FEVER

This year will be different. Yes, this year I will have a plan of what to plant and only buy things I need for my garden. There may be lots of great plants at the nursery, but I don’t have to have all of them.

Then spring arrives. Like the intrepid daffodils emerging from their frozen slumber, “Open for the Season” signs reappear. Despite every intention of driving by, my steering wheel reverts to auto-pilot and I find myself in a garden center parking lot.

Sound familiar? The rationalizations follow. “I might as well take a look. No harm in finding out what’s new this year.”

Like a yo-yo dieter, waging an all out mental war, I stand before the bounty of tempting choices. My resolve falters. My mouth fights a tidal wave of saliva. I’m forced to swallow to prevent a trickle of drool from escaping towards my chin. My knees weaken, my stomach does somersaults, and I forget to breathe. I’m a nervous teenager again, about to receive my first kiss.

The arrays of bold colors; the rippling leaves; those nodding, winking faces—it’s all too much. Plants flaunt themselves shamelessly before me, vying for attention the way hawkers do in booths at the state fair. My pulse racing now, I pick up a tray of annuals. Fighting the urge to fling my arms open wide and caper with abandon through the aisles like a mischievous puppy, I inhale slowly.

“Calm down, for heaven’s sake. Remember, this year is supposed to be different. Taking measured steps, I wend my way through this horticultural heaven, playing my part in the plant world’s equivalent of a pas-de-deux.

In ten minutes flat my cart is laden with a mix of tried-and-true favorites and this year’s darling—Pretty Much Picasso petunias. Heading for the check-out, a litany of excuses starts. And being an unrepentant gardener, there are ample reasons for my excess. “It’s just a few plants. Some people spend more at Starbuck’s each day. Everyone has at least one vice. How harmful are a few plants?” This is quickly followed by, “I need something for the bare spots where my Alchemilla mollis disappeared.” My new excuse this year is, “oh, we have to support our local growers—you know, the locavore movement. Forget the fact the movement is supposed to be about eating locally-grown plants; it’s not about growing locally-purchased plants, or is it?

In my best actor’s voice, I practice my lines all the way home. My husband will be my audience and he’ll prompt me with the classic, “Where are you going to put all those things? Does this mean I have to dig another garden this spring?”

“Oh no,” I assure him, “I’m going to tuck these in among the plants we already have. Everything will blend together and crowd out the weeds. We’ll be able to enjoy the display and won’t have to do any work.” I plaster a big smile on my face, as if I’m thinking of his best interests.

He buys this argument, no doubt relieved backbreaking digging of water-logged soil isn’t in his immediate future.

I’m relieved too. My plant fever has abated, for now. I’ll be taking a longer way to work though. There are only so many rounds of fever I can withstand and driving by the garden center daily is no antidote for my condition.

Coming Soon: A Vacation in Ireland

On July 22, 2011 my family and I will embark on a new journey. A result of submitting a travel essay to FamilyVacationCritic.com, I won a trip to the Adare Manor in Ireland. (Pictured on the left). Anyone interested can read my essay in this link; FamilyVacationCritic.com.
Our itinerary is packed. The Blarney Stone, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, and an Irish Medieval Banquet will fill the days when we are not strolling the emerald grounds of this expansive estate. The cool weather and icy waters will not allow me to bask in the sun and wiggle my toes in the sand as my prior adventures, but will instead allow me to explore the culture and history of a land I have never been.

Here's the link to our castle.....

https://www.adaremanor.com

Chicken Soup Story for the Soul...Candlewood Member, Beth Molinaro

New Milford resident Beth Molinaro is a featured contributor in the recently released Chicken Soup for the Soul, Shaping the New You.

A book signing will take place Saturday, Jan. 22, from noon to 2 p.m. at Bank Street Book Nook on Bank Street in New Milford.

Ms. Molinaro is a freelance writer, and her humorous story “Pool Walking” was selected from the many submissions to the popular series, which features stories told from a first-person perspective and are meant to be inspiring as well as entertaining.

An employee of Ability Beyond Disability, Ms. Molinaro has been writing for many years. Her focus, she said in a news release, has been on looking at the world with her own brand of humor, light hearted and quick witted.

Before moving to New Milford in 2001, Beth, her two children, Zach and Annie, and her husband, Anthony, lived in Pittsburgh, Pa.

“Chicken Soup for the Soul, Shaping the New You” will be available in area bookstores on Amazon.com.

