches on a hill this steep.

My fellow hikers have told this is not a nice trail. They say there are not enough view points and if you try to go too fast you risk tripping or slipping. I think the hordes of people on the trail would also slow you down if you wanted to run up it in good time, around ninety minutes or less. Click here to see a series of photos of the trail. via @running bebe.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I can fit a trip to Vancouver into my life before the Grind closes for the winter.

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Retail Therapy

Posted by Melanie at 15:37 0 comments

Another piece of West German pottery has found its way into my home. While I was carrying it around the store, looking for more bargains, someone stopped me to admire it and express suprise I had found it in the second hand store.

Even More West German Pottery

Its greenish glaze reminds me of the colours of alpine lakes or algae on top of a stagnant pool deep in the forest.

Even More West German Pottery 2

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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Reading and Eating

Posted by Melanie at 18:00 0 comments

Molly Wizenberg is the creator of Orangette, a blog I discovered by accident when looking for a recipe for something, anyhow it’s not just the recipes that make her blog but the stories behind them. Her prose is so beguiling so readable so utterly engrossing you will find yourself wanting to buy her book.

Antoinette

Her book, A homemade life, is even better reading than her blog. OK so I haven’t read much of her blog only the few posts since I first discovered it, up until the time she decided she had to take a hiatus. She is, I assume, too busy giving readings and indulging in other authorship responsibilities. And, there is that restaurant that she and her husband Brandon are opening.

I got her book from the library and read it as quickly as I could find time for, in three days. It is at the top of my list of books to buy. I know I will want to refer to it over and over again. Not just for the scrumptious sounding recipes, non of which I have tried yet, hey I just finished reading the book an hour ago, but I know I will also want to reread her stories, probably on one of those down trodden days when I feel like the world hates me. I will make myself a cup of hot milk, flavoured with almond or vanilla, pick up Molly’s book and indulge my desire to be soothed.

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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Crap, Major Crap

Posted by Melanie at 16:32 2 comments

When you buy a big appliance like a fridge or stove you expect it to sit in its allotted spot quietly performing its job for years, not so my stove.

I love to cook so when we built the new house I decided to get an expensive, pull out all the stops, no holds barred Jenn Air, stainless steel, downdraft, convection oven. There are many things, wrong with it, like the difficult to clean stovetop, which is now permanently stained. The stupidly designed knobs, which kept falling off until I permanently glued them back in place. The grill, that is coated in that crappy nonstick stuff, when cast iron would have been a better choice. Lately the oven has taken to overheating, more times than not this fickle tendency has resulted in burnt food.

I was upset to discover that Jenn Air only guarantees its parts and labour for one year. However, I plunked down $250 of hard earned cash for it to be fixed. Despite all this the stove went right ahead, anyway, and burned a pan of cupcakes. Yesterday I found out that the part the guy should have installed the first time round will cost $300 plus the cost of labour to install it.

I don’t recommend you buy a Jenn Air stove or any other Jenn Air appliance because, like me, you will end up regretting it.

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Monday, June 8, 2009

For the Birds

Posted by Melanie at 20:50 0 comments

Ever since I installed an expensive squirrel proof bird feeder we’ve been treated to a steady stream of all kinds of birds. It seems they are all pushing and shoving and arguing about who’s turn it is to sit on the metal perches and thus have access to the tasty, coveted black oilseeds in the feeder.Earlier this spring, before the frost had come out of the ground, a curmudgeonly black bear decided to put a stop to our bird show.

I imagine after the bear woke up and when it discovered there wasn’t any tasty willow shoots because of the late spring it decided black oilseed would be an ok substitute. But, frustrated to the max because the squirrel proof bird feeder was making it difficult to get at the seeds the bear just took its paw and smashed it too the ground. The top fell off the feeder and out spilled the seeds.

I managed to resurrect the feeder by taping up the holes in the plastic with red tuck tape, bend the aluminum pole back up and precariously attach the feeder back onto it.

Three days later, enraged no doubt by my determination it came back and resmashed it to the ground. This time there was no resurrecting it.

After thinking about what to do, because I’m unwilling to give up on having a bird feeder, I bought a metal rod, the sort used to fetchingly display pots in the kitchen, at a garage sale, cost $1.50. At home I attached it to the top of the shed wall, high above my head and I hoped out of reach of the black bear. I used yet more tuck tape to patch up the new holes in the plastic. I ingeniously tied some string onto the feeder in such away so that I could hang it from the metal rod.

So far It is working. The bear hasn’t discovered it. The squirrels can’t reach it and the birds still love it.

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Sunday, June 7, 2009

Breakfast Of Champions

Posted by Melanie at 17:59 0 comments

Porridge. I made a big bowl of the old fashioned kind of oatmeal this morning. It turned out to be the right thing to eat before the YMCA ten Killometre road race. I was able to beat out three people as I neared the finishing line for a race time of 57 minutes and 57 seconds. I’m supremely ecstatic with my time. Doing the race in under an hour was my aim and I did it.

It was a bit chilly at 8AM

The races started in the stadium, looped around through residential areas before ending once again back at the stadium. Besides ten k. there was a five k race and a half marathon. I’m already looking at other longer races, here in PG, I can do in the near future, before winter.

The PG Road Runners have a schedule on their website. I’m more interested in the trail runs rather than the road races. Races like the Mad Moose half Marathon and the Popes Peak adventure run. I think running on trails and up mountains will be more fun than running around town.

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

At Last

Posted by Melanie at 19:08 1 comments

You’re lying on one of those plastic air mattresses, the kind kids have. It is too short so your toes hang over the back edge trailing in the cool blue water. You’re up on your elbows so you can see down through the water. There is a pink and black bikini lying on the bottom of the pool. You know it is a bikini since it is yours and the reason it is on the bottom, rather than floating, is because someone wrapped it around a rock before throwing it into the pool.

twins

You are distracted by the suns warmth soaking into your body, every pore of your pale skin gulps it down, reveling in its welcoming heat. You mean to enjoy every moment of this rare, sun filled, hot day. Not even a little thing like your bikini lying on the bottom of the pool is, STOP. Ok so this is not real.

There is no pool, no air mattress and no bikini lying on the bottom, But, the sun is hot. So hot, today I couldn’t walk barefoot on my deck. The first thing I did when I got home was rip of my jeans and put on a pair of shorts. All day I have been putting ice in my drinks, wearing a sun hat and sun block. Ahhh.

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Monday, June 1, 2009

Caffinara short

Posted by Melanie at 20:11 0 comments

I'm wiped. I missed running clinic today in favour of finishing restaining the deck. I start work at 6 AM tomorrow, eek.

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