"When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf" - Page 2 - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Birdland · 04-09-2003, 10:40 PM

I just had a flash of Lush tiptoeing through the tulips, playing a ukelele. There's a scary thought. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

It's muddy. Be sure and wear your yellow boots.

Lush · 04-10-2003, 01:43 AM

Fear getting dirty? Moi?

Carry on with the gardening, my Hobbits. I promise to take care of the smoking, Herr Tolkien be eternally proud.

GaladrieloftheOlden · 04-10-2003, 05:20 AM

I will be spending this spring hoping that my orthodontist will be so kind as to get off these **** braces. How is that Tolkien-related? Hmm, I don't know actually. Maybe my teeth will look like Elvish teeth when these are off? [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]
I can't garden: but my dad will, I think. Does that count? The only real Tolkien things I can think of that I'll be doing will be reading the works over...and over...and over again, drawing horrible illustrations for them, and seeing the movies too many times for my own good. Oh and the Downs of course [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Also, I will be converting as many people to the Downs as possible, through those terrible public LotR chatrooms. I still can't understand why people go in there... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] but I've gotten people to come here through there, so I'll have to go in again *sigh* [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

tifo_gcs · 04-10-2003, 06:16 AM

Some things for my spring...
Guiness with friends (I refuse to believe the Inklings met at 'the Bird and the Babe' and didn't have a drop of the black stuff).
Music in the backyard with friends as much as this Danish weather will let us.It's been snowing today so I'm envying Lush her stay in North Carolina [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] .
Spending easter in Holland visiting old friends (including Amsterdam, just to try and make Lush envy me).
Quit smoking (not in the Tolkien spirit but at the request of my friends and my lungs).
Await arrival of new mandolin, to better facilitate making music with friends.
Watch my favorite soccer team crush all before them with my friends.
Did I mention my friends? That's probably because a full time job doesn't let me see enough of them (my one complaint about my job is that I have no spring break)

mark12_30 · 04-10-2003, 08:29 AM

tifo_gcs, Now that sounds like a spring. Music in the garden... why was that easier in march than in april?? But it'll happen again soon. The last time, we brought out the amps and extension cords. Fun!!

Raefindel · 04-10-2003, 08:44 PM

Now that sounds fun!Music in the garden!

Ya know how a mechanic's hands are always black? Mine are beginning to look that way. I come home from work with dry GREEN hands and then I garden till they turn black. I have no nails left (well, OK I admit I never really had any anyway) and I carry super glue in my apron pocket for the inevitable cuts I get at work.

Samwise · 04-10-2003, 09:09 PM

I fear my garden's far too small for any rolling, Lush. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Miss Rae, you be careful! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Fringed Tulip

Alatáriël Lossëhelin · 04-10-2003, 09:12 PM

March was beautiful here in central Texas, but April has been somewhat chilly. Just as most flowers were beginning to bloom and many people were planting gardens, we had a mild freeze. I haven't been gardening myself, just admiring the work of others as I walk to Rivendell. If the rain holds off, I'll watch my grandson play t-ball Saturday afternoon. But rain or shine, I'll treat myself to another viewing of TTT Saturday night. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

tifo_gcs · 04-11-2003, 01:38 AM

Quote:

I will be spending this spring hoping that my orthodontist will be so kind as to get off these **** braces

I can't believe I missed that the first time around... look forward to it Galadrieloftheolden, it's a wonderful day when they come off [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Quote:

The last time, we brought out the amps and extension cords. Fun!!

Yikes!!! I think my neighbors would have a cow if we did that. In the shade with a jug of lemonade, music has to be acoustic, but chances are our accordion player will get the nieghbors steaming anyway... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Quote:

I carry super glue in my apron pocket for the inevitable cuts I get at work.

That sounds about as helpful as the black glob the orcs used on Merry, do you have a special technique?

Alatáriël: I wish I had time for all of that.. This morning all I could do was admire the snow on the ground (and try not to slip on it) as I ran to catch my train.

Raefindel · 04-11-2003, 01:54 AM

Superglue is a must for a floral designer. I've glued more cuts closed...

mark12_30 · 04-11-2003, 03:57 AM

Lush M'Babe, my garden includes fairly large expanses of lawn between the beds. You are more than welcome to come and roll there, with your nose as close to whatever flowers you prefer as you'd like. Just don't be surprised if Trace and Chonea join you. Oh, and Pepper, if you look cuddly enough.

You might want to wait a few days til the daffs open; I choose them for their fragrance, and the carltons are delicious. I think Sam and Frodo would like them. (Vanilla, if I recall.)

