A Secret Garden

Sujata Massey 

It seems amazing that two weeks ago, I was marveling at springtime in the desert. I'm back home in the Mid-Atlantic or "Delmarva," a nickname that includes the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Washington DC doesn't appear in the moniker, but it's the ultimate springtime destination. 

Springtime in the District is magical, with airy, pastel-colored trees and shrubs decorating the 1920s and 1930s grand architecture that marks neighborhoods like Chevy Chase, Woodley Park and Kalorama. And it seems to me that these old-fashioned, courtly perennial gardens have distinctly British layouts, but a dash of Japonisme when it comes to shrubs. Consider the original cherry trees planted in 1912 near the Tidal Basin by First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador. Following this famous example, cherry and plum and quince trees were planted all over the district and the aforementioned Delmarva.

I would rather visit a private garden, with few crowds, then fight for space among thousands on Washington Mall's. One of DC's best kept secrets is the large formal garden behind the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

I enjoyed a lovely day flower-gazing in DC, and drove home in heavy traffic that I  blame (at least partly) on cherry blossom viewers. Two hours to go 35 miles!

Fortunately, the same flora  is in bloom in my own neighborhood. Daisy, our little brown terrier, walks with me several times a day. Her favorite season is undoubtedly spring. I suspect her affection is driven by the fascinating  smells.

               And Daisy told me that the best way to savor spring is to share it with someone else.

Springtime on Mykonos ain't New Jersey

 

 

Saturday––Jeff

 

Spring officially arrives this weekend at the farm. It’s still wintry here, which means snow at times, but more often we’ll see chill rains working away at washing all but patches of hard-packed icy snow from the pastures. Daffodils are tentatively poking their shoots out from soft sunny spots in otherwise hard ground, and though temperatures bounce between the 30s and 50s (0-10C), hardy March winds knock the feel of the cold down ten degrees from thermometer readings.  Still spring definitely is on its way to pastoral northwestern New Jersey.

 

I like springtime here, but I’ll particularly miss seeing it this year in Mykonos. Now is when nature goes into full bloom on the island, giving it a blanket of green covered in red, yellow and purple wildflowers.  Most will be gone by the advent of tourist season.  It is a picture of the island few tourists ever get to see.

 

In that mindset, I thought I’d share some of my memories of springtime on Mykonos through this pictorial view of past such times there and on its neighboring island of Delos.  Of course, some things have changed—notably the original Naxian Lions of Delos have moved inside the Museum, replaced by copies to endure the elements.  The photographs are from the files of the master collector of all things visual Mykonian, Dimitris Koutsoukas.  Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

––Jeff

 

A DEADLY TWIST, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis #11 coming April 6th

“Engrossing…gorgeous”—Library Journal, starred review

“Vivid…travel buffs will be enchanted.”—Publishers Weekly

“Ingenious plot twists…delicious description”—Booklist

 “Like visiting old friends”—Kirkus Reviews

“Great characters, an intriguing story line and a wonderful setting”—Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, A-rating.

The East Coast's Steamy Springtime

Sujata Massey

T-shirt weather in February!

“Want to go for a walk?”

My daughter surprised me with this request last week. During the Baltimore winter, nobody in the family walks together--even the dog doesn't want to be out more than five minutes.

While Maryland winters are not fierce like the seasons I spent in Minnesota, they are still cold. There are always a few snowfalls and a cold wind blowing off the Atlantic. The difference between winter in Maryland and other places is that the damp wind can chill you to the bones. February is a good month for making soup.

It certainly hasn’t been the usual kind of February. Last December, meteorologists predicted this would be another warm winter, just like 2016. The forces at work were an especially strong El Nino wind and an Arctic Oscillation, a stream of winds above Canada and Alaska that has chosen to trap the cold weather far to the north of us. The US Geological Survey says spring arrived to the Washington DC area 22 days early.

I'm not ready to say that we are in spring (official date of Spring Equinox is March 20). In Baltimore--an hour's drive from DC--this winter brought only a slight, powdered-sugar style dusting of snow: less than an inch. The mountainous areas in Western Maryland where people ski had a tremendous melt of the small amount of snow that fell.  The ski resorts are all but closed up for the season, when they ordinarily would have had business for at least another month. It's weird. Just like the active calls of birds to each other, seeking mates, just a little bit too early.

When I say this is a hot winter, I mean that it’s been like California on many days. My husband, perhaps out of loyalty to his birthplace, says it's a "New Orleans winter." Instead of the typical temperatures in the '30s, it's been in the 60s and 70s Fahrenheit for many days in the past weeks. It reached 77 last Friday when I went walking with the dog and my daughter. At Johns Hopkins, the school set up signs encouraging students to practice mindfulness while outdoors. The staff arranged beach chairs to encourage meditating in nature, but the Hopkins students seemed more intent on getting to class.

No time to sit and sun oneself at Hopkins!

daffodils springing up at Johns Hopkins Homewood campus

For me, the national news has been so chilling, that the warm weather gives me a sort of fragile happiness—the feeling that life still is good. Walking in nature is good for mental health, as well as physical. 

I invited my husband to walk with me last Sunday afternoon and we took a 45 minute stroll through the neighborhood. Crocus in February are par for the course. However, we saw sights we would normally not see for a month: magnolia trees in bud, and pink hellebores in bloom. I planted a few hundred bulbs in my own garden around Thanksgiving week, and they are starting to show their faces. That seems hardly enough time underground to get their roots established.

magnolia buds 

hellebores

Apparently Japanese apricot trees and some early-blooming cherry trees are already in flower. I’m worried that a cold snap will kill the display; just as I feel nervous for any birds laying eggs. I also wonder what might happen if birds and rabbits decide to procreate early. Could their eggs survive a freeze?

well-naturalized crocuses

My fingers are crossed that the steamy early spring will not lead to a silent spring later on.

Easter and Springtime Redux on Mykonos

Tomorrow is Greek Orthodox Easter. It's also Easter for Protestants and Catholics.  The Julian and more modern Gregorian calendar are in synch this year for Easter.  If you want to know precisely how the date is determined, check out this link to my post a couple of years back.  

In celebration of this coming together of the faiths I'm showing you what springtime looks like on Mykonos. If the photos look familiar, you're right; I've run them before, a couple years back at Easter time. Please accept my apology, but I'm too busy recovering from jet lag and greeting old friends to run new photos. Besides the flowers still look the same.:)

It’s sunny and into the 60's, praise be the Lord!   When I arrived four days ago, the old town was just coming out of hibernation, but now restaurants, bars, and shops are open everywhere, pumped up and ready for business. 

Nature, too, is in full bloom, giving the island a blanket of green covered in red, yellow and purple wildflowers.  But it will all be gone by the advent of tourist season.  It’s a picture of the island few tourists ever see.

Although the religious rituals and local traditions practiced during Easter Week on Mykonos are something special to behold, I also covered that in the same post a few years back, and so I thought I’d share with you this Springtime pictorial view of Mykonos and its neighboring island of Delos.  The photographs are from the files of the master collector of all things visual Mykonian, Dimitris Koutsoukas.  Enjoy.

The harbor and windmills.

The Countryside.

Delos.

Kalo paska.

Jeff—Saturday