I remember the day that I took that Hollyhock picture. My youngest daughter, Julia, took the picture, and I was reflecting on being in the garden full time after 40 years of full time teaching. If you want to read that reflection, it's here. https://www.jillsgardenblog.com/post/gardens-beginnings-and-endings But after one year in the garden, as I look back on that day, and the year that followed, I can only see joy. It was difficult to leave a profession that I loved, but it

I went completely off the rails in this video. I started with the veg garden and ended up talking about wedding dresses. You'll have to watch the video to see how that happens! But it all goes to show how gardens can be purveyors of joy for many reasons. Keep planting!

I'll just let these beautiful little eggs delight you...and tell you that I have been bingeing on the most diverting and enjoyable series... If you can, check out the TV series, Seaside Hotel. (Prime Video) It's set in Denmark at a remote summer holiday hotel on the shore of the North Sea. The characters are delightful, funny, poignant. And it also treats some serious subjects with great care. It's also a little like a cooking show because they often show the preparation and

I'm literally trying to process what just happened...we got an appointment for a Covid vaccination on April 1st! I'm still leery, but I am pretty hopeful. My friend Kathy told me about a website that was taking appointments for people 50+, so I tried it, and wasn't able to make an appointment. Kathy said, -- talk to my daughter, she just made appointments for family members who were 50+. So I called her daughter who I haven't talked to 20+ years!!! She babysat my girls when t

As I listened to myself talk to my plants...I noted the ways I talked to them. I was alternately grateful, affirming, or encouraging. And that feels about right. And I think that's the way we should talk to each other as well. What else could we need? We need to be grateful to each other for the gifts and kindnesses that others bring into our lives, whether they be strangers or friends. Gratitude brings joy for the recipient and the giver, and helps to bring perspective to a

I've been in the garden every day this week, and it has felt rejuvenating. And relaxing. I hope you can feel that too. Easter will be different this year, but also very special. We are anticipating a blessed event with the birth our second grandchild, who could actually arrive on Easter. She's due on Good Friday, so we'll be praying the whole weekend! I take back everything I said about bulbs. I know I whined a lot about being underwhelmed...but as they have begun to come int

Grandbaby #2 is on its way! Nine days until due date! So, of course, we are preparing by getting into the garden! What better way to get ready!! Everything is ready for baby. The nursery, the car seat, the crib, the stroller, the diapers, but most importantly the tomatoes! Jenny and Biff knew that once baby comes, there will be no time for planting (grandma knows this too!) so they got busy in the garden after Tomatomania to make sure that all their little plant charges were

TomatoMania is a traveling tomato show! It's a company that curates both common and unusual tomato seedlings to sell to backyard gardeners. Then, at various farmer's markets or nurseries, they offer their plants in a "fair like" atmosphere, with hundreds of varieties, and tomato flats for days. The craziest thing about TomatoMania is that by the end of the weekend, literally all the plants were gone! I think, because of the virus, and our recent interest in our homes and our

Tulip mania is a real thing! I wrote a little about it last year when I showed off my Delft China Tulipiere -- a vase especially for tulips. It was a very long time ago that tulips were the coin of the realm in Holland, way back in the 1630s. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about that...(mind you I would NEVER let my students use Wikipedia as a credible source, so I am breaking one of my cardinal rules!) Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period during the Dutch Golden

First I have to tell you...one of the eaglets is hatching! The moderators of the Friends of Big Bear Valley Bald Eagle (FOBBV) Webcam have confirmed that one of the eggs has a pip, (actually a crack) and should be hatched in 24 to 48 hours! Here's the link again if you want to watch the little ones emerge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utMaDb1W08 Today there were 13,000 viewers on the site watching the eagles, and the eagle community was cheering on the mom and dad and wis

CLICK LINK BELOW to see the EAGLES - 24/7 !!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utMaDb1W08 The link in the picture doesn't work. Click link above! CLICK LINK BELOW to see the EAGLES - 24/7 !!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utMaDb1W08 Of all things to be obsessed about...this seems to be one of the safest! I can't stop watching this Eagle Cam! It's a live feed from Big Bear Lake in California. My family had a cabin in these mountains for many years, so the sights and the sou

The day has finally arrived! When my girls were little, we would start the day with green milk in their cereal, which really tickled them! Then when my 2 younger daughters were Irish dancing we would spend the day doing performances across Los Angeles: the Irish American Los Angeles Bar Association at the Music Center, the Knights of Columbus, and lots of parish halls and festivals. They danced almost anywhere people wanted Irish Dancers. Even in pubs! One year the girls danc

As promised, some homegrown Irish Step dancing from my beautiful daughters. You can see from the initial picture the stage makeup and wigs that were required for competition. Later in the video you will see my daughter Jackie and her friend Sarah dancing with their own hair, no wigs and no makeup, and blonde locks everywhere. It is a delight to watch. Watching Irish step dancing on St. Patrick's Day just lifts the spirits, and lightens the heart! Erin go Bragh! Enjoy!

Except for the thumbnail of this video ( completely stupid!) and the cockatoo look of my hair when I turn to the side, (again?) this is an ok video. Thumbnails are a quick snapshot of your video that readers click on when they want to watch. However, creating thumbnails for your video on Youtube is a little complicated -- and of course, I should have posted a picture of the actual soup for this thumbnail. Sigh. Instead I guess l'll just post the link to the recipe. https://th

It was a roller coaster day. But it ended badly. Hugely disappointed that we did not get vaccinated today as we had hoped. And so ironic that on the day the Joe Biden confidently proclaims that all Americans will soon be vaccinated, we are actually denied a vaccine. It started out with such high spirits. We were giddy. And we made such plans as we drove to the vaccination site. But as we arrived, we saw a very disconcerting sign which said that you had to live in Ventura Coun

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I got my daughters Irish Dance Dresses out of storage to do a show and tell. This was so much fun! And I love talking about Irish Dance! I have so many more stories to tell! But they will have to wait. It's late...and this Irish Colleen needs her beauty rest!

This was way more complicated than I had planned! I started out just thinking that I would thin the radishes. Then, I thought, why not make a salad? Then when I realized that Robert was going to be eating the salad that I had prepared, I thought, why not have him do a taste test? So it was all an organic process that just snowballed into something rather hilarious. Robert prefers meat, potatoes, and pasta, but he will try anything, and is willing to eat any exotic cuisine tha

Thanks to so many of you who commiserated with me about my crankiness! Some of you helped to cheer me -- and some of you gave me great tips about how to get a vaccine! The latter we are working on...and I am hopeful! Here's an accountability update on my current projects: Lenten letters: I've been really good about my daily lenten letters, mostly because I enjoy doing it so much. Writing to people who have played an important part in my life, and expressing gratitude to them

Sometimes a good old fashioned complaining session is good for you. And I don't want to be a Pollyanna about my garden. Not everything goes right, blooms beautifully, or is ripe and luscious. Plenty of things fall short. Disappointments are a part of life. And when they are in the garden, really they're just an annoyance. There's nothing life threatening about them -- so I just learn from the experience and move on. It could also be that this quarantine is just getting to me.

Two things about this video. 1) Oh Lord. My Hair!!! I actually styled my hair this morning. I looked in the mirror. I thought that it looked presentable. But something went wrong. Either my styling aptitude has deteriorated OR the mirror did not accurately represent what I looked like, OR my opinion of myself is unnecessarily inflated. I think it's the latter. Which is fine, until you are presented with the reality in the form of a daily video. It's hard being me. 2) Daffodi