Today I bought Fall 2009 bulbs

After I took an inventory of the bulbs we have left (1st receipt was 3 weeks ago) I decided I better buy mine now. So today I bought 50 bulbs @ conservatory to plant in our garden and kitchen window boxes. In Spring 2010 I'm hoping to see: these muscari, an unusual species called Bellevailia Pycnantha. I will plant these on the front border of the courtyard tulips. These crocus will go in the courtyard near the lamppost as well as a few in the window boxes.

These Hyacinths (Peter Stuyvesant blue and Jan Bos red) are best sellers for the conservatory but I have not had much success in our garden. Most of mine have rotted. So I will be planting these in our window boxes. If they bloom they will provide a wonderful scent when we open the house in early spring.

I adore these little Leucojum. The picture does not do it justice but these delicate little flowers have the sweetest little green dots on each petal flair. And besides being easy to grow this this flower naturalizes! We already have these in the garden so I'm trying these in the window boxes and then will transplant in summer 2010. The soil on the lower perennial bed still needs more amendment's added so this will probably be all the bulbs I buy for fall. With the exception of tulips... I will most likely buy more tulips.

The horticulturist at work say Thanksgiving is not too late to plant but the weather already feels fall like now. I think I will wait until mid- October to plant.

Just to remember how far we have come I attached this picture from Summer 2006.

21C may be coming to Cincinnati!

That title only sounds snarky. This could be really exciting news for our downtown's "Backstage entertainment district".

According to an article in the Business Courier yesterday "Downtown Cincinnati boutique hotel might replace low-income flats". And the #1 contender is 21C! Although the article does go on to say 21C spokesperson won't confirm their interest.

Last December we spent a fun weekend in Louisville and stayed at this hotel. I blogged and downloaded pictures about this trip. If the City can work out the displacement issues this location would be ideal. According to this article it will take at least a year to move approximately 200 low-income residents of the Metropole to other housing. After that probably another year to re-hab this 97 year old building currently valued at $3.8M according to Hamilton County tax records.

The Metropole is located across from the Aronoff Center and around the corner from the Contemporary Art Center. Here is a quote in the article from Dick Rosenthal, CAC's main benefactor "Having actually stayed at the 21C, I could not be more excited about Ms. Brown bringing the concept to this site. It not only is a perfect mate for the CAC, but it fits so beautifully right into that entertainment district."

The Aronoff Center.

Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse and Bootsy's Restaurant

The CAC.

Rainy London and then home again

After breakfast Monday 9-14-09 we took this bus from Keswick to Windemere, painting in hand and at this point not sure how we are going to get it home. Once we arrived in Windemere we had 1 1/2 hours to find a way to mail our painting home. We struck out at the post office as their mailing supplies would not accommodate. The postal workers suggest an DHL office but we found the same problem. At this point we were kinda desperate. As we were making out way back to the post office we passed a gallery. On a lark we went in and asked if they happen to have any old packing boxes which they did not. So we asked the shop owner Caroline if we could pay them to wrap our painting and she did! This very nice woman only charged us 3.5 pounds so we bought a small print from her shop for 5 pounds. We thanked her profusely and head next to mail home to us. The cost to mail and insure was 50 pounds. The first leg was not so crowded but later it was and our painting would not have fared well. We arrived at the B. family home late afternoon. They live in a neighborhood near Holland Park. It is a 1960's development with green spaces between the buildings. Their home has lots of natural light. It has been about 5 years since we have seen their girls, Ellie (7 1/2) and Jasmine (5). Neither of the girls are shy which makes it nice as we have so little time to get reacquainted. Ellie has just learned how to ride her bike "without trainers" the previous day anxious to show us. Jasmine played her guitar and let me read a Dr Seuss book to her which hopefully she understood since her father's accent is similar. They showed us pictures of their school friends and were just as sweet as can be.

That night we ordered Indian for dinner and had fun catching up on what is going on in our lives.

The next day John and I went Greenwich and the V&A. It was also the first time since we arrived in England that it rained. And it rained sideways.

John and I took a boat cruise down the Thames to Greenwich.

We had lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern hoping to wait out the rain. We both liked this fireplace behind our table, I particularly like the seating. This wood paneled restaurant is about 150 years old and was popular with many famous Victorian era Londoners (including Dickens). Politicians used to mark the end of parliament with dinners at this restaurant. After lunch John asked the bartender if we could see the upstairs ballroom. He escorted us up and showed us around. He said that they usually have lots of weddings, but this year they were scheduled to host VIP's for the Michael Jackson concerts and since that was cancelled they have not had many bookings. These rooms were filled with plaster ornamentation and marble statues. The bartender told us the view at night was stunning, not hard to believe.

When we left the rain was again coming down in sheets so we took in another gallery. Then another and another. Finally we were able to move on. We went to he Queen's House, a house built for King Jame's wife in the 1600's. This building is mostly empty except the galleries on the upper floors.

We finally got a break in the rain and headed to the Observatory. In the next picture I am standing in the Eastern Hemisphere and John in the Western.

From Greenwich we took the DLR train to Canary Wharf (the financial district) near the docklands and then the tube to the V&A.

We went through the Sculpture, Fashion, Japanese and Chinese Galleries as well as the 19th Century American.

Chihuly glass chandelier in the Lobby.

