Some Progress with the Nesting

I'm pretty impressed with how well this volunteer hollyhock is doing at the entrance of the restaurant parking lot. As you may recall, none of us actually planted it; it simply began growing there, its seed brought by some random bird or something. I'm quite fond of the single flower and the buttery yellow color.

Ah, what a full day Wednesday was. I started early with a visit to the bank, on the way to my latest eye appointment. The appointment went well - my eye is showing what was described as 100% improvement since my visit there last week. But I also saw a different doctor, and I found that he was a lot more forthcoming about describing my condition to me and how I need to be treating it to ensure that it heals properly.

The previous doc hadn't been nearly so specific, and its just another reminder to me (which I'll try to pass on to you) that these days, we can't count on our health care so-called professionals to tell us what we need to know. We have to be pro-active at our appointments and ask the right questions. Almost makes me think they should be giving ME the $20 co-pay.

With this good news under my belt, and a delightfully sunny day going on around me, I took the opportunity that being further up-Cape provided and did a little shopping, making stops at K-Mart, Christmas Tree Shop and the Mill Stores before returning back to the Nest...where I was met by the withering gaze of our household's executive officer.



I wouldn't say he was in a bad mood, but sleeping pretty hard, apparently, since he didn't meet me at the door. I'm afraid we haven't had quite the snuggle time he might enjoy, as I've been a bit of a perpetual motion machine lately...only ever sitting down for a few moments (except for email and blogging, when I sit a little longer...), before popping up with some new project in mind. I try to stop every now and then to give him a proper scritch behind the ears or under the chin, as he loves...but I'm sure he will be pleased at the additional attention he should enjoy from having a houseguest to boss around this coming weekend.



I'd like to say I was incredibly well organized and that I'm completing tasks before moving on to the next ones...but I'd be totally lying to you. What I'm doing is a little of this, a little of that. The short term effect is that I act and appear a bit scatter-brained. Wifty, you might even say. But as time passes, I'm finding that I'm actually getting a lot accomplished.

For instance, the bathroom is now about two-thirds yellow.


It's only a single coat, and brushed on, because of the uneven surface of the beaded board. In time, I might get around to putting a second coat of yellow on things...but in the meantime, the first coat is looking pretty good and in the few places where a little pink shows through the yellow, it creates a sort of orangey-look I don't totally hate. Still, it's a work in progress, like much of the Nest.

After a short visit to work (it was technically a day off, but I still had a few things there that needed my attention), I was back home, where I got a little more testosterone going as I got out my phillips head screwdriver again and put together the new shelf unit I bought for my music CDs.

At first, I thought I'd done a crooked job of it when I put it in the corner, but really, it's the floor and the walls of the Nest which are uneven. L and P and I had a good laugh about this later on, and they advised me there's a great supply of shingles to use as shims out in the barn, which can be helpful for making everything in this old house seem less uneven.



In the photo above, you can see the progress being slowly made. The modular shelving units (okay, fine...milkcrates), the installed brackets for hanging plants, curtain rods, floral wire for the pothos vines to climb along.

As darkness fell last night, I took a little break to bring some of those milkcrates over to the restaurant for a run through the dishwasher there, and spotted two or three different coyotes in our greater neighborhood. No real surprise there, considering the recent late night outburst, but still...it was remarkable to see several of them in a single evening.

In other news of the Natural World, there's been a lot of excitement and a little bit of concern in our region recently, as sitings were reported of a manatee in a variety of locations. At first, they were just stories, unconfirmed, but now there's details. You can get the full story and video here.

While I was out cleaning up those shelving units, I also picked up a new string of lights to weave into the long pothos vines I was training along/above the wall where the sun and crow are painted.



It's mostly a string of white lights, but I did change out a few bulbs to bring in a little bit of green and amber...and a little blue and red behind the plant basket (for a little purple shadowing). I like the way the bits of color bring out some of the detail of the wall.

