Day Dreaming

So as I sit trying to do my work, right now I'm working on some Halloween hair pieces, I'm trying to zone out the loud bulldozer to the right of me and the constant hum of the ride on lawnmower to the left. My head is buzzing. I reconnected with a friend recently and told her this statement "I'm a city girl, I'm a country girl - but I'm definitely not a suburban girl". This really sums it up for me. When I'm in the city I love the constant noise, cars honking horns, police sirens wailing in the distance, people hustling about. 

And in the country I love the quiet, the wide open space, the freedom to do whatever you want without prying eyes on you. Here in suburbia the neighbors are always watching, the power mowers/blowers are always humming, the landscapers/religious extremists/busy bodies are always knocking.. well ringing, we have a doorbell after all! Where these houses were built used to be all woodland, so any hope I had of creating any kind of a garden here is dashed by the ever present deer families, tree roots and shade and of course the falling leaves and cattails. I do briefly flirt with village life. But it's more in the romanticized variety, and very much the English village or Bavarian style with peaked roofs, chimneys gently billowing, pennant banners hanging house to house in the summertime, village fairs and gatherings on the green. 

That kind of lifestyle doesn't exist outside of Europe. America is so brash to me still, even after almost eleven years here. I hate the strip malls, the big box stores, the chain restaurants, the general weirdness and craziness I encounter. I miss London, with it's history, architecture, and eclectic vibe. I miss my friends. I miss Scotland terribly, I miss my family, my brothers and Mother especially. When I was little I dreamed or day dreamed more like of having an American farmhouse, big red barn, paint horses. It was a big part of the shows I watched with my Grandma, the Waltons, all the old cowboy movies. I was reminded of this recently when an old school friend came back into my life, she told my Mum I always said I wanted a big house in the country in America. I know my husband will never move from the East coast, but I dream of big skies. Here I've had eight years of a busy street, garbage thrown in my garden, dirty streets, then almost 3 years in the trees.

Not the beautiful old oaks and maples, fat and round with low branches for playing, all we have here are 80 foot maples with high branches that sway unnervingly every time the wind catches them. I've seen too many trees on houses in this area to forget how much damage they can do. Having lived through Hurricane Sandy, and been terrified, I'll never look at these trees in a good light. I want wide open space, a few acres of fields, a couple of big old oak or maple trees that the kids can climb, and we can have a table under. But that's it. Living in the forest is ok for bears and those satisfied with paying their landscaper a few hundred a month, not for normal people. Especially not those who want a beautiful garden. We're off to Maine on a small vacation soon. It will be so good to have a break from this daily life. I can't wait to hear the ocean instead of bloody landscapers. Seagulls instead of Blue Jays. I often kick myself for moving to this house. All the things I love and need to be happy, that little checklist you have in your head, that went out the window when we bought this house. With school starting in a month, at least I have a distraction when we get back from Maine. I'm hoping for some good seasonal sales in my store too. And I know the time will come when we can move, this time for good. And his time my list will be checked in full.. and what isn't there we'll actually have the money to fix it, right there, no - we'll do it at some point, which you know is added to the never list. My day will come. This too shall pass. And just to add insult to injury the landscapers just arrived next door to start their weekly mow. Ahhh!

Operation Bluebird

Before moving to our slightly more rural lodgings here in Rockland County, we lived in Brooklyn, NYC. Some might think there isn't much in the way of wildlife to be had in the city - but they'd be wrong. A little wrong anyway! Growing up in Scotland where wildlife is abundant, I certainly had that opinion of city living, enforced after a spell living in London where all I saw were pigeons and on one occasion a fox. However in Brooklyn we regularly had a large possum in our back yard, so much so we named him Pete! We had the (dis)pleasure of meeting several racoons, and the joy of being able to feed Cardinals and Blue Jays most days. There were the usual finches and once even a bright yellow Goldfinch. One of the draws for me about moving out of the city was definitely being able to see more wildlife. We haven't been disappointed. So far we've been treated to many visits from deer, rabbits, skunk (not so welcome!), groundhogs, turkey vultures, hawks and coyotes. But it's the small birds I love. Apart I might say from owls which will always be welcome, especially of the Great Horned variety. In the bird department we have many different Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Carolina Wrens, Hermit Wrens, Tufted Titmouse, Hummingbirds, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Black Eyed Juncos, Oriole,  Robins... and a lot more that I'm forgetting! But there is one we do not have, even though they are all over the Hudson Valley - the Bluebird. So my mission this year is to finally get one here - you know how it goes - photo or it didn't happen!

I'm going to start by putting a nesting box out front on a very large, old maple, it faces the house and has an expansive piece of grassland out there, conditions I've heard they like. The pond is in sight if they fly around a bit, and I'll put out some meal worms.. apparently that's what they eat. Not sure what else to do but I'm crossing my fingers that will be enough!

Phil?

Excitement broke out around 5pm in this household yesterday - over the site of our first groundhog of the year! Now yes I know this brings lets say complications to my gardening situation! But with them comes pure joy at seeing an animal I didn't have growing up in Scotland, and my children have not seen living in NYC their whole lives.  So hello Groundhog! And yes I took our male puppy Bear out to pee near my peonies last night and again this morning - just to try save them from Phils munching!