Rae, I have a friend who plays bass, and swears by that liquid-band-aid stuff. He uses it to repair cuts and tears on his FINGERTIPS and then plays happily for hours with no pain.

(All bass and guitar players: "Oooooh, I gotta get me some.")

Elvish medicine?

[ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

Raefindel · 04-12-2003, 12:07 PM

Yes, It's what they use to close incisions after surgery. Definitely Elven Medicine. I couldn't work without it!

mark12_30 · 04-14-2003, 08:26 AM

At last. Spring is here. Today I followed a little trout stream through the woods, and saw some emerging skunk cabbage...

Samwise · 04-14-2003, 04:32 PM

Well, the other day I plucked a rose off of the HUMONGOUS rose bushes in front of the church parsonage.... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Skunk cabbage......?

I know I should know, but what exactly is that?

Raefindel · 04-14-2003, 07:18 PM

The skunk Cabbage is 2 1/2 feet tall here now!

GaladrieloftheOlden · 04-14-2003, 07:33 PM

Why skunk...? Out of simple curiousity, what do they smell like? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Raefindel · 04-14-2003, 07:40 PM

Yes, that's exactly why. They smell.

Gandalf_theGrey · 04-14-2003, 08:42 PM

Kalimac:

You ask for more seasonal lyrics? This time, naught but the lyrics of white foam splashing down a stoney course at Rivendell framed under an arched bridge between gentle cliffs, my friend!

Saturday it was, that the feeling of spring finally matched the calendar's page. Bilbo looked up from his books and convinced me to "come see the waterfall, Gandalf!" Out onto the smooth pavement of the patio we went.

As glinting sunshine cascaded warmth generously downwards to encompass us as if in harmony with the water, I draped my bulky outer cloak upon a bench and moved to stand at the edge of a railing. But it was no good turning back to retrieve the cloak when my ears grew nippy from the wind, for Bilbo's idea of "seeing the waterfall" had quickly become "taking a nap with a waterfall comfortably in the background!" [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] He had curled up to take slumberous residence on both bench and cloak.

The waterfall bubbled over like glad tidings in a winding rush to pour forth its spirit, dodging pebbles as it tumbled down long shale steps. Dark slate wetted to almost black up top, draining to drab tints about the middle, lightening to a lively blue-tinged shale in a pool that turned roundabout in curious river bends. Throughout the causeway were bright streaked trails of orange painted by rusty leaves, their artistry left over from last fall, newly skittling down the cliffs to join the water's chattering splash and dance of anticipation.

By turns I took in these surroundings and tried not to think about the returning coldness as day ebbed and the breeze picked up, glanced at Bilbo, wondered how long he might sleep, wondered what time it was, remembered that time here melded into timelessness if only you let it. Finally estimated it by the sun to be between 2:23 and 2:26 in the afternoon. I was proved right when a few minutes later, two other visitors approached. Fortunately, our mere presence and shared silent greetings were enough to waken Bilbo before anyone spoke.

Shortly after, I walked to a point overlooking the Ford of Bruinen, which offered a vista of new red maple buds over the water among the far more plentiful branches still in waiting shades of brown.

Gandalf the Grey

mark12_30 · 04-28-2003, 10:29 AM

The buds on my beech trees are just starting to lengthen.

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 04-28-2003, 10:54 AM

I never heard of an elf with allergies, but I'll likely be spending my spring wishing I enjoyed the smell of the hyacinths on campus and taking claritin by the jar. It's so flowery around here...

mark12_30 · 05-07-2003, 03:33 PM

Weeeeellll, I did it.

I am hereby guilty of Quercusicide or Quercicide or Quercide, I'm not sure which. But the oak trees that were towering over my struggling little beeches and covering them with their overpowering canopy, are still towering, but they will canopy no more...

I girdled them. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Especially one tall, beautiful, straight oak that might have been one of the nicest on our property. Definitely in the top ten. If only it hadn't been smack in the middle of five little struggling beech trees, it would have lived. But-- wrong place wrong time.

So I guess Treebeard and the rest of the ents will hate me. And I'll probably be exiled from Lorien forever and ever.

My one defense is that I was trying to make room for the beeches. But I can look out my window, still, and see how tall and straight that oak is standing. Oh well.

It'll be well seasoned by next winter, anyway...

Birdland · 05-07-2003, 10:54 PM

Quote:

I girdled them.

Oh, the horror! Where's George Pope Morris when you need him? Somewhere an Ent is crying "Life's a beech, and then you die."