By the way, the print I've hung there is A.F. Tait's wonderful Adirondack painting, A Good Time Coming. It's long been one of my favorites, as I am a big fan of the lean-to as a bit of rustic architecture...and my love affair with the Adirondack region is no secret, either. Also, I always like the name as a good omen for entertaining.

So you can see that things are coming along pretty nicely. Like I said the other day, I'm on my own schedule...and I don't really expect things here to be fully settled down for at least another month or two. But I have been encouraged to accomplish a few things in advance of weekend visitors. Still, it remains a work in progress...there's still at least one room that looks like this:



Also - in the interests of full disclosure - Marc, I want to be sure you know in advance that this is the kitchen you will be working in Sunday evening.



It's not one of those big Martha Stewart country kitchen affairs...ha ha...so please keep your expectations low! But the stove works and I'm sure we can find you a little counter space for prep. And I've got dessert all worked out, so no worries on that front!

But lets not focus too much attention on my tiny little kitchen. Instead, let me share with you the sunset over Cape Cod Bay from Tuesday evening, just down the road from the Nest. I think you'll find it much easier on the eyes.

Friday Garden Report

I spent most of last night's Vice Presi dential debate coverage muttering as I sponged paint onto the living room walls...it's still a work in progress, so no photos of the finished look yet...but I did catch a few images yesterday I wanted to share with you.

During our early morning breakfast event at work, we had a bit of a sunshower, which gave us the barest glimmer of a rainbow in the northwestern sky...it was already fading by the time I had my camera ready, naturally.

But what's a rainbow, anyway, but a fleeting and intangible promise - like a kiss really - of sweetness and beauty in the future? Who doesn't love a rainbow for that.


I always think there's somethingi cool about it raining while the sun is shining...maybe its two of my favorite elements, water and fire coming together in such a spectacular and sparkly way...I really liked this photo taken under the pear tree outside my office.

After our early morning, I spent a little time in the office, mostly doing unsatisfying battle with my office computer. When it became clear I was about the headbutt the monitor, I decided to take a break for a little time at home and some banking...with a plan to return later on.

High tide was flooding Boat Creek Marsh as I drove through, and when I spotted a blue heron feeding with some gulls in the rising waters, I couldn't resist stopping for a photo or two.

I'm sorry to say the heron disagreed with my idea, and fled at the first sight of me and my camera...of course there was also an unfortunate amount of traffic driving along Bridge Road just then, so perhaps it wasn't all my fault the great bird fled.

But I was pretty pleased with this silhouette shot as it flew out of sight. Also, I loved the contrast of these white asters blooming against the background of some autumn-reddened Virginia creeper.

I took a painting break before dinner and the debates and made it to First Encounter just in time for the last rays of sunset. Actually, I didn't stay long, as there was a pretty powerful wind coming off the bay and it made me downright shivery...so much so that even the Image Stabilization feature on my camera couldn't save all but these two images.

Things are good in the Midnight Garden, and I promise I'll have some more painting photos as the weekend progresses. I hope this finds each and every one of you doing well, with fun plans for at least some part of the weekend!!

A Few Things Including the Moon

Still catching up on a back-log of images...

On Monday evening after work, I came home and jumped right into the painting business. Well, okay, that's not entirely true. Now that I have a phone and an answering machine, there were messages to listen to, as well.

Now, Comcast may have referred to this as a new number...but they didn't mean mint. In this case, I appear to have gotten the telephone number of someone named Josh, who ran up a great bit of credit card debt with Capital One, contacted credit counselors about consolidating that debt and also pre-ordered the new Star Wars video game (which is now available) before abandoning the number for me to inherit.


But somewhere in there was also a message for me from my pal, Bethy, who it turned out has a double mattress and box spring in good shape she wants to pass along to me. So we phone tagged a little about the plans to get that to happen...and then I went off to do some painting.

In this case, I was daubing a bit of gold leaf onto the bedroom walls with a sponge, to get a little sparkle going on. The stuff really reeks, though, so even though the windows were open, I was happy to be finishing that just about the time of sunset, and so I made my way off to First Encounter to see the evening's show.

