Beth Emmott

I live in a fairly urban area. Granted there are yards with lots of trees and gardens and it is about 3 blocks to a large park along a busy bus route, but it is in the City of Philadelphia and the usual wild life we get are stray cats and a possum or two. Today about 10:00 in the morning a full grown deer ran between my house and my neighbors—maybe 20 ft apart—into their back yard. It stood near a large bush and by the time we could get a camera it was gone. Don’t think my garden has seen a deer in a very long time, but you never know.

My street used to belong to a house on Germantown Ave. which was built in the 1600′s. Properties facing the avenue were long and narrow. Narrow on the street side but long enough to accommodate gardens, orchards and stables. During the Battle of Germantown, revolutionary soldiers had to hop fences as they chased each other through these narrow yards.

Land was subdivided after the Civil War and it is now a neighborhood of Victorian homes where stables or carriage houses have been turned into coveted homes. There has not been any livestock kept here for many years, (although Luke does keep chickens, but that’s another story). So a misplaced deer is a big deal.

Yesterday was a very nice day. Beautiful fall day. Worked in the garden, nice lunch, read a little, carded some wool, dinner with music and later, a little TV. Lazy and very relaxing.

Today was also beautiful but not so relaxing—back to work. I did get to update the image at the top of the page to one of pumpkins on our side porch. (View older header images.)

Some images of our tour of La Bonne Maison.

Madam Masquelier and Heather and Roses

more images . . .

Late Summer Rose in the Rain

Bob grows lots of roses and this is one of my favorites, Frederic Mistral. It is named after the French Nobel Laureate, Fredric Mistral, (1830-1890), whose collections began The Museon Arlaten, a wonderful ethnographic museum in Arles.

The year I visited that museum I also visited La Bonne Maison, a most incredible garden of ancient roses in Lyon. I had been studying printed Textiles at the Musee de l’Impression sur Etoffs in Mulhouse France with graduate students from Philadelphia University. We were lucky enough to join The Friends of the Museum on a trip to Provence. On the way we had lunch in Lyon at La Bonne Maison.

I know there are all sorts of considerations in growing tomatoes but one of our major worries is to beat the squirrels to them. Many times we watch and watch as the tomato ripens and then go out to pick it only to see a big chunk eaten away. Guess we aren’t the only ones watching. But at least this year the first tomato is perfect.

Rained all morning

More on the way!

Bird Bath in a corner of the garden, after the rain.