Small Space Gardening

Have no yard but want to garden - no problem. I love to garden but in essence we have no large ground space available to us- not to worry as small spaces can be just as effective and transformative as large spaces - in fact I prefer them.  Many Europeans (Holland for me was a gardening revelation) have small plots in which to garden and I find their gardens inspiring. 

Most of my gardening is done with container pots but we do have two small plots of ground that I use for my bulbs, perennials as well as annuals. In the back yard the “garden” measures a mere 23  x 23 inches,  I have planted tulip bulbs, tall phlox and there is a pink flower (that somehow got in there and I have no clue what it is) all make their lovely appearance known in early Spring. Once the tulips have had their run, I’ll plant that area with annuals such as wave petunias  

Our front garden plot measures 35 by 83 inches. Each year I plant tulip, grape hyacinth and daffodil bulbs as well as some creeping phlox. Interspersed among the bulb plants are the hostas which are now just breaking ground  - daily unfurling their tightly folded  deep-green leaves like some hidden treasure - they make great ground cover plantings and come in a variety of green colors, some solid and some variegated.  Other perennials are also making an appearance such as the wild geraniums. Once the hostas are done revealing themselves it’s time to plant annuals to fill in the space - pink & white impatience, blood-red geraniums, purple salvia.

It is a pleasure to walk out every single day beginning in March/April to see the emergence of buds, the sprouting, the colors changing. I’m already thinking about what bulbs to buy for planting in the Fall for next Spring.

What influenced my interest in gardening:

·        -My Mother’s row of tall red tulips in front of our white fence and black lamppost

·        -May Sarton’s memoir, “The House by the Sea” given to me by my friend Cici back in my mid-twenties

·        - Living briefly in Amsterdam

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Recommended reading:

Container Gardening: the complete practical guide to container gardening, indoors and outdoors By: Stephanie Donaldson & Peter McHoy

 The House by the Sea by May Sarton

Best buys for flowers and containers: 
TJ Maxx on Henderson Road for inexpensive and unusual pots and containers.

·         Marc’s grocery store on Henderson Road: Best prices on annuals, they do have some perennials but is limited - check their stock frequently throughout April and May - have had great luck with their flowers - always hardy and healthy.

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Spring is Here

Is there anything more glorious than Spring with all of its daily colors and transformations? And is there any better place to be than in Columbus Ohio during Spring? I think not! Three weeks ago I drove up from Florida with my Mom and nieces and this is what greeted me when I pulled up to our house (photo above). There is nothing more beautiful than a tulip with their tapered stems, elegant petals just at their beginning bloom looking like long-limbed ballerinas - all slenderness and grace when they sway in the breeze. 

Due to the loony winter with little cold or snow, this Spring has been wildly off-schedule with everything blooming at once, the Bradford pears, redbuds, crabapple trees, lilacs, daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, even the peonies are coming up early and will bloom weeks before normal. Last year at this time, tulips were just coming up and in bloom, this year everything is at least 4 weeks ahead of schedule. 

During her visit my 13 year-old niece (the dedicated gardener) planted all the early Spring pansies and violas in pots lining our front steps - adding a cheerful greeting to those who come to our door. It’s almost time to visit the garden stores to select the annuals that will fill our many pots and planters. Wish you were here E!  More on gardening tomorrow……

Ordinary to Extraordinary - The Power of Photography

I came to photography later in life. It had been niggling away on the fringes of my life since I was a small child, hints left here and there. My father was into black and white photography when I was very young, developed his own photographs  but then inexplicably stopped abruptly. I have his 1950’s film camera on my office shelf.

When I was traveling across the country in the mid-1970’s, we picked up a hitchhiker that ended up leaving his camera and telephoto lens in our car. We only discovered it after we had dropped him off, immediately turned around, backtracked in search of him but no luck. I have often wondered about him, how devastated he must have been when he realized he had forgotten his camera. We decided to sell the camera as we were broke but I've wondered what if? What if I had bothered to keep it, to use it, to take photos.

In the 1990's while working with gorillas I met one of the best wildlife photographers out there - Michael “Nick” Nichols from National Geographic. His photos continue to inspire. Nick is an integral organizer for the annual Look3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, Virginia every summer. Please check out Nick's new APP on his Nat Geo web site - bottom of page.

It was only a whim on a snowy Montana day in 2007 that I grabbed my husband’s old Canon film camera taking it with me for our back-country drive.  I took a photo that showed me the magic of a well done photograph - it was of an abandoned US Fish & Wildlife Service cabin near Nye Montana. 

