Office Staff

Ten years ago I suggested to the office staff that we create a more homey atmosphere for ourselves. I suggested plants and an aquarium, the plants were easy since I had a large collection at home. Everyone said they liked the idea of an aquarium so we pooled our money and off I went to the local aquarium store and filled the car with all that I would need. I was advised by the shop owner to purchase just one inexpensive fish to "test the waters", a sacrificial fish if you please. When setting up a new aquarium one almost always has a few losses and since this aquarium was going to be monitored by a bunch of folks that would be a bit of a handful if there were any great losses I agreed with the shop owner and purchased one small orange fan-tailed Lion head Oranda (fancy goldfish). She didn't look like much but the staff soon fell in love with her and I kept praying that I set everything up correctly and she would survive the whole process.

That was ten years ago and the little lion-head has grown to quite the flamboyant office entertainer.

A couple of weeks ago it was brought to my attention that our finny staff member was still the only finny staff member in a very large aquarium. So once again I went to the store and we now have a new member of our staff.

Not as flamboyant as the old girl but they hit it off well these two staff members. I was also informed that they should have names......any ideas would be taken into consideration.

Name The Staff Members

2nd Annual Halloween Parade

Two years ago neighbor and artist Ann Storres asked if I would be interested in growing some giant pumpkins as she was offered seeds from a professional grower. I offered to start them in my greenhouse and successfully raised a couple of flats full. Ann planted several experimental hills of the starts in her front garden. As the giant pumpkins started to appear in the mounds they started attracting a large following. We spent many an hour out talking to neighbors and complete strangers about the pumpkin project. Soon the idea of a Halloween parade came to a discussion and evolved in what we have today, one of the most fun neighborhood draws that we could have imagined. I have a friend that has lived in the same house for more then 25 years and only knows one other neighbor, that is so sad to me. I chose to stay in the city in a community oriented neighborhood, it is also a very diversified neighborhood that we all take pride in.




The Pumpkin Queen
Artist and neighbor
Ann Storres

Giant Pumpkin
Not as big as last years but we had very little growing season this year.

Most everyone came in costume.

The marchers were led by a young trombonist who played "When the Saints Go Marching In" as it was the only complete tune he knew.

The rain held off for the parade.

We had over forty marchers.

Next year we are going to award trophy's for different categories of pumpkins and costumes.

Trick-or-treat!

After the parade which started at 5:00 pm, the trick-or-treaters started making their visits. Our son's and their family's came over for several bowls of MeMa's homemade clam chowder which has been the traditional Halloween meal of our family, yummmmm!

From The Garden History Book - Monkey Pod Tree

On our 2007 trip to Oahu we visited the Iolani Palace. After touring the inside we went on a self guided tour of the grounds. In the very upper left of this photo you can see a bit of the leaves from the giant Monkey Pod tree planted in the front lawn of the palace . I was taking pictures of  some of the plants and noticed that there were a great number of pods laying in the lawn under this giant old tree, so I slipped one into my camera case. After arriving home from our trip I planted a couple of the seeds and two of them germinated. One dried up while still in the sprout stage, but the other one continued to grow. I pull it out of the pot every couple of years and trim the roots in order to maintain it as an indoor bonsai tree. I keep it in the greenhouse during the summer months and then bring it to my office for the winter.

Albizia saman "Monkey Pod Tree"

Not your usual office plant material

A Tree Grows For Brooklyn

"It was way too small of a house", "There was so much yard work". These are the type of things said this past weekend as the whole family all joined forces and helped move my oldest son and his family out of the house they called home for almost three years, and into a rental house.


It was a cute little Bungalow with a huge yard. It needed lots of work and the yard was sadly neglected but it was in a great neighborhood that they enjoyed very much. But they paid far too much for the house and when the economy went south the value of the property dropped to half its original value. So they went the "short sale" route in order to get out from under the payments. Life! The new place is basically in the same neighborhood, has about twice the room in it, very immaculate and has a thumb print back garden big enough for the little terrorist's sand box and a few other things. They both look relaxed and comfortable for the first in a long time.

After the move I returned to the now vacant bungalow to check around the place and make sure nothing was overlooked. I passed through the back gate and came around the corner leading into the garden and there it stood calling out for help. Brooklyn's tree, his birth tree.

Brooklyn was born at home, a water birth in the living room, in a large pool. After the birth they buried the placenta in the yard and planted a white birch over it to commemorate the birth.

Brooklyn's tree transplanted

 I called Grace who was ecstatic that I was going to dig Brooklyn's tree and give it a new permanent residence at Menagerie Manor. It is almost in line with the Giant Sequoya that I planted 28 years ago to commemorate the birth of our two son's. ( Post from 2/03/2010- "History of Our Redwood")

Still Alive and Kickin

I'm still alive and "kickin", I have had a good time reading every-one's blogs but have had little time to post anything of my own.
Every October our two son's and the lovely Mema would leave their spouses and go on a mother and son's "road trip" for Mema's birthday. This year they decided to stay at Great Wolf Lodge, which is an indoor water park that for the most part is geared to children but there are many adventures for the adults as well. Mema decided to change things up a bit and asked that I join them this adventure. Our oldest son came down with a horrible sore throat the day of the trip so was a bit under the weather but managed to join in for a portion of the fun, but by the evening of the first day was miserable so went straight to bed. The evening was still young, Ian our youngest found a shuttle service from the Lodge to the local Casino, so at 11:00 pm Ian and Mema hopped on the shuttle and I stayed behind to keep the ailing Nathan company.  At 3:00 am the two gamblers strolled back to the lodge with their winnings, Ian flopped into bed exhausted but Mema had consumed enough casino coffee to keep an army awake. She tossed and turned for a time when we decided that breakfast was the alternative of choice. After a hardy breakfast Mema and I dressed in our swim attire and returned to the water park while our two son's relaxed in the lounge. We went on every slide including the "howling tornado" which sucks you into a whirl pool and then after tossing you back and forth drops you ten feet before shuttling you down the last portion of the slide and into the pool were an attendant grabs the corner of your raft and guides you to the edge of the pool. I'm sure we brought some chuckles to the staff as our son's sat on the bench sipping their coffee's while their somewhat agile parents screamed and laughed down the next water slide.