per·i·pa·tet·ic
ˌperēpəˈtedik/
adjective
  1. 1.
    traveling from place to place, especially working or based in various places for relatively short periods.
    "the peripatetic nature of military life"
    synonyms:nomadic, itinerant, traveling, wandering, roving, roaming, migrant,migratory, unsettled
    "I could never get used to her peripatetic lifestyle"
  2. 2.
    Aristotelian.
noun
  1. 1.
    a person who travels from place to place.
  2. 2.
    an Aristotelian philosopher.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

NN/SOTS: 'Mistress o' th' Feast' or Hostess with the Mostess?


Shepherd: "Fie, daughter! When my old wife lived, upon
This day she was both pantler, butler, cook,
Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all;
Would sing her song and dance her turn; now here,
At upper end o' th' table, now i' th' middle;
On his shoulder, and his; her face afire
With labor, and the thing she took to quench it
She would to each one sip. You are retired,
As if you were a feasted one and not
The hostess of the meeting. Pray you, bid
These unknown friends to 's welcome, for it is
A way to make us better friends, more known.
Come, quench your blushes and present yourself
That which you are, mistress o' th' feast...

(from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Act 4, Scene 4)

The lumberjack festival was a cut above the normal list of things to do in Northwest Florida last weekend. I felt pretty good about myself, having given up two hours to meet and greet the public in the name of all that is research-based knowledge. Wouldn't you know, though, that the camera went for a ride on SAM's shoulder and in the Honda on Saturday?--see my comment on the last post--so I made sure that it was fully engaged and gainfully employed the next day at Arcadia Mill.


After making the trek across the swinging bridge, single-file because the stream was so high, I found wild blueberries in bloom again--or are they sparkle berries?--along one of the many side trails. SAM's foot was bothering him so we took a short break in a clearing and sat down on a massive log. We heard voices closing in on us. Two young men and a young woman stepped through the surrounding brush. One of them, dread-locks bedecked, stepped forward and asked us what we were doing. Huh? What could be so mysterious about two pudgy, gray-haired people parked on a log? The sun is shining, the afternoon is wearing on, you can see that we have feasted well and often...This young man would not be satisfied by appearances only. He had to know. What do we think of this site? How old is that log you're sitting on? We got to talking. Well, at least he did. He was verbose. We could barely get a word in edge-wise. He finally understood that we love to hike, enjoy nature and each other's company, blog, and garden--well, at least I do, the latter two things. Many questions were answered, I hope, and that nice young man made me aware of something I had not noticed when crossing the bridge over the stream-too-high. Did you see the sliders? he asked. What? The sliders on the log, just past the first bridge. Oh! Well, you see, I was trying to keep the camera dry and trying to be careful where I stepped. I had missed them! What kind of a naturalist am I? The kind that went back to see those sliders still sitting on their log and not even know for sure that what the young man with the dread-locks called them was correct. It is, and they are--yellow-bellied slider turtles, that is, or if you're a purist, Trachemys scripta, "rough turtle that is marked."

Monday saw SAM at work in Tallahassee and me at work in the garden here, trying something new-to-me and quite possibly to you--seed tapes. I found these at the nearest box store and decided to give them a go. What kind of a gardener am I? I'm still not sure yet.

Please visit Ramblingwoods.com for this week's Nature Notes/Signs of the Season post. You will be glad that you did. Let her and the other participants for this week know by dropping in and leaving a comment!

21 comments:

  1. I got my Burpee catalog and did not see these seed tapes! I must investigate...sounds right up my alley...at least maybe at times???

    I love to see the turtles all lined up on logs! We saw some at Wakulla, and here at Jonathan Dickenson State park, that I can remember...probably many other places too! Such cuties!

    Sounded like a very talkative and friendly guy you ran into....maybe with A.D.D.????? LOL.

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  2. I've never heard that name before. Such an interesting post, and lovely photos. Thank you :)

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  3. Wonderful turtles. Seed tapes sound like a great way to make one's life easier. Enjoy the process and the result.

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  4. Learned something new this morning. Never heard of sliders before.
    Marnie

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  5. What type of gardener uses seed tape? A lazy one. (Hee hee!)