Photography allows me to explore, to be creative, to focus - to shut out the rest of the world while trying to capture that elusive image - most times (and I mean 9 out of 10 times) I don’t succeed but every once in a while you hit it just right.  I keep a camera with me at all times because you just never know what you might see or what you might miss - the above photo is of my neighbor's dogs when I pulled up to my house one afternoon - for some reason they just cracked me up, so I took the picture.

Some of the photos posted with this blog were taken from the car (Smith Brothers), or on a meandering weekend drive where I came across a Civil War reenactment event in a small Ohio town, or on a boat coming around a river bend (Elephant & Egrets) in Africa. Even tourist cliches like the Cliffs of Moher - taken by every person who has ever visited Ireland - can still feel mystical and magical with the right light and angle. It is sometimes the the most ordinary of things that catch your eye and at the right angle, just feels right. I love that photos can tell a story, in "Proud Auntie" my sister-in-law is walking in front of our niece who is in the background being made-up by her best friend - the look on my sister-in-law's her face is just lovely - funny but proud - it speaks to the excitement of my niece's wedding day. None of these photos have been enhanced, - some are a bit overexposed, some don't have enough shadows/light contrast but each is taken just as I saw it at that moment. 

I’m happy to say that photography seems to be running through the family, a grandson is now taking a photography course at the age of 10, my youngest niece began taking photos at the age of 10 as well and has photos on my web site. Another niece in her 20’s has just started her own photography business and web site - while going to university and working her other job. See web sites below.

My web site: http://www.photosbybetharmstrong.com

On my site click on “The Next Generation” to see photos by my youngest niece

My older niece’s web site: http://www.emmaparkersphotography.com

Nick Nichols: http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-michael-nichols/ See Nick's new App at the bottom of this page

Look3 Festival of the Photograph: http://Look3.org


Good Read:
The Passionate Photographer: Ten Steps Toward Becoming Great by Steve Simon

Hearth & Home

There is nothing better than a house that smells of cooking and baking and nothing better than soup and bread on a cold day. Below is a soup recipe that is a combo of different FO soups I've made over the years or seen on cooking shows (Jamie Oliver in particular). And for dessert is my Great Aunt Ida's pound cake - also known as Poor Man's Pound Cake. Aunt Ida was born in 1904, oldest of the eight Shuler girls. She was known as the baker in the family as well as being quite the stylish dresser.

Home is as much about the cooking as it is the coziness of small details like a beautiful tablecloth, fresh flowers and pretty dishes. You don't need an abundance just a few items. With that in mind I have attached some photos from two of my favorite stores in Columbus, Cottage Street and SoBo - found right next door to one another on High Street in Clintonville.
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French Onion Soup

Soup:

4 to 5 large sweet onions (sliced thin)

Tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

½ cup vermouth or white wine

1 bay leaf

6 to7 stems of fresh thyme (leaves only)

6 to 8 cups chicken stock

Salt & pepper

-          In a large sauce pan drizzle the olive oil and sliced onions, add sugar - should take 30 minutes or more to carmelize the onions.

-          Place onions in big soup pan

-          Add the vermouth and chicken stock

-          Add bay leaf and thyme

-          Salt and pepper to taste

-          Cook on low heat for an hour

Bread & Cheese

Rustic hard bread

Butter

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Gruyere cheese

Cut bread in 4 inch wide slices,  butter top of each bread slice and add parmesan cheese - place on cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes at 400 F.

Serving:

Place bread slices in bowl, ladle soup over, place shredded parmesan and gruyere cheese on top and broil until cheese melts and browns.

Great Aunt Ida’s Pound Cake

1 cup Crisco (cream with vanilla)

1 to 2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups of sugar

3 cups Cake flour (sifted)

2 ½ tsp baking powder (add dry ingredients to sugar, Crisco, vanilla.  Beat on mixer till mixed).

1 cup of milk

4 eggs

Put milk around, add one egg at a time till mixed

Beat two minutes

Use 1 tube pan as Aunt Ida did or grease and flour two bread loaf pans

Oven temp: 375*  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes

Changes:  Beth Armstrong – Pauline Shuler’s granddaughter

Replace Crisco with 2 sticks of unsalted butter – softened

Add the zest of 1 lemon and the juice of one lemon * may need to bake a bit longer*

On Being an Aunt

I have been many things in my life, gorilla keeper, conservationist, photographer,………but perhaps the one title I cherish most is being an Aunt. Today my family celebrates the 28^th birthday of my niece, the oldest of the bunch. My nieces and nephews range in age from 28 down to 13, each of them unique, charming and lovely in their own way. They are an interesting and diverse crew, one  is  an amazing photographer and a traveler, her brother an avid snowboarder is spending this winter out in Colorado doing what he loves best.  A nephew is finishing up his final year of college while another has just started that journey. One kid still in high school is taking college courses, works and plays HS football. One niece is so hysterically funny and disarming she keeps the whole family in stitches. Some play soccer, some softball, some ride horses. They all have a love for cooking and one of my favorite things to do is spend the day baking with them, one nephew is a budding chef.  All the girls seem to share a love of cozy space - making your room your own signature space. The youngest has just discovered the joys of gardening - and she too is a photographer.  I have been most fortunate that I have sister-in-laws all of whom have shared their amazing kids with me.