But seriously, folks: couldn't you have just moved the beeches?

mark12_30 · 05-08-2003, 02:53 PM

A nice idea, Birdie, but-- alas, no. There are six beeches just behind my gardens, and they are well ensconced, and I want them right where they are; they are (ahem) precious, and I don't want them disturbed. These lovely young beeches vary in height from ten to perhaps thirty feet tall. However, the (bleeping) oak was about fifty feet tall, and towering over the beeches. Not nice neighbors, these oakses. Not nice.

Saving oaks is not a high priority in general, here. They don't call my neighborhood "Thousand Oaks" for nothing. I never bothered to count how many oaks we actually have on our own property. However, I can estimate that we only have twenty (lovely, delicate, beautiful, slender, graceful) beeches. Hence, the beeches stay.

Overall, if we are now reduced to nine-hundred, eighty-eight oak trees instead of a thousand oaks, I shall not weep. But that one particular specimen was unusual in that it was very straight and shapely. Too bad.

In the meantime, if I don't get really busy and remove all the (bleeping) sprouting acorns from my garden, there will be another thousand oaks just in my garden alone!!!!! [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] Yet another reason to let the beeches thrive behind the garden, and press back the oaken canopy...

Bleeding heart season is here, and late (white, fragrant ) daffodils. How about the rest of you? What's blooming, everyone?

Samwise · 05-08-2003, 03:06 PM

I planted some scarlet Morning glories the other day, and I want to plant the MoonFlowers I have, but I want to make a support, first, and I've got nothing really suitable. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Birdland · 05-08-2003, 11:24 PM

Quote:

They don't call my neighborhood "Thousand Oaks" for nothing

But I read that the California Live Oak was suffering from some kind of horrible blight. I can just hear all those Oak Ents now: "When we're all blighted and dead, then you'll be sorry!"

Sorry, Mark, I can pull a weed with the best of them, but killing a tree just seems like such a BIG DEAL. Like Treeacide. Although I do have a pesky peach tree that I have thought bad thoughts about.

Gorwingel · 05-08-2003, 11:56 PM

Oh yes the Skunk cabbage, though personally I have not seen one yet (I have not spent much time in the woods) they are an annoying little plant that grows in marshy areas, and smells like...well...Skunk! they stink!

mark12_30 · 05-09-2003, 10:48 AM

Sam, I LOVE moonflowers and morning glories. Mine will be climbing some ultra-cheap trellises that I bought at the local el-cheapo store: twenty bucks! made in china... Do you think hobbits had trellises? Or did they just let the vines ramble up and over their doorway??

Gorwingel, the skunk cabbage is fourishing over here, all around Bywater. Lots of it.

Birdie: I understand how you feel about trees, I do. But last year in the drought, we lost two pretty young trees that I dearly loved: one was a "pin oak" (NOT your garden-variety oakMonster, this was a lovely and delicate thing) and another was Unknown but lovely, but now dead. I am convinced that if the oaks hadn't been hogging the ground water they would have had more of a chance.

Know what drives me crazy? The two best trees on our lot-- a lovely maple and a towering white pine-- are RIGHT next to each other. Read: If either one was an oak, I would have cut it down to make room for the precious maple or the precious pine. But no-- there they stand, shoulder to shoulder, each cutting into the other's growing terriroty! ARGH!

I was hiking today and went through a beech forest. Mmmmmmmmmmm. No wonder the elves (and TOlkien) loved them. Lovely, lovely, great silver trunks and golden leaves. Mallorns!! It only made me more resolved to treat mine well. Sorry, oak. You're OUTTA THERE.

Samwise · 05-09-2003, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Sam, I LOVE moonflowers and morning glories. Mine will be climbing some ultra-cheap trellises that I bought at the local el-cheapo store: twenty bucks! made in china... Do you think hobbits had trellises? Or did they just let the vines ramble up and over their doorway??

Hm...Tolkien wrote that they were good with their hands craft-wise, so I suppose it's possible they made trellisses.
My father said he'd make something for me for the Moonflowers to climb, but he hasn't gotten around to it yet, so I'll remind him, and if he dosen't get to it by this weekend, I think I'll be using an unused tomato cage in the backyard. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Raefindel · 05-10-2003, 10:17 PM

Well, Hello fellow gardeners! I have missed you as I tarried in the flower shop. But thankfully, I have left cut flowers behind and have returned to growing things.

Quote:

It seems their delight to trample growing things that are not even in their way!

What's blooming, you ask? Why, mostly purple things. the Lilacs are in bloom and they are Far and away my favorite.

Also my Bearded Irises are about to bloom. they are very prolific. Last year I added a 40-foot garden along the driveway and filled it with irises and still gave enough away to supply a small army of Elven and Hobbit gardeners. Irises anyone? I'll be digging them up again in the fall.

