Digging RI

My local supermarket has had these self check-out things for a while. I don’t usually use them because: a) I like the people who work at the regular check-outs and I want them to keep their jobs, and b) the self check-outs never work the way they’re supposed to.

I  loathe the insipid female computer being who lives in the checkout machine, with her pointy digital breasts and rigid pony tail.  I especially hate her voice,  the way she tells me to “please take my receipt” with a cutsie emphasis on the “t.”

Today, I found myself standing in front of one because there were so many people in line buying great quantities of junk food for tonight’s Superbowl game. (Another rant for another time)

The machines are almost always persnickety, and I annoyed this one immediately by having the audacity to bring my own bag. Even after I clicked on “I’m using my own bag” it still instructed me to “wait for an associate.” An employee came over and got me going again, until I tried to scan the cauliflower, which sent the machine into another funk, necessitating another visit from the employee. This time, she stayed with me until I had competed the scanning and paying process, which made me feel like a dimwit for not being able to use such a simple system.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the times when I have been able to scan my order without needing assistance. Why have self-checkouts if we still need employees to make them work?

This is my bulbophyllum longissimum. It grows in a northeast facing window in my kitchen, and it has re-bloomed twice since I bought it a couple of years ago.

It is planted in a basket, and I water and fertilize it on the same schedule as my other orchids. (week one: plain water, week two: Superthrive, week three: plain water, week four: Michigain State University tap water special orchid fertilizer.)  The flower is pendulous and about eight inches long. It has a strange scent which is vaguely unappealing, but it’s so cool-looking that I don’t mind. The flower lasts about a week.

This orchid is a warm-growing species that is native to Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia. I read up on how to grow it, and opinions are so wildly divergent that I just trusted my instincts and did what I thought the plant would like. For instance, one man fertilizes his twice a week while it’s growing. That’s a lot of fertilizer for an orchid.

Here’s a close-up of the flower. Someone told me it looked like a squid, which is quite true, I think.

This is my most expensive orchid. I paid $40 for it, which, for me, is a lot. But it’s so interesting and reliable, and such a great addition to my collection.

This is a package of frozen sugar snap peas. My husband bought them, thinking they would be a healthy vegetable to serve with dinner. When he tasted them, he found them to be awfully sweet, which prompted him to take a closer look at the box.

Well there’s the reason. They had added sugar! Salt, too. I was flabbergasted at the unhealthy (and sneaky) addition to something that is so naturally good.  And can you see the Weight Watchers endorsement on the package in the first photo? For a product with added sugar, which is completely unnecessary and bad for you? What were they thinking?

The takeaway from this is twofold:

1) Read labels more carefully (I thought we were already doing that, but this one slipped by us)

2) Don’t trust the food companies

Makes me pine for those sugar snap peas I grew and enjoyed last summer.

Cypripedium growing in Perce, Quebec photo: Wikipedia

At the most recent meeting of the Ocean State Orchid Society, we learned about hardy orchids, the species you can grow outside in your garden. The speaker was Christopher Bell, of A&P orchids, a passionate and very knowledgeable young plantsman.

Bell presenting his talk to OSOS members

Like most gardeners, I have admired Lady Slipper orchids growing in the woods here in Rhode Island. When I lived in Quebec, they grew there, too. These cypripediums can be grown in YOUR gardens, with some soil amendments and winter protection. Bell explained that as with many orchids species, cypripediums demand good drainage. They also need to be mulched well with pine needles or oak leaves for winter. Bell prefers these mulches because they do not break down as quickly as maple leaves. Bell told us that cypripediums should be planted in a northeast facing exposure, in front of a large object such as a boulder, big tree or your house.

Calanthe sylvatica photo: Wikipedia

Several other genera will also grow outside in RI, again with winter protection. Calanthes, Bletillas, commonly known as “hardy ground orchids,” the glamorous Habenaria radiate (known as the “egret flower”) and Rose Pogonia, which grows in the wild here. Several club members said they have seen them, but I have never had the pleasure.

It never occurred to me that I could plant orchids in my garden and that they could actually thrive in this climate. Many gardeners treat these plants as annuals and just let them die over the winter, but I don’t think I’d want to do that.

I might summon my courage and try growing a couple of these. All of them are available at A&P.

Habenaria radiata. photo: Wikipedia

This is how I feel in the first days of 2014. Why are the holidays so gluttonous? I managed to get my usual exercise, but still…all those treats….

We have a single, lonely cookie remaining, one that no one wants to eat because it looks like our dear departed dachshund, who passed away last March. Is that ridiculous or what?

My sister-in-law makes these ginger snap cookies every Christmas and they are delicious. But did she have to make one that looks like Geneva?

Here’s a close-up so you can see the detail.

The dogs have been out driving around, searching for post-holiday bargains. This golden was at the wheel of a pretty badass truck. Careful driver, though.

My husband and his friend had big fun with their New Year’s fireworks. A great way to welcome 2014.

