South Cape Bay

The reward at the end of the walk is these spectacular views of the south coast.

South Cape Bay 2

South Cape Bay 3

Just as good from any angle.

South Cape Bay 4

Just had to take a photo of these unusual berries to show Adrian, who had decided to stay “home” that day and relax after a lot of driving the previous day.  He promptly told me that he had seen the same berries just 50 metres from the van – typical.

Purple Berries

It’ s back where I started from. As I look forward I can only say I do so with a great sense of optimism in the spirit of a shared passion montaged from each one of those beautiful smiles that underlines the unique community we are! Please stay on, keep it real and shining. I have been at a loss finding the  one word that could simply and vividly paint the picture for this year so if any one of you out there has some insights, pls come to my rescue…and lace it with a potato moment while at it! If you have an unforgettable moment or post for this year, do share the link with us. I wish to accept a few awards in marking this wonderful day. 

Thank you George http://euzicasa.wordpress.com/ for nominating me for the Tell Me ABOUT YourSelf AwArD.  Tell me About Yourself Award. You will find great substance and inspiration in George.

1.Thank the person who nominated you!

2.Tell Seven things about yourself that you haven’t shared yet :

1. Our wedding Anniversary falls on December 18th!
2. It’s a decade this year since the passing on of my great grandmo’ ; a mentor,family champion and wellspring of grace.
3.  Injustice breaks my heart
4. Horse riding is such a fascination for me
5. I love to reflect
6. Presidential motorcades amaze me
7. December is my favorite month

3. Nominate 7 bloggers.

• http://gravatar.com/suedreamwalker
• http://gravatar.com/sherijkennedyriverside
• http://gravatar.com/waldotomosky
• http://gravatar.com/holessence
• http://gravatar.com/motioners
• http://gravatar.com/linoz
• http://gravatar.com/readingletizia

Līgo Circle of Appreciation

Thank you Teju https://singingsparrows.wordpress.com/ for this fantastic recognition. Feels really special joining the circle. If anyone needed to read something that will leave them really exhilarated, then Teju’s About page will do you some justice!

Complete this:

‘A great blog is something which  inspires hope, is about people and is real.

I share this recognition  with the following:

• http://ivonprefontaine.com/
• http://throughthehealinglens.com/

Note: The ‘Līgo Circle of Appreciation’ is a recognition bestowed on fellow bloggers and is not an award.

___________________________________________________

Iam most thankful  to http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/(you will be captivated by her poetry) for nominating me for my first Blog of the Year 2012’ Award http://thewhyaboutthis.com/2012/11/27/believe-it-or-not/ and to meiro http://meirozavian.wordpress.com/  (her touch of ambiance coupled with thoughtful pieces will draw you to linger longer) for nominating me for the second and third, in addition to the Very Inspiring Blogger Award and the Sunshine Blogger Awards which have generously dotted my award trail this year.

I nominate the following:

• http://swatizutshi.wordpress.com/
• http://authorcawhite.wordpress.com/
• http://ontopicreviews.wordpress.com/
• http://clanmother.com/
• http://travelculturefood.wordpress.com/
• http://chibaleseven.wordpress.com/
• http://creativemusingsoflediar.com/
• http://jumpforjoyphotoproject.wordpress.com/
• http://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/
• http://carlyyysarah.wordpress.com/
• http://landoffun.wordpress.com/
• http://healthdemystified.wordpress.com/
• http://www.czechtheflip.com/
• http://chicalarusse.wordpress.com/
• http://momentswithmillie.wordpress.com/
• http://hodgepodge4thesoul.wordpress.com/
• http://plantbaseddietadventures.wordpress.com/
• http://tahanishihab.wordpress.com/
• http://www.projectinspiredlife.com/
• http://digitalculturesandtranslation.wordpress.com/
• http://dragoscalinescu.wordpress.com/
• http://www.thewhyaboutthis.com/
• http://organizedlivingessentials.wordpress.com/
• http://parentfiles.wordpress.com/
• http://beautytemptress.wordpress.com/
• http://andnowthatithinkaboutit.wordpress.com/
• http://enchantingadventure.wordpress.com/
• http://ironwoodwind.wordpress.com/
• http://russelrayphotos.wordpress.com/
• http://nonoymanga.wordpress.com/
• http://aquaturtleme.wordpress.com/
• http://samandthedunes.wordpress.com/

