Posted by Steve on December 18th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
In another effort to rub it in our family and friends’ faces that we are enjoying wonderful weather while the rest of you are enjoying the magical cold and winter weather that is December, I’d thought I’d share a few more delights from the yard.
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Before it had ever bloomed, I thought this plant was rather boring and we contemplated getting rid of it. Good thing we didn’t. It produces these lovely hanging purple flowers. |
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Close up of the flower, looking up. |
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While this plant has yet to produce any lovely flowers, it has another wonderful property. When the leaves of this geranium are squeezed between your fingers, they release a wonderful lemon-scent. Very accurately named: the lemon-scented geranium |
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This is actually the third appearance for this plant. It was one of my original ‘what is it?’ posts while Lisa was away in September. Careful readers may also recognize it from one of Lisa’s day trip posts with her friends (it was on the beach). As we have approached summer, the plant turned red in many places and produced these lovely little white flowers (which weren’t opened this morning, unfortunately). |
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Here is a close up of this desert plant. As we learned on our trip to Isla Damas, this plant is a very important source of water in the desert of Chile. Both wild animals and the herds of goats rely on this plant. The amount of water locked away in this plant is really amazing. Click here for a 18MB movie showing how much water you can get from this plant. |
Well, I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of our garden. Enjoy your snow and cold weather…
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Posted by Steve on October 14th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
It has been since Oct 1st that we have had a post on this blog and since Sept 29th that she has posted herself. Chile has been con Lisa since Tuesday and yet no new entries. I doubt I am alone in wanting Lisa to get busy with the blog again so I’m starting this petition (on her own blog no less).
We the undersigned demand immediate updates!!!
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Posted by Steve on October 1st, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
Since nothing too exciting has been happening here in Chile, I thought I’d share some more wonders from the garden.
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This little orange flower emerges from a little pod. Not every pod that grows out of the plant produces a flow, some are just hollow. The dark center of the flower is tube-like and extends way back into the pod with some white striping on the inside. |
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This tree in the backyard is a Brugmansia. They are native to South America and have become more popular in the US in recent years. However, they cannot be wintered outside in most parts of the US and are typically shrub size and not 15 feet tall. This one hasn’t been cared for very well recently and needs some trimming to get rid of the old growth. |
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This is one of the Brugmansia blossoms. The flower is approx 6-8 inches long. The flower just emerged so it is still a bit green. It will whiten and the edges will curl up a bit more as it gets older. When watering the backyard earlier I estimated that there are around 100 of these blossoms on the tree. I’m hoping the majority of them wait until we get back from D.C. I think the tree bloomed not too long before we moved into the house, so hopefully it will continue to bloom frequently. From what I’ve read the flowers release a wonderful fragrance at night. |
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This odd flower pops up out of a large green tropical plant in the back. The stalk emerged from the planet, bearing what looked like several individual flower buds. Then the the ‘buds’ just sort of unrolled and the red petals flopped down. It didn’t look that spectacular at first but it is looking nicer and nice as more petals unroll. |
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This flower looks normal from afar but a close-up look reveals that each ‘petal’ on the flower is actually a separate flower itself! How cool. |
Well, that is enough for today’s edition. Don’t worry, there are plenty more odd,interesting and beautiful plants for the future.
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Posted by Steve on September 29th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
My friends and I threw a little party for you down here. Wish you were here!
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Posted by Steve on September 24th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
or the State of the Yard Address
The yard at casa 22 has seen better years and Lisa and I are slowly trying to improve things. Three things have really contributed to the current state of things; 1) sort sort of disease attacked the wonderful hedges, 2) the powers that be cut down an enormous number of trees on the recinto, and 3) no one seems to have taken much care with the yard in many years.
