What a loot!

Upon returning home to Boston, Janice and Joy sent a photo reporting all the produce was safely home.  What a loot! Taking a close look, we noticed they have missed several items: Korean melon and Taiwanese cucumber, some kale and the luffa that Katy cut in order to save space inside luggage.

This photo is the produce Janice and Joy harvested the first day.

 

Two were lying horizontally and comfortably.  Janice and Joy may be good weeders, but certainly not good harvesters; a good harvester knows how to “hunt” especially in the lush luffa garden with so many dense leaves.  They only saw the ones hanging and missed the ones lying.
The moment before they headed for the airport, they harvested two more luffa, but still missed several big ones that were detected by Katy today.

 

Joy harvested kale; she knows how to prepare kale to make it a delicate dish.

This is what we harvested today--one day after Janice and Joy harvested everything harvestable.

Korean melon

Taiwanese cucumber

A birthday party: When East meets West and the origin of the "Eating Club"

I went to my birthday party anticipating to see the loyal members of our “Eating Club”.  Katy said buffet was chosen as some young couples with kids were also invited.  Little did I know many of our good friends in Pittsburgh were also there.  The “conspirators” of this unexpected event were Janet and Katy.

Katy said this would give our American friends chance to meet our friends in Pittsburgh.  When we visited Pittsburgh we hanged out with these people.  If there were anything good about me, credit is theirs. Were there anything bad about me, now you know where and how I got polluted.

In order to explain the origin of our “Eating Club” I have to take you back to 40 years ago when we had a good fortune to become the neighbor of Dr. and Mrs. Greenlee, parents of Janet.  Dr. Greenlee was a Mayo Clinic trained surgeon.  Mayo brothers were still practicing when Dr. Greenlee went there after graduating from University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1922.

While not practicing medicine and surgery, Dr. Greenlee worked in his farm; he was a seasoned and experienced gardener.  Katy was not born with a green thumb; she worked with Dr. Greenlee many decades before I picked up gardening.  When Dr. Greenlee passed away at age of 102, all my three daughters said regardless how great and how respectable Dr. Greenlee was as a surgeon, he will always be their loving Grandpa Greenlee; they most remember learning patience and steady work in the garden with him as well as the simple pleasures of watching baseball and football with him on TV.

 

I am hoping you will enjoy looking at our photo (below) of being the poster boys of American Lung Association.
 

 

This plaque of “An old gardener lives here with his American beauty” used to hang in the kitchen of Dr. and Mrs. Greenlee, with the passing of both of them; it is now hanging in our kitchen.  We earned the honor and privilege as we’re the most qualified couple to receive it:  there is an old gardener in our household and after living more than 40 years in America, Katy can unabashedly claim to be an American beauty.

After taking care of Dr. and Mrs. Greenlee for so many years, Patty and Joy have practically become family.  We managed to meet and have a dinner together rotating among several restaurants in Washington and Waynesburg areas every so often after the passing of Dr. and Mrs. Greenlee and John Gapen (Irene's husband); and Eating Club gradually came into being.  The loyal members of the Eating Club include Janet, Kay, Patty, Ron, Joy, Irene, Katy and me.  There would be some honor guests on special occasions; out-of-town family came back for a visit usually called for a special “meeting” (meet and eat and sharing good time--invoking fond memory of Dr. and Mrs. Greenlee and John Gapen, providng healing effect for those left behind--caretakers and families).

Dr. Greenlee was our daughters’ American grandpa and Mrs. Greenlee was our American mother, thus Janet is our American sister, so are Patty and Joy.  Dr. Greenlee was always the “Doc”, a title I am now privileged to assume; just look at my birthday cake: “Happy Birthday, Doc”.


The simple food was served, hopefully some were delicious, but many marveled at the cake which was superb. Both Irene and I got a cake; Janet knows where to get the best cake in Western Pennsylvania and which one is my favorite one.
 

Janet was disappointed when she found out which cake was my favorite, saying “Darn! That was the most expensive one!”  I am a simple man; my taste is simple; I enjoy the best and I am worth it.