    How neat that the youngster was a talker. I wonder if he'd know about a Slippery Rock Slider? (A local college town's triple A baseball team - http://theslipperyrocksliders.com/)

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  6. Julie, you can find the tapes in the seed display at Lowe's (where I found them) and probably at Home Depot too. It's strange that Burpee doesn't have them in their catalog. I guess there are just too many diehard gardening purists like The Write Gardener that they don't want to dismay with their newfangled gadgets. LOL! That young man in the woods was a real treat: not shy at all, polite (except for talking too much without really listening), and helpful about pointing out something I should have seen. Most people we encounter on hikes just smile or might say hello. It's fun to encounter an interesting character like Mr. Dread-locks.

    Thanks, Denise. I'm guessing you're referring to the yellow-bellied sliders? I hadn't heard of them before this hike either. I'm sure I had seen them before but wasn't curious enough to check out the name. Mr. Dread-locks deserves the credit for piquing my interest.

    Leora, you bet! Those tapes are my new favorite for ease of planting tiny seeds like lettuce. If they produce a lot of stuff to eat, then I'll be buying them from now on.

    Marnie, I'm glad I could be of assistance. I wouldn't have bothered to check on the identity of the turtles if not for the young man we met.

    Well, TC, at least I'm not wasting my seed or time by having to replant when they get washed away. They surely would have in this last gully-washer rain we've had. I'm trying to be not so lazy with the blog this time like I was with the last post--just leaving a blanket response to everyone who commented. Aren't you proud of me?

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  7. i like the photo of the the tortoises
    and i really enjoyed that story
    thanks for following!

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  8. I love to find Shakespeare, although The Winter’s Tale is not one of my favorite plays. There’s so much nastiness in it: the man who rescues the baby from the court being eaten by a bear, the mother being imprisoned and needing to fake her death, and the crippled son dying. I could never get why they forgave the jealous, vindictive king.

    It looks so spring like in your garden and loved the turtles in the opening shot.

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  9. Hello, Rafael! You have a wonderful blog, and I enjoy seeing your part of the world. I hope you show us more of the Portugese culture and history along with the everyday happenings.

    Sarah, I find this play to be fascinating because of its nastiness. It marks a big turning point for Shakespeare's writing career and seems to be fairly reflective of England's mood, already in full Jacobean mode at the time. It's a play with a split personality. I love the way Hermione refuses to be victimized by her husband's overblown midlife crisis and turns the tables on him at just the right time. Of course, there is collateral damage along the way as you mentioned, which is sad but true-to-life. It's a great play to study for structure. Shakespeare was at the top of his game here, I think.

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  10. Fun story: strange encounters are like that. We remember them in ways we only understand later.

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  11. Interesting post, cool shot of the turtles. I've never seen wild blueberries. i do have some growing in my yard in the summer.

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  12. 'Sliders' must be a term used across the pond, because I've never heard it used for turtles before, or anything really.

    I have heard of seed tapes, but only after I'd bought all my seeds. maybe I will investigate another year (and after you've confirmed that they're good to go).

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  13. Enjoyed today's post very, very much. Had hoped to learn more of the Lumberjack Festival. I don't see many turtles here in Cape Breton, but The Ranger assures me they are around. I'm mostly at the ocean, though, not fresh water. Even the fresh water habitats I explore are at the ocean, and have a bit of a salt content, which I doubt would interest turtles. Blueberries in bloom!! Can't wait. My blueberries are low to the ground....makes for sore, achy backs during harvest! Have a great weekend! ~karen

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  14. Mr. S, you just never know what interesting people you will meet while hiking. These three were younger than most that we have met, which I think is kind of sad. Why aren't more young people out walking in the woods and studying nature? Mr. Dread-locks seemed to be at a crossroads in his life and was curious about different nature-related careers. Maybe that's why he intrigued me. I hope he finds something to suit him.

    Thanks, Eileen. Do you have any favorite blueberry recipes? I'm already counting the ways I'm going to prepare some this summer.

