Here at Hangman Hill

We harvested blueberries, raspberries AND strawberries this week.  The blueberries are enormous and for the third year we are keeping the birds at bay with the recycled tulle from Michael and Janel’s wedding.  While this breaks the rules of monthly Face of Produce rules, we are featuring Julian, a close friend of Jillian for Junes FOP (Face of Produce for the acronym challenged).  Thanks again to Brenda and Andrew for the plate and bringing a whole new dimension for FOP.

We both spent the week in Merrimac, WI at Devil’s Head resort at the Land O’ Lakes conference held by the U of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Pharmacy.  We also spent a brief time in Madison and caught up with Julie Martyn (former resident of the Brown house with Sheri), Mike and Sue Capp (long time friends of both of us) and George Zografi (advisor/mentor to both of us).  It was good to see old friends and colleagues, hike around Devil’s Lake and learn a few things too.   Of course we sampled some fine cheese and good down home cooking while staying at Devil’s Head.

This weekend was dreary, but the first of the raspberries came in!  With any luck, we might have strawberries (the last few), raspberries and blueberries ripe at the same time.  The cool weather has provided an extended arugula and asparagus crop that we hope will hold us until the peas start coming (we had 3 so far!).  Jillian, our Face of Produce for June, brings peas (2 of 3), arugula, the last of the strawberries and first raspberries.

A few weeks ago we said goodbye to our trusty seven year old PC (“Percy the ‘puter”), and welcomed a new Apple iMac (“Pippin”) into our home.  We are glad to report that Pippin is now a fully functional member of the family and helping us with our blog, photos, music, emails and numerous other tasks.  She’s even house-trained too!  Lets hope that she is as reliable and long lived as Percy  🙂

It was a warm and sunny Memorial Day weekend on Hangman Hill.  We played in the garden, both planting flowers and veggies and harvesting our first crops of the season.  Strawberries are here about a week earlier than normal, and the gooseberries are also ahead of the curve.  Who knows what we’ll be entering on the North Stonington Fair this year?

On Friday night Bruno treated us to a trip to Northampton, MA to see The Proclaimers at the Iron House Cafe! The Iron House is a great venue, we saw Junior Brown at the same venue about time last year.  We were thrilled to get seats just off the stage.  We enjoyed dinner, desert, coffee and the opening act…and then they cancelled.  One of the two singers didn’t have a voice, or so it seems.  So, with great disappointment we wandered around Northampton and enjoyed a warm spring evening along with all the parents in town for graduation.

On a brighter note, we finally have poppies in bloom (Sheri has been working at this for 10 years)!

We also had our first strawberries.  Only 4, so far, but so sweet!

Carrots, peas, lettuce, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, potatoes and strawberries, oh my,  are in training as future candidates for Face of Produce.  In the meantime a few updates from inside.

Bruno has been nurturing Amaryllis bulbs we sent to Mimi as a gift (she sent them back).  To our delight one has bloomed again, rewarding us with 4 bright red flowers.

The “Copper Leaves” that we received from DiAnn during out trip to Philly, that were made by a good friend of DiAnn’s father has been hung by the wood stove with care.  They seemed to be made for this spot.  Hopefully we will have a strawberry report soon.

We celebrated our 8th Anniversary over the weekend in the garden raking, pulling up the remains of the Brussels sprouts, harvested leeks (turned into leek tart) and the first aspargus spear of the year.  It was sunny and warm (short weather!) so we planted peas and lettuces. The seedlings are moving along too, we are dreaming of garden delights already.

We shared the single spear for our anniversary dinner on Sunday night, content in knowing there was more to come very soon.

Today our oldest cat, Bihar, passed away in his sleep after a brief illness.  He was quite possibly “the best cat ever”, with a very affectionate and peaceful personality.  He will be very much missed by us and visitors to our home. 

Bihar was born in Montreal and spent his early weeks in a francophone Quebec home.  His adolescent years were spent chasing his sister (Orissa) and enjoying sunny windows in Kirland, Quebec. He and his sister made several cross-country moves, and he had been living with us in Connecticut since we arrived here in 1999.  After the passing of his sister we thought he wouldn’t make it because he grieved so much.  However, he was a real fighter and he pulled through and found a new role as feline patriach and close friend to Haryana and Chatrapathi.  In the last few years he had slowed down considerably and preferred to watch his more active siblings play.  He also enjoyed sitting on our laps and basking in the warmth of the wood fired stove.  His favorite time was in the early morning when he loved to have his chest rubbed whilst he hugged you with both paws.

As a small tribute to his 14 years with us, we have posted a few pictures online that can be viewed here.