Has It Really Been Three Years?

Wow! It's been almost three years since I've posted to this site. Time can really get away from someone wanting to document their life in certain ways, when there are so many venues to document from these days. Facebook, Twitter, and others vie for our time. For me there are also Camp websites that I manage, as well as school email I send out too. My cyber life has been a bit spread out and compartmentalized at the same time. There's no denying that Facebook has been my general hangout and posting grounds, where I figure most people who know and care about me are apt to be 'following' anything I want to post. Within Facebook I also generally share only to subgroups, such as my Sports fan friends, Camp friends, Atlanta friends, Teacher friends, etc., so that I am not boring people who aren't interested in certain types of posts. I've also backed off a lot from sharing posts of any kind in general unless I'm on a vacation somewhere. So let me catch up here and now. Three years.

First the major stuff. The overwhelming experience in my life over the past three years has been my sister struggling with, and then succumbing to cancer. She was diagnosed in April, 2010, moved a few times, including with us for the last few months of her life, April-July 2012. I will  use a separate post on this site to reflect on Merry, but suffice to say, my lack of posting had a lot to do with the impact of that time period for me.

Familywise, some other big milestones occurred too. Jake graduated high school in May 2011, and has been having some amazing experiences in college including spending his first semester in Dublin, Ireland, shining in his studies as a design major at Northeastern University, and working full-time at America's Test Kitchen for six months. During this same period, Ben has fully embraced his high school years, shining on the debate team and as a journalist for the school newspaper (among his many other accolades such as writing plays, acting, writing poetry and prose pieces, and acing his classes). Wendy has achieved several professional milestones including reaching Full Professor, publishing several editions as co-author of Sexuality and Society Readers, and being elected president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). She gave the keynote presidential address at their annual conference in August of 2012. Based on that address she now has a contract to write a book about the sociology of medicalization. I am so proud of all three of them!

Another big event in the Rice family was my nephew Zak and his girlfriend Liz moving from Santa Fe to Brooklyn. It took over a year detour in New Orleans, but they have a wonderful life now in NYC. Liz has been designing and promoting her own jewelry line and Zak has been writing and recording lots of amazing music. I will set up links to their websites too. Their cat, Radio, is with them too.

Speaking of cats, the other sad and happy events in my family have been the passing of our wonderful and unique cat, Bumble, who I miss so much. Bumble was a regular companion at my side when I worked at home, and also in my garden. Luckily we still have sweet Hinky. We also have a new feline addition to our family. We acquired Puffy, a.k.a. Gali (as in Boutros Boutros Gali) as a kitten in November of 2012. She and Hinky get along splendidly and she has brought lots of joy to our family.

My co-chairing the Camp Joseph-Naomi 2013 Reunion on Labor Day weekend was also a big event for me, with lots of time and effort leading up to it. I produced 6 audio podcasts with camp alums too. There should now be a link to those podcasts on this page. I should probably put a post up about that experience too.

But the main focus of this webpage is my garden. I have occasionally posted about it on Facebook, but only a couple times since my last post here. I continue to love my garden, work in it regularly and enthusiastically, and have so much to share about it here.  So keep checking in. I'm so excited to share the additions, changes, growth, and specific jewels and beautiful moments in Gregg's Garden!

My Garden LATE March 2011

                                          Above:  Paw Paw blossoms in my garden.

2 weeks ago I posted photos of many plants blooming in my garden. Spring had already sprung in early March. Now in late March it seems like everyone has come to the party. Here's what's happening now in my garden. click the link to see a slide show of my latest beauties.

My Garden March 2011

My garden in early March. Lots of new plants added in the fall, many blooming and budding out now.

Click on the following link to view a slideshow of my garden in early March 2011:
Slideshow Here

My Garden November 2010

This fall I planted a lot of trees and shrubs in the backyard, really giving the garden structure. I planted a nice balance of evergreens and deciduous plants, and plants with interest in different seasons. Although mostly still small, the garden really has a foundation of structure now. It will be a slow pleasure to watch these new plants fill in and mature in the years to come. I will next focus on projects involving perennials, annuals, some hardscape features, and art. Click on the link below to see a slideshow of my garden in November 2010.

http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk271/greggrice/My Garden November 2010/?albumview=slideshow

Swing Structure

I just completed a small pergola which holds a hanging swing. I believe this is the hardscaping I have been hoping for since I started working on the back yard garden five years ago. It adds a focal point to the front part of the garden, adds a destination, adds good seating, and looks back on the mostly established part of the garden. Click here for a slide show of the Swing Structure.

My Garden in July 2010

A hot month without much in bloom, but I post this to show the results of much of my spring planting, particularly trees and shrubs. Also in view will be the finished pergola (sans mosaics).

Click here to view a slideshow of my garden July 2010.

My Garden in April 2010

Here are some photos of my garden in April of 2010. Many of these photos show spring bulbs that I planted the previous fall. I planted about 1000 total bulbs and perhaps because of our very cold winter they all bloomed wonderfully, and practically all simultaneously!

Click here for a slideshow of photos of my April Garden 2010