West Bethel
By Lorrie Hoeh
June is bustin’ out all over! The mayapples are in bloom, and every day we see more lady-slippers. Wood thrushes serenade us from the surrounding trees, as do the veeries with their buzzy downward spiral song. The first crop of pole beans has sprouted, and the broccoli and brussels sprout plants are thriving. Tomatoes have been put in their cages, and cucumbers are poised to send their vines up a trellis Mike put in.
On Monday Nancy Davis invited me along on a plant safari. We stopped first at Hummingbird Farm in Turner, where Nancy bought several herbs for a planned herb garden, and I found a peony plant, which I hope will be happy in the Garden of Eden. From there we progressed to McLaughlin Gardens, where we had a pleasant lunch and then browsed their big lilac weekend plant sale. Unfortunately, the lilacs themselves were pretty much gone by, owing to the very early onset of warm weather this year. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ambling about the shade garden, and we both came away with plants, mine a very small beginning of a cream-colored lilac.
Memorial Day morning we woke to the smell of smoke, which turned out to be from a forest fire north of Québec City. The smell was strong, and the haze from the smoke blurred the mountain vistas. The mountains were still shrouded by mid-afternoon, but the wind was meant to change direction and blow the smoke back north.
Mike and I attended the end-of-year concert Friday evening at Gould Academy. Our granddaughter, Molly Siegel, is in the chorus, so we were especially interested in hearing that group. Molly and her friend, Abby Goldberg, sang a duet of a German song, “Die Meere,” by Brahms. The chorus, the jazz band ensemble, and the full concert band all performed very well. In addition, there were other solos and duets, and two very talented pianists who entertained us. Well done!
We had a dead-or-dying fir tree in the side yard that really needed to come down. Mo Libby (the alpaca lady) brought around her friend, Lon Dresser, who allowed as how he could do the job. Well, he did, and very well indeed. Lon is an artist with a chainsaw and was able to drop that tree across our lower driveway, avoiding numerous crisscrossing wires, and falling between, not on, two recently planted lupines on the far side of said drive. So if you have any trees that need felling, we recommend Lon highly for the job.
Silly me, buying more plants, because now I have to do more digging and sod-busting so that I can plant them. And speaking of plants, Saturday, June 5, is the annual plant sale at the Bethel Library, starting at 9 a.m. sharp. This is a real opportunity to buy perennials inexpensively, as well as herbs and other plants, and it all goes to support our very fine library. Hope to see you there!
Once again I ask you please to contact me with any news, views, sightings, etc. I can’t write the West Bethel news if you don’t supply me with information. Reach me at dhoeh@megalink.net or 824-2917.