Katherine J Krein

Garden Update for July: My First Cattail

I had good intentions for garden restoration this summer. So far, I’ve done little, partly due to a bad poison ivy encounter. You would think by now I had learned to avoid it. My last bad encounter was many years ago, so my caution level was low. The summer is not over yet, so possibly I can do more work on it.

Several in home upgrades have been taking my time and attention away from the garden. Also, I am beginning to research retirement since on November 1 this year I will have completed 25 years of service with my school system. This will most likely be my last year (24-25) with this system. This does not mean I will be fully retired from work. I am not ready to do that yet.

I have left the pond alone for the most part since the wildlife has been enjoying it in its current state of human neglect. This has led to the growth of a lone cattail in the middle of the pond. I never planted this. It must be a gift from the wind or a hideaway in the pot of another plant. I read up on preserving these cattails for decorative arrangements. In my younger days I might have pursued this; now, I think I will let it be. The pond is limited and within easy view of my kitchen. Winter will eventually come around, and next spring, hopefully I will be able to start early on a full pond clean-up. Though, you never can know for sure what the future holds.

Not a Cicada in Sight

This cicada is from my garden in May of 2021.

Now that school is out for the summer I had a chance to start some much needed work outside on Saturday and again this morning.

I had been previously reading about an anticipated double brood of cicadas emerging in my area this summer. I must report that as of today I have seen no cicadas nor have I seen any evidence of them.

What I have seen is an over abundance of birds, so possibly they have been taking care of the cicadas removal.

Today I had my first thought of hiring some help. Normally I have done most of the work myself with some help from my husband. Neither of us is getting any younger. Our daughter cannot help us.

I used to go all day working out in the garden. Now I have to pace myself. The weather early this morning was surprisingly not bad, and even an occasional breeze would cool me down.

The water lilies have been blooming since early May. I made the mistake of putting in another water plant that has been somewhat invasive within the pond. I cut most all the stalks down a week or two ago. The birds are absolutely loving the pond in its current state because it allows them to take baths inside the pond. The pumps are still running and algae is under control. I was going to treat the pond last week when I saw dozens of tadpoles swimming around, so I decided to wait.

I won’t continue my report because I need to get back outside to continue the work of restoration. If the cicadas do ever show up, I will report back.

A Surprise Connection Between an Old Slide and My Father’s Name

This is a scan of one of my father’s slide. There was no information with the slide.

This picture was in a slide format found in my father's collection. It was a mystery since it was not labeled.
There were no other slides that seemed related to it. I did not know the location nor the year it was taken. It was mixed in with other old slides. I scanned the slide since the beauty of the location captivated me.

About a month ago I was surprised to see a picture on a co-worker's laptop that looked very similar to this one.
I asked her about it, and she told me that the wallpaper on her laptop changes periodically. I asked her if she knew the location. She said she thought it was Scotland. This information was enough for me to do a search.

As it turns out, there is a Dunnottar Castle located on Scotland's north eastern coast near Stonehaven. The castle is in ruins like the one in my father's picture. I wondered why my father had taken this picture. As it turns out, my father's name, William Keith, is very prominent in this castle's history. The castle is on land that the clan of Keith owned for centuries. Sir William Keith, the 1st Earl Marischal, began constructing this castle at the end of the 14th century.

Keith is the surname of the family that owned this land. Keith is my father's middle name, not his surname, though Keith is what everyone called my father. My father's surname still has a connection to this castle because of the coat of arms of the Earl Marischal.

Carmen from Guantanamo

Carmen and me. Picture taken in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Carmen worked for my parents in Cuba, the place where I was born. I do not remember her since we left when I was only one. I have a vague memory of waving to her from a car when my family and I were leaving Cuba. However, I cannot say if this is a real memory or one picked up from a picture.

I was told she tried to cornrow my thin white blond hair that stood straight up like static was hovering over my head. She was unsuccessful in her attempts, though my hair did eventually settle down like in this picture.

I was told that Cuban black beans and rice was my first solid food. Carmen labored to push it through a sieve to make it like a mush that a baby could eat.

For years after we left Guantanamo and Carmen behind, I would request for my birthday meal – black beans and rice with bacon or pork added when I was older. No sieve was needed by then.

By the time I left home for college, this tradition had been dropped.

The squeaky toy you see in the picture above failed to capture my attention. I seemed to be focused on the off camera scene. Carmen’s dress looks appropriate for a U.S. naval base.

When I was five and living in Newport, Rhode Island, I had to go before a judge, in his private chambers, to become a naturalized citizen. My parents were not allowed to be present during his questioning. Both my parents were American citizens, and we were living on a military base, so this seems strange to me. When I was a much older adult I was informed by a Department of Motor Vehicle employee that this was no longer a requirement.

Pua Lehua

“The lehua is the first tree that springs up from a recent lava flow. It’s for that reason, when we speak in Hawaiian and we speak of people who are skilled, strong, and beloved, they’re often referred to as pua lehua, or lehua flowers. They like the lehua, have a kind of resilience, a strength and a grace about them.”

written by : Kalena Silva, University of Hawaii Hilo Professor of Hawaiian History

I have been on a part-time web quest of Hawaiian botanical plants this week. It all started when I read in the news that May 1st was Lei Day. This is a Hawaiian cultural event. I had heard of lei before, though I never knew they had their own day.

