Coming up Roses

Everything so early this year...but I'm revelling in roses. Above and below, the one called John Davis.



A rugosa hybrid--I grow quite a few of them--Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Normally I feel lucky if this frustrating specimen puts out a single bloom in a season. This year, it's a towering plant absolutely covered with blossoms and blooms, completely justifying my decision to add it to the garden, and be patient!



Tuscany, from the 1590's, a gallica. I grow lots of gallicas!



Camaieux, a striped gallica, from a later period--19th century.



A damask, Quatre Saisons, the fabled Four Seasons Rose, also known as the Autumn Damask for its reblooming ability. The oldest rose I grow, dates to ancient times.



More to come. Many, many more!

Garden Shots

Rose of the Day: Shailer's Provence aka Gracilis, a Boursault variety dating from 1796. My 2 towering specimens derived from a single tiny cutting my mother gave me. Ever a candidate for my "most favourite rose," due to its beauty, scent, and origin. It's blooming about a fortnight to 3 weeks early.

One of the 6 or so butterflies swarming my large lilac bush today. It's the state flower!

The grounds--indeed, the entire landscape everywhere I've been--are so lush and green from recent rains. The rose canes are bent over they are so laden with buds. More rain on the way...so I'm enjoying this glorious sunshine and the cloudless blue sky!

Walter

Now that Memorial Day weekend is past, the dogs and I have the lake to ourselves again.

Or so we thought, until we went down to the dock.

My pet fish Walter is back. I hadn't got worms for him yet, so I threw him a piece of whole wheat tortilla. He's about to eat it in this photo.

I also tossed him some tiny scraps of steak tips left over from Monday's lunch, when a film crew came to the cottage to film the Chap and me for a documentary on church stewardship. But I think Walter would prefer worms to steak, so I'll be heading to the corner store's bait section very soon.

The lake is smooth as glass today, and clear as crystal. The heavy downpour last night removed the pollen that had marred the water's surface.

Two-word Friday

First rose.

Wordless Wednesday

At Rest

The process of finding your next bishop, in the Episcopal Church, is not a quick or simple one. I accepted the appointment as vice chair of the Search & Nomination committee sometime in January 2011. After members of our committee and an Election & Nomination committee were elected and appointed, we first gathered for a retreat in April--exactly 11 months ago. We announced the 3 nominees on March 15th of this year.

I won't go through all the stages of surveying, talking, listening, profiling, filming, writing, travelling, praying, and wondering that led us to yesterday's election. I will say it has been a joyous, intense, emotionally powerful, and thoroughly spiritual process. If you care to know more, you can do an internet news search for "bishop" and "New Hampshire."

Yesterday was filled with special moments, for me and for our diocese. The ones I most treasure:

--Seeing friends from every corner of our diocese among the more than two hundred fifty delegates and observers and staffers who were present.

--During our service of Holy Communion, which wrapped around the election, reading the Prayers of the People from the lectern. My own congregation happened, by sheer coincidence, to come up in our Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, and was named.

--Standing before the electors with the chair of our Search committee (who happens to be former rector of our parish) and I officially and formally placed the 3 priests' names in nomination.

--Placing my ballot in the historic wooden ballot box.

--Singing hymns while ballot counting took place in a secret location.

--Learning that we had elected our future Tenth Bishop on the first and only ballot, then escatictally singing the Doxology when he rang in via mobile phone.

--Hearing his brief address to the convention

--Taking communion with my husband and my many happy friends from all over New Hampshire.

To see the full gallery of images from our big day, visit DFDPhotography, website of the person responsible for the photo posted above.

To some extent I will be involved in upcoming phases of transition. But for now I'm happy to have a restful period of knowing that the lengthy and involving task is completed. As you might expect, I have come to the cottage on the Big Lake to revel in my new sense of leisure. And as you also might expect, I come with materials for a book to be written, and more than a few books to be read.

And dogs.



It's the first day for the Big White Boat to cruise up and down our Bay. Glad I was here to see its maiden voyage!

Compare & Contrast

Monday

Wednesday

On Sunday the dogs and I took up residence at the cottage--I had a few days without meetings. The photos demonstrate the variability of the weather. I've done lots of pleasure reading, worked on some writing projects, walked the girls a lot.

Yesterday's rains filled the brook, now rushing noisily into the Big Lake. Last night after I went to bed, I heard a loon calling in the bay. I hope to catch a glimpse of him soon. The phoebes are nesting in a new nest in their old location high under the eave of the screened porch. They must've decided last year's site on an unused light fixture by the path to the parking area was too public and too much foot traffic. I left the nest in case they wanted to use it again. Now they've moved on, I think I'll leave it anyway.

Bird Men

Well, factually, male birds. This morning the male evening grosbeak migrated to our bird feeder. Last year and in 2010 he returned on May 5, so he's a day early this year.

