Category: life in gardens

The Sunday porch: Piazza San Marco

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On Monday. . . running a little late this week.

We spent December 23 to 27 in Venice, Italy. The photos above show the arcades along Piazzetta di San Marco and Piazza San Marco on Christmas and on Boxing Day (in fog).

The current colonnaded buildings enclosing the square on three sides (and the west side of the Piazzetta) were built in the 16th century.  Their arcades front a number of coffee houses, including two of the oldest and most famous in Italy: Florian (1720) and Gran Caffè Quadri (1775).

Of course, we had due caffè espresso at Florian, which was easily possible because tourists are far fewer during Christmas week. The coffees were €6.50 each, but they were very good (and there was a cookie and water).

(The water carafe was adorable, and I now regret that I didn’t buy one and hold it on my lap on the plane.  I’m very tempted to order it from their website. Also, check out the wonderful terrazzo floor at their entrance here; I forgot to take a photo of it.)

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Aftermath, Stuttgart

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So much of any year is flammable. . .*

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What we have learned since about 4 p.m. yesterday is that Stuttgarters really like their (self-administered) pyrotechnic devices on New Year’s Eve.

Sitting at home, the noise was terrific, particularly from about 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Venturing downtown this foggy afternoon, I was a little surprised to see everything — or anything — still standing.

The ground was littered with fireworks debris and broken Sekt bottles, but only this Konigstrasse shelter showed any real damage.

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We went inside the Alte Schloss (Old Palace) courtyard for the first time during the Christmas season, and I admired the trees on the columns and star lights.

Have a happy 2016!

*From “Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye.

 

Waterford, Ireland

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National Library of Ireland, 1929Christmas tree wagon of William Power & Sons, merchants of seeds and trees. Photo taken at Waterford, Ireland, courthouse on December 16, 1929, via National Library of Ireland Commons on flickr.

There’s another good photo of this little girl (possibly a Power) and another loaded company wagon here.

To be
Brought down at last
From the cold sighing mountain
Where I and the others
Had been fed, looked after, kept still,
Meant, I knew — of course I knew —
That it would only be a matter of weeks,
That there was nothing more to do. . . .

— James Merrill, from “Christmas Tree“

Life in gardens: Birney, Montana

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Montana ranch garden seat, 1941, M. Wolcott, Library of Congress

“Dudes in a covered wagon garden seat,” Quarter Circle U Ranch, Birney, Montana, August 1941, by Marion Post Wolcott for the U.S. Farm Security Administration.

Montana ranch garden seat 2, 1941, M. Wolcott, Library of Congress

Both photos are via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Wolcott had been charged with photographing the recovery of the western cattle industry. The Quarter Circle U ranch in Birney, Montana, like many others in the region, had begun entertaining dudes in the 1920s to augment ranch income, and so she photographed that side of the modern ranch business as well as cattle raising. The ranch scattered its grounds with covered wagon love seats designed for trysting young couples, many of whom purchased western wear as part of their Montana adventure.

— Mary Murphy, from “Romancing the West: Photographs by Marion Post Wolcott”

Life in gardens: favorite stalk

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What’s not to love about Rhubarb? It’s the easiest thing to grow in Alaska and the moose don’t eat it.*

Rhubarb in Alaska, ca. 1910, Library of Congress
The leaves are toxic.

“Rhubarb stalk in southeastern Alaska,” ca. 1900 and ca. 1925, Frank and Frances Carpenter collection, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Rhubarb is a very popular garden plant in Alaska. “That’s because the few long days of summer sun there help rhubarb grow to five feet or more,” according to The Plate.

Want to know more?  Check out Rhubarb or BUST, a blog all about growing rhubarb in Alaska.

Celebrate bitter things
after long winter
rhubarbs’ red green stalks
and partial sun. . .

—  Sheila Packa, from “Rhubarb“

*Renae Wall, from “What’s not to love about rhubarb,” Peninsula Clarion.