He's probably the most photographed groundhog in the whole of New York - but I think he's quite sweet! And here is a montage of my Spring pics taken yesterday.

the fairy of the bird world is heading our way!

So growing up in lovely Scotland, which has lets be fair Highland Cows - so we win right? But anyway back to the point - we are sadly lacking in the Hummingbird department.  The first time I ever saw one, was 8 years ago in Upstate New York, at my Mother in Laws house.  I was instantly hooked on hummers! I love the way they appear from nowhere and are gone in a flash. They truly are the fairy of the bird world. In 8 yrs living in NYC I didn't see one hummingbird, not one, garden, park, shore - zip zero.  One of the (many) things I am excited for in the coming months is witnessing the first one in my garden here.  After looking for a while, and really hating all these nasty plastic feeders I've settled on an antique bottle one, with a copper base. I just can't wait to fill it and hang it by the window - I already have a quiet but highly visible spot for it all worked out!  And this map shows - they are on their way! So happy about hummers!

Cottontails and Ducklings

When I was small my Mother, Aunt and Grandmother read to me the wonderful tail of Peter Rabbit and all the great Beatrix Potter stories.  And now I read them to my children.  What enchanted me as much as the little clothing clad animals were the gorgeous gardens which are based on Potter's own garden in Cumbria, the English county bordering my Scottish homeland. My own Mothers garden had within a large vegetable garden featuring an abundance of produce including rows of potatoes, clumps of rhubarb, and high staked sweet peas. The hen house in one corner, the potting shed near the gate, and further in the glass greenhouse, full of tomatoes and grapevines, and a resident toad - Warty Bliggins, we called him.  The far end was the duck pond and to the left the barn. The stables were off to the side of the house, but the horses were in the field behind the veg garden.  It was a lovely place to be.  My garden planning here has started with the central spot I call my vegetable garden.  Like my Mothers, it won't be only veg in there.  I plan to have a lovely bench with an arbor, rambling roses overhead, lavender and rows of sweet peas, a butterfly bush and a few old fashioned roses near the chicken house, which I'm hoping to be a barn style with a small enclosure.  My 5 hens will be in there, ever-changing breeds in my mind, but this week I'm going with 2 Araucanas and 2 Silkies and 1 Buff Orpington.  The Araucanas for their Easter Eggs, the Silkies because they look like Eagle fledglings, and give you the teeniest little eggs so sweet for the children to collect. The Buff Orpington because when I think hen that is what I picture, a big golden bird. Today is to be pushing 50f so I'm going out to clear some more debris and dig over some of the garden beds.  They are still predicting 4" of snow tomorrow, but it's to be 55f by the wkend and in the 50s all next week. Please let this be the start of wonderful Spring!

the waiting game - part deux

Still no buyers. It's quite soul destroying to have people walk around your house and walk out never to be seen again. We've had over 35 viewings now, and no real offers. The last guy went awol. I feel like I'm stuck in a perpetual state of waiting, life on hold til that one day comes when someone actually shows us the goods and signs on the dotted line. I feel very much stuck, and the children are feeling it too. They constantly ask to go on the deck, that is the only garden they've known. All the promises of moving to a big house with a big garden seem like a dream at this stage. So they work with what they have, which isn't much. I also got a little freaked out by the super from the apartment building's husband saying he saw the children on the deck, and my how they've grown. My fear of course is if he can watch them, who else can? The park is full of unsupervised children running amok. I spend most of my time there telling them not to push my children at the top of the climbing frame, or not to walk up the slide when my children are coming down. A very stressful experience for all. My Grandmothers health back in Scotland, is deteriorating, and me not feeling settled is making that all the more difficult to deal with. My Mother and one of my brothers who were to visit, are saying that they'll wait til we move. So I don't even have that to look forward to, not knowing when we'll sell etc. We're having an open house again this weekend. I'm trying to clear out the basement more, touch up paint, clean, change things around, but at the end of the day I know it will just take time and patience, two things I lack. Le sigh!

Scottish Belle

A little about me. I grew up in the beautiful South West of Scotland with my wonderful artistic mother, 3 fantastic brothers and a menagerie of horses, pigs, goats, hens, ducks, geese, dogs and cats. J M Barrie himself, played on the very river of the town where I was born. It was the summers he spent there with friends playing pirates and such, that he drew inspiration from when he wrote Peter Pan. To find out more about this see Moat Brae, Dumfries, which is a lovely Georgian mansion, sadly repeatedly under threat of being knocked down by council bigwigs. If it were mine I would build a statue of Peter Pan and have a wonderful garden to commemorate its importance.. but as I'm sadly lacking the funds to buy overseas property - I consider it a dream, that may one day be realized. Presently, I reside with my adoring husband in his hometown - Brooklyn, New York. After 7 years and the arrival of 4 children, we have decided to relocate out of the City that never sleeps, and hope to find a more rural house so that the children can finally have some space and we can start a new chapter of our family adventure. I've started writing to take you all on the journey with us... getting this house ready to sell, finding our new home and what we get up to along the way. As anyone who has a brood as large as ours may tell you - you just never know what exciting thing could happen next!