The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Tags

birds, garden, outdoors, photography, summer, Vegetables

Two weeks away from the garden shows.

Overgrown, dried … and still productive.

A bean plant made itself at home with one of our apple trees before we left. We’ve been snacking on the beans.

An eggplant made itself at home here, and gave us a small gift of thanks.

Tomatoes hiding coyly. They went into tonight’s stew.

A guest who also enjoys the beans.

Bell peppers.

Concord grapes, almost ripe.

Corn, almost nine feet tall.

Ants ate away at the top of the carrot, causing it to split.  Some of these carrots will go to the chickens.

Even so, Bryon harvested plenty of good ones. I made a carrot cake for my staff and Bryon made a stew for dinner.

The kale had a severe infestation of what Bryon calls “those oversexed bugs”. We have to spray and pull out the kale to get rid of them. If we had been here we might have been able to control this … maybe.

Large-leaf lettuce, gone to seed. Bryon cleared this out by hand and found a nasty surprise.

Strategically-placed shovels help Bryon deal with rattlesnakes he finds in the garden.

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Getting Our Geek On

Tags

Germany, München, Munich, photography, summer, travel

Isartor? It’s still an S-Bahn stop, but the official answer why it matters has changed–slightly–over time.

Then:  McDonalds and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, adolescent connections to a stateside popular culture morphing in the early 1980s. The Deutsches Museum, across the river and up the street, is a place reserved for school trips. Now:  we’re crossing the bridge. It’s early enough so we can spend the whole day there.

We could have gone to the automotive or aviation collections as well, but the main museum was enough for our limited schedule.

The engine room of a World War I submarine. A very claustrophobic space.

Space was at a premium:  this was the only toilet on board.

Boat propeller, 1899.

After the naval technology exhibit, I was ready to contemplate flight. The recent air crashes had not yet happened, so the flight exhibit commentary was more interesting because of the prominence given to French aviator Louis Blériot (relative to the Wright Brothers, who figured out how to adapt propellor technology for flight).

Above:  framework from the nose of a Zeppelin, 1930s. Below:  part of a World War II aircraft engine.

Schwäbische Hüttenwerke Auto, 1925. Note the fuel tank placed behind the front seat.

Note the bow.

A 19th century microscope. I almost needed that bow.

Every day one of the music curators gives a presentation about the history of the spinnets, harpsichords, and pianos in the music department. Ours used models to show how piano design evolved over time and played briefly from each. The most fascinating part was listening to the tonal qualities of each piano:  the earlier harpsichords and spinnets have a sharper and more metallic sound than that of the modern Steinway concert grand piano, which is warm and lush.

This harpsichord had ivory keys, which was an unusual (and expensive) feature for its time.

Keyboards had elaborate decoration. Like now, beauty remains in the eyes–and ears–of the beholder.

 

 

What Sustains Us

Tags

Germany, München, Munich, photography, summer, travel

“Where are you from?” Ask a military brat that question and, more likely than not, you’ll be told “That depends.” The concept of home shifts over time, as kids moved from one base to another. Memories are shaped by time and place. For many of us, there is also food. Brötchen. Käse. Currywurst. Mandeln. Words written on chalkboard menus, or aromas drifting from a nearby restaurant can trigger a Proustian reflex whisking me into a time warp. I’m momentarily 17 again, out with my camera on a Saturday afternoon.

The Viktualienmarkt.

Shopping for cheese and wine.

 

Left:  Julia, who stands near the market, by the old Town Hall. Right:  Some friendly competition for Julia.

A map of the old city, with Braille labels.

Above:  music to shop by.  Below:  “Gangster”? (I wasn’t convinced.)

Many happy memories involve cafés and pastries. It’s a good thing Bryon and I did plenty of walking.

“How can you visit Munich without going to the Hofbräuhaus?” It’s a popular location, but there are over a hundred breweries in the area, so one can be forgiven for giving this one a pass.

I’ll let you guess where we had lunch.

The Chiesischer Turm is–surprise–a beer garden. A large one.

For the World Cup Final, our group met at Nockherberg to drink Paulaner and watch the game with a couple of thousand Deutschland fans. Argentina fans were present, but hard to find.

Weltmeister!

Back To The Future

Tags

Germany, München, Munich, photography, summer, travel

As a former Army Brat, I was lucky to spend seven years in Germany, and luckier still to spend three of them in Munich. The Cold War was somewhat more tangible–when your history teacher was in Berlin when the Wall went up, her lectures had a different perspective–but our attention was definitely elsewhere.

Okay, so we weren’t able to surf the Isar (like they do now). But if we had been, I suspect some of those kids missing from fifth hour English class might have been here. My friends and I liked to go to into the city. There were lots of things to do.  Marienplatz is in the center of the city. The Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) is a popular meeting point for walking tours and  entertainers.

Das altes Rathaus (the Old Town Hall) is now a toy museum.

Near Odeonsplatz, a chance for some refreshment. After several days of rain, it was hot and humid, so the local dogs probably appreciated this.

The Englischer Garten, Schwabing. The photo of the skyline was taken from here.

Left:  Gazebo, from below.  Right:  Local geese on lawn duty.

The Friedensengel, Schwabing.

The Englischer Garten, and some of the locals.

