Today's Weather in Your Garden - 18

Awesome 2nd shot Al, doesn't even look real! - should be hanging in an art museum!

Temp 60.0°, Wind S 8.6 mph. ☺

Moderate rain with heavy downpours here all day long, (and much needed to say the least!).

It's real WC - thanks. I've seen Christmas cards like it.

You came home early Pixie?

Al, I know I can't understand the implications here. I'm so impressed with the photos folks have had of all kinds of things blooming in the snow, but I pick up that it is dire for gardening up yonder. Thought the first thumbnail was a traditional Southern magnolia in bloom and was going to ask how you pulled that off ahead of me 'til I opened it! Hope this is warm snow (is there such a thing?) and everything is OK.

Laurel

Still raining. One inch so far.

Laurel- It's not dire, just a temporary setback - no harm done since we aren't even past our last frost date even.

We have magnolias blooming here - northern kinds like star and saucer.

We're still a couple of weeks from our official last frost date.

We are plummeting to 41 degrees tonight and 38 tomorrow. I can't believe this! Almost the entire orchid room has been moved out. Here comes the Radial Flyer wagon racing across the decks. Hope Maypop veggies are OK eighty five miles north and higher elevation.

L

No Harper...I only went down for a few days, i'll go again next fall/winter.

51 cold and rainy, blowing 20 plus. Not nice, but needed.

I am back up to speed. Hooray for Grant Douglas, and Boojum and her ability to eat PB and put out the buckets for the rain, but sorry for Donniebrook and no AC

"knees, wheeze and sneeze...(Hopefully no bees nor fleas!)"

Pleaze Pleaze, dear Victor, you are gardener with Japanese maple expertise, don't be a sleaze and pay the fees and eat some cheese and peas, cause you can put away the skis as it ain't going to freeze unless mother nature is a total tease, so I think it safe to get out the golf tees, except today you should stay in the lee's as the seas are blowing a big breeze, but try to squeeze some rupees out of any wealth trustee and plant trees in threes, but watch for the deer even if it flees cause you might get Lyme disease.

Back from a great trip to New Orleans to see our son and eat and go to Jazz feast. All great.
Laurel, DH ate frogs legs at a place called Herbsaint which were fine.

My girls were happy to see us and the garden is exploding with spring blooms. I am a happy gal. Patti

Looks nice, Patti! On the poetry, however....

Well that was beyond awesome rhyming. Etoufee inspiration? Love that town. Did I miss why you were there? Casual vacation? I'm very hot on the oyster 'po boys. The thought can make me jump a plane. People here might begin to notice that we travel on our stomachs.

I've been thinking of starting a poem, limerick, sonnet, haiku thread to describe ourselves as gardeners. Will it fly? Start composing.

I'm so fond of legs. Will eat anything twice, 'cept boiled chittlins. Tastes like hair straightner!

L

When did you try hair straightener, Laurel?

Patti - I am requesting an exact number of successful blooms from the 7000 bulbs!

Yes indeedy! A count is in order!
Welcome home, Patti!!! What did you eat for me??

OK Lynn, smells like hair straightener and the rest is a foregone conclusion. Trust me here. It's the only food I've never been able to get down and I've done some traveling. Can't hack it even with hot sauce. Someone suggested that the problem was I had not had them batter fried. Just forget it thank you.

Laurel

Hey, Laurel! I've never had chitlins - boiled or otherwise. I'll stick to what I know! And when I lived in the south, there were things that most people ate that I'd never heard about, never mind attempt eating! The smell alone was enough to turn me off.

It has been raining off and on with temps in the 50s here. No real heavy rain except for some short bursts which is good for us. I'm hoping this rain combined with warm temperatures won't bring on the mosquitos.

I'm not real good with okra and I'll skip all the deep fried vegetables. A gal that was once a DG member, and very overweight, said she could only eat vegetables if they were deep fried. Same with her chicken and pork chops...

I've given up most deep fried foods for my health, but still LOVE them. And I'm with you about okra. I think it's an acquired taste or you to have grown up with it. I'd never even heard of it until I lived in Nashville. Just my Yankee upbringing.

Okra is one of the few veggies I don't like. New garden show? Okra Winfrey as host?

Victor is alive and well.

Alive anyway...

Okra is dreaded because of the slime. If cooked in gumbo, the slime takes the place of file powder (Sassafrass root) and becomes a thickener. Okra can be pan sauteed in olive oil, or oil of your choice and it will be delicious and not slick...promise. Just crunchy or soft. It is a traditional food in many Asian and Caribbean recipes and is never slimmy. Here, in the South, okra and stewed garden tomatoes is very popular. Some like it slimmy...not me. If cooked for a while the slime converts to a thickener, so it's just a matter of personal preference. Okra is a very good food, though misunderstood. It was brought here by enslaved African women who wove the large seeds in their hair. I look at it as an American heritage food that we should get to know. Never ate it until I was in my big girl years.

I have to pass on just the thought of the slime.

OK, more for me :)

Laurel

After all the talk about slugs on another thread....

True!