I had barely arrived when this great bundle of energy and fur nearly bowled me over. Never fear, it was my friend Randy's kid, Alexander.

'Xander and I met last week for the first time, and at that time, I happened to have dog treats in my pockets as I was fresh from a visit to the bank...so he gave me the once over and, while disappointed that I was not similarly prepared to see him this week, was still relatively happy to see me.

It was fun to see them, and I enjoyed having a little doggy time.

Randy and I had a chance to visit a little more than during our brief crossing of paths last week, just before everything changed...and so we had much to chat about...and a beautiful sunset and moonrise to enjoy as Alexander explored the dunes and the shoreline for the stinky things that dogs enjoy.


After they'd departed for the rest of their evening, I stayed a little longer to enjoy the feeling of the warm sand on my bare feet and catch the last lingering bits of light over the bay, before heading home for a late dinner and a little more painting.

Oh, what a beautiful time September is.


Did you know the full moon closest to the Autumn equinox is called the Harvest Moon? I suppose we all do, thanks to the old song.

Two out of three years, the Harvest Moon is a September phenomena, but the other year it occurs in October.

They named it that since it appears to rise at a similar time for a few nights, only 20 minutes later than the night before, instead of the usual 50 minutes, giving farmers a little more time to spend in the fields at the harvest.

The Earth Turns

And so a few days pass and it's been a week suddenly. I figured I'd check in and let you all know what's been going on, more or less.

We had a little rain this evening, perhaps in sympathy for those standing in the face of Hurricane Ike's arrival along the Gulf Coast this overnight, but generally, it's been a week of lovely days and pleasant evenings...and when possible I've snuck off to enjoy little bits of nature here and there throughout a week filled with other things.

I've now got telephone, cable and internet service at the Nest, which is fun, but the blogging could cut into my actually accomplishing things, too, so I beg your patience with sporadic posting. I'll try to make the wait worth your while.

Thanks to some regular watering, the recently potted up annuals seem to be recovering nicely from such late-season treatment.


Most of the paint has arrived now and I've even made a bit of a start on that, getting a nice solid two coats of Cape Cod Gray (which as you can see has a nice blue cast in most lights) onto the walls in the bedroom...as a base for things to come.

I sort of enjoyed this tribal-looking mark I got on my palm in the process...looks like the sort of cool representation of the sun you might see on a cave wall somewhere, eh?

I really like the way the Cape Cod Gray plays with the green that was in so many rooms here. Much of the green will go away, partly because there's been some spackling work and it'd be too tricky to try to match the color. Fortunately, some green walls are spackle free and I'll be preserving those as accents of a sort.

I know this next photo isn't especially clear, but I could hardly resist teasing you with the image of what I found myself sketching on one of the living room walls the other evening. It should embiggify for your straining eyes' ease.

In between applications of the blue paint the other night, I took a break and found myself over at Nauset Beach, on the ocean side. It's about a five minute drive from the Nest, especially with the minimal traffic we're seeing out here now that September's here for sure.

It was after dark, but the sight and sound of the crashing surf in the moonlight was pretty amazing and I just sat on a bench and enjoyed the show for a while.

Another night, I found myself at First Encounter Beach, watching the sun sinking in the west, spreading its saturated colors across the sky in its wake.

All the colors of the rainbow were there in the sky, starting at the horizon and climbing toward the violet heavens. In the center of it all, a sailboat moved silently across the bay, perfectly silhouetted, making it postcard perfect.

That night I forgot my camera, naturally, so you'll have to trust me on that.


As the sun's light faded from the sky and the moon rose in the east at my back, I heard a thrilling sound from the marsh behind me, as the Coyote Revival Meeting got underway. They were far enough away that I wasn't concerned, most likely on the far side of Bee's Creek, but it's funny how the sinking sun and the ebbing tide take away so much sound from an evening, making the cry seem all the louder.

First it was just a single howl, and then the call and response of a second...and then a third...and then all of a sudden there was a great howling frenzy of them, all greeting the moon as she took the sky above.

