The Perils of Pauline and Ray

In honor of Dad's (Ray Leary) 121st birthday, here's a story I've never shared with you before. It needs some buildup.

The silent film series, The Perils of Pauline were mostly filmed in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca was the Hollywood of the silent film era. The gorges, waterfalls, and beautiful Cayuga Lake- all of which I show you pictures of when I go home- created dramatic backdrops for the cliffhanger stories.

Pauline was played by an actress by the name of Pearl White, a native of the Ozarks. The films all had the same plot. Pauline would end up in some sort of mortal peril, and then she would be rescued, usually by a handsome man such as Creighton Hale or Lionel Barrymore. You've probably heard his name at least. Here is Pearl with (maybe) Ted Wharton who with his brother Leo were the big name filmmakers of the era. The 20 Pauline movies were made between 1914 and 1919.

Now we switch to a journalist/ author named Arch Merrill. He lived from 1894-1974. If you are from the Finger Lakes area of New York, you are probably familiar with his books. Some are collections of newspaper columns, others were written as books. They are filled with highly readable tales of the history and culture of the Finger Lakes. Some titles are Slim Fingers Beckon, Tomahawks and Old Lace, The Towpath- you get the idea.

In his book Upstate Echoes, there is a chapter about the era of silent films. He focuses on Pearl White, giving this description. "She wore slacks and smoked cigarettes at a time when women just did not do those things." She drove a canary yellow Stutz Bearcat, usually at breakneck speeds. She was arrested in Trumansburg (a town near my hometown) for speeding, paid the fine and swore at the judge.

In that same book is a story which I will quote:

And there's the tale of the teenaged lad who had long worshiped the actress from afar. One day while standing in his yard, he saw the yellow car stop in front of the house and the angel of his dreams step out. She advanced toward him and the boy blushed and trembled. No doubt the actress, struck by his manly beauty, was going to offer him a ride. Disillusionment was swift and complete when his idol called out: "Little boy, may I use your bathroom?"

Dad always claimed that he was the boy. It's possible. The time frame is correct. The house was on the main highway north from Ithaca and just five miles from Trumansburg. Dad was not given to tall tales or bragging, so it wasn't in his nature to make up stories.

Here is Dad on the porch of the house (with his parents). He looks to me to be 14-16 years old, which puts the years at 1918-1921, but it could have been a year or so earlier. The photo is not dated, and Dad always seemed to look older than his years in every picture I have of him as a child. So this would be about when this episode took place.



Here he is in what I think is 1922. I think this is his high school graduation picture and he would have been almost 18.



At any rate, enjoy the humorous tale. I like to think it was Dad!

Interestingly enough, he died the day before his 71st birthday, or 49 years ago yesterday.

I spent a bunch of time on the computer today and went to the store for supplies. Critter report: We've got ants in the kitchen. I chased a chipmunk out of the house twice today and fixed the loose place on the screen where it was coming in. The woodpeckers are banging on the deck posts, and I'm again fighting the bees.

See The Lake that I Love

The Annual Mistakes- Part 1

I wonder if I'll ever get over trying to tuck some annuals into the gardens for splashes of color or texture. I never seem to have much luck with them. So, I annually make mistakes with annuals. Think I'll ever learn?

On the other hand, neither of these is dead yet, but they can't be described as happy either. They definitely want more water than they've been getting in the rock garden.

I showed you this one when I bought it Setcreasea purpurea, formerly Tradescantia pallida. Yes, a spiderwort, commonly called 'Wandering Jew.' It's gorgeous.

But here's how it looks now. Alive, but hasn't grown at all and it's curled up its toes to conserve moisture. (Although maybe I see a little stem trying to stretch out there at the bottom of the picture.)

Here's the other. I just couldn't resist the texture and color of this. It's Fanflower, or Scaevola 'Suntastic Yellow.' This is how it looked when I bought it in April.

And today. Sad, sad, sad. But alive, so there's that. I wonder if I can keep it watered enough to make it happy again this season.

And, I'm actually sort of lying. Neither of these is an annual. They are tender perennials which can be grown as houseplants. I'll try to bring them inside over the winter and keep them going. I did that OK with a couple of sedums last year. (One of these days I'll show you how that went.)

