tall clover farm

 Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot, Tea Rose “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose       By any other name would smell as sweet;” Shakespeare’s Juliet had a point, but then again she never drew her nose to this heady petaled confection. Tea rose Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot could smell like fresh laundry and sport [...]

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Garden prize: first-of-the-season rhubarb There I was minding my own business waxing on about my exceptional rhubarb crop, when one of my favorite bon vivants, super moms and gifted bloggers (Renaedujour.com) perked up and said in hushed tones as if speaking of contraband, “Did you say rhubarb.” “Why yes, Renae I did.” (I knew I like [...]

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Howard’s End at Home  Outside my backdoor in the shade of a gnarled friend, the bigleaf maple The first time I recall seeing a forest floor carpeted in bluebells was in the movie Howard’s End. In a dreamlike state, Vanessa Redgrave as Ruth Wilcox was drifting through a sea of blue flowers, consumed by the beauty of the moment. The train [...]

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In Cold War movies, countless spies and diabolical governments worked tirelessly toward the downfall of the good ole U.S. of A.  Little did they know there’s a much easier way to undermined the American mind and spirit. Yes nowadays, imported terror comes in the form of foreign-based instruction manuals for U.S. bound household goods. James Bond, Our Man Flint, [...]

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Sometimes the universe speaks to you in subtle almost inperceivable ways and other times it has no time to flirt with your awareness level and just drives the point home, ASAP.  My recent telegram from the cosmos was delivered with a striking thud against my back porch window in the form of a fragile little bird, its weight so indiscernable that if my eyes [...]

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