Princess Di's "Elvis" dress from her trip to Japan in 1989

The piano dress.

From the V&A we took the Circle Line to Notting Hill Gate and walked back to the B's flat. We got on the tube a little after 5:30 and experienced underground rush hour. Pretty much our timing was off all day. Once we got off at Notting Hill the skies opened up again and we arrived at their home soaking wet. We changed clothes and went to dinner with John and Nicolette just a short walk from their home. About 1/2 to the restaurant it rained as hard as it had all day. But once again we had a wonderful dinner catching up. Both John and Nicolette have lived all over the world and have some amazing experiences.

The next morning we had just enough time to walk around Holland Park adjacent to their home.

This is a fushia "tree".

This 2008 sculpture in the Napoleon Garden is titled T-Rex.

Nicolette drove us to Heathrow. Since we had checked in from their house the night before and only had carry-on luggage it was pretty much a breeze getting through the airport. It was an extremely long trip home as we had an additional 3 hour layover in Atlanta. Unfortunately I was not able to sleep on the flight home but at least there were some good options to watch from our seats. I saw 5 episodes of In Treatment with Gabriel Burns that were fascinating.

We arrived home after midnight to a very happy cat who almost sounded as if she was crying when she heard us come in. After that I believe she purred for the next 12 hours straight.

I had a much more difficult time adjusting to jet lag and had to take a long walk in Eden Park to try to stay awake long enough to adjust back.

Barrowdale, Buttermere and Keswick

Our last 3 days in Cumbria we stayed in Keswick at Howe Keld, an old and well preserved B&B. Again we were so fortunate to have spectacular weather for our entire stay. When we checked in at Howe Keld Val, one of the owners said we must have used Rick Steves packing list based on the amount of luggage we brought.

By comparison to Hawkshead Keswick is considerable large and surrounded by beautiful parks.

Hike in the Borrowdale Valley.

These ferns (bracken) were everywhere.

Stopped at the Flock In for tea.

From Borrowdale we hiked to Castle Craig, an old slate mine and a stunning view at the peak.

Borrowdale on one side.

Derwentwater on the other side.

We stopped in Grange for lunch of tea and scones.

Whippet on the bus.

Alfred Wainwright's favorite hiking trail. This is where his ashes were scattered.

Sour Milk Gill

Buttermere Lake

An interesting story and the subject of many plays performed in the Lake District today is about the Maid of Buttermere (pictured above). Here is story from the Rough Guide to the Lake District 2008:

The grandeur of the locality was well known even before Wainwright gave it his seal of approval. With the Lakes in vogue amongst traveling men in the last 18th century, many made their way over the passes to what was then a remote hamlet with a reputation for good fishing in the twin lakes. A certain Captain Budworth - resident at the Fish Inn, the only inn in those days - waxed lyrical about the beauty of the landlord's daughter in his bestseller A Fortnight's Ramble in the Lakes. Within a couple years curious sightseers - Wordsworth and Coleridge included - were turning up to view Mary Robinson, the Maid of Buttermere. One such visitor was Alexander Augustus Colonel Hope, Member of Parliament and brother to an Earl. Flush with money and manners, he wooed and married Mary - only to be revealed as the bigamous imposter John Hatfield, whose whole life had been one of deception and fraud. Arrested and tried for forgery (franking letters as an MP without authority was a capital offense) Hatfield was hanged at Carlisle in 1802 - the entire scandal recorded for the Morning Post by Coleridge in investigative journalist mode".

In Buttermere we stopped at this really cute Tea House which was renamed for Queen Victoria after she entertained here in 1850.

An interesting sign the tea house owners from 1840 that the owners found in 1981.

A stone barn in this little village.

Fritz Park, one of the parks surrounding Keswick (pronounced Kes-ick).

Th railroad hike we took our last day in Cumbria. At this point we were lost and had to backtrack in order to get to our destination, Castlerigg Stone Circle.

Castlerigg is the site of a ring of 48 stones approximately as old as Stonehenge. One of the National Trust signs describes this site:

The present approach to Castlerigg Stone Circle seems to follow the original entrance route. The Circle has been owned by the National Trust since 1913.

Who Built Castlerigg and when? Don't know but there are clues. The builders would have come from early farming communities who probably lived on the fringes of the mountainous region from which they obtained the raw material for their travel. The Stone Circle seems to have been built between 2500 - 1300 B.C during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

How was it built? The builders would have found the stones lying in the immediate area. All are of Barrowdale volcanic stone brought by glaciers from rocky outcrops during the last Ice Age. The stones would have been dragged to the site on log rollers and levered into prepared holes which were then packed with soil and stone.

Why? Castlerigg would have been important to every member of local tribal community. Isolated groups would have come here to barter livestock or celebrate tribal festivities.

Ice cream truck conveniently parked outside this stone circle.

Many homes had greenhouses. I thought this one was particularly attractive.

Stunning parks surround Keswick.

Bowling on the green

Typical pub grub ... good but not exactly diet food.

On our way back to our B&B after dinner our last night in Keswick we stopped by Norris Hall to see an exhibit about 15 minutes before it closed.

The artist name was Patrick Crammer and his show was called Cumbrian Light. This title of this painting was "Preening Time".

And we bought this painting. Sunlight on Grasmere.