Category Archives: Growing things
Around the Ville: Trains, Bikes and Atom Smashers
I’ve been tooling around the ‘Ville on my bepetalled cruiser, congratulating myself that I had the brains to insist on a bike with no gears to shift, a coaster break, and a saddle and handlebars that allow me to keep … Continue reading
Filed under Body, Free, Growing things, History, Home, The 'Ville, The Great Outdoors
It’s Bloomin’ Wet
I think I’ve mentioned that our back yard is the low water place in the neighborhood. Here’s a pic after yesterday’s storm: But all that rain after all that heat made my roses bloom like crazy! The tall red boy … Continue reading
Keeping Cool
Chicagoans complain about the cold seven months a year, then they complain about the heat and humidity for three. And yes, you dwellers of the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, Arizona can just please hold your tongues, please. You may have … Continue reading
Filed under A Couple of Bucks, Food, Growing things, Machines, Needlework
In the Weeds
For the first time today I recognized, deep down, what restaurant cooks mean when they say they’re “in the weeds” or “weeded.” I mean, I’ve known for years that it means being so behind on your orders that it feels … Continue reading
Filed under Free, Growing things, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville, The Great Outdoors
Spring in the ‘Ville. Again.
Spring in northern Illinois is a warmer version of spring in Quebec — three weeks earlier but just as maddening. We hit 84 one day, and a terrifying nighttime prairie thunderstorm later be were back in the thirties. T.S. knew what he … Continue reading
Filed under Free, Growing things, History, Home, Into the Mystic, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville, The Great Outdoors
A Free Planter: The Big Red Can
I’m going to take advantage of my fatigue and eyestrain today to bring Cheap and Cheerful back to its roots — a shortish post about a cool cheap thing to make or do. (A short night’s sleep, the new Laurie … Continue reading
Filed under Free, Growing things, Home, The Great Outdoors
Shopping the Warrenville Farmers Market
I dragged myself from the laptop and the sewing machine at about four o’clock, to go to the post office and drive the extra block from the PO to the parking lot of the ‘Ville Community Center. The lot is … Continue reading
Holy Jumping Hostas
I don’t think I saw a hosta until I was thirty-five. That perennial of the gas station meridian, the landscaper’s go-to-plant , the cliched unnoticed cluster of leaves, always ringed with white in landscaping circles, was a non-starter in my early gardening consciousness.Lou disliked … Continue reading
Filed under Five bucks or fewer, Growing things, Home, On the Street Where I Live
Here’s the Story: Morning Glories
The morning glories are starting to unfurl themselves upon a five foot tower of green. In the late August garden, that’s a lot of show for 39 cents. This was a pack of seeds I bought at Walgreens or suchlike … Continue reading
Filed under Growing things, Home, Less than 50 cents, On the Street Where I Live
In the Garden: August Annuals and a Swell Book
The day lilies are almost over. The roses are pondering if they want to give me that great second bloom — possible, but not certain. The larkspur is so over, and my front garden is bleak: it features a weed, Queen Anne’s … Continue reading
Filed under A Couple of Bucks, Growing things, Home, The Great Outdoors