This post is number 400, believe it or not. I have no idea what’s happening with WordPress, but I am now getting fewer than 50 hits a day when I used to get hundreds and sometimes, thousands. Not sure why this is. Any insights into this unfortunate development are welcome.

Snowy owls, beautiful white raptors with bright yellow eyes and feathered legs and feet, have arrived on the RI coast in considerable numbers this winter. I will not bore you with the details of why they’re here, but I did write a rather long feature on this, which you can read here if you are so inclined.

We went owling recently and found not one but two!

This one was resting on a post. The hatch year birds are heavily marked with brown.

When we drove back out, we saw a cluster of cars and people standing around, looking up. That could only mean one thing: another snowy!

This one was perched high on a roof. It was hard to get a decent shot of it. Still awesome, though, that they’ve come all the way down from the Canadian Arctic, and that we have a chance to see them here.

All photos were taken from a considerable distance. These birds are exhausted and often starving, so we have to give them lots of space and not flush them from their perches.

My friend and I managed to find some time to sneak into the woods for a hike. As you can see, there was no snow. Decidely un-Christmasy. But it was peaceful, and we came across some huge holly trees which I thought you’d like seeing.

So here’s one, growing with other trees:

Yes, it had berries.

As is so often the case in RI, there were many beautiful stone walls. Here, they surrounded an old homestead. This is the cellar hole.

Here are some stone steps. The  probably sat at the entrance to the house. Every part of the house is gone now, and only the stone remains.

Mosses provided the occasional spark of bright green.

This dead tree had a lot going on. The shape was interesting, smoothed by years of wind and weather. Notice the perfect round holes. They’re not in a pattern, like the ones a sapsucker would make. Probably the work of  insects.

This tree made me wonder about why something this old and obviously long dead was still standing, while other trees had fallen.

There are many unanswered questions in the woods.

Yuck! That last line sounded so melodramatic and pretentious. Please forgive me, and Happy New Year, everybody.

This is Sophronitis cernua. It is native to Brazil, and it came into bloom this week. The flower buds emerge from a single, fleshy, heart-shaped leaf that splits open lengthwise, sort of like a pea pod. I think there will be six flowers.

This is the second time Sophronitis has bloomed for me. It lives with other miniature orchids on the windowsill  above the kitchen sink. The flowers are a very intense red-orange, and you really have to see them in person to get the full effect.

Here’s another look at it. (Sorry about that gosh darn sun!)

And this is Ascocentrum pumilum. It hails from Taiwan, where it grows on tree trunks at elevations of up to 6,000 feet. It prefers cooler temperatures, and  has been in flower for nearly a month, peacefully sharing the windowsill with Sophronitis.

This is another easy-to-grow miniature with intensely-colored flowers that have quite an impact because they  grow in clusters. I like the foliage, too. It’s reed-like, but fleshy at the same time.

My orchids are so cheery this time of year.

Merry Christmas, dear readers. I wish you all the happiest of holidays.

As I do every year, I went to my favorite nursery to ogle their creative holiday decorations.

Here’s some of what I saw.

How about this stunning wreath made from tree branches?

This sphere, also made from branches, was full of lights.

This pine, standing outside one of the greenhouses, was festooned with beautiful silver balls.

A gardener’s Christmas tree!

Owls are big again this year.

They make a different winter village every year.

Here’s a close-up view. Note use of dried plants, beach stones and penguins.

My holiday prep – such as it is – is just about done, so I can relax and enjoy the season. I hope you can, too. (And yes, I did by myself a little something…)

The beautiful pond in the photo is Green Fall pond. Once again,  Green Fall claims a spot in my top three most awesome hikes in RI. Actually, while we get on the trail in RI near Camp Yawgoog ( the Boy Scout reservation) we hike much of it in CT.

I love the way the river just slides over the smooth rock. This is a good spot to pause, drink some water, and acknowledge how lucky you are to be here.

Here’s another view of the pond, from a huge, lichen-covered rock. I love lichen.

Several things set this hike apart from most others in our tiny, and largely flat state: it’s varied and interesting throughout, except for the very last bit which involves about a mile on a dirt road. We try to get this over with as quickly as possible, and the faster we walk, the more we get our heart rates up, which is always good.

It is also quite demanding in some sections. There’s a rock scramble involving much grunting and the occasional curse, a slippery, narrow passage through a stunning gorge, and a kind of gnarly river crossing on a few unstable, slippery logs.

Above, you can see my blaze-clad companions negotiating the maze of slippery roots in the gorge.

Here’s that bridge I mentioned…..We all made it without getting soaked.

Another view of the crossing, with our fearless leader half way over it.

The sides of the gorge are rather steep, and covered with mosses and ferns, which were still green on this December morning.

This boulder was sporting the wild version of a “Chia Pet.”

It had been a rough week, and I was feeling really tired and stressed out when I started this hike. After less than an hour, my worries had vanished as they always do in the great outdoors.