Samwise · 05-10-2003, 10:31 PM

Ooh, purple things...you know I like purple things, Miss Rae. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Well, today I got a rusty ol' tomato cage from the backyard an' planted my Moonflowers.
I'm hopin' they grow as pretty as on th' package. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

PS: To anyone in this "room" who had ANYTHING whatsoever to do with that humourously named but nonetheless sweet and touching and downright NICE Award, thankyou. [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img]

[ May 11, 2003: Message edited by: Samwise ]

Birdland · 05-10-2003, 11:10 PM

Rae, I'll see your irises and raise you with some daylilies...lots and lots of daylilies, or as the old folk call them: "railroad lilies". Of course, the Old Folk also call peonies "PI-onies", so what do they know?

I bought out all the specimen perennials in the Horticulture lab in our school, and have been trying to get them all in the ground between storms - which have been fierce and frequent in the central U.S. this month. Our local Brandywine is almost ready to leap its banks, but my hobbit hole on the hill is staying nice and dry.

Liriodendron · 05-11-2003, 10:30 AM

It is the time of purple isn't it! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] My main garden is all purple/blue this week. ajuga, forget-me-not, groundcover phlox, the big drumstick alliums, purple tulips, dames rocket, chives and iris. I never would have planted a mono-color garden, but it looks beautiful just the same. In other gardens, the huge bright orange oriental poppies are waving in the wind, johnny jumps and lily of the valley have sprung up everywhere, and the bridal wreath spirea, and other bushes are doing their thing! Too bad we've gotton about 5 inches of rain this week! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Raefindel · 05-12-2003, 08:54 AM

I spent a lovely Mother's Day Planting and trans-planting. It was the most fun this elf has had in a long while. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Yavanna228 · 05-13-2003, 08:03 PM

I think I'll make this a Tolkien-ish spring/summer by haunting the used book stores to find some Tolkien I haven't read yet. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Sounds good to me...
Peace

GaladrieloftheOlden · 05-13-2003, 08:16 PM

Wow... purple... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]
I don't actually spend much (any) time in the garden, and probably won't till the hammock is up again, but I go out there once in a while for flowers to braid into my hair (not garden flowers [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ), and it seems purple there too... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

~Menelien

Alatáriël Lossëhelin · 05-13-2003, 09:33 PM

Quote:

What's blooming, everyone?

The roadside bluebonnets have pretty much disappeared and my bearded irises have come and gone. However, my roses and cannas are beginning to bloom. Fortunately, the grasshoppers have not descended on me like the perverbial plague yet. The past couple of years they have pretty much decimated my flower beds, and I'm too discouraged to replant. Maybe next spring...

mark12_30 · 05-14-2003, 01:46 PM

Grasshoppers? Eeeww! (Ghastly Neekerbreekers!) Poor Alatáriël!

For us it's (shudder) Japanese beetles (retch, convulse) and the ever-present, ever-ravenous Bambi (glower; reaches for compound bow...) My poor hobbit-gardens are at their very worst in late July and early August. So this year it's cosmos, by the envelope... just like Sam's movie-garden.

This morning my hobbit-buddy failed to show up. Lonely walk!

Samwise · 05-14-2003, 03:53 PM

MRI today....ugh.....wonder if the technician saw flowers and Hobbits in my head?

After my MRI, my mother and I did some shopping, and one of my purchases was a Beanie Baby Bear named "Blossom" (Hmmm...what was I thinking of?) [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] As far as purple, my irises are still growing, and I have some lighter purple Pincushion flowers...which are practically buried under the daylilies, daisies, Johnny-jumpups (latter also a bit of purple), and Gladiolus.

No Moonflowers or Morning Glories yet, but I'm a tad impatient. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

(LOL--I just realized the green hand icon has-- [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] A GREEN THUMB!!)

Be nice to me...I had a needle stuck in my arm today..... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

We HATES needles, yes we does..... [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Raefindel · 05-14-2003, 03:55 PM

You've never gardened, GaladrieloftheOlden ?
I think I was gardening when I was 8! I remember going into the woods to find things to dig up and transplant at home.

