My Roman Name

Need I say more?

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Near Piazza della Minerva
Rome, Italy
July 22, 2011

Geriatric Doggie

Titan was born the year I graduated from medical school.  She's got a temperament and intelligence of a Japenese spitz (her mother is 75% Japanese Spitz).  She is small like a spitz but lacked the pure white fur spitz are well known for -- a trait she got from Gizmo, her dad, who's well, a mongrel.  The last time I saw her before my recent visit was in 1999 -- and so it should not be such a surprise that she didn't quite recognize me right away.

Eventually she did.  I think it must be doggie dementia coupled with a myopic eye blurred with cataracts that delayed her familiarity with me.  And I must confess, bribing her with pieces of corned beef one morning as I was preparing breakfast likely hastened her recollection that I used to play with her when she was a puppy.

Titan is close to a century old in dog years.  Maybe I'll get a chance to see her again before Timbuktu calls.....

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Titan, the alpha dog 
February 2011

Yes Dear, That Is A Mango Plant

Dare I say tree?  Last year, my middle child in me kicked in: I wanted to disprove the theory (which ironically was my own, derived shortly after my 10-year old Fortune Plant died) that I have a brown thumb.  So I had murdered (or plant-slaughtered) several plants throughout the decade.  That doesn't mean I have a brown thumb does it?

So I separated the mango seed from the pit from some of the mangoes that I got from the local grocery store and planted about 5 of them.... One made it (this summer, I planted 3 and two are growing -- I kept one and B took one, now thriving in a south-facing kitchen window!).  Now it's a year old.  I had to cut a couple of its leaves that had dried out (perhaps a result of being left alone for two weeks -- around the time I was enjoying Philippine mangoes myself!).  And I had to place it back indoors despite the real good summer heat because -- well, for one, I think it's just burning from the heat without much humidity and it's taking a beating from the breeze coming through the 3rd floor patio.

I call this a very confused mango.  Confused because it's probably wondering what the heck was it doing growing in Michigan?

And the ones B & I planted back in my dad's yard didn't make it.... Maybe Guido (the dog) has something to do with it.

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My first could-I-grow-a-mango-in-Michigan experiment.
Photo taken July 13, 2011

Sand Dunes

I never would have thought it would be fun to drive around sandy terrain.  Watching other people (and their trucks/ORV) struggle some steep incline was just another part of the fun.

B's Land Cruiser just had a minor workout!

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Silver Lake Sand Dunes, MI
July 9, 2011

The Patio Experiment

The eastern side of my patio: morning glories are beginning to bloom, and the genovese basil with some parleys (not seen in this photo) are flourishing.  I love adding basil when I cook (ahem... err, experiment?) italian and last year I had gotten tired of paying $3.99 a bunch that won't even last a week in my fridge that I got some seeds and planted it in a pot and it grew!  So I was more ambitious this year (with the help of green-thumbed B who engineered the morning glories wall) and got two longer pots and planted basil, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary and mint (only the rosemary became a victim of my brown thumb).

I have not really seen morning glories in full bloom and I was surprised to learn that they can produce flowers for up to 300/day (OK, I have a habit of fast reading some stuff and then it sticks in my head, and sometimes I don't care if I don't get the facts right, so I admit this is one of them).  What I haven't researched on is how long do the flowers last -- since the flowers (we had counted 4 so far) are now all unaccounted for (we are thinking there's a morning glory robber that has wings...).

Now I wonder how best to care for these while I'm on my european junket?

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Plants on my deck -- July 8, 2011:  the morning glories so far has shown two different colors (blue and purple).  The basil is ready for trimming.