Every box is filled with an activity or adventure. Lets see what day one had in store

Wow the kids were excited about this one and even though it was pouring, really, really pouring, we bundled up and had a wonderful time. We even saw Santa! oh I forgot to mention, I also found a neat felt tree advent calender at the thrift store and while Sun reads the activity, Star checks a felt pocket for an ornament and puts it on the tree. Ill add a picture of that as it fills up.

This is us right before we headed out the door.

The setting for the craft fair was this beautiful, hundred year old farmhouse. This place is called Providence farm and it is a therapuetic community where they grow vegetables, do therapuetic riding and have wonderful events.

They had a wonderful Candy cane forest on the way to Santas workshop that was throughly flooded but we skipped down the path like we were in Candyland. It was magical.

We saw these wicked purple berries.
Santa was in his workshop with his elves. Another magical moment, Sun speechless and just staring like he’s seen… well… Santa! He could barely tell him what he wanted. Star was a little shy which is definitely not like her, we all sat together and got a picture which I will post when I get it.

Day 2:

Yay! Eager to get started we were baking cookies by 9:30 am. We call the Pillsbury cookies with little pictures on them Daddys cookies because he usually buys them and ingests most of them.

For how terrible these cookies are for us the sure were good. Mmmmmm. They were gone by about 11 am.
I can’t show you the wonderful masterpieces we made today as they are gifts for friends and family but I can tell you that I found a tile painting craft kit from Winners. The kit includes 3 different size tiles, paint, stencils, magnets and a book of ideas. It was $12 and will allow the children to make at least one for every family member we gift to plus some for friends. Every year we try to make some gifts, we have done flavoured cooking oils, coloured and scented bath salts and a cinnamon and milk bath. One of my favourite gifts we made was personal magnets. I took pictures into walmart and printed them as small as possible, about half the size of wallet size. We cut them out, glued them to cardboard and added a magnet to the back. Every one got personal magnets of our favourite pictures. They are still on our families fridges and will be for years. This year I have a few gift making activities added to the advent calendar. It’s not too late for you to get started on your own advent calendar adventures! Personalize them for your family but some ideas are:

Wrap Christmas Gifts
Get Christmas tree
Go skating
Talk about Winter solstice
Make ornaments
Go on a family hike
Go sledding
Roast marshmallows on your fire and drink hot cocoa
Drive around and see Light displays
Make paper chains
Watch Christmas movies
Grocery shop for food band
You get the Idea.

Have fun and I would love to hear some of your adventures.
Another way I decided to countdown is with an advent candle, I made it tonight totally last-minute. The candle I found is a little bent but still beautiful. I marked it with permanent pen and every night at dinnertime we will burn our candle and talk about our day. Another great way to keep the excitement going and really make this time of year special.

Now off I go to peak at tomorrows activity! I’ll update this post daily so make sure you check back to see what adventure we were up to.

Day 3:

Beautiful cards were made for us by Sun and Star. There are lots more ready to ship to our family and friends. Some have stickers, some have artwork some are worked on by both others just by one. Little Star also made a card for Shanta (as she call him).

Advent Day 4:

A simple and classic decoration, easy enough for both kids to help. Day 4 is make paper chains.

Day 5:

We used to live in this Quaint little village called Cobble hill. Every Christmas in the local grocery store they would set up a Village Display with all the little lemax light up buildings and cobble stone paths. In leading up to setting up own village I thought we would drive out to see the display.

After school we all loaded into the car, daddy included, and drove out to Cobble Hill. When we arrived we were surprised to see not a village display but a Gingerbread house display! Very neat. Houses covered in cookies, candies, shredded wheat, little tiny reindeer. Not the village but very much worth the trip. I have a picture of all the wonderful houses but its on Bs phone and ill add it later when I add tonights activity….. there was a little foreshadowing for this one.

