BJ family Reunion Oct '07

BJ, Barb, Richie and Jake

Bruce's cousins from New York and Florida all got together with us at our house for a family reunion.

Uncle Dick and Barbara

There were lots of hugs for everyone

CC and Jake

Barb and Carol

Uncle Dick, Carol, Richie and Barbara

Of course a lot of time was spent catching up

Bruce took pride in acting as a tour guide

BJ epescially enjoyed showing Jake his first live aligator

Jake was duly impressed with what he first thought was a sea monster

Jake pointing at the alligator

When the rain let up we all played a round of minature golf.

BJ, Richie, Carol, and Jake

Carol and Jake are naturals at the game.

Uncle Dick cheered them on from the benches

Brce, Carol, Jake, Barb, Uncle Dick

We also paid the local   Ripleys Aquarium a visit

Bruce and Richie checking out the shark tank

Barb in the fish tank

Jake and CC at the pirate exhibit

Next stop was lunch at Broadway at the Beach

Bruce and CC had fun with Jake

 And of course  one has to spend some time at the beach

The week passed all too quickly.

Richie, Jake, Barb and Bruce

We'll miss you guys.

Master Gardener Training Fall '07

It didn't take CC more than a single summer to realize that most of her  California gardening expertese was  not of great value to her  in South Carolina's  low country.  She couldn't even recognize the  native plants around her much less the imported vegetation.  So she quickly set out to rectify that situation by enrolling in a Master Gardiner Certification program offered by the State o f South Carolina through Clemson University

The course entails forty (40) hours of training... at least thirty (30) of which are in the classroom. the remaining 10 can be field trips or hands-on lab work such as shown in the trimming lecture  and hands -on exercise below.

Topics covered in the formal classroom training include basic training on the following topics:

Soil and Plant Nutritioan

 Botany

Plant Physiology (Plant  Growth and Development)

 Entomology (Insects)

Plant pathology

Weed Science

Chemical Pest Control

Managing Organic yard Trimmings ( Composting)

Plant Proagation

Vegetables

Fruit

Landscape Design

Woody Plant Material for Landscape Use

Ornamental Plants in the Landscape' Herbacious Flowering Plants

Turfgrass Establishment and Management

Indoor Plants

Diagnostics for Urban Plant Problems

Once the classroom and labwork is successfull completed, the student still has to complete an additional forty (40) hours of volunteer community work  related to helping better the environment and or South Carolina's Gardening Community

Team #1 evaluates its specimens branch  formation and discusses how and where the trimming should begin.

 

With trimming complete  awaiting the instructos feedback

Teams # 2 and #3 do the same with their specimens

Upon completion of all the classroom , lab, and volunteer community service requirements  the students receive a master gardener Certification.  But they must still complete an additional forty hours per year  relevant community service to keep the certification current.

Brookgreen's Harvest Festival Oct 20 '07

Every year Brookgreen Gardens has a Harvest Festival Celebration

The Festival is oriented towards families.

There are pumpkin painting contests

Live music

Live scarecrows

And Scarecrow building contests for families to compete in

Some people take this seriously enough to bring their own props  for their scarecrows

Surfer Dude

D Vadar

Family 1

Others seek to impress with a group  effort.

Here's our efforts

Any way you approach it, its a lot of fun, but doing it alone really made us miss our grand-kids

KAT 10 '07

We were worried about bringing our adopted out-of-door California stray, Ms. Kat Attude  (AKA ‘KAT) to SC and locking her into a condo.  But the choice was that or has her put to sleep.  She was too old to be put up for adoption.  Not knowing what dangers might be lurking in the woods behind us, we were reluctant to let her outside.  As much as she wanted out, she was reluctant to go out beyond the few feet of grass lawn behind our condo.  During the first few months she would only go for a walk further if we would go with her.  Then she discovered squirrels …..and she was off and running.

She has great aspirations (if little hope) for catching one of the swishy tailed critters.  But so far all she has managed to hunt down is one striped skink and several small land-crabs (which she caught inside our screened porch.).  She wasn’t sure what to do with either, so she gladly traded her live catches for a kitty treats.

She still loves to play hide and seek with Bruce. She hides while he seeks.  When he gets close she runs out from her hiding spot and tags his leg and runs to her next hiding place.  She also likes to chase the whiffle balls when he is practicing his golf drive with them on the lawn behind us. 

We had to go to California for Bruce’s medical exams last week.  KAT made friends with the new cat-sitter, Conne, but it was obvious that she was lonely. The sitter said Kat wouldn’t leave her side while she was there, and even grabbed her leg to try to prevent her from leaving.  Kat was very happy to see us come home.  She hasn't let us out of her sight since we arrived.   I think the next trip will be in the RV and we will take her with us.

Susan Sarbach Workshop in North Carolina. 10 '07

Susan Sarbach  is a California plein-air painter known for her colorful landscapes.  She runs a well known art school outside of Sacramento CA., and has recently contracted with Dreamwork Productions to train their animators on color and form.  I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a week -long workshop which she was offering in Cary, North Carolina in October.

The course included lecture and demonstrations, as well as lots of opportunity to practice what we were learning.   

Susan paints every painting in four steps.  ( See the example  below)

Scene being painted

Step 1 block in shapes  with relative value tones

Stage 2 Blend  shapes, adjust values,  and temperatures 

Stage 3 Add highlights

Final painting  with finsihing details

 It was a lot harder than Susan made it look.  But she is an excellent teach and by the fifth day, everyone was making dramatic strides in using her techniques.  Here are three of the other students’ practice  pieces..

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Below is one of my practice pieces… Wadda ya  think?