GaladrieloftheOlden · 05-14-2003, 03:59 PM

Yes, I have gardened, but I don’t really enjoy it. Except the actual putting in of the seeds. I love doing that, but we haven’t bought them yet. And I couldn’t have gardened when I was 8, because I lived in an apartment. Anyhow, I’m still a kid/teenager, so I may yet have my gardening times [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

~Menelien

04-10-2003, 01:43 AM	#42
Lush Fair and Cold Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: the big onion Posts: 1,770	Fear getting dirty? Moi? Carry on with the gardening, my Hobbits. I promise to take care of the smoking, Herr Tolkien be eternally proud. __________________ ~The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories. This is one of mine~

04-10-2003, 05:20 AM	#43
GaladrieloftheOlden Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Massachusetts - digging up a bottomless hole, searching for something that's not there... Posts: 1,514	I will be spending this spring hoping that my orthodontist will be so kind as to get off these **** braces. How is that Tolkien-related? Hmm, I don't know actually. Maybe my teeth will look like Elvish teeth when these are off? [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] I can't garden: but my dad will, I think. Does that count? The only real Tolkien things I can think of that I'll be doing will be reading the works over...and over...and over again, drawing horrible illustrations for them, and seeing the movies too many times for my own good. Oh and the Downs of course [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Also, I will be converting as many people to the Downs as possible, through those terrible public LotR chatrooms. I still can't understand why people go in there... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] but I've gotten people to come here through there, so I'll have to go in again sigh [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] __________________ "Glue... very powerful stuff."

04-10-2003, 06:16 AM	#44
tifo_gcs Haunting Spirit Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lyngby Posts: 71	Some things for my spring... Guiness with friends (I refuse to believe the Inklings met at 'the Bird and the Babe' and didn't have a drop of the black stuff). Music in the backyard with friends as much as this Danish weather will let us.It's been snowing today so I'm envying Lush her stay in North Carolina [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] . Spending easter in Holland visiting old friends (including Amsterdam, just to try and make Lush envy me). Quit smoking (not in the Tolkien spirit but at the request of my friends and my lungs). Await arrival of new mandolin, to better facilitate making music with friends. Watch my favorite soccer team crush all before them with my friends. Did I mention my friends? That's probably because a full time job doesn't let me see enough of them (my one complaint about my job is that I have no spring break) __________________ Forever True, Forever Blue

04-10-2003, 08:29 AM	#45
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	tifo_gcs, Now that sounds like a spring. Music in the garden... why was that easier in march than in april?? But it'll happen again soon. The last time, we brought out the amps and extension cords. Fun!! __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-10-2003, 08:44 PM	#46
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	Now that sounds fun!Music in the garden! Ya know how a mechanic's hands are always black? Mine are beginning to look that way. I come home from work with dry GREEN hands and then I garden till they turn black. I have no nails left (well, OK I admit I never really had any anyway) and I carry super glue in my apron pocket for the inevitable cuts I get at work. __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

04-09-2003, 10:40 PM	#41
Birdland Ghastly Neekerbreeker Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: the banks of the mighty Scioto Posts: 1,751	I just had a flash of Lush tiptoeing through the tulips, playing a ukelele. There's a scary thought. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] It's muddy. Be sure and wear your yellow boots.

04-10-2003, 09:09 PM	#47
Samwise Faithful Spirit Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: #3 Bagshot Row, Petaluma, Ca Posts: 2,299	I fear my garden's far too small for any rolling, Lush. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Miss Rae, you be careful! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] Fringed Tulip __________________ Giving thanks unto the Father...In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.~Colossians1:12a,14 * * * * * * * I am Samwise son of Hamfast, if by hoe or trowel I can get these weeds out of your garden, I will.You have my shears!;)

04-10-2003, 09:12 PM	#48
Alatáriël Lossëhelin Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Road to Rivendell: 2491 miles from Hobbiton, with Frodo and Sam, homeward bound Posts: 365	March was beautiful here in central Texas, but April has been somewhat chilly. Just as most flowers were beginning to bloom and many people were planting gardens, we had a mild freeze. I haven't been gardening myself, just admiring the work of others as I walk to Rivendell. If the rain holds off, I'll watch my grandson play t-ball Saturday afternoon. But rain or shine, I'll treat myself to another viewing of TTT Saturday night. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] __________________ "It's impossible to have Frodo without Sam, or Sam without Frodo. They're like two halves of one heart..." "If your hurts grieve you still and the memory of your burden is heavy, then you may pass into the West..."