The bee and the chrysanthemum are available as prints and other products.

‘Shopping my garden’ for the plants to surround the Schiaparelli Bench.

The hot colours of the knockout Roses……

and these purple berries (Callicarpa dichotoma or Beauty Berry)….there is also the perilla.. and maybe some cleome.

This area is coming together…at least in my head!

Viburnum dilatatum ‘Erie’  Orange red berries 

Viburnum dilatatum ‘Mt. Airy’ more what I call ‘Christmas Red’

Viburnum dilatatum ‘Michael Dodge’ yellow berries

  Purple Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Issai’)

American Beautyberry,  the white form. (Callicarpa americana’Lactea‘)  There is a more common purple variety which I do not have ….yet.

 All of the above shrubs are exhibiting their second season of beauty. The viburnums will add to their show with fabulously coloured foliage, all the while retaining their berries. Viburnum berries require several frosts to make them palatable for the birds, so they have a long season. Between the flowering & berry show, they serve as supports for clematis.

This morning was beautiful so my husband Rick and I decided to head out early and enjoy the cooler morning temperature.  As we neared North Mountain I spotted small dark blue Asiatic Dayflowers.  I saw very deep blue bloom and discovered it had a third petal that was white with blue edges. A wonderful anomaly!  After I finished taking my photographs I noticed a Tufted Titmouse watching me from a downed branch.

We headed up North Mountain on the Floral Trail as the sun began to rise above Hot Springs Mountain.  In the early morning light I saw tiny yellow St. Andrews Cross blooming on the trails edges.  Further across North Mountain on the Upper Dogwood Trail a tiny Chipmunk was hopping on rocks and branches looking for breakfast. As we turn to continue hiking my husband points out the purple berries of Callicarpa (American Beautyberry Gallon Plant) glistening in the early light.

Lovely teeny tiny white Flowering Spurge are glowing along the Hot Springs Mountain Trail.  The delicate white flowers have a green center with yellow stamens and they are a welcome sight in the summer Forest.  We stop and rest at our mountain wedding chapel on the Honeysuckle trail, it is always a place of joy.  Near the bottom of the Floral Trail a pretty purple Butterfly Pea is in full bloom. As I am photographing it Rick points out a lovely little rock nestles in pine needles.  A gentleman in a Hawaiian shirt passes us on the trail and we wonder if he is part of a new Jimmy Buffett hiking club (he passes us gain as we head home on Central Ave).  It has been a lovely morning with my Beloved Husband Rick on the trails in Hot Springs National Park.

Time to play outdoors!
Love to ALL,
Lee

Sometimes it helps to get out of your own space and wander around  someone else’s urban/suburban oasis.  I did just that this morning at my friend Elizabeth’s house. Like me she’s a short distance from the Mississippi River, but further upstream towards Kenner, in River Ridge.

Her French mulberry, or beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is spectacular right now.  The berries aren’t edible, but they are beautiful – like clusters of purple Skittles.

An added plus – it’s a native plant!

these three little cranky fuckers are cranky cos they're high on sugar all the time. oh, and cos i ain't been doin my blogging duties so well lately.

SO, cos i been busy at work i’ve neglected the weekly installments of this little ball of entertainment. instead i’ma just chuck up the 10 coolest YouTube vids i find within any time period, at my own leisure (as it should be).

—

Guy Flies Through Train On A Fire Extinguisher

every now and then i watch something like this, sit back in my chair with tears comin out my eyes, and marvel at how far humanity has come in its ability to make me lose my shit. well done.

Now I Show You Some Trick Or Two

clearly, the best fighters and action stars in the world can’t emote for shit, but DANG if it’s not entertaining.

