Irene Hochheimer's Spring Flowers

My grandmother Irene Wormser Hochheimer was born 112 years ago on May 1.  She died in 1994, but every spring we have the joy of seeing the blooming plants she gave us from her garden.  The purple flowers above are a hardy primrose that she said a friend of hers collected from Siberia.

The winter aconite come up even before the primroses - we often see them as the snow is melting.  Irene gave us just a few of the aconite, and it has spread like crazy all around our garden and yard.

Irene (yes, even as little children we knew her by her first name) called the plant below a "white forsythia" -- its blooms come out on the stem like a forsythia, before the leaves, but it's not actually a true forsythia - it's a relative called Abeiliophyllum distichum, and the best things about it are how early in the year it blooms (a couple weeks before forsythia) and its sweet perfume smell.

The "bleeding heart" (dicentra spectabilis) spreads itself all around the yard - we never know where we'll see it from year to year.

On the other hand, the wood anemone (anemone nemerosa) happily comes back every year in its shaded patch at the edge of our woods.

We used to have a few epimedium but I only saw one blooming at the edge of the woods this spring. The yellow flowers are great, but the leaves are truly gorgeous.  I'm not sure which variety this is - there are a lot of them.  I think she may have told me, but I can't remember.

Irene had weird daffodils spread throughout her woods in Norwalk, and periodically (when there were lots of green leaves but not many flowers) she would dig them up in the fall, separate the bulbs, and re-plant them so that they could grow strong and flower again.  In the process, she would give some away.  Maybe because she grew them for so many years, they seemed to randomly hybridize themselves, and many of them are these strangely disorganized "double" flowers.

I would miss Irene even without the annual flowering reminders; her love, humor, and dedication to her family and her community inspired many of us.  But the flowers are a particularly nice way to be reminded !

Vote for Sarah's photos ! (if you like them...)

Two of Sarah's photos have been chosen as finalists in a photo contest.
The deadline is Tuesday April 21.
If you like them, and want to vote for Sarah, go to this website:
http://www.haverford.edu/studyabroad/after_study_abroad/photo_contest.php

You'll find Sarah's two photos:
* Brickmaker
* Rooftop Kite Flyer.

After you vote, please consider forwarding to others !

Thanks !!

Winter Is Coming

We had a lot of snow this winter.  It started in earnest with a surprise snow squall during a morning commute in January.  I generally listen to podcasts as I drive around the state, but that morning I turned on Glenn Gould's iconic 1955 recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations, and felt the music flow around me as I drove through the snow.

By February, the snow from weekly (often Monday) storms was piling up in our driveway.  For the most part we shoveled the driveway ourselves.  We are registered for a half-marathon in April -- neither Amy nor I have ever run that far -- so the exercise was welcome (although the winter conditions made road running a little complicated.)

We had an extraordinary number of weeks when we could cross-country ski in the woods behind our house.  We continue to extend our apologies to all of you who were unhappy with all the snow; some of us really enjoyed it.

Amy was particularly vigilant about using the roof rake to take the snow load off the house, and minimize ice dams.  But almost every home owner we know had water coming in the house at some point.  (Jon and Alice, we hope your bedroom ceiling gets fixed soon !)

Finally, last week, most of the snow melted away in a series of warm days and rainstorms.  The winter aconite, started from a few plants given us over 20 years ago by my grandmother, bloomed all over our back garden.

The deer had a tough time finding food this winter, with so much snow cover;  by last week they seemed quite happy to forage in our back yard.

Today I slept late.  When I woke up, came downstairs, and greeted Amy, I had to ask:  "Did I sleep until December ??"

Still Spring persists and will have its day.  Even on cold mornings there are flocks of birds loudly calling to each other in preparation for nest-building and mating.  Ah, well ... this last bit of white will soon melt, not to be seen again until next December !