Published in the Danbury News Times, January 2011

Red Umbrellas at Faneuil Hall Boston

Boston summer’s don’t always hold the heat and humidity of other cities. The bay offers a breeze, while shadows are lowered to the streets within the irregular mixture of buildings. With Faneuil Hall only blocks from the waterfront, susceptible to these cooling winds, it draws an outdoor crowd looking for a casual stop during the day. The choice of restaurants only equals the variety of shops. And on a sweet summer’s day, sitting outside with friends or family, is like a picnic for the urban dweller.

Woven into the mix of vendors, performers and strollers, many of the restaurants and cafes provide outdoor dining as varied as the visitors. Families, children scribbling with crayons on paper, babies lulling in a pram or young teenage girls fiddling with their hair, don’t feel the restraints of the formal atmosphere indoors. Young couples, leaning in, speaking with that hint of a tease, stand out more than they’d like to think. Good friends linger over a beer and the sky is blue.

When the heat does arrive, up go the outdoor red umbrellas of Faneuil Hall. A birds-eye view must look like a sea of red lollipops have snapped to attention. Could the choice of color have anything to do with the intense feelings this old historic site stirs up?

Autumn can come quickly to New England, but to give up summer....oh, it’s only let go with a sigh and then a resolve to bear out the winter. And the red umbrellas retreat again. But with a bowl of Anthem’s award winning chowder to stir and sip, sitting outdoors at Faneuil Hall will always be one of the joys of Boston.

As the Artist in Residence at Faneuil Hall, Randi Jane Davis has been painting as long as she can remember. Throughout various professional endeavors, her commitment to painting has remained a constant. As a plein air painter, Davis examines objects and their surrounding, transferring her impressions to the canvas in fluid, gestural strokes.

To compliment Davis's exhibition at Faneuil Hall will be a book of her paintings, with accompanying essays, enhancing not only the painting, but the readers experience as they visit this historical landmark. Priscilla Whitley will author.

Some excerpts follow.....

www.randijanedavis.com

HAYMARKET II AT FANEUIL HALL

Less than a block away from Quincy Market, on the north side of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, is Haymarket Square, a constant presence since the early 1830s, almost a hundred years after the opening of Faneuil Hall. Here an open-air fruit and vegetable market is held each Friday and Saturday, rain or shine, all year long. This produce market is a compliment to the more upscale offerings of the various food shops, restaurants and boutiques adjoining the marketplace. For visitors it offers rich photo opportunities.

Located on the short, narrow Blackstone Street most of the costermongers, or vendors, are the old timers from Boston’s North End Italian community. Many have worked the market for decades, while some of the families have done it for generations. The culture of the merchants, with their bantering street talk, adds to the appeal of this robust market making it not only authentic but vibrantly colorful.

Haggling over price is possible, though buying from the market is still less expensive than most places. Dropping by late in the date, prices fall as the costermongers would rather sell than pack up and cart home. Haymarket is a place linked to the past but now also infused with relative newcomers from Asia, North Africa and the Caribbean expanding the rich variety of produce. Here one can find peppers, mangoes, citrus fruits, an assortment of berries. tomatoes and squash, plus foods and exotic spices, all within one marketplace.

Haymarket is an institution for the foodies of Boston, where quality and price are mixed in with the history and culture of Faneuil Hall.


“Friends, Brethren, Countrymen! That worst of plagues, the detested TEA, has arrived in this harbour. The hour of destruction... stares you in the face.”
George R.T. Hewes, A Survivor of the LIttle Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbor in 1773...

Magical Balloons at Faneuil Hall, Boston

It’s the special ones who find the joy in giving to others. It’s not about adulation or fame, that’s left for the ambitious. The smile is the reward. The laugh. The first look of astonishment turning into glee. And in the case of Rami Salami, it’s all accomplished by the twisting and turning of a balloon which, as if by magic, he transforms into a gift for a delighted child.

Rami Salami’s been entertaining in Boston, particularly at Faneuil Hall since 1993. After serving as a volunteer in the Israeli army in 1988, he began performing in hospitals there, as well as army bases, before returning to his home ground of Boston to undergo an experimental heart procedure. Along with it’s success came his desire to make the world a happier place.
Rami Salami, who calls himself, the “real deal” has entertained children all over the world, stretching from the Nagasaki Holland Village in Japan, the Carnival in Caiz in Spain and to Israel where he hosted a children’s party held by then President Ezer Weizman at his residence in Jerusalem. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem became the home of SalamiLand during the Purim Holiday.

In the tradition of great entertainers his mission is to delight the youngest visitors in the most simple way. He needs nothing more than a a balloon and a rhyme to coax a giggle. Rami’s joy is his love of giving. And his specialty is the smile he puts on each little face.

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny." ~Carl Schurz, address, Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1859