Yooou Shallll Nottt PAAASSS!

i don’t how you guys felt, but i thought Forgetting Sarah Marshall was one of the best comedies of the last decade. it holds up to numerous repeat viewings, has got one-liners comin out the ASS and also makes sure to take the audience along for the emotional ride (sometimes embellished) that Peter goes through. i think any broken-hearted man with a sense of humour is gonna identify a lot with the emotions involved within the process of getting over someone who you love like mad, but aren’t actually a good match for. outside of that, Jason Segel (who penned the script) carries the film like a veteran, showing us equal parts vulnerable soft-hearted guy, angry volatile guy and geek-laden funny guy (the latter of which i chose to show here).

The Lollipop Guild

now it’s been a while since i saw The Wizard Of Oz, but this scene seems to have stayed with me for whatever reason. one thing is for sure, you don’t wanna fuck with The Lollipop Guild. the dude on the end looks like he’s bout to have a stroke. i bet they don’t even usually GREET people, but cos Dorothy wasn’t a munchkin The Wiz forced em into doing some lame PR shit (LOOK at how fucking cranky they are lol).

Niles & Frasier: BAAAALLLIIIIN’

an oft-misunderstood show, however that didn’t stop it for running for a decade. i guess the misunderstanding comes with the snooty tone of the show, which puts out a “i’m better than you” vibe, but which also cleverly uses that snootiness for some funny-as-hell moments. eventually you side WITH the snooty Cranes and laugh along with their faux highbrow humour.

What Are You Doing In My Toilet?

Leslie Nielsen recently passed away after an amazing career in tv and film. his brief role in one of my fav tv shows ever, Due South, as Buck Frobisher will be the bits i remember him best for (despite the Naked Gun films and all the other stuff he’s done, got a problem wit dat?!). Leslie played a fart-prone Canadian Mountie. NUFF SAID.

Unnecessarily Censored Smurfs

amazing what some well-placed b***s can do for a video (ohhh see what i did there?).

Purple Berries

im not even sure HOW i stumbled onto this twisted little display of genius editing skills, i WAS in a green haze at the time. HOWEVER, altho most people won’t get the humour, this vid is a perfect example of how you can squeeze laughs out of anything provided you have comic timing and editing skills. mostly through the elongation of certain scenes, and the slooowwwing dooowwnn of others. in the end you are left with a bizarre concoction, but one that’s gonna make people like me (ie those with advanced humour lobes in our brains) kakk til i drop.

Floating Head

lol quite a well-done take on what happens when an evil floating head haunts you, and the emotional attachment that can develop in the process.

LAUGHING TIME IS OVER

unfortunately this is the last vid, and, well, no more laughink for yous (for now).

—

V.

Morgen

Cindy

Adorable vintage frosted floral 1960s ruffle dress in light blue, gray and white abstract print that has a slight lavender hue. Feminine ruffle trim around neck, down bust and at each sleeve. Slouchy style with 3 white buttons up front, defined waist and full skirt. No label or tags, could fit XS-M.

Bust: 38″
Waist: 28″
Hips: Free size
Length: 43″

In excellent vintage condition!

You might like:
vintage WiNTER FROST sheer blue dress
http://www.etsy.com/listing/59426729/vintage-winter-frost-sheer-blue-dress

See all my dresses:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/shopREiNViNTAGE?section_id=6717516

Visit my entire store:
http://www.shopREiNViNTAGE.etsy.com

Follow me for daily shop updates:
http://www.facebook.com/REiNViNTAGE
http://www.twitter.com/shopREiNViNTAGE

Callicarpa dichotoma

Callicarpa dichotoma, or Purple Beautyberry,  is a small shrub native to China, Japan, and Korea which is  grown for it’s ornamental purple berries.   The arching branches are covered with clusters of bright fruit in September and October. The Purple Beautyberry at the Botanical Garden is at the edge of the Ericaceous garden, near the firelane. If you walked by this planting  at any other time of year you wouldn’t notice it.  In the spring it gets cut to the ground, as the branches tend to be winter killed here. Growth begins late in the spring.The 2-3 inch elliptical leaves are medium green and the entire plant is quite unremarkable. By mid summer  tiny pink to lilac flowers appear along the branches in the leaf axils. At the end of summer the little white berries are visible, and as they slowly color up, they become a purple like no other color in the garden. Right now it looks great! In addition to the fall show, I’ve read that birds and other wildlife eat the berries. All in all a nice surprise to come across at this time of year.