04-11-2003, 01:54 AM	#50
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	Superglue is a must for a floral designer. I've glued more cuts closed... __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

04-11-2003, 03:57 AM	#51
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Lush M'Babe, my garden includes fairly large expanses of lawn between the beds. You are more than welcome to come and roll there, with your nose as close to whatever flowers you prefer as you'd like. Just don't be surprised if Trace and Chonea join you. Oh, and Pepper, if you look cuddly enough. You might want to wait a few days til the daffs open; I choose them for their fragrance, and the carltons are delicious. I think Sam and Frodo would like them. (Vanilla, if I recall.) Rae, I have a friend who plays bass, and swears by that liquid-band-aid stuff. He uses it to repair cuts and tears on his FINGERTIPS and then plays happily for hours with no pain. (All bass and guitar players: "Oooooh, I gotta get me some.") Elvish medicine? [ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ] __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-12-2003, 12:07 PM	#52
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	Yes, It's what they use to close incisions after surgery. Definitely Elven Medicine. I couldn't work without it! __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

04-14-2003, 08:26 AM	#53
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	At last. Spring is here. Today I followed a little trout stream through the woods, and saw some emerging skunk cabbage... __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-14-2003, 04:32 PM	#54
Samwise Faithful Spirit Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: #3 Bagshot Row, Petaluma, Ca Posts: 2,299	Well, the other day I plucked a rose off of the HUMONGOUS rose bushes in front of the church parsonage.... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Skunk cabbage......? I know I should know, but what exactly is that? __________________ Giving thanks unto the Father...In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.~Colossians1:12a,14 * * * * * * * I am Samwise son of Hamfast, if by hoe or trowel I can get these weeds out of your garden, I will.You have my shears!;)

04-14-2003, 07:18 PM	#55
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	The skunk Cabbage is 2 1/2 feet tall here now! __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

04-14-2003, 07:33 PM	#56
GaladrieloftheOlden Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Massachusetts - digging up a bottomless hole, searching for something that's not there... Posts: 1,514	Why skunk...? Out of simple curiousity, what do they smell like? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] __________________ "Glue... very powerful stuff."

04-14-2003, 07:40 PM	#57
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	Yes, that's exactly why. They smell. __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

04-14-2003, 08:42 PM	#58
Gandalf_theGrey Visionary Spirit Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 633	Kalimac: You ask for more seasonal lyrics? This time, naught but the lyrics of white foam splashing down a stoney course at Rivendell framed under an arched bridge between gentle cliffs, my friend! Saturday it was, that the feeling of spring finally matched the calendar's page. Bilbo looked up from his books and convinced me to "come see the waterfall, Gandalf!" Out onto the smooth pavement of the patio we went. As glinting sunshine cascaded warmth generously downwards to encompass us as if in harmony with the water, I draped my bulky outer cloak upon a bench and moved to stand at the edge of a railing. But it was no good turning back to retrieve the cloak when my ears grew nippy from the wind, for Bilbo's idea of "seeing the waterfall" had quickly become "taking a nap with a waterfall comfortably in the background!" [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] He had curled up to take slumberous residence on both bench and cloak. The waterfall bubbled over like glad tidings in a winding rush to pour forth its spirit, dodging pebbles as it tumbled down long shale steps. Dark slate wetted to almost black up top, draining to drab tints about the middle, lightening to a lively blue-tinged shale in a pool that turned roundabout in curious river bends. Throughout the causeway were bright streaked trails of orange painted by rusty leaves, their artistry left over from last fall, newly skittling down the cliffs to join the water's chattering splash and dance of anticipation. By turns I took in these surroundings and tried not to think about the returning coldness as day ebbed and the breeze picked up, glanced at Bilbo, wondered how long he might sleep, wondered what time it was, remembered that time here melded into timelessness if only you let it. Finally estimated it by the sun to be between 2:23 and 2:26 in the afternoon. I was proved right when a few minutes later, two other visitors approached. Fortunately, our mere presence and shared silent greetings were enough to waken Bilbo before anyone spoke. Shortly after, I walked to a point overlooking the Ford of Bruinen, which offered a vista of new red maple buds over the water among the far more plentiful branches still in waiting shades of brown. Gandalf the Grey

04-28-2003, 10:29 AM	#59
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	The buds on my beech trees are just starting to lengthen. __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-28-2003, 10:54 AM	#60
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	I never heard of an elf with allergies, but I'll likely be spending my spring wishing I enjoyed the smell of the hyacinths on campus and taking claritin by the jar. It's so flowery around here... __________________ The seasons fall like silver swords, the years rush ever onward; and soon I sail, to leave this world, these lands where I have wander'd. O Elbereth! O Queen who dwells beyond the Western Seas, spare me yet a little time 'ere white ships come for me!