    TIG, sliders is a term here across the pond that even refers to small, usually greasy sandwiches, most often made of ground meat. I hope the tapes do well here. Veggie growing is a challenge here in Florida, at least in my garden. The soil in our yard is not the best, even though I've been amending it for several years now. I thought the tapes might at least prevent the usual washout which occurs with most small seeds that I plant. They tend to slide right out of the garden with even a moderate rain, helped along by those ball-bearing-like sand grains which make up most of the soil. If the tapes do well, I'll post about it. I wouldn't want Burpee to think the tapes are useless if they don't produce in my garden since it is such a challenging place.

    Thank you, Karen! I'm sorry that I didn't have any pics of the festival to share. The booth was very creatively done, and I wish that I could show it to you. Someone was telling me that it's supposed to be displayed at the county fair in a few weeks, so maybe I can snap a pic or two there. As for turtles, I did a post a while back about a snapping turtle that we found in brackish water (salt marsh) on Fort Pickens, which is at one end of the barrier island most people refer to as Pensacola Beach. I was crossing a foot bridge over the marsh, and it popped up out of the water to take a look at me. We planted some blueberries last year in our yard, and I'm hoping we get a few (pounds, maybe!) this year from them. They actually grow very well in this part of Florida, the southern highbush kind, I mean. They don't require as many chilling hours as the northern varieties. Although this year, I don't think it would have been a problem anyway. It was way too cold for too long this winter!

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  15. Love my Shakespeare. Don't love thinning my veggie seedling rows.... i.e I also like my seed tapes. :)

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  16. I kept coming back to the lumberjack festival in Florida. Florida? I could see it in Montana or someplace with huge trees. Florida?

    I also loved the turtles.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

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  17. What a lovely blog! One never knows what the next step holds. I remember the time my daughter asked me to attach dreadlocks to her gorgeous black hair...ugly brown things. I tried my best but it didn't take her long to decide anything was better than her mom's dreadlocks.

    I was in Florida last week at the Wakotahatchee wetland preserve in Palm Springs (?) and met a woman who in uncommon friendliness attached herself to me and helped me identify the Purple Gallinule and several other birds I'd never seen before.

    I am linking to your blog as I'd like other readers to find you.

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  18. I see your above commenter was at Wakodahatchee Wetlands...an absolutely incredible place to visit if you are ever down south here! We live about an hour north of it, but just wanted to clarify that it is in Delray Beach, Florida. Built over wetlands, you walk out over a boardwalk, and see the most amazing wildlife, on land, in air and water. It is almost like being at Disney World with the interactivity of it all...birds fly past you and land right next to you, etc.

    Right down the street is a Japanese garden and Museum... The Morikami, which is stunning and worth as many visits as you could ever give it! We make the trip down quite often throughout the year.
    You and SAM would LOVE both of these places! Oh, I should mention that right across from the Morikami, is the American Orchid Society, filled with tropical treats and, of course, loads of orchids!!!

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  19. Fantastic shots.
    I <3 turtles! Never seen these.

    http://www.SoulCrayons.typepad.com
    -Gel

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  20. Great news, TB! It's good to hear that someone has had success with the tapes. I've already noticed a few radishes popping up where I planted one of the tapes. They're usually quick to germinate. I don't like thinning veggies either. It seems wasteful of seeds and time.

    Helen, this part of Florida is famous for its lumber--pine and oak. Forestry is a big deal here, and the college offers degree programs for that specialty. Thanks for your visit!

    Beryl, thank you! Daughters can be very particular about their hair, can't they? I remember finally putting my foot down to my mom who insisted on braiding my hair when I was a kid. She even pinned them up above each ear as "snails," like Princess Leia in Star Wars has. That was the last straw for me. No more braids!

    Thank you, Julie, for the great information. Next chance we get to visit your part of the state, I'll be sure to check out those spots. If we have some time to spare, I will e-mail you, and maybe we can meet up. I love to meet other bloggers!

    Gel, the turtles are new to me too. I've probably seen some before, but the young man we talked to piqued my interest to learn more about them. I wish I could thank him.

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  21. I've never seen those Burpee seed packs before. I'm going to have to look into them.

    I don't know what kind of gardener I am either. I describe myself as being the kind that will try any plant once, twice if it dies.

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