I spent 3 hours today on a volunteer project. But then I managed to work outside a little bit, do laundry and some editing. Might get outside a little more yet this evening.

See New Acquisitions

Closer In

Just a few fun pictures of closeups. This is the seed head for Gaillardia, the blanketflower.

And this is Sedum elecombeanum that I like so much, but I missed all the bright yellow blooms this year. However, again, the seed heads aren't shabby if you look closely. See all the little stars and polka dots? This plant looks good all season with thick mats of yellow-green leaves that don't get sprawly.

This one isn't blooming yet. I sort of showed this before but it wasn't as good a picture. This is Sedum 'Thundercloud.' The leaves and the way they grow are so interesting!

I'll end with one of my favorite weeds. It has several huge plants in the driveway garden this year. Since there isn't much else, I'm happy to have it. This one got so big it sprawled all over. Next year, I have a ring I can put around it before it starts to grow all the stalks. But the point of this post is the closeups. Here are a few flowers on the long stalk.

There are a few milkweed leaves behind it. The field beside us is full of milkweed, so I don't feel the need to grow it in a garden. But I let a few live this year to fill in spaces.

The temperature was wonderful today, and I had good energy. I spent extra time on computer tasks, and worked outside quite a bit. I'm trimming where I can't get close enough to things with the mower. That makes everything look better. And I spent another 15 minutes on the autumn olive.

See Short Rock Garden Report

A Short Rock Garden Report

I did finish weeding through the rock garden yesterday. Here's the top half today.

And that same view at the end of June when I got home from New York.

It's interesting. In these long shots, the messy one from June almost looks nicer, but not really. Here's why. There were several yellow sedums blooming, so those were colorful. But the geranium and some of the sedums were simply overtaking a lot of the other plants and completely hiding them from view. And trying to crowd/shade them out of existence. It's a cruel world in the botanical wars.

Also, being gone in June means that the several dianthus didn't get deadheaded, so those mostly haven't rebloomed and I pretty much missed seeing them this year.

But I hope you can tell that the picture of it cleaned up shows more textural differences, and that you can see patches of some of the purple and deep red foliage plants. It's interesting how it is hard to see some of the beauty in a photo. When you are standing in the same place the picture was taken it looks much more interesting.

Here is the bottom of the rock garden today.

And at the end of June.

At any rate, I'm very happy to have it all weeded. Apparently the second half of June is a rather critical couple of weeks for crazy growth of aggressive plants.

I'll share some other closeup sections in days ahead as other things begin to bloom.

The vendor event was a bust. But I worked on the little knitting project that I can't show you yet while I was there. There were so few potential customers I didn't even feel guilty doing that.

In other news, I'm tired and achy. Not sure why- humidity? just one of those days?

See Rock Garden Report June 2025

Poor Little Mouse Ears

My little 'Mouse Ears' hosta hasn't been looking very happy. I have decided it wants deeper shade. The place where I put it gets sun for a few hours a day which may be too much. Lots of yellowing leaves.

This is kind of a surprise, since there are two hostas very close by, but different varieties tolerate sun differently.

You may remember that I got this for free last fall because it had only two sad little leaves. But the root was fine, and here's what it looked like in May with its brightly-colored hosta friends.



Two weeks ago, it was even getting ready to bloom- nice fat buds. Then something bit those off, despite the fencing.

Today, I went by the markdown plant rack and found another plant that is the right height and size for that space. It's a 'Blue Chip' Campanula. I've killed a couple of these in the rock garden (long in the past). The rock garden has way too much sun for this plant, but I think the dappled sun where the 'Mouse Ears' was should be perfect. It's not the best looking right now, but that's why I got it for only $3. It will stay low like this and contrasts pretty well with the nearby plants.

And the 'Mouse Ears?' I moved it into deeper shade, but it probably won't look nice any more this year. I think this variety doesn't do well with stress. When I got it last fall those two leaves fell right off, and all the yellowed ones now just came off when I moved it. I'm also not as happy with where I put it- it isn't showcased as nicely. But for now it will do.

I worked on things all day, although it seems like I should have been able to get more done. O well. I edited, I did computer stuff, I shopped for groceries and worked in the gardens some. Maybe I can get outside a little more yet this evening. I'm very close to finishing a weed-through of the rock garden.