05-07-2003, 03:33 PM	#61
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Weeeeellll, I did it. I am hereby guilty of Quercusicide or Quercicide or Quercide, I'm not sure which. But the oak trees that were towering over my struggling little beeches and covering them with their overpowering canopy, are still towering, but they will canopy no more... I girdled them. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Especially one tall, beautiful, straight oak that might have been one of the nicest on our property. Definitely in the top ten. If only it hadn't been smack in the middle of five little struggling beech trees, it would have lived. But-- wrong place wrong time. So I guess Treebeard and the rest of the ents will hate me. And I'll probably be exiled from Lorien forever and ever. My one defense is that I was trying to make room for the beeches. But I can look out my window, still, and see how tall and straight that oak is standing. Oh well. It'll be well seasoned by next winter, anyway... __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

05-08-2003, 02:53 PM	#63
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	A nice idea, Birdie, but-- alas, no. There are six beeches just behind my gardens, and they are well ensconced, and I want them right where they are; they are (ahem) precious, and I don't want them disturbed. These lovely young beeches vary in height from ten to perhaps thirty feet tall. However, the (bleeping) oak was about fifty feet tall, and towering over the beeches. Not nice neighbors, these oakses. Not nice. Saving oaks is not a high priority in general, here. They don't call my neighborhood "Thousand Oaks" for nothing. I never bothered to count how many oaks we actually have on our own property. However, I can estimate that we only have twenty (lovely, delicate, beautiful, slender, graceful) beeches. Hence, the beeches stay. Overall, if we are now reduced to nine-hundred, eighty-eight oak trees instead of a thousand oaks, I shall not weep. But that one particular specimen was unusual in that it was very straight and shapely. Too bad. In the meantime, if I don't get really busy and remove all the (bleeping) sprouting acorns from my garden, there will be another thousand oaks just in my garden alone!!!!! [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] Yet another reason to let the beeches thrive behind the garden, and press back the oaken canopy... Bleeding heart season is here, and late (white, fragrant ) daffodils. How about the rest of you? What's blooming, everyone? __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

05-08-2003, 03:06 PM	#64
Samwise Faithful Spirit Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: #3 Bagshot Row, Petaluma, Ca Posts: 2,299	I planted some scarlet Morning glories the other day, and I want to plant the MoonFlowers I have, but I want to make a support, first, and I've got nothing really suitable. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] __________________ Giving thanks unto the Father...In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.~Colossians1:12a,14 * * * * * * * I am Samwise son of Hamfast, if by hoe or trowel I can get these weeds out of your garden, I will.You have my shears!;)

05-08-2003, 11:56 PM	#66
Gorwingel Beholder of the Mists Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Somewhere in the Northwest... for now Posts: 1,419	Oh yes the Skunk cabbage, though personally I have not seen one yet (I have not spent much time in the woods) they are an annoying little plant that grows in marshy areas, and smells like...well...Skunk! they stink! __________________ Wanted - Wonderfully witty quote that consists of pure brilliance

05-09-2003, 10:48 AM	#67
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Sam, I LOVE moonflowers and morning glories. Mine will be climbing some ultra-cheap trellises that I bought at the local el-cheapo store: twenty bucks! made in china... Do you think hobbits had trellises? Or did they just let the vines ramble up and over their doorway?? Gorwingel, the skunk cabbage is fourishing over here, all around Bywater. Lots of it. Birdie: I understand how you feel about trees, I do. But last year in the drought, we lost two pretty young trees that I dearly loved: one was a "pin oak" (NOT your garden-variety oakMonster, this was a lovely and delicate thing) and another was Unknown but lovely, but now dead. I am convinced that if the oaks hadn't been hogging the ground water they would have had more of a chance. Know what drives me crazy? The two best trees on our lot-- a lovely maple and a towering white pine-- are RIGHT next to each other. Read: If either one was an oak, I would have cut it down to make room for the precious maple or the precious pine. But no-- there they stand, shoulder to shoulder, each cutting into the other's growing terriroty! ARGH! I was hiking today and went through a beech forest. Mmmmmmmmmmm. No wonder the elves (and TOlkien) loved them. Lovely, lovely, great silver trunks and golden leaves. Mallorns!! It only made me more resolved to treat mine well. Sorry, oak. You're OUTTA THERE. __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

05-10-2003, 10:31 PM	#70
Samwise Faithful Spirit Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: #3 Bagshot Row, Petaluma, Ca Posts: 2,299	Ooh, purple things...you know I like purple things, Miss Rae. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Well, today I got a rusty ol' tomato cage from the backyard an' planted my Moonflowers. I'm hopin' they grow as pretty as on th' package. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] PS: To anyone in this "room" who had ANYTHING whatsoever to do with that humourously named but nonetheless sweet and touching and downright NICE Award, thankyou. [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img] [ May 11, 2003: Message edited by: Samwise ] __________________ Giving thanks unto the Father...In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.~Colossians1:12a,14 * * * * * * * I am Samwise son of Hamfast, if by hoe or trowel I can get these weeds out of your garden, I will.You have my shears!;)

05-10-2003, 11:10 PM	#71
Birdland Ghastly Neekerbreeker Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: the banks of the mighty Scioto Posts: 1,751	Rae, I'll see your irises and raise you with some daylilies...lots and lots of daylilies, or as the old folk call them: "railroad lilies". Of course, the Old Folk also call peonies "PI-onies", so what do they know? I bought out all the specimen perennials in the Horticulture lab in our school, and have been trying to get them all in the ground between storms - which have been fierce and frequent in the central U.S. this month. Our local Brandywine is almost ready to leap its banks, but my hobbit hole on the hill is staying nice and dry.

