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Peace amongst the plants
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1There’s something about the serenity when one is in nature that just has, at least to me, a calming effect.
A member of my neighbourhood, Marie, obviously feels the same as I do.
See? She even says “Enjoy”. Though for the season, she’s growing red berry bushes and…
Rosemary. She appears to be growing a pile of firewood, too, though I’ve not seen seeds for it in the store.
I lingered, albeit on the street, absorbing the serenity of the garden. I photographed…
…and then vanished like fog in the morning sun.
Silver Blue, who asks: What brings you the most peace and serenity? What puts YOU in a Zen-like mood?
The light is brief, don’t waste it…
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1…the taste is sweet, so taste it, so I said, I understand… you see, I’m dancing as fast as I can.*
Leaving the house this morning, I spied a rose in bloom…laying back in the rosemary. A Rose in the Rosemary…and while I rarely will alter a photo, I thought by adding bokeh (throwing the outer part of the photo out of focus) and blending to white just seemed to capture the mood that I was envisioning in my head.
An update on dad, from a phone call with him after he talked to his cardiologist on the phone. I’ll admit I don’t understand this. The “widow maker” is whistle clean. (For those who don’t know what a “widow maker” is — this is from the Wikipedia: A widow maker is a nickname used to describe a highly stenotic left main coronary artery or proximal left anterior descending coronary artery of the heart.
This term is used because if the artery gets abruptly and completely occluded it will cause a massive heart attack that will likely lead to a sudden death. The blockage that kills is made up of platelets streaming to the site of a ruptured cholesterol plaque. Even a small amount of plaque in this area can (for a variety of poorly understood reasons) rupture and cause death; bypassing chronic blockages or trying to open them up with angioplasty does not prevent heart attack but it can restore blood flow in case of a sudden blockage or heart attack. An example of the devastating results of a complete occlusion of the LAD (Left Anterior Descending) artery was the sudden death of former NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert.
From the minute a widow maker hits, there is a five-minute window of time to get to a hospital or receive emergency care.)
Another bypass is perfectly clean. The triple bypass done with the radial artery is supposedly 100% clogged, yet the heart is perfectly healthy and receiving a completely adequate blood supply (through a “retroflow”) with no ill effects, and no effect on his health. He and mom will go see the cardiologist on Sep 2 and believe me, SHE will get answers.
I don’t understand it, so there must be something he might have misunderstood or wasn’t explained properly.
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/idafaic.mp3]Silver Blue, who is thankful for every day I have my parents, and who wishes I could have been a better son in the times that I wasn’t
(* “I’m Dancing As Fast As I Can” – Juice Newton)
In The Garden
By Silver Blue
Hello, and Welcome! I’m Jonathan Everyday, or John Barker, or Silver Blue depending on how you arrived here. This all feels a bit comforting to me, and alien at the same time. I used to be Hampton Roads most prolific blogger (The Ramblings of Silver Blue) from 2003 until I walked away from it in 2008. Since that time, I’ve developed (I’d like to think) in my photography ability, and in my culinary passion as well.
The Eyes of Silver Blue is a way for me to share some of my photos with you. (For Food, visit The Wannabe Gourmet – I don’t update it as often as I should, but some of the best of the best dishes and their respective recipes appear there.)
Let me introduce you to the 2011 garden:
The upper left plant is known as Cinnamon Basil. The other three are your standard Basil.
Sage. One needs not be a sage to tell that the herbs I grow go well in Italian cooking, even though I am not Italian.
Depending on what part of the world you’re from, this is either slow-bolting Cilantro, or slow-bolting Coriander. Also known as the “parsley of the Latin American cuisine.”
Take time for Thyme. Wonderful with pork, and really, REALLY good when used to infuse vinegar for salad dressings.
Two different types of rosemary. (Notice the only herb missing is Parsley, as I have Sage, Rosemary and Thyme…) Both of these rosemarys have the same flavour profile, so it doesn’t matter which I use in my cooking.
Finally, more regular basil, and in the lower right, a “boxwood basil”. Same scent, different leaf structure. I love making pesto, and that is why I grow such a plethora of basil.
Finally, every garden needs a guardian:
Saint Francis of Assisi, (or as I’ve been known to call him, Saint Francis who’s a sissy). The statuary was a kind gift from my friend (and coworker), Vijay Kalburgi.
You might ask why I have a container garden when my house is situated on a vast plot of land. The answer is: ease of watering, harvesting, and maintaining.
Silver Blue, over and out.
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