2017 Garden Possibilities

Plans for the garden this year.

Move/Remove:

• Remove Hydrangea if it fails to bloom again this year.
• Remove Red Twig Dogwood from rear of Heather Garden.
• Move Phlox to between the Herb and the Heather Garden.
• Move Iris from Heather Garden.
• Re-position/rebuild the compost containment system.
• Re-position and level the raised beds.
• Move Sweet Woodruff to an area with less competition. The Perivinkle is taking over.

Possible Additions:

• Feather Rocks as a boundary at the back of the Heather Garden.
• A few more Heaths and Heather plants. From Heath and Heather Nursery.

• An Azaleas, ever-blooming variety, blooms spring, summer and fall at the base of the front step wall.
• A Hops plant trailing along horizontal supports.
• Another Witch Hazel, Hamamelis vernalis Amethyst, between the existing espaliered Witch Hazel and the Lilac.

•  One or more Phlox, we had white and a variegated, but lost them at some point.

• Another Coral Bell, either with real red flowers or stunning foliage for the front garden.
• Some taller late summer blooming plants for the front garden.

Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas to all.
Praying hard that a miracle occurs in 2017.

My Smokey Manhattan
1:1 ratio and multiple dashes Orange Bitters

Still working on my Smoggy Beijing.

Almost-Classic French "75", named after the French Artillery Field Gun.
Gin, lemon juice, powdered sugar and champagne.

Still had some Freixenet left over so, I don't know what the hell to call this.

2016 Recap

The Good

• The Eldest's wedding
• Our First Antarctica Trip, continent #6
• Buenos Aires Architecture
• Another trip to London (#12 for me, two less than Chef)
• Drinking beer with our kids
• Brooklyn Brewery tour
• Lots of different Beers in the Fridge
• Vickie and Nickie’s Holiday Sleigh Ride!
• Greg Proops comedian extraordinaire
• Dinners at Carol's Cafe
• Dinners and music at D'Jeet 
• Pizza at Denino's
• Richmondtown Tavern Concert
• Le Tour
• Ramones exhibit at Queens Museum
• a new car, Subaru Crosstrek
• Manhattan Bike ride
• WitchhazelPalooza at Rare Finds Nursery
• Cousins Gatherings
• Reopening of our local Sushi restaurant, Sayori

The Bad
The loss of some very special people;

• David Bowie
• Prince 
• Beets the Legend
• Jeff "Man of Action" Parker
• Gene Wilder
• Ronnie Corbett of the 2 Ronnies
• Frank Kelly best known as Father Jack

The Ugly

• People willing to destroy because they're too stupid to change.
• People using religious freedom as an excuse to ostracize and discriminate.
• People who would probably have voted for Hitler if he was on the Republican ticket.
• That guy, "Putin's Puppet" who will probably be the next President of the UnUnited States of America.
• Undercover bigots, racists and misogynists who voted for that guy.
• The Electoral College. You can thank Slave Owning Southern States for that.

FU2016

2016 Books

This year's book list. The (r) denotes a repeat read and suffice to say, it was a good read. A * means it was more than noteworthy and more *s mean it was much more betterer, DNF = Bad or a better book turned up that I couldn't wait to read and I didn't get back to it yet.

No doubt you'll notice the lack of Travels with my Aunt on the list this year, I broke with an 8 year tradition and did not read it. It was a difficult decision.
I am also binging on the Georges Simenon Inspector Maigret books, only up to book 26 of 75. They are all very good, not too long mostly less than 200 pages, a few I didn't enjoy and I am surprised at the number of cases in which he doesn't arrest the perpetrator.

1. Dr. Fischer of Geneva aka The Bomb Party(r),  Graham Greene
2. Monsieur Pamplemousse takes the Train(r), Michael Bond
3. Monsieur Pamplemousse on Location(r), Michael Bond
4. The Shadow Puppet, Georges Simenon (GS)
5. The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin, GS
6. The Naming of the Dead (A Rebus Novel), Ian Rankin; read half and then left on the plane to Ushuaia, Argentina.
7. The Saint-Fiacre Affair, GS
8. The Madman of Bergerac, GS
9. So anyway ..., John Cleese; for something completely different I read a biography, a Christmas present from the Eldest.
10. Uncle Tungsten, Oliver Sacks; oh look I'm on a roll. Very interesting, his life during wartime in London, but when he talks of chemistry, I am way less interested in reading about it that he is in writing about it.
11. The Carter of La Providence, GS
12. The 2 Penny Bar, GS
13. The Smartest Book in the World, Greg Proops
14. The Late Monsieur Gallet, GS
15. The Flemish House, GS
16. Penguin, Steve Martin (no not that one)
17. The Misty Harbor, GS
18. Murder in Thrall, Anne Cleeland; Written in an interesting manner. The next one is on my nightstand.
19. Lock #1, GS
20. The Maltese Falcon*, Dashiell Hammet; I'm sure I'll be rereading this one. The movie followed the book quite closely mostly.
21. 1222*, Anne Holt; Paralyzed Retired Lesbian Oslo Detective Hanne Wilhelmsen's train gets stuck in the snow and people start to die. Number 8 in the series. The author is up to #10, I might try #1, but really need to focus on Inspector Maigret first.
22. Shut Up Legs, Jens Voigt; A good read, very funny guy.
23. This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, Ashton Applewhite; Sometimes depressing, but always something I hadn't though about is pointed out. Didn't realize all the things I did to marginalize the elderly, oops there I go again. Heard the author speak on Doug Henwood's radio show.
24. The Golden Egg*, Donna Leon; Takes place in Venice, started slow but the location kept me reading, we visited in 2005.
25. Mrs Jeffries, Emily Brightwell; DNF
26. Cockpit Confidential*, Patrick Smith; Lots of useful information, if your friend is afraid to fly, let them read this.
27. Cecile is Dead, GS
28. The Cellars of the Majestic, GS
29. The Judges House, GS
30. Signed Picpus, GS
31. Inspector Cadaver, GS
32. Dishing the Dirt, M.C. Beaton; Agatha Raisin series
33. Death of a Nurse, M.C. Beaton; Hamish Macbeth series
34. Bryant and May and the Bleeding Heart, Christopher Fowler
35. Murder in Retribution, Anne Cleeland, DNF
36. Félice, GS; The Inspector Maigret TV series starring Michael Gambon based the Maigret and the Maid episode on this book.
    
37. The Invisible Code, Christopher Fowler; Such wacky characters and it takes place in London. It could only be better if there were trains.
38. Silent Voices, Anne Cleeves; Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope series. I hear the actress saying some of the lines. You'll like this one, Pet.
39. A Dedicated Man, Peter Robinson; Saw the TV show first and Inspector Banks is described quite differently in the book.
40. Maigret in New York, GS; Either this one was just plain confusing or I was real tired the nights I read it. I usually really enjoy the books in this series.
41. The Apprentice, Jacques Pepin; Very good read, his TV cookery shows are enjoyable to watch.