See Foliage and More

Those Shifty Sempervivum

Today, I'm going to demostrate how changeable in color the Sempervivum can be.

We'll start with the variety 'Black.' I've talked about this one quite a bit, and was rather disgruntled that it wasn't anything approaching black all last year. However, after overwintering, it was very dark in the spring. You might remember that I was pleased to pair it with the pink Lewisia.

However, here's what it looks like now, in July. So I clearly made a good choice to pair it with something contrasting that blooms in spring.

Here's what it looked like when I bought it.



Now lets switch to the other end of the color spectrum. This one is called 'Gold Nugget.' Here's what the plant tag suggests it's going to look like.

I bought one last year, and another this year. Here's the one that overwintered. It was light maroon up until a couple of weeks ago, but now it seems to be lightening and brightening a bit. Still, not as gold as I had hoped. Or maybe it will be in August-September. We'll watch and see.

Here's the one I bought this year. They are very pale yellow-green when purchased. This has been in the ground for two months and is a bit more green than it started. I've decided you can't forn an opinion about colors until they've overwintered outside.

The 'Gold Nugget' was purchased in response to dissatisfaction with 'Gold Rush' which was also supposed to be golden in color, but hasn't quite lived up to the description. You can see that 'Gold Rush' is going to bloom, but it only has hints of gold in the leaves.

By contrast, it was very golden last year in August, so we'll see what happens this year.



But the point is, they aren't very consistent in the coloration, so if that is important to me (and it is), I need to understand what it looks like at various times of the season.

Those are the most variable ones I have. 'Ruby Heart' was disappointing- not very red. 'Red Heart' is a nice bright maroon all the time, so there's a lesson learned. The 'Red Heart' multiplies quickly, so I can get some other patches started.

We got a half inch of rain last night! And it was cool and breezy all day. Wonderful for weeding. I got a lot done. I'm close to having a full rock garden report.

Also did my editing and some computer work. Played piano a few minutes. I'm currently not feeling obsessed with the music, but I'm sure that will happen at some point. Probably when I find the box of music I want.

One of the flickers came and just sat on the deck for about 20 minutes today. I have no idea why. The baby rabbit was in the rock garden again. Sneaky little bugger.

See Semper Vi

35 Years Since...

Well, it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen Annabelle and Sophie, although it has been a little long.

And it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen Sue, or even since I heard her play a piano.

And it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen this Kathy. What are we doing?

Can you guess? I now have a piano again. (it was FREE- can you believe it? PTL) And it's been 35 years since that was true. You know I'm horribly out of practice, but I played a few pieces that were in the piano bench (badly). I have two cartons full of piano music, plus about 15 hymnals and uncounted chorus books. I'll need to get some of that out. Yeah! More mess.

It was a fairly major project to clear out a space where the piano could live and I need to find better homes for some of the stuff that was in that space. Sue and Kathy came to help move it. That was really a major project, but we did it! Took most of the afternoon.

We also had ice cream, but I didn't realize the SD card wasn't in my camera, so no picture of that.

The morning had the usual computer tasks. Another really hot one today. We are supposed to get some serious rain tonight. I hope that's real or I'll have to water the flowerbeds tomorrow.

See Got Out to One Place

Lily Lane

The day lilies are in full glory. Every variety I have is in bloom, although not all are in this line. This is looking down the driveway, and can give you an inkling of what I think that strip could look like.

I think this is the first time ever they've all been blooming in the same year. A couple of years, the deer cleared all the buds.

The far left one is 'Young Love.' The yellow color is too golden (which you can really see in the group photo), but it's basically the maroon/yellow combo.

Next down is the big clump of Lemon Lilies. These are always the most robust, and the color is perfect.

And my newest one, 'Monterey Jack.' (Although I think it looks more like Muenster.) This one has just the right colors. You can compare with the other blooms and see that this one has been developed for the three petals to be larger than the sepals. I was wondering if I was really happy I bought it (but how could I go wrong at $3 eh?), but now that I see it with the others, I like it.

Now for the dark ones. The lighting was different when I took these pictures, so I can't definitively say which one is darker. This is 'Revolution.' This patch is in the front flower bed. There is a small clump along the driveway, but it didn't bloom this year.