05-11-2003, 10:30 AM	#72
Liriodendron Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Indiana Posts: 527	It is the time of purple isn't it! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] My main garden is all purple/blue this week. ajuga, forget-me-not, groundcover phlox, the big drumstick alliums, purple tulips, dames rocket, chives and iris. I never would have planted a mono-color garden, but it looks beautiful just the same. In other gardens, the huge bright orange oriental poppies are waving in the wind, johnny jumps and lily of the valley have sprung up everywhere, and the bridal wreath spirea, and other bushes are doing their thing! Too bad we've gotton about 5 inches of rain this week! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] __________________ http://www.lizmargason.com

05-12-2003, 08:54 AM	#73
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	I spent a lovely Mother's Day Planting and trans-planting. It was the most fun this elf has had in a long while. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

05-13-2003, 08:03 PM	#74
Yavanna228 Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: May 2003 Location: on the wings of the morning Posts: 394	I think I'll make this a Tolkien-ish spring/summer by haunting the used book stores to find some Tolkien I haven't read yet. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Sounds good to me... Peace __________________ 'Dulaman na Binne Bui, Dulaman Gaelach/ Dulaman na farraige, 's e b'fhearr a bhi in Eirinn!'

05-13-2003, 08:16 PM	#75
GaladrieloftheOlden Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Massachusetts - digging up a bottomless hole, searching for something that's not there... Posts: 1,514	Wow... purple... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] I don't actually spend much (any) time in the garden, and probably won't till the hammock is up again, but I go out there once in a while for flowers to braid into my hair (not garden flowers [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ), and it seems purple there too... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] ~Menelien __________________ "Glue... very powerful stuff."

05-14-2003, 01:46 PM	#77
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Grasshoppers? Eeeww! (Ghastly Neekerbreekers!) Poor Alatáriël! For us it's (shudder) Japanese beetles (retch, convulse) and the ever-present, ever-ravenous Bambi (glower; reaches for compound bow...) My poor hobbit-gardens are at their very worst in late July and early August. So this year it's cosmos, by the envelope... just like Sam's movie-garden. This morning my hobbit-buddy failed to show up. Lonely walk! __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

05-14-2003, 03:53 PM	#78
Samwise Faithful Spirit Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: #3 Bagshot Row, Petaluma, Ca Posts: 2,299	MRI today....ugh.....wonder if the technician saw flowers and Hobbits in my head? After my MRI, my mother and I did some shopping, and one of my purchases was a Beanie Baby Bear named "Blossom" (Hmmm...what was I thinking of?) [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] As far as purple, my irises are still growing, and I have some lighter purple Pincushion flowers...which are practically buried under the daylilies, daisies, Johnny-jumpups (latter also a bit of purple), and Gladiolus. No Moonflowers or Morning Glories yet, but I'm a tad impatient. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] (LOL--I just realized the green hand icon has-- [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] A GREEN THUMB!!) Be nice to me...I had a needle stuck in my arm today..... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] We HATES needles, yes we does..... [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] __________________ Giving thanks unto the Father...In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.~Colossians1:12a,14 * * * * * * * I am Samwise son of Hamfast, if by hoe or trowel I can get these weeds out of your garden, I will.You have my shears!;)

05-14-2003, 03:55 PM	#79
Raefindel Sword of the Spirit Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,313	You've never gardened, GaladrieloftheOlden ? I think I was gardening when I was 8! I remember going into the woods to find things to dig up and transplant at home. __________________ Blessed be the Lord my Strength, Who trained my hands for war and my fingers to fight. Psallm 144:1

05-14-2003, 03:59 PM	#80
GaladrieloftheOlden Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Massachusetts - digging up a bottomless hole, searching for something that's not there... Posts: 1,514	Yes, I have gardened, but I don’t really enjoy it. Except the actual putting in of the seeds. I love doing that, but we haven’t bought them yet. And I couldn’t have gardened when I was 8, because I lived in an apartment. Anyhow, I’m still a kid/teenager, so I may yet have my gardening times [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] ~Menelien __________________ "Glue... very powerful stuff."