Someone wrote recently to ask if the Monkey Slippers were still around and yes, they most definitely are. As the season turns and the days cool a little, they are becoming pretty popular again.



We bachelors are managing pretty well, but since it's a landscape of boxes and milkcrates and such still, it's really a cat's playground and Badum's been zooming through the night, or slinking through stacks of boxes and books, or batting around catnip mice to his heart's content, when he's not lying around on his back, admiring the ceiling.

He's almost always met me at the door when I came home, not just here. But it's fun at the new place, as I can hear him talking to me from inside the door as I climb the stairs after being out. Well, until we got television...and now I've caught him snoozing a time or two.

Last weekend, during the move, a misplaced half-packet of cat grass seed appeared and once we'd settled in a little here, I got the seeds planted...Sunday night, I think. Already, it's begun to sprout and will be something to make my buddy feel a little more at home. Plus it's fun to have something new growing.


On the way to the bank this morning, I spotted this pair of birds soaring in the sky above First Encounter Marsh, sometimes just hanging in the air on the breezes from the bay.

Although they look like big seagulls in this particular shot, I did get a much closer look at them before the camera was ready and the wingspan here was truly impressive. I wasn't able to actually get out of the car (there's really no place to pull over), tho fortunately a lack of other vehicles coming along allowed me to stop and get a few snaps.

I still can't say for sure if they were eagles or hawks...I've seen both in that area before...and I suppose it's possible they were ospreys, whom I'm really not familiar with. No matter their identity, they made an impressive sight on an overcast morning.

Listen To the Garden

"What a pity flowers can utter no sound!
A singing rose, a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle,
oh what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be!"

- Henry Ward Beecher

Weekend Garden Update

Saturday morning was nice and sunny, with temper atures quickly rising into the 80s, as I listened to reports on the Weather Channel of big storms approaching Manhattan and also sliding across the state in our general direction.

As you can see, the corn in the Three Sisters garden is doing quite nicely, even tho it is shaded in the very earliest part of the day. I've never had such success with as I have this year and it's lots of fun to watch as it grows taller all the time.

The pole beans are merrily twining up the vines, according to plan and at the feet of all that, the zucchini plants are blooming heartily. So that's all working out pretty nicely.


Couldn't resist a few more morning glory shots for you, as I know much you enjoy them. These two, with a few drops on them from the morning watering were especially sweet looking.


More cherry tomatoes are ripening every day and they are a nice addition to my morning breakfast routine.


There must be twenty or more house sparrows (and a few catbirds) who call the great mass of tree and shrubs next to the Three Sisters garden home. Some mornings, I don't see a single one, but can hear a great chattering and tweeting from inside. Other times, I walk near and they all fly off at once...which is a little startling, but pretty cool.



Here's another one of those evening primrose blossoms. Every morning, I see a few new ones, freshly opened from the previous night's dusk. Every now and then, I come out in the morning to find they are sparkling bright yellow all up and down the plant stalks.


Similarly, a few more sulphur cosmos are blooming every morning. With the evening primrose, they are working together to levitate the colors of the various marigolds which are blooming down below.


And the Queen Anne's lace is delightfully out of hand.

By evening, the storms had arrived for us and we saw some nice heavy rains, which had tapered off by the time I was leaving work.


This morning, this little bunny was munching in the grass when I came out the front door. He turned to move away and stopped for a moment, surveying the garden to see if he could find a way through the border. Eventually, he opted to dash off to the side yard, instead.


Today, we attended the birthday celebration of our friend Sebastian's eighth birthday. I forgot to take a photo of the birthday boy, but I did capture this shot of the delightfully big and squishy ugly rubber bugs I found as a gift for him. (That's a standard sized highlighter included in the shot for perspective.) He was thrilled.

I was a little concerned that his Mom and Grandma might not share his enthusiasm, but by the time the party was over, they both had designs on using them to have some fun with unsuspecting friends and co-workers.

On the way home, I spotted these wonderful clouds over the bay, and stopped briefly at Rock Harbor to capture this shot of the cloud-obscured sunset.