And the old-fashioned one, 'Black Falcon.' I literally dug this out of a ditch some time in the past. But it suffers badly if it gets crowded by grass. So, that gives 'Revolution' an extra point since it spreads much more easily. Do you have a preference? I thought maybe seeing the pictures together would help me choose one, but they really are very similar.

And finally, no day lily display would be complete without "Ditch Lilies." These are the common variety Hemerocallis fulva although mine have all degenerated/evolved (not sure which is correct) to the double version. These are not my favorite, but I wouldn't mind if they would grow along the driveway farther down. They are all non-native, and the orange ones are considered invasive. They are just coming up in our edges, wherever.

In other news. Hmmm. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires was so strong last night it was giving me a sore throat. I kept fitfully waking up with bad dreams. Finally got some real sleep after 4 am and slept late. It was SO hot today that I just wasn't going to do any weeding. I did finish mowing the final space of lawn. It's dry enough now that it won't grow back very quickly. Spent most of the time inside, and a lot of that planning the next trip in my future. Stay tuned.

Also, tomorrow will have a nice event, ending a 35-year hiatus in my life!

See Yellow and Maroon

Fencing: Good, Bad, Philosophy

Good: the nylon mesh fencing keeps most of the critters out of my flower beds.

Bad:
#1- I keep tripping on it myself, but have only done one acrobatic fall down the rock garden as a result (one bruise).

#2- It doesn't keep all the animals out. Something grazed its way through the front flower bed two days ago eating half the painted fern and several hostas, including the 'Mouse Ears' that was going to bloom. I suspect a woodchuck found my little opening that allows me access. There is a chipmunk that goes in and out all the time, but it hasn't eaten stuff yet.

#3- Sometimes it catches wildlife that I only wish to deter, not harm. Last week, a 13-lined ground squirrel was caught in it. It was still alive, and I freed it by wrapping it in a towel so I wouldn't get bitten. It "thanked" me by running right back under the fence into the rock garden.

#3 part two- Today, another blue racer (see link below from last year) tried to get through the fence around the front bed. This one was much more unhappy than last year's. It was smaller and feisty. I did get bitten for my troubles before I managed to catch hold of it and snip the nylon.

Doesn't it just look annoyed? Of course this is anthropomorphizing.

It roughed itself up quite a bit, but no blood, so I think it will be OK.

Philosophy: I don't talk about my faith much on this blog, but this opportunity is too good to pass up.

Yes, the snake bit me before I got hold of it (no big deal- no venom, I cleaned it up afterwards). Snakes have good eyesight, and may even see some colors. They smell with their tongues. You have to wonder what I smelled like to it. It probably had never encountered a human that close before.

To me, it smelled like a stressed snake. We used to have pet snakes, and they have a distinctive odor when they are frightened or overheated (this one was probably both).

It certainly saw me as large and threatening as I repeatedly tried to grab it. It couldn't possibly understand that I wanted to help it. Yes, I know there have been stories of sea mammals and other woodland creatures seeking out help from a human, but I doubt that a reptile that isn't a pet could possibly conceive of this scenario.

It knew it was in trouble. It had tried to get through the netting and had, of course, only gotten more tangled. But it did not see me as the solution to the problem. It had only limited understanding of the kind of being I was (warm blooded, but too large to eat- beyond that, who knows?)

From its perspective, this large thing grabbed its neck and prevented it from doing what it wanted to, pressed something cold (but smooth) into the places where it was hurting (which did then stop hurting), lifted it off the safe ground, TALKED to it- what on earth did those noises mean?, and (gently) threw it far away from where it had been trying to go. None of these things could have been processed by a snake as part of its daily survival goals.

Seems like this is a lot like how we sometimes react to God's intervention in our lives. We can't perceive God in any but the foggiest of ways. We don't like it when our attention is diverted from what we think the problem is. We can't understand much of anything God might try to actually say to us. We are livid when our personal plans and goals are altered unexpectedly.

Maybe, just maybe, there is a Being on a level much higher than our own who wants to extricate us from entanglements we can't understand, but we only get frightened and angry when we are "saved" from a danger we weren't fully aware of and sent on a different path.

OK, enough of that. But perhaps you see my point. I did a lot of computer work and editing with some outside tasks. But then it got pretty hot, so I came back to the computer.

See A Welcome Visitor