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View from the deck
Summer 2009 Update
Above you will see a picture of our yard in summer- pretty
different than in winter! On the left in the back is our vegetable garden, from which
we just picked our first tomatoes. (Never could grow those in New Orleans- too many fungi and other pests.)
There are also cucumbers, squashes, eggplants, lettuce, basil, zinnias and
dahlias. As you can see, the
backyard bounds a large wooded area, the property of a school at the top of the
hill. Last week a deer wandered into the yard while we were sipping wine on the
patio (a part of the back fence is currently down…a tree branch fell on it). We
have seen foxes, rabbits, and lots and lots of birds. We find it amazing that
this bucolic yard is only fifteen minutes from the University of Maryland Medical Center, and ten minutes from Penn Station. The
weather has been so nice this summer that we nearly always eat dinner outside.
Isn’t it fantastic that as of this writing- July 14- we have not yet used the
air conditioning?
Roland Park began as one of the oldest suburbs of Baltimore,
developed around the turn of the century- our house is not that old, but that’s
when the streets were laid out by the Olmsted Company, run by descendants of Frederick Law Olmsted, one of America’s
great landscape architects. We are
enjoying long walks in the neighborhood exploring paths, roads and pedestrian
footpaths connecting various streets, designed to make the area livable and walking-friendly. We have pretty much settled into the
house- we recently bought corner cupboards and unpacked glassware that has sat
in boxes for an entire year. Even the cat
is feeling comfortable enough to now go outside occasionally-
due to her advanced age, she must be watched when she is out. We don’t think
she is swift enough to outrun foxes anymore.
Work is going well for Iris, though the hunt for grants
continues to be erratic- some successes, some misses. Chuck is concluding a
project for the National Gallery of Art and will be working on various other projects after that. The kids did not return home for the
summer but are instead living in their college towns, New Orleans and Ithaca. We receive periodic
visits from them, but perhaps they will not live at home again (but in these
worrisome economic times, that is not certain). So, that means there is lots of
room for the rest of you; come and visit us in Baltimore!
All the best for the rest of 2009,
Iris,
Chuck, and Old Molly
And now for the movie
Click here to email Iris at UMB
Click here to email Iris at Yahoo