When I first looked up the word "lei" in my dictionary (to see if it had a plural form) I discovered the word "lehua".
Subsequently, I learned about the Ohi'a lehua tree (scientific name: Metrosideros polymorpha.) What struck me with resonance was the fact that it is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the Myrtle family (Myrtaceae).

This reminded me of the Myrtles in my own family. Since Mother's Day is coming up in the middle of this month, I decided to revisit and honor my mother and her mother, Myrtle, and a surrogate mother of sorts, Great Aunt Bess. In honor of Lei Day, I belatedly show them wearing their lei during their visit to my mother living in Hawaii at the time. (mid- 1950's)

My mother is in the middle, and to her right is her aunt Bess, and to her left is her mother, Myrtle. All of these were strong and resilient women. All three worked hard throughout their lives. They all had grace and gave generously of themselves. Bess taught me to read, using phonics, during the summer before I entered 1st grade. She never married, and was a school teacher her whole adult life until she retired. My mother taught me many things, and thanks to these 3 women I had no college loans to pay off. My grandmother, Myrtle, made many clothes for my sister and I. She made sure we had nice looking clothes to wear when we were children. In my mind, all three of these women should be called ‘pua lehua”.

April 2024 Garden Update

The cleavers, also known as sticky willy, was running wild with an invasive power, trying to smother everything in its path in and around the raised beds.

The dirt under my fingernails is evidence of my rescue efforts early this morning.
The Hostas and dwarf Nandina are safe for now.

A large trashcan is now full of goose grass, another common name for sticky willy. It has even more common names.

Its scientific name is Galium aparine, and it is an annual herbaceous plant.

It is claimed to have many medicinal purposes, and this was interesting to read. However, I have neither the time or inclination to learn and practice herbal medicine at this time.

My time schedule is currently full. I was lucky to squeeze in the time for early morning weeding.

When I was done weeding I spent a few minutes enjoying all the blooming azaleas in my garden. 
(I have posted a few of them.)

Then it began to rain.

Not all of the cleavers is gone. There is some left for the butterflies and moths to enjoy.
I will have to watch it so that it does not overrun its neighbors.

Kleefkruid (Galium aparine) (1596 – by Rijksmuseum is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Elemental Mercury Wings

Mercury Man Sam came into my mind early this morning on his liquid silver wings.
He has a charming gaze and his eyes are full of wit, though I never could tell
Whether he was mocking me or not.
As the day progressed my mind cleared itself of the memory of mercury wings.
I have decided he held no malice. He will always be remembered for his brilliance.

In other news, the white Christmas cactus in our front window is in full bloom this morning.
Its name is a misnomer because it will bloom whenever the conditions are right.

On the other side of this bay the white orchid has ten blooming flowers. The peach orchid has two.
The peach one put on its full show in March.

This white orchid has 10 flowers today. The peach one (not pictured) has 2.

Maple Helicopters

Every time I looked out my kitchen window today, 
the air was alive with flying helicopter seeds.
What maple tree was shedding these is unknown to me.
All maples produce these helicopter seeds,
 including the silvers and reds. 
They are also known as whirligigs and twisters,
and a few other fun nicknames.
Samara is an official name for them,and 
in Hebrew it means "guardian."

I prefer to find the dry ones that have landed on open ground.
This way I can have fun launching them into the air 
for a second or third flight.
 Maple seeds evolved to have wings in order to increase their chance of procreation.
They need to fly to get out from under their parent's shade.

The Only Supreme Tempo is One’s Own

The spiral of the snail shell can symbolize eternity & family ancestors.

I wrote the above title back in 07/28/2015. I remember it because I had used it as a profile quote at that time.
I had written a post pondering the concept of speed and pace in different individuals.
"Slow and steady wins the race" is the motto I need to live by these days. I have not always been this way.

It is human nature to compare things, however, we must be strict in allowing individual styles to pace themselves whenever possible.Life should not always be about competition. Everyone cannot run at the same speed because we are all built differently and have developed differently, molded by our environmental stressors. Our brains process things at its own built in speed, and the speed of its overall biological systems. We have to stop thinking that slowness is inferior. Slowness can be a hidden strength in the long-run.

A Sunday Drive in Rhode Island

A Sunday Drive in Newport, Rhode Island. The year was 1964, give or take a year.

When I look at old pictures of my dad from when I was young, I always think he looks like Satya Nadella,CEO of Microsoft. I guess it is probably just the bald head and glasses. My dad did eventually lose all the hair on top.
He still had hair on the sides up until his death. He never shaved his head. I have a T-shirt with advice from an eagle. One of the things it states is: Bald is Beautiful. Baldness is a male trait that ran through my family, so I have to agree.
One question I never asked and now wish that I did is why did they always cut my sister's hair short, and mine was kept long most of the time. I did get a chin length bob before we moved to the Philippines. It would have been the year after we left Rhode Island. My dad was studying at the Navy War College during our time there.

Since we were all dressed up it must have been a Sunday. We always went to church and then often we went out to dinner since our extended family was all living in the mid-west. We often would take a Sunday drive after we ate. Here we ended up at the beach for a photo session. This tradition went mostly by the way-side after a few years. When we went to church in Virginia we would often go to the Hot Shoppes cafeteria in Tyson's Corner mall. Boy has that mall changed over the years. Today it is much larger than it was when we frequented the cafeteria.

I know I was going to stop reminiscing about my life growing up, but every time I see Satya Nadella in the news, I am reminded of my dad and his old pictures. I wonder if others might see the resemblance.