Author Archives: dirtynailz

I was back in New York to visit friends and as always, I had an amazing time. The above photo is from an exhibit in Chelsea of work by New Yorker cartoonist, Roz Chast. My sister and I grew up … Continue reading →

This is our tiny Christmas tree, which I retrieved from a ditch in our former neighborhood 18 years ago. It was the first and only time I have stopped to pick up a discarded item in a ditch, but something … Continue reading →

My sister-in-law took this photo on Thanksgiving, before we sat down to dinner. The tall white pine is one of the things I love most about our back yard. Another thing I love about our property is looking out the … Continue reading →

  Last week, I made a caramel apple cake and tweeted a photo of the finished product. There seemed to be some interest in this perfect seasonal dessert, so here is the recipe. I found it on allrecipes.com https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8247/caramel-apple-cake/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=Search I … Continue reading →

The natural beauty of Napatree Point in Westerly, R.I. was further enhanced recently by a gathering of corgis. Organized by the Rhode Island Corgis group, it was the first of its kind on Napatree and I had to bring Fidgit. … Continue reading →

Ridiculously simple to grow, Mexican sunflower, or Tithonia, is a stunner all summer long, but is especially welcome in the fall. Here it’s paired with an annual salvia, maybe Indigo Spires. The combination of intense orange and intense blue is … Continue reading →

Some of the late-flowering plants, like dahlias, are at their best right now. This post contains a good helping of eye candy, so be forewarned. My favorite nursery has an impressive field of dahlias behind the greenhouse. They sell cut … Continue reading →

Maybe it’s habit from all those years of going back to school in September, but it seems fitting, on this Labor Day weekend, to write about my summer vacation. It only lasted two weeks, but the weather was great and … Continue reading →

When we bought this house a couple of years ago, the covered front porch was bare. I wondered how and even if we would use it, and now, this is where I spend much of my free time during the … Continue reading →

I wanted to share a new photo of my plumeria. I ordered it from a grower in Florida and when I received it in late May, it was just a cutting, so I had to root it. This is a … Continue reading →