It was Meet & Greet week in our diocese, and the nominees for our next bishop were visiting, meeting people day and night, dining and praying and taking part in all manner of activity. Every time I headed north, south, east or west from the Lodge, I passed a neighbour's stubble field where a turkey flock likes to hang out. Yesterday I spotted about two dozen birds, including a fully feathered turkey cock. No sign of them this morning, when I headed to Concord to meet a friend for lunch and do some shopping for the lake cottage (and Mother's Day!) On the way home, I drove slowly by the field and saw the cock with two hens, obviously trying to impress them with his bulk and his plumage. I stopped and hopped out of the car with my camera. The smaller, skinnier birds darted for the underbrush. Mr. Big remained long enough for me to take several photos, then sauntered off after his women.

I wanted to warn him that it's unwise to make oneself so very conspicuous on the day turkey hunting season opens!

Flora, Indoors & Out

My monstrous jasmine, grown from a tiny cutting taken at my parents' house quite a few years ago now, is at the peak of its annual bloom. The sunny, warm days caused the starry flowers to send their scent forth all over the inside of the Lodge. The Chap and I are constantly commenting on the fragrance. Nature's air freshener!

Meanwhile, outdoors in the garden, my snake's head fritillary is also peaking, quite a bit earlier than usual.

Yesterday I spotted the elusive phoebe--a pair of them--swooping over earth, snapping up flying insects.

Easter is a Season, not only a Day...

Therefore I can still wish blog visitors "Happy Easter!" It's legitimate to do so until Pentecost, May 27th.

It has been a long blogging hiatus. Some meetings, even at weekends. Cold spell. Busy Holy Week...on Maundy Thursday my church held a Seder and Eucharist.



Then Easter. More meetings in Easter Week (last week). Then a quick overnight trip to Massachusetts for a Friday-Saturday orientation session for a national/international church convention I'll attend this summer. (Remember when I went to Anaheim for 12 days in '09? Same event. Happens every 3 years.)

Yesterday after church we opened up the cottage...earliest time ever. It's now ready for human and not only rodent habitation. (The mice had a busy winter. No harm done, but they left evidence of their presence.) It was a warm and wonderful day on the Bay.



Today was even hotter. Not just warm--hot. Usually on this date we still have snow remnants in the shady spots round the Lodge. Snow is a very very distant memory now. The daffodils and hyacinths are fading fast, some of the roses and trees are well leafed-out.

Our thermometer hit 90 degrees this afternoon. Oh--I ought to point out, at that time of day the thermometer is in the shade. The radio reported that Concord reached 92 degrees. Not fun. Especially as it's so dry...seven brush fires around the state yesterday.

My big forsythia is doing its thing--earlier than usual.



The weather will soon moderate, become more seasonally normal, in the 60's and 50's 40's or even 30's at night. Of course, this means that I will have to delay my official cottage move-in. I thought it would happen this weekend, now I'm not so sure. I have a meeting on Friday, a political dessert party Friday night, and an all-day Lay Leadership training on Saturday. After Sunday it will be cold and wet. Taking a "wait and see" attitude, but after all the hard work we put in yesterday I can't help being impatient!

All day long I've heard a phoebe chirping near the house. It's really close. Yet I haven't spotted it once. So frustrating! And I haven't seen a single chipmunk since the morning of March 14--when I saw a single chipmunk. Yes, I'm the kind of person who keeps up with her chipmunks...and misses them when they're hiding.

April Fool's!

Really, it's not a joke--I'm posting to the blog!

The morning after we returned to NH, we woke to a dusting of snow. That would've been a good April Fool's joke, only it was real. During our absence, the Granite State was enjoying temperatures similar to what we experienced down South. I've had to pack away my shorts and t-shirts and summery skirts and tops. We're having "normal" seasonal temperatures now.

Another non-joke: Lake Winnipesaukee recorded its earliest ever ice-out at apparoximately 9.30 AM on March 23rd. (We were away.) The previous earliest was March 24 in 2010. Global warming, anyone? We are looking at the calendar and the long-range forecasts, working out how soon we will open the cottage on the Bay. I'm guessing it will set an "earliest ever" record.

A week ago tomorrow I was cruising around in my friend's convertible, an annual ritutal. We went to a British tea shop for lunch, we shopped (I bought 2 pair of sunglasses (including the one in the photo), 2 skirts, and some gifts.



Part of our cruising involved a visit to the church in which the Chap and I were married.



Fortunately the priest came along in time to take us inside.

The Rose Window. I spent lots of time gazing in it as a member of the choir.



The baptismal font and a favourite stained glass window.



The church has two Tiffany windows--a rare distinction, I believe only one other church can claim more than one.

This morning, Palm Sunday, I was in my local parish. It has nice windows, too!