The garden website indicated that we could expect asters in bloom and not much else, so it was with great surprise that we discovered a variety of charming posies as we strolled through this charming garden on a warm, early fall day.

The borders reminded me of English gardens–informal and sometimes daring in the variety of colors–with lots of purples and pinks that are personal favorites.

The bees were a-buzzin’ everywhere, some of them so laden with pollen that they could hardly move.

I didn’t realize that there was a frog poised on the water lilies until I saw the photo downloading onto the computer–kind of like the surprise you’re in for when watching an image come up when you are making a black-and-white print from a negative.  Hi Froggy!

Then, on the way out, we saw these gorgeous purple berries.  What kind of shrub is this?  I want one.

Purple Berries

Yesterday I wrote about the ongoing migration of the American Robin, now occurring in waves here in South Carolina.  Today I heard an interesting and amusing little tidbit about the migration that made me laugh — and determine to keep my feeder full to the brim.

The birds going north now are eating the last berries that remain on the bushes and shrubs from last year’s production, and those berries have been through a long, harsh winter, repeatedly freezing and thawing, and over time… fermenting!  Yes, that’s right, the food for many berry-munching birds now migrating north is actually a little bit on the alcoholic side.

Apparently if you’re watching closely this time of year, you can view the results in erratic flight patterns, and if you know what you’re looking for, you might notice other tipsy bird behaviors that betray their inebriated state.  Seeds from feeders are not only a nice supplement to their diet, but may help to sober up our avian friends on their long journey north.  And it is a long journey, as I know from experience, having once undertaken the 21-hour road trip from just south of Atlanta to Montreal.

Of course, I do wonder if the different berries in different locales all have interesting bouquets and the hallmarks of distinct vintages, rather like human wines, which reminds me of a post I did about bee nectar vintages way back during the first week of this blog’s existence, and still one of my favorite posts.

I managed to take a very tipsy-looking bokeh photograph of the last berry on this gorgeous Beautyberry at the Botanical Gardens this week.  This winter marks my first introduction to the Beautyberry, and I found their long, slender stems coated in bright purple* berries so riveting in the winter landscape and such a draw for hungry birds, especially friendly Northern Mockingbirds, that I’m determined to put one in my own backyard — if I ever have a backyard, and if it is in the right climate.

(*That “purple”  is more of a range or family of colors that changes with exposure and aging of the berries, including, but not limited to, magenta, lavender, mauve, periwinkle, blush pink, and bordeaux.)

And for those of you who have no idea what a bokeh photograph is (I didn’t know the term until a few months ago), this is the best and simplest explanation I’ve found, from The Photographic Glossary:  “Bokeh describes the rendition of out-of-focus points of light.  Differing amounts of spherical aberration alter how lenses render out-of-focus points of light, and thus their bokeh.  The word “bokeh” comes from the Japanese word “boke” (pronounced bo-keh) which literally means fuzziness or dizziness.”

I’ve always loved bokeh photos, but that’s probably because when I remove my glasses or contact lenses, this is the way the world looks via my natural eyesight.  I find it particularly enchanting on bright, sunny days, when all the world might as well be made of millions of glistening points of light, all flashing their colors at once.  It is a wonderful meditation exercise to stare in this way at a vast landscape or stand beneath a forest canopy looking up at the sky.

But that’s enough about that.  Let’s move on to my big news!

Just like the robins, y’all can also begin migrating on over to the new site.  I’ve been busy building it, and I think it is more or less ready.  That is, the structure is in place, and I can now add or delete or change things as I see fit without unduly disturbing the posting area.

(At least, I hope so.  This self-hosted website lark has turned out to be quite radically outside my comfort zone, and since F. was busy with his own research, I’ve had to read up on php.ini files and memory allocation and learn about exporting blog archives and installing plugins all by my little lonesome.  Web designers, you now have my unmitigated respect.)

