Asleep at the Wheel

Last Thursday we enjoyed an evening of Western swing music at the Katherine Hepburn Performing Arts Center in Old Saybrook.  The music from "Asleep at the wheel" was simply great. If you ever get a chance to see them we thoroughly recommend it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asleep_at_the_Wheel

Plant sale today

It's hopping at today's North Stonington Garden Club plant sale.

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen!

We just returned home from a spring trip to wonderful Copenhagen (the one in Denmark, not New York).  It started off with a short conference for Bruno in nearby Malmo (Sweden) and then Sheri, Nick and Pam (Bruno's parents) joined him for the remainder of he week.

We rented an apartment just outside of the downtown, overlooking the water in a newly revived neighborhood.  It took us 24 hours to get acclimatized to city living, but we quickly managed to find all the nearby conveniences (commuter rail station, water taxi stop, local park, etc).

We spent the week exploring the city, with highlights including the fantastic palaces, gardens and city architecture.  One day we took a 45 minute train ride to Lund (Sweden) and enjoyed a different pace of life in this historic university town.  For the whole week we were blessed with fine weather and warm temperatures for the time of year.

April Face of Produce

We were so grateful to wander into the garden after work for the first official harvest of 2013! The first spear of asparagus, spinach, lettuce and arugula are featured in the April Face of Produce, with May just around the corner.  There is nothing like the first garden greens after a long winter.  The weekend looks good for getting the irrigation system in place and putting some plants in the beds.

Milestone reached

This month we received our first negative electricity bill, thanks to the solar panels we had installed last year.   We generated 313kWh more than power than we used so we are gradually accumulating credit with our local power company.  Hoorah!

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Last night we attended a very special concert at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA. We saw the Carolina Chocolate Drops play a varied selection of old time American tunes. They were supported by the David Wax Museum, a local group playing a mixture of Mexican and American folk tunes. Both bands were incredible and the atmosphere was amazing. The whole crowd was literally jumping by the end of the evening.

We also enjoyed a nice afternoon exploring Northampton and had a great meal at a downtown restaurant named Hinge. Cocktails and a very comfortable room at the Hotel Northampton made the weekend complete.

First Face of Produce for 2013

Temperatures reached 60ºF in North Stonington today which drew us to the garden for a little post winter clean up.  To our delight there were ready to eat Brussels sprouts which had continued to grow through the winter, and some tender spinach and kale leaves sprouting.  It is these small surprises that make up for those days you find that the plants and vegetables you have nurtured for weeks and months have been wiped out over night by a critter with a good appetite.  You can't say enough about a plant that give you Brussels sprouts for Christmas, and Easter too.