 

Schwabing is cool.

Then again, maybe you aren’t cool until you’re “have your own treehouse in Schwabing” cool.

“Cool” goes only so far:  in front of this building I came across a stumble stone.                            

The Olympic Park, with the swimming venue. My friends and I enjoyed many Friday nights at the skating rink nearby. Glühwein kept us warm on the colder nights.

Home With Bryon

Tags

Gardening, outdoors, photography, summer, Vegetables

Father’s Day was child-free. Alex and Nick are doing summer school courses, but they called to send their love.  Absence, and the greens needing to be picked, made our hearts grow fonder. Bryon and Buster looked over the corn I planted last week. Birds had eaten some of the seeds as soon as they had begun to sprout. Our first peaches have ripened. They are sweet and have a floral scent. We covered the tree with a net to protect the fruit. We need to get more nets to protect our nectarines. The collard green plant reminds me of Audrey II … Spinach. It’s growing more slowly than expected, probably because of the heat.

Vegetarians returning from the kill.

I brought these into the office for my staff today.

It was all that Bryon could fit into the cooler.

Behind My Back

Tags

Gardening, photography, plants, summer, Vegetables

Bryon and the boys spent the prior weekends harvesting and freezing greens while I was trapped in a data slog for work. Today I made it outside before the morning fog lifted. The garden did not notice my absence. It was cool, but for how long? We have loads of kale, but today Bryon was tilling a row he had left fallow while I planted a few rows of green choi.  I leaned over and got a snootful of future pesto. An onion, ready to walk itself to the kitchen. Peaches, undiscovered by birds–so far.  Collard greens, on a roll. From the front garden. Tomatoes, braced by fencing. The plants have grown much taller, sheltering their little treasures. Concord grapes. Another lesson in patience, because these require several more weeks on the vine to ripen. Zucchini:  the invasion has begun. Asian pears, starting to form. These will be tasty (if we get them past the birds and other critters). Cylindrica beets in the front garden. We can roast them and serve on spinach with goat cheese and pecans or  walnuts. Cabbage and kale. What we don’t eat goes to the chickens, who pay us back with eggs.

Mother’s Day

Tags

Gardening, honey-do, Mother's Day, outdoors, photography, Vegetables

Alex and Nick, recovered from finals, packed up the car and crossed the southwestern desert. They arrived after Bryon and I completed our Saturday errands. Today we were in the garden bright and early.I

After an out-of-town trip (and a lot of work following me home from the office) I was surprised to see so much progress. And it was so orderly, too.

Future stir-fries. Komatsu greens are the large leave up front. Kale–faithful kale–in the back.

Tomatoes:  a lesson in patience.

Harvesting bok choy.

Spinach and greens.

Blackberries:  stay tuned.

Buster, getting bored while supervising.

An apple blossom.

Asian pears.

There are birds nesting nearby. I’m not the only one enjoying the flowers.

Here’s a photo Nick took of what Bryon and the boys brought in from the garden.

They put 24 quarts of greens into the freezer. It’s delicious with a bit of soy sauce, and will be great in many future meals.

Gleanings

Tags

Gardening, outdoors, photography, plants, spring

While the main garden gets reprogrammed, Bryon and I make use of our secret salad bowl, four raised boxes in front of the house.

That kale was blanched and frozen. Several quarts of kale. My kids may take some home if my husband and I don’t finish it off first.

Tomatoes–so soon!

Someone else enjoying the front garden box.

Bryon, harvesting his work.

Lady bug in the celery.

Carrots, beets, an artichoke, and tomatoes. A good start.

The Reset

Tags

Gardening, outdoors, photography, spring, Vegetables

The garden needed to be reined in. Even after the summer ended, we continued to find rogue potatoes sprouting in the soil. We tossed them over the fence, confident that animals passing through would sample them. Bryon placed plastic over the beds to kill off the stubborn weeds and hangers-on before planting this summer’s seeds.

Time for a little thinning and weeding.

So far, we’ve planted Asian greens, shallots, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and squash. 

Buster supervised our work (when he wasn’t chasing lizards).

A bee in one of our mandarin blossoms. (I wish I could photograph the scent.)

A strange fungus on our peach and nectarine trees. Bryon needs to spray.

A bee at work in a nectarine tree.

Buster, still on the chase.

Pacific Crest Trail: One of the Local Bits

Tags

Hiking, nature, outdoors, Pacific Crest Trail, photography

Although the Pacific Crest Trail extends from Mexico to Canada, there was no danger that Bryon and I were going to make Sunday’s hike a grand excursion. We simply headed east toward Sunrise Highway.

By the middle of the day, some of the trails were crowded with hikers and mountain bikers, so we looked for one that wasn’t congested with cars.

Manzanita shrubs grow along the trail. The wood is distinctive (and very hard).

The observatory, visible in the distance.

The scenery changed as we moved along. We only covered about two-and-a-half miles each way, but we could see the impact of recent fires along the trail.

The wind was picking up speed through the canyon here. The trees, though singed, were relatively intact. 

These trees were on the direct opposite side of the trail from the trees above.

The view at the top of the hill, where, the wind gusted up to 50 mph. (On the way back the breezes slowed down a bit, and stayed between 20 and 30 mph.)