Ooooh, Laurel, my grandmother and mother loved okra and tomatoes (and tried like the devil to get me to eat that slime, but to this day, I cannot tolerate even the thought of those slimy little circles creeping down my throat. Ick Ick! They also liked liver and onions. Gross! Like Victor, okra is the only vegetable I don't like...... I also don't care for any vegetable fried. Sweet potato french fries might be the one exception. I could never see the attraction of those "chicken fried steaks", etc.. I'm a rare native southerner who may like northern foods better. LOL

Celeste - I'm glad you are home safe and sound, and hopefully restored by spending time with your daughter. At the moment it is 84 degrees IN the house and 79 outside. Since I'm the one who sleeps with the window cracked in mid-winter in New England With a fan on EVERY night, I think sleeping may be tough tonight!

Jen - I'm several hours south of Orlando, but thanks for thinking of us. If we were in that area, I'd be d-mailing for the phone number!! Our a/c guy will come tomorrow morning, and I'm holding my breath at the verdict on the problem.

Patti - that is a beautiful photo of your spring gardens and your girls!! I'm glad you had a nice trip and a good visit with your son!

Louise, we eat it sauteed, not fried AND, believe it or not chicken liver and onions was last night!! I don't like the okra and tomato dish, but DH, a native Newtonian (is that the correct term for that suburb of Boston), loves it. I have convinced hordes of okra haters otherwise. Give okra a chance.

67 degrees high today, rainy morning continuing from a rainy yesterday. Very much needed. Getting cooler down South. Orchids and seedlings are all in and I'm off to become more literate. Sweet dreams to all and happy traveling to you Louise.

Thanks Laurel. Maybe I've never had okra prepared correctly, but appreciate that I like things others don't, too.

Glad the orchids are safe for tonight - a subject close to my heart!

Welcome home Celeste and Patti! Patti, I dunno what's wrong with Victor. I loved your rhyming piece. I liked Laurel's haiku too!

Laurel, the trip was to visit our son who moved there to cook in Jan. He is working at a place called Restaurant August. So eating was a big part of the trip. But so was music. All good.

Sofonisba, it was a Victor's fault to start rhyming and I had to continue. Bad poetry is my specialty.

Boojum, I will d-mail you a list. But we ate dozens of oysters every way possible, plus tons of shrimp, crayfish, rabbit, duck, pork, beef, pigs ears, soft shell crabs, regular crabs and everything else local including gumpo, many types. One highlight was a great out of the way VietNamese place in Gretna called Pho Tau Bay Restaurant which is a must for many chef's day off in New Orleans. I agree. We hit Herbsaint, Coucon, GW Fins, Besh Steakhouse, Mothers, Franky & Johnny's, Domilise, Bistro Daisy, Drago's in Metairie, Pho Tau Bay, a great uptown sushi place plus numerous trips for Beignets at Cafe du Monde plus all the stands at the Jazz Fest. How fat am I now?

Bulb count bloom is large, plus many tulips that I didn't expect to return from the previous year are appearing. A few that I was not so keen on, but isn't that always the way. The plants you like the least survive the best. Here is a new gem for me. Corn Leaf Iris (Iris bucharica) that I planted 10 of in the fall. I will dutifully count them all in the morning. Honest, if I can waddle that far. Patti

Any pics of Pho Tau? Hee hee. Wow, that's a lot of food!

Rain, rain and more rain, let it come down! My tulips will last longer, Clemen

Patti, yum!!
I happen to adore okra. We cook it about 10 ways. Many ethnicities. My fav is sephardic recipes and fried in cornmeal. I first had it fresh from a garden when I lived in NC.
Wish I could grow i. bucharica but it doesn't winter over here. All my orchid watr pots were filled by 2 PM today. I might buy more tubs tomorrow.

Bucharica only lasts 2 yrs at a time so I have given up on it. I grew up in southern WI but that is still too far north for okra.

Love okra too, sauteed or lightly steamed, don't get to eat it as much as I'd like to. ☺

47 and drizzly. 1 1/2 inches since it started yesterday.

Celeste ~ so glad to read that you made it home safely.

Louise ~ I hope you slept better last night, and let me wish you a safe journey back to NE.

Al ~ hailstorms? Oh my goodness! Did the hail do much damage?

Patti ~ welcome back to you, too - and I loved your 'poem' for Victor.

Victor ~ it was something to sneeze at

And now for the weather in my neck of the woods:

Currently @ 9:08 AM

Light rain and fog

44°
Wind: Northerly at 7 MPH
Humidity: 93%
Dewpoint: 46°
Pressure: 29.59 in. and falling
Windchill: 45°

Almanac Stuff

Normal High: 63°
Normal Low: 37°
Record High: 86° in 1974
Record Low: 18° in 1975

Sunrise: 5:42 am
Sunset: 7:45 pm
Sunrise Tomorrow: 5:40 am
Sunset Tomorrow: 7:46 pm

Moonrise: 2:39 am
Moonset: 1:00 pm
Moonrise Tomorrow: 3:03 am
Moonset Tomorrow: 2:10 pm

Next New Moon: Monday, May 04, 2008
Next Full Moon: Tuesday, May 19, 2008
Today's Moon: last quarter, waning
Tomorrow's Moon: last quarter, waning

stats courtesy of http://www.wmur.com/weather/grid.html

This rain we needed but is getting painfully excruciating (sp)