Spring Break

Usually at this time of year, I travel to a warmer and more southerly clime to enjoy a taste of springtime earlier than we have at home. And to escape "mud season."

This year, NH is having an early spring. As is the place I visited.

The flowers are amazing. Cherry blossom (everywhere), azalea (everywhere, but especially in my childhood friend's garden), camellia (ditto), dogwood (everywhere), wisteria (everywhere), roses (in my mother's garden)...like being in the Garden of Eden, day in, day out.












Last week I revisited the city and university where the Chap and I met--many many years ago, almost to the very day. We had been away so long we thought we'd need this guidebook.





He audited the television production class I taught in this studio. The rest is history!



On a day-trip we toured a historic house that belongs to a friend from hometown and schooldays(and relative of my BFF), filled with family artifacts and exquisitely furnished. With an amazing and period-appropriate garden.



In addition to garden-gazing, we enjoyed birdwatching. This bluebird has laid 4 eggs in the nesting box.





More later.

St. Patrick's Day

Sheep, photographed (by me) at Dunbeg on the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, several years ago. A view of the Irish Spring. Have you ever seen grass so green? Me, either.

Yes, it's been a while since I blogged. Sorry about that. My life was overtaken by a particular project--well, a mission, really. On the 15th, the mission was successfully completed, and though I shall be peripherally involved in upcoming phases, I do not expect almost-daily (and nightly!) meetings, nor the compilation and editing of massive amounts of documentation within a fairly short time frame.

Ice went out completely on our little lake sometime on Tuesday the 13th. The remaining piece of snow, about 5 inches by 4 inches in size, will go out of the front yard sometime tonight. There's still a mound of snow here and there at the edge of the forest and the end of the drive where the snowplow piles it.

My snowdrops are free and clear, my bulbs are sprouting. Tomorrow or Monday I shall head outside to remove leaf litter and expose them to the warm sunshine.

The state of the local road is not to be described! It was dreadful, but attention from the town "highway department" has remedied the disastrous driving conditions. At least for now....

I spotted the first chipmunk zipping about on Wednesday. My Friend From the North Country had stayed overnight with us, and she saw it, too.

The crazy robin that attacks its reflection by head-banging the glass of windows and doors has returned.

My winter hibernation ended a few weeks back with a couple of jaunts south of New Hampshire--one only slightly south, the other south of the Mason-Dixon line. More such forays coming soon.

I spent all day at the diocesan Stewardship Institute at Lake Opechee--a lake adjacent to the Big Lake. It was a fantastic and informative gathering. And we had green cake! Well, partly green. Better than it sounds--quite delicious, in fact--and decorated with fondant shamrocks. A good time was had by all.

I've bracketed this post with photos from Ireland. Here is the dolmen at Poulnabrane, located in the odd and rocky terrain of The Burren in County Clare.

"March Forth!" Pt 2

Bit of a change from the previous photo. I'm fully dressed, and beside water rather than in it.

We often make our winter visit to the cottage on the Big Lake on my birthday, and after church that was our destination. The snow cover was navigable, and in our snow boots we had no difficulty walking from the car down the path to the cottage.



It's colder inside the house than outside, so we didn't linger but headed down to the dock. A very still day, no breeze, and the sunshine sometimes peeked throught the clouds. The house is much more visible at this season than when summer foliage is out.



Much more open water than is common at this time of year. No bob houses in our "front yard", meaning no ice fisherman. No snow machines. We did see them at the tip of the Bay, but the seasonal airplane landing strip isn't there.



Sometmes we had blue sky, which made a lovely reflection.



"Here I am! On my birthday!"



I enjoyed my usual pastime of tossing pebbles onto the ice shelf. Then we marched through the snow back to the car and went to Wolfeboro. Some friends met us for my birthday lunch at the awesome and ever-delicious El Centenario. I ordered a margarita. It seemed appropriate.

Now back home, enjoying a different but equally delicious special beverage. There is birthday cake. And I have many gifts to admire and enjoy. And there have been telephone calls from family and friends, much appreciated!

Truly a wonderful day.

March Forth! 2012 Edition

In my birthday suit. In the water, which I have enjoyed all my life long.

I'll be more appropriately garbed when I "march forth" on this, my natal day.

A report of festive activities to follow.

In Like A Lion

To Ruth's delight, and Jewel's bemusement, we are receiving the predicted amount of snowfall.

March is typically our snowiest month, and in this winter of sub-normal precipitation it's actually comforting to have about 8 inches of white stuff on the ground. Flurries began on Leap Day, as I attended a meeting and did some errands, and by bedtime only an inch or two had fallen. Lots more since then, and it's snowing all day. I'm happily hibernating here at the Lodge.



It's St. David's Day, the National Day of Wales and the Welsh. In past times folks pinned leeks to their clothes...nowadays daffodils suffice.



Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus!