Anybody want some passionfruit?

Now if I can just get half of these suckers to ripen

Today was the time of the annual pruning of the passionfruit vine, the above picture is just a sample of what I took off. The main reason for pruning (while there was still fruit on it) is that it's not ripening anymore, given the cooler conditions at this time of year. Hopefully it will be ready to flower once again when the warmer weather hits (around November or so), it's all about next season now. Of course, given how warm my apartment is, I suspect many of them will ripen inside. I was also visited by a particularly tame duck today. There must be a lot of people on these canals feeding them, this one eats the food right out of your hands.

Of course, there was a ride today, just a quick 78km around Currumbin Valley/Piggabeen this morning.



It's really nothing more than a warm-up for tomorrow. I'm still not 169% certain where I'll go tomorrow, there are some options available. It could be O'Reilly's, or alternatively I'm feeling as though I want to spend some time around the Burringbar Range, on dirt roads. I'll be looking for imperial century #17 either way.

A Secret Place...

Despite the fact that I blatantly display pictures of me swimming around here, I have been unable to find a DOCK from which to practice something I learned to chatter my jaw about last summer: Splashdoggin', Dock Diving... you name it... I absolutely "hearted" jumping off a "cliff" to dive in deep waters to chase my kong!

I'm very excited to be entered into a Splash Dogs event about an hour north of us in a week, but I needed a place to practice. Mom scoped out a place a couple of months ago and finally... me and Shanti (who's also entered) went to check it out!!!

Okayokayokayokay.... when do I get to go?????? NOW, Sammie! Here's a little show of Shanti and me (mostly Shanti, cause Mom was trying to hold Avalon, while tossing me my kong and take pictures at the same time heheh!) Enjoy!

We can't wait for da real thing! Shanti and I think Avalon should enter... whaddya think of our little idea?

The Early Morning

I agree with Thomas Merton about early morning time. He says, "It is necessary for me to see the first point of light that begins to be dawn. It is necessary to be present alone at the resurrection of the Day in solemn silence at which the sun appears, for at this moment all the affairs of cities, of governments, of war departments, are seen to be the bickering of mice. I receive from the Eastern woods, the tall oaks, the one word DAY. It is never the same. It is always in a totally new language."
Can you tell I'm a morning person? I try to get up somewhere between 5:15 and 5:45. It's a lot easier now that we're back on EST. I heard Darcie's light click on this morning about 6:15; forty-five delicious minutes of lying in bed to read before she has to get up at 7:00. I guess she's a morning person too.

Turbulent Sunrise

I woke early this morning to shoot my first sunset on Lake Superior in over a month. There had been a good wind blowing all night long, which meant there would be some nice waves to shoot. I actually wasn't sure if the sun would even show or not. It was pretty cloudy when I left the house, but not long after arriving at this location the sun came out from behind the clouds and gave me some nice color and some great light.

What To Do, What To Do?

I tasted my first kumquat last month at the B&B in St. Mary's, GA.  It's going to be an acquired taste for me, although it wasn't an unpleasant experience. 
The hostess/owner had picked them off a tree in her backyard.  I asked her how you eat them not knowing whether to peel or not.  The skin looks like an orange peel.
She said you just pop them in your mouth and start chewing.  I tentatively did so and found them not unpleasant.  It's just strange to eat a citrus rind.
Yesterday at Laurel's house, she had a bowl full of them.  She had gotten them at a local grocery store, so I went and bought three packs.
Now, the question is...what am I going to make with them?  I was thinking maybe marmalade?  I love orange marmalade and don't see why you can't make marmalade from kumquats.  
Laurel and I are meeting in about an hour to pick strawberries.  I wonder if you can mix kumquats and strawberries?  Any ideas out there?
P.S.  The bottle behind the bowl is one I got when we were staying in England for a week.  It's called 'Washing Up Liquid' and is used for washing dishes.  I keep it on my laundry room sink and use it for any clothes that need handwashing.  I love how the British call things by different names!

House on Fire

After our "rest" day with minimal hiking and another soak in a hot tub last night, we were ready for another full day of hiking adventures. Our first hike of the day brought us to Mule Canyon on Cedar Mesa, to an ancient Anasazi ruin known as the "House on Fire". Since we were now at a higher elevation than we had previously been on the trip, the environment was a bit different from what we had seen so far. Mule Canyon was a beautiful hike with a LOT of trees and shrubs and even a little bit of water in the canyon. It was a shock to do a hike with so much vegetation, because most of the hikes we had done so far were in open desert andextremely dry with very little vegetation.





The hike to the House on Fire ruins was a very pleasant one with minimal elevation change. After about a 1.5 mile walk we rounded a bend in the canyon and immediately noticed the ruins on the right. House on Fire is just one of several ruins in Mule Canyon, and was occupied by the Anasazi. According to literature that we saw about the area, the ruins in Mule Canyon are over 800 years old and have never been excavated or restored in any way. The House on Fire ruin is so named because of the overhanging cliff above the ruins that has patterns in it resembling flames. If you visit the ruins in the morning all of the light illuminating the House on Fire is reflected light from the opposite side of the canyon, which means that the roof above the ruins glows with warm light and contributes to the "fire" look. We found it a fascinating site to visit. We would have loved to hike through more of the canyon to see some of the other ruins but we had a long hike planned within Natural Bridges National Monument so after taking in the wonder that is the House on Fire, we hiked back to the truck and continued on to Natural Bridges.

Is My Name Fred?

Long before I moved from Illinois/Zone 5 to Austin/Zone 8B, authors like Elizabeth Lawrence, Henry Mitchell and Stephen Lacey/The Startling Jungle fed my zone-envy by talking about Crinum and Amarcrinum lilies. Now I have some!

Above is the crinum that’s in bloom now, showing its colors, lovely and even fragrant, but I sure didn’t pay one hundred dollars for it, as Pam/Digging has read. I found the Plant Delights receipt from February .., for one bulb of Amarcrinum x ‘Fred Howard’ at $12. A journal notation mentions that in Fall 1999, I bought a potted bulb from the Austin Men’s Garden Club. The cost was $5; the donor wasn’t sure of the name, but wrote “Jersey Lily” on the pot.
Both bulbs grew and were repotted several times before we moved here. In October .., I was amazed to realize that the two original bulbs had become eight, but they were mixed up when they were planted in a holding bed. In Spring .., the 8 bulbs found permanent homes in 4 locations, varied as to sun/shade and moisture, so I could see what worked best.

For comparison, here’s a photo of Amarcrinum x ‘Fred Howard’ at Plant Delights. My flower looks just like their ‘Fred Howard’, don’t you think?

In June, another of the bulbs, planted in a hotter & sunnier space, bloomed with Evolvolus ‘Blue Daze’ around it.

This one looks like a ‘Fred Howard’, too. So my investment has doubled already!
What about the other six? Was “Jersey Lily” a possibility? A search for ‘Jersey Lily’ pulled up many sites on Lillie Langtry, the beautiful actress and mistress of King Edward VII, named for the flower growing on her home Isle of Jersey. [Did anyone else watch Francesca Annis as ”Lillie” in the old Masterpiece Theater Series?]

Google found a few botanical choices for Jersey Lily, including Nerine bowdenii, and Nerine sarniensis. In photos these Nerines seem fluffier, with long stamens hovering above pink flower petals splayed outward. Hortus Third says Nerines are tender below Zone 9, with “lvs. strap-shaped, basal, usually absent at flowering time”, and both species are described as rose-red. Other authorities insisted that Jersey Lily is Amaryllis belladonna, a kind of Naked Lady, with reddish stems and leaves that disappear in April.

The disappearing, strap-shaped leaves seem to rule out both Nerines and the Amaryllis belladonna. I may have mixed up the bulbs when they were separated and replanted, but every one of the eight bulbs produces semi-evergreen leaves. The foliage never disappears, although some of it turns brown if the temperature dips below 20º F, then regrows when the freeze is over.

So I’ll wait and see if the six remaining bulbs ever bloom. A couple may also be ‘Freds’, but the others? My guess is that the guy from the Austin Men’s Garden Club was growing some kind of Crinum without knowing what he had; I hope it is another variety of these lovely flowers.