The Purpose of Thanksgiving

You're saying, "What??  Huh ??"  Either because, hey, it's Christmas and here's this Jewish guy posting Thanksgiving photos.  Or you're thinking, "Isn't the purpose of Thanksgiving, like, duh??"

OK, fair enough.  But here's my train of thought:

People are very generous at Christmas, both to their family and loved ones, and to others who are in need of some generosity.  There's all the year-end-charitable-giving, and the gift giving, and the baskets for the homeless ... The thing is, people without money are poor all year round.  Don't get me wrong, the year-end charity is really helpful, but really people need help the rest of the time too.

Similarly, Thanksgiving.  Really?  You live the blessed life you have and you're going to be thankful once a year? 

On the other hand, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite moments of the year.  So, why?

First, because we go to my brother Eric's house and he arranges for the snow to fall in just the right way to make it really pretty out.

Second, I make sticky buns for Thanksgiving -- the same recipe my Mom used to make, which we both got from the Woodbine Cottage, a now-closed "home-style" restaurant that used to be in Sunapee, New Hampshire.  I love sticky buns.  I usually make them one or two other times in the year, but I always make them for Thanksgiving, and I love to eat them.

Apparently others like to eat them too.

Third, all these great people show up (my family).  And then we eat delicious food to excess.  It's perversely helpful to eat too much sometimes, as long as you notice "hey, this is what unrestrained eating feels like, it's not completely pleasant, and I don't think I'll do it again for awhile."  But those tastes in the mouth are sooooo gooooood...

If it was only one plate this full that would be one thing.  (Actually Amy avoids the excess thing, which I don't completely get.)

Then everybody plays a board game, either because they like board games, or because they're just passing time until it's time for dessert.

Then it's time for dessert.  In my family, we really like dessert.  And there's a lot of good cooks.  So we have a lot of really good desserts.  Delicious excess, part two.

It's all pretty great.  And I didn't even include the walks, or Sasha the wonder-dog, or the great stories, or the old family photos.  As I said, it's one of my most favorite holidays.  And in a world full of people who don't have homes, or food, or family, or health, it's a lot to be thankful for.  Every day.

(Blueberry pie by Sarah and Rebecca.)

Galapagos

In June, we had the opportunity to go to the Galapagos Islands, with all of Amy's family.  We had been there 27 years before, and this trip was just as amazing.  The scenery is gorgeous, and many animals fearlessly allow you to approach quite close, because they have no natural predators.  Human interaction is closely supervised and regulated so that it also is not threatening.

Above: one of many giant tortoises we saw.  (We also spent an hour kayaking with numerous sea turtles, but they were much harder to photograph.

There were sea lions on landings, on beaches,

and in the water.

The snorkeling was wonderful - we saw all kinds of brilliant fish.

The male and female gulls swapped egg-sitting duties, a couple feet from the trail, giving us a good look at their progeny.

The male frigate birds puffed up their display pouch, and clacked their beak against it to attract potential mates.

Many islands had large land iguana populations

as well as marine iguanas swimming and crawling up out of the sea.

A pair of blue-footed boobies demonstrated their courtship dance.  (We also watched them dive-bomb into the water, seeking fish!)

There were beautiful sunsets

and incredible ocean views.

We saw the penguins that live further north than any other (a result of the cool currents that bath the Galapagos Islands).

An incredible venue for Amy's parents' 60th wedding anniversary!

More spring

A couple weeks ago we saw pink ladyslipper orchids in Connecticut.  This week they're in bloom in New Hampshire !  Along with lots of other flowers of the woods and field.

I don't think ferns really have a "flower" but the brown parts are, I believe, trying to do something reproductive.

The green moss on the path made me think of Bilbo Baggins.  "The Road Goes Ever On," etc.

I now know that this is a juvenile Eastern Newt, and that these juveniles are called "Red Efts."  Eft is defnitely a great new scrabble word.

Some of our favorite flowers are those that will result in fruit, some weeks later.  The blueberries,

and the wild strawberries.

There was a lot of water from the recent rains.

: )