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This a view of the south side of the house, Here you can see a portion of the hedge still in good condition and a palm type tree I like. The flowers around it can go, as far as I’m concerned. |
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These are two “boogenvalias” or whatever they are called. Lisa got them too climb up and over the front door overhang. The one farthest from the house is doing well and has lots of new growth coming. The other one is a bit more touch and go at this point. |
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This little plot has Lisa’s peppermint flower plant in the center. It was once surrounded by nice little flowers. Then the evil bunny rabbits came and destroyed the plot and ate the flowers. I then put up this little fence and so far it has kept anything from getting in. Unfortunately, only two plants seemed to have survived this horrible coming of the bunnies. |
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The real mystery is why this group of flowers remains untouched by the rabbits. They are right across from the other plot and have many of the same flowers. Whatever the reason, these are looking good. |
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This is much more typical of the rest of the yard. A real hodgepodge of plants, some nicer than others. |
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This is a close-up of one of the plants. I like this one since the petals emerge green and turn purple and white as the age. I have no idea what kind of plant this is. Any ideas? |
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This is view down the driveway. We haven’t decided what to put here yet but what is there already looks more like weeds than anything else. You can see some of the decimated hedge in the background. |
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This is the wall to the recinto that forms about 1/3 of our property line (our plot is a triangle). Obviously, we would like to do something to obscure this as much from view. |
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Lisa’s herb garden. This was seed a few weeks ago. |
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One of the nicer plants around this house. There are a bunch of these in the backyard. |
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Here a group of plants I really don’t like. These ‘spider shoots’ or whatever they are don’t look so good and just get in the way. I think they were an attempt to disguise the electric and gas meters. However, since people have to access them to read them, they are actually cleared there. I don’t foresee much future for these plants. The ground beneath them is covered in some sort of clover. |
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Here is a mystery plant. I thought this was a rose bush. Has rose-like leaves, stems, thorns and flower bud. Only when it opened, it was this flower. It even smells like a rose. Maybe this is a type of rose I’m unfamiliar with, Any clues? |
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Here is the sad state of affairs at the top of the property (the top point of the triangle). The hedge is wiped out, the trees are gone and there is pretty much dirt and weeds. Sad. |
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Here is why it is really sad. There is such a great view and potential at the top of the hill. |
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One last mystery. This is one of the plants/weeds growing at the top of the hill. It is covered with what appears to be dew drops over the entire surface of the plant. It isn’t water and they are some sort of protected bubbles of sap or something. I only touched it with a twig since I wasn’t sure if it was poisonous or not, and I have no desire to itch the night away. Does anybody know what kind of plant this is? What strikes me as especially odd is the fact that this is growing naturally (no special care from us) in arid environment. This seems like a particular waste of moisture in this type of environment. This plant is all over the hilltop and seems to be doing well. |
Well, I hoped you’ve enjoyed this tour of the yard. I’m sure as we get some work done and Lisa returns with the real camera (these are all from the camcorder), she’ll be sharing our progress. Until next time…
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Posted by Steve on September 24th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
FYI, Chile con Lisa is currently being upgraded. Things may be a bit wacky while the upgrade process is going on. Let me know if you notice anything.
UPDATE[03:05PM]: The update appears to have gone smoothly. Let me know if you notice anything (you shouldn’t).
Comments Off on Upgrades Upgrades Upgrades
Posted by Steve on September 21st, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
Happy Birthday Mom! Despite the fact you are getting older, I think you are looking better than ever!! See you soon!
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Posted by Steve on September 17th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
It is the big holiday weekend here in Chile and the celebrations are going on full time. The grocery store was packed with people getting prepared for the next few days. Its like Memorial Day, Labor Day and the 4th all put together. On Friday night we had our own Fiestas Patrias Celebration on the reciento. Food (empanadas, kebobs), drink (beer and wine) and performances, music and dancing! A good time was had by all (everybody kept asking how long it would be until Lisa gets back) and luckily I had my video camera. I’ve quickly thrown together a 13min film showcasing the festivities. Enjoy!
Click here for the movie.
45 MB in size. Right-click to save movie to disk.
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Posted by Steve on September 12th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
Not everyone gets to go off and play. Some of us have to stay here in Chile and save the world work. Lisa seems to be updating things just fine from the Outer Banks (although we’ll see if she stays…) but I’d thought I keep you and her up-to-date on the other hemisphere. We are fast approaching 18 Septiembre, the Chilean Independence Day. For all the patriotism you see near the 4th in the US, we’ve got nothing on the Chileans. Things get rolling as soon as September arrives and nearly everywhere you go gets decorated with flags and banners and balloons. Since the Chilean flag is red, white and blue, it all feels very familiar. Nearly all the taxis have two small flags on the front, so they all look like diplomatic taxis. The actual holiday is on Sunday, which is sort of a bummer since we don’t get the day off then. Unlike the US. they don’t have separate “observed” holidays on Mondays. But, since they have nearly 20 holidays a year, we still get a lot even if half lie on weekends (some always do — like Easter). But don’t feel too bad for me since I still get a four day weekend. How? Well the 19th is Glories of the Army day, which is about the coolest name for Armed Services Day. Then the 20th is some holiday that is only really celebrated in La Serena. Since apparently we can’t take off for that reason, it has also become AURA-O Director’s Day which we can get off work for. AURA is the semi-governmental organization that manages things here for Gemini and the US observatory.
Tune in next time for: rabbits, flowers and fence talk. Whoo hooo!
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