The question over the last ten days had really become, when will I be ready to jump off into the new site?  F. was urging me to do so on my blogaversary, but I resisted the suggestion, sure that I needed to tweak quite a few things first.  But I soon realized all the tweaking could probably be done once everyone had joined me at the new location, and that I was wasting time trying to double-post every day to keep the archives in sync.

I was ready to announce the leap on Sunday… when Blotanical went down.  It was a frustrating moment, but also very educational.  A few times while I’ve been working on the new site, I’ve screwed up the functioning pretty badly.  That was mostly in the beginning, and I haven’t done so in over a month.  Still, similar screw-ups might occur.  There are no guarantees.

“What if right after we switched over I found myself in a similar situation as Stuart at Blotanical, and unable to tell my readers what was going on?” was the thought running through my mind.  And I don’t do Twitter, as I think we’ve established, so I’d be in even worse straits.

I don’t have any desire to disappear off people’s radar entirely, so I’ve decided after watching the waves of robins passing through yesterday that the best way is to copy nature.

I’ll post in both places for at least a week, and longer if I see the need, and we can all go over bit by bit, in small flocks and waves.  That way, if there are any issues at the new site, I still have a way to communicate with everyone at this site, and those people who are occasional readers will be notified over the coming days that the time is coming when I will no longer post here.

Plus, this gradual migration will allow everybody the luxury of plenty of time to change their links and subscriptions at their own pace.  And I do hope you will change your links and subscriptions.  It is my fond belief that you’re all visiting for the writing and the photographs, and maybe for the relationship, too.  None of that is going to change.

For those of you who requested that I keep the large photo format, I have to tell you that it was impossible for me to get what I wanted from a blog theme and still keep the photographs so huge and central to the layout.  However, at the new site, if you click on the smaller photos, you will be treated to a full-screen version of the original picture.

I also discovered that keeping the photos rather smaller has made that website quicker to load than this one, which is always a bonus in my busy blog-reading schedule.  It’s also much easier to read, from my perspective, which is something else I prefer in the blogs I frequent.  But I might have given up a little bit of the bright and colorful flare of this theme design to get it that way.

Probably every single change in the blog format will be like that:  something gained, balanced by something lost.  And any new detail one of you loves, I can be sure one of you is going to hate.  The comments when I asked for feedback illustrated this rather nicely, although certain general principles were repeated often enough that I could use the information when constructing.

Nonetheless, I am exited for you all to see it.

Are you still here?

I feel like Ferris Bueller at the end of the movie, chivvying the audience out of their warm seats.  It’s heartwarming that you’re still here, reading until the last sentence, but really I would love it if you’d take a quick look over there.  Please, go on and check it out!

The strong magenta color of Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' is indeed a 'Beautyberry' of the first rank.

There are many species of Beautyberry with most of them growing in tropical and subtropical areas. Most of them are in the form of shrubs or small trees. Several species come from more temperate areas. Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii is found in central and western China. It was collected by French Missonary Emile Marie Bodinier (1842-1901) who was a known botanist and was stationed in Peking for some time.  He collected more that 3000 herbarium samples during his lifetime of which about 200 are named, Beautyberry is the most important of these.

This Beautyberry is found in the Winter Garden at Government House.

Callicarpa are from the Verbena family (Verbenaceae) and has aromatic leaves, this makes it less attractive for Deer to browse upon. In China and Japan it has been used medicinally.  The fruit of this particular species is not considered edible do to it’s poor flavor.  The American form of this plant (C. americana) or French Mulberry in the past has been used to make delicious and popular jellies and jams.

Beautyberry contrasts nicely against the trunk of this Douglas Fir in the winter sun.

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ was selected for its more compact growth and better crop of berries. It was awarded an AGM(Awrd of Garden Merit) in 1984. Emerging spring foliage has bronzy tints and later in the fall the leaves turn shades of madder and pink before they are shed. Leaves are elliptical with a sharp point and are 2-5in. (5-12cm) long and half as wide. Flowers are small with a faded mauve color and are not really that showy when in bloom. Bloom period is from June to October depending on where you are, here it is fairly early.