But it is the eldest, the one I have known the longest who this blog is for. I remember the day your mother told me she was pregnant with you, standing in Grandma and Grandpa’s kitchen - how thrilled all of us were, each of us so looking forward to meeting you. In your early twenty’s you lived for a year in Korea teaching English to little kids - you are an adventurer. Now in addition to working full-time you are working on your Master’s degree - since a little girl you have always been a hard worker. This last year you were married and what a joy it was for all of us to be there to witness your happiness. When you come to town, there is nothing more I enjoy than sitting in my living room chatting late into the night with you. You have inspired me with your wisdom, your ability to be thankful for the daily blessing we each have - how did you figure that out at such a young age - took me decades. What a lucky Auntie I am indeed to know such a person as you.

Simple Things - Thankful Things

I'm thankful for.....

• My Grandmother’s cookbook on my kitchen counter 
• Good food
• My garden in the morning
• Evening shadows on the ornamental grass in the front yard
• My stink-bomb-jones dog, who is starting to get old, and doesn’t want to go on as many walks
• My niece’s who hang a lot at their Auntie’s house
• My nephew who called me for a ride today and we talked about everything and nothing while driving to his job
• A nice period piece on PBS on Sunday nights - Downton Abbey
• Fresh flowers in the house
• A stranger today who helped me move a snapping turtle off a busy road into a pond
• A side table with flowers and a favorite book
• My funny Aunt Jill who sent me a letter today
• My dad and his sister Jill's smart-ass sense of humor
• A really good book: Just finished The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman; currently reading The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht and A Radiant Life by Nuala O’Faolain
• My sister-in-law for sending me a book by Nuala O’Faolain My Dream of You - How did I not know of this writer?
• Looking forward to reading a book - Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron 
• And for Lisa who talked me into taking that blog class
  

Churches

Here's an unusual occurrence - I went to Mass today. Truth be told my brothers and I were raised Catholic and as such we spent our youth going to Sunday Mass and attending Catholic school. After school we were told horror stories by the older kids about what happened to people who dared to touch the holy Host. Back then getting a communion host stuck to the roof of your mouth was cause for alarm, being petrified that you might unthinkingly and reflexively try to pry it off with your finger - and then die before confessing this terrible sin was pretty spooky stuff - yep, nothing like scaring the crap out of kids to keep them in line. 

Even at a young age I never could truly buy into - or maybe I give myself too much credit, maybe I just wasn’t paying attention - the stories being told. Mary and her husband Joseph  - interesting story that - a bit more complicated than we were ever given to believe. Joseph doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his forbearance and his love and protection of his step-child. I don’t remember the priest giving any rousing sermons about the fact that Jesus was a rebel, or focusing on the most basic aspect of his personality that he was in the end just a good guy, a kind man,  I don’t recall the church encouraging us children to question and to embrace being different - as Jesus was. 

I was a dreamer given to spending my time in church gazing at the stained glass windows - the brilliant cobalt blues, deep greens, the textured browns of the gowns of Mary, Jesus and their saintly friends. The traditional medieval architecture was another distraction.Checking out the kinds of hats  the women were wearing especially at Easter was something to do. To make the time pass more quickly we counted the number of children lined up for Communion from individual families just to see who had the most. Our kind and gentle family doctor had a whopping 17 children while we, the Armstrong’s were a bit of a disappointment being on the low end with only 4. All these things were welcome diversions before feeling that enormous sense of relief once Mass was over and you could run home to get on with the business of just being a kid.  

But what I did love most were the rituals both from church and school- the tartan school uniforms, brand new beanie caps, school book covers made of brown paper bags, the smell of incense during the Stations of the Cross, the altar decorated at Christmas with laurels of pine (another lovely smell) and live poinsettias, the ash cross we wore so proudly on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday refusing to wash off until the next day, or picking your own confirmation name.  

Maybe I was a little dodgy on the actual belief scale but I do think rituals have provided a comfort and a touchstone to go back to. Nowadays I say Hail Mary's when I need to get a grip on some stress or other in my life. Still one of my favorite things to do is to go to my childhood church when no one is around just to sit in the quiet and breathe in the smells from my childhood….. fixated on the light illuminating their burnished windows.

I make a habit of going to churches when in other cities.  The photos of stained glass windows are from United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg Florida.