Janet took good care of us or even spoiled us; the list of what she has done for us is as long as your arm; she even took us out to the ball game at PNC Park.

There are “King and Queen” (Birthday Boy and Birthday Girl) in the birthday party; Irene and I have birthday very close in August; we routinely celebrate birthday together and this year is no exception.  Irene is celebrating her 90^th birthday and mine 70^th.

Irene is also our neighbor and lifelong friend of Dr. and Mrs. Greenlee.  Her husband, John, before his passing, was also an avid and skilled gardener, with whom Katy learned all the tricks and skill of the gardening.

Let this post serve as a Thank You note to everyone who took time to celebrate my and Irene’s birthday.  When the East meets the West to celebrate our birthday; we must have the best of the two worlds.  Thank you, Janet (my American sister) and Katy (my American beauty) from the bottom of the heart of an old gardener.  Turning 70, feeling older; fortunately many friends remind me of 人生七十才開始 (life just begins at age of 70).

 

The gift of books to a gardener and a Taiwanese-American-Anglophile

Janice and Joy brought home my birthday gifts from my three girls, including 3 books and a book bag from Barnes & Noble with an inscription of “A book is like a garden carried in a pocket” among many others.  What we cultivate in the garden is not just flowers and veggies, but also mind.  To read a book is like to cultivate a garden, one expects the growth and harvesting of the mind.

All the books carry inscriptions that please and entertain me.  I would like to share the inscriptions with you.

The inscription on the book of “The collected poems of Emily Dickinson” is

“May Dickinson’s words weave

  a web of garden inspiration,

When winter gives reprieve

  from summer perspiration.”

The inscription on the book of “The complete Peanuts” is

“To the man who taught us
  to start the day with a
  good laugh –

            Happy 70^th Birthday !!

                   Love,
                         Joy, Janice & Jo”

The inscription on the book of “Tudors” is

“His knowledge of this English past
  is so through and so vast
  ‘Tis true! This Taiwanese-American-Anglophile
   is an honorary Brit of that other Isle”

(Now I still have to write a Thank You note to those who took time to celebrate my birthday with me.  The party for which I was not responsible to arrange; it was a surprise to me; I think the conspirators were Janet and Katy.)

Right of way in our garden

When Janice and Joy made the first tour of garden, I reminded them they do not have the right of way walking in our garden.  There are areas where the flowers expand and extend onto the path of stepping stones.

While planting the flowers we’re always careful designing the proper space in between and the distance away from the walkway.  All the flowers paint our garden with delight; planting them few and far between won’t do it.  But, flowers are like us, some grow bigger (more branches) and taller than others.  Besides some of them came back on their own near the edge of the walkway and we never got the chance relocating them.

Cutting luffa with skill and style

I don’t know what garden skill Janice and Joy possess when they first came home, but I know they cut the luffa with skill and style.  The loved ones came all the way from Boston to enjoy the garden calls for a ceremony equivalent to ribbon cutting.

Seeing how Janice weeds the garden, I would hire her as a gardener in a heartbeat.  Joy picked all the ripe tomatoes competiting with the birds.

Late bloom of cannas

We dug up the rhizomes of the cannas before the freezing winter came and replant next season, usually in late spring.  But this year we were so far behind the schedule, ending up with a late bloom of cannas; many more to come.

I like canna for her vivacious, bright red flowers and large attractive foliage.  I usually plant them near the center of a section of the garden, so they can 傲视群雄.

A garden rescued

During the month of June and early July many of the flowers withered and perished due to too much rain and not enough sun in the West End (name of which is inspired by London’s theater district) of the garden.

We gardeners believe in tomorrow; we embarked a mission of rescue by transplanting celosia, the “old flame” that came back on their own, and marigolds that I cultivated from seeds.

If I show you the photos taken in June, you will appreciate that this is indeed a garden rescued.  But, our flowers are only human; they don’t want to be seen when not in their best shape and colors.