This Beautyberry glows in the winter sun at Glendale Gardens.

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ is a undemanding plant and you get several seasons of interest from it. They prefer light well drained soil which is on the acidic side. They tolerate some clay or even heavy soils as long as it is not too limey which will cause yellowing of the leaves.  To produce the best berry crops Beautyberry needs full sun, but will do very well in part shade.  A spot in the winter that shows it off will be fantastic. These plants are often planted in grows of 3 or 4 as this produces the best show of berries. Beautyberry plants are are used in shrub borders, mass planting, in winter gardens or a specimens.

The bright mauve berries are small but are produced in masses to make a showy display.

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ is surprising hardy and takes -20c (-4f) easily and is rated at zones 6 through 8. Berries are not damaged by freezing. They do not do well in warm climates. Can you imagine going outside after a snowfall and seeing this bush loaded with berries… beautiful. These shrubs grow 1.8-2m (6-8ft) tall and have a slightly arching habit. They can be pruned to promote more branching and better berry crops.

Calicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii Profusion is one of the brightest plants in the garden right now.

More on Beautyberry:

Paghat’s page on this plant: http://www.paghat.com/beautyberry.html

RHS page for the plant: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Wisley/About-Wisley/Plant-of-the-month/October/Callicarpa-bodinieri-var–giraldii-Profusion

Until we meet again later…

Common name Beautyberry. Small weeping shrub to four feet. Purple berries stand bold and upright on top of the shrub in the fall. Although not the favourite food of birds, when every other fruit is gone they will eat these berries.  More fruit in full sun.  Tough, easy shrub to grow.

I made Mulberry Vinaigrette with the fresh mulberries from Bamboo John.

Here’s the recipe I came up with:

Fresh Mulberry Vinaigrette

• Balsamic Vinegar: 1/2 Cup
• Apple Cider Vinegar: 1/2 Cup
• Olive Oil: 3/4 Cup
• Canola Oil 1/4 Cup
• Fresh Mulberries: 2 Cups
• Maple Syrup: One glug (to taste)
• Powdered Mustard: 1Tbsp.
• Sea Salt: 1 good grind.
• Fresh Garden Herbs: 1 Sprig each of Basil, Sage, Oregano, Thyme and Dill

Combine all ingredients in blender and mix.  Viola’, Mulberry Vinaigrette!

Ingredients in. Ready to blend.

Finished Product. It turned out excellent!

AJ’s Redneck Smoked Chicken

Rub a whole roasting chicken with seasoning. AJ uses Lawry’s® Perfect Blend Seasoned Rub for Pork (I know…pork. But trust me, it’s good). Sounds normal, right? So why is it called “Redneck Smoked Chicken”? Notice the cans of Natural Light…

Whoa! What is he doing to that chicken?! That’s not natural!

Stuffed with open cans of beer the chickens are sitting upright ready for the smoker. Slightly unsettling, if you ask me.

In it goes.

Charcoal in the bottom of the smoker provides the heat and wood chips soaked in beer create the smoke. The more beer the better when you’re cooking redneck style. It goes without saying that the cook should also be primed. Close the smoker door and wait for the internal temperature to get to 165° and rising.

Finished product. Tender and juicy. Yum!

It was cool and gorgeous outside.  Our neighbor, Capt’n Kim Ferrell joined us for dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful meal of smoked chicken, black beans and rice and salad supplemented with fresh garden greens. Can’t wait until the entire salad comes from the garden.

Warm and personable, Capt’n Kim is always a welcome guest. He is a treasure hunter with leases on the local shipwrecks, as well as a talented jeweler who mounts shipwreck coins in beautiful gold settings. Kim deserves a post of his own and has promised to send me some information and photos about his adventures so that I may do this. I will also share a photograph of the gorgeous pendant he gave us for Christmas.

Captain Kim Ferrell

Well, that’s it for now. The soil for Oasis2 is now slated for Tuesday. See you then.