http://www.tallcloverfarm.com Homeward bound on Puget Sound. Putting in a good day on Vashon Island time. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:31:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5644/winter-left-the-door-ajar http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5644/winter-left-the-door-ajar#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:05:19 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5644 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Mount Rainier as a sundial (from Maury Island) Winter Left the Door Ajar Winter left the door ajar, enough to steal a peek, Perhaps to silence my discord, to quell my harsh critique. For winter breezes often fool, impostors of seasons to come, Sky belies the biting cold, Trompe L’Oeil for a willing sun. Feathered [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5644/winter-left-the-door-ajar/feed 13 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4074/for-the-record-dan-is-the-man http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4074/for-the-record-dan-is-the-man#comments Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:05:10 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=4074 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Or The Day Big Red Refused to Move Happier times: A man and his new riding mower…vroom, vroom No doubt my neighbor and friend Dan has enjoyed (make that endured) the moniker Dan the Man his whole life. Well, I’m here to tell him to accept the title proudly and embrace his awesomeness, because Dan, [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4074/for-the-record-dan-is-the-man/feed 22 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3975/where-a-critic-came-to-roost http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3975/where-a-critic-came-to-roost#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:05:52 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3975 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Direct hit: a disapproving dive bomb, a bird’s rebuke on my blog? Yesterday the mercury neared 70 degrees, a veritable heatwave for the Pacific Northwest! With every door wide open to capture the moment, I returned from planting kale to find an airborne intruder in the house. A Spotted Towhee, startled by two bombastic bulldogs, [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3975/where-a-critic-came-to-roost/feed 28 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3683/sorry-maam-im-out-of-jam-for-now http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3683/sorry-maam-im-out-of-jam-for-now#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:14:57 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3683 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } With my last jar of jam (apricot) spoken for, I am officially out of preserves. Seasonal changes surround me, bare branches have a costume change, bluebells break through beds of dried leaves, and winged choruses serenade me early and often. The signs of spring are not only witnessed from a hammock view or back porch [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3683/sorry-maam-im-out-of-jam-for-now/feed 15 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1744/just-harvested-my-last-crop-of-june-ice-cubes http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1744/just-harvested-my-last-crop-of-june-ice-cubes#comments Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:21:57 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1744 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }  Freshly-picked ice cubes: There’s nothing like the taste of homegrown. The topic of weather is rarely tabled here on the island. In fact, it’s usually the opener and the final word. “Some weather, eh?” The question is posed to friends and strangers alike whether we’re sporting a sweater or galvanized in Gore-Tex, ordering a latte or [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1744/just-harvested-my-last-crop-of-june-ice-cubes/feed 17 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1506/to-everything-there-is-a-season-well-kinda http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1506/to-everything-there-is-a-season-well-kinda#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 04:51:17 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1506 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } He who knows the right time to put up a hammock… Should also know it’s also a cue to take down the Christmas lights. One year ago:  Sprouting Broccoli: It’s a Keeper

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1506/to-everything-there-is-a-season-well-kinda/feed 4 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1368/stoop-with-a-view-good-morning-bluebells http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1368/stoop-with-a-view-good-morning-bluebells#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:06:40 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1368 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } My back stoop covers just about enough space to provide resting and reading room for one husky guy and two beefy bulldogs (given the pups opt to hold court on the lower step). A maple mantled in moss shades our eyes and a feeble rail triumphs as shelving for a cup of cooling coffee and a couple Milk Bones.  The newspaper remains folded [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1368/stoop-with-a-view-good-morning-bluebells/feed 7 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/296/morning-has-broken-and-it-sure-is-pretty http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/296/morning-has-broken-and-it-sure-is-pretty#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:55:41 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=296 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }  Pink oriental poppies capturing the first light of day I get up at the crack o’thirty to begin my commute into civilization from the island, an odyssey that cross-utilizes every form of transportation known to man (at least in King County): my beater truck (the shortest leg of the trip), a Metro bus, a Washington State Ferry, [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/296/morning-has-broken-and-it-sure-is-pretty/feed 10 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/287/pacific-coast-iris-steal-the-show http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/287/pacific-coast-iris-steal-the-show#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 23:05:17 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=287 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } If my garden was a theater, Pacific Coast Iris (Iris douglasiana) would be the overlooked understudy or supporting actor that unexpectedly steals the show. It’s presence is subtle if not negligible for most of the year, until a couple weeks in May when it pulls out all the stops and produces flowers that would make a watercolorist pant.  [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/287/pacific-coast-iris-steal-the-show/feed 10 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/242/i-built-a-fence-that-fell-from-the-sky http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/242/i-built-a-fence-that-fell-from-the-sky#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 17:31:23 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=242 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Sometimes beauty reveals itself in unexpected ways, other times it’s a familiar friend on my daily path. For the madrona trees that have stood witness to the lives and loves of this house over the last century, it’s both. As I’ve said before, they are truly living sculptures.    Towering and twisted, they reach for the [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/242/i-built-a-fence-that-fell-from-the-sky/feed 12 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/262/tulips-a-worthy-form-of-currency http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/262/tulips-a-worthy-form-of-currency#comments Sun, 03 May 2009 18:11:36 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=262 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Tulips at the market: my favorite harbinger of spring I think the Dutch had it right in the seventeeth century; why not base your economy on the beauty of the tulip? It’s a most worthy form of currency. And no offense to other spring bloomers, but that’s a feat neither a daffodil nor a hyacinth could pull off. [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/262/tulips-a-worthy-form-of-currency/feed 6 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/243/the-fountain-gurgles-again http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/243/the-fountain-gurgles-again#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:20:53 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=243 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }   The sun is out (May I hear an Amen!). My coffepot is yielding no more of its pricey brew. Boz and Gracie are resting on the sofa after an early morning of intense begging and need for post-Easter ham scraps. The day and to-do list are before me. While I strive to accomplish several (make that many, many) [...]

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