Needing a place to park the SUV for the next 2 weeks (not enjoying paying $38 a day at Alex's let alone driving and dodging the infamous Chicago pot holes) we drove out to Jane's place for a visit and a car drop off. WOW! This estate was the feature on the 11th Annual Barrington Country Garden and Antique Tour this year. It is now a registered member of the Garden Club of America/Archives of American Gardens housed in the Smithsonian Museum. I can see gardening requires a lot of water- mainly in the form of perspiration. Three full time gardeners help make these 25 acres spectacular!- "We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."-- Abraham Lincoln
Per the
Smithsonian:
The Garden Club of America was established in 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the Garden Club of Philadelphia and eleven other garden clubs met to create a national garden club. Its purpose is to foster the knowledge and love of gardening and to restore and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and gardening and conservation efforts. The GCA was incorporated in Delaware in 1923, with its headquarters established in New York City. Today, local clubs are organized under twelve regional zones. The GCA continues its tradition of hosting flower shows and publishing material related to gardening in the United States.
Bubba was having the time of his life....touching, smelling. Aquatic Ecosystems, Camellias, Daffodils, Orchids, Roses and on and on... Truly awesome. So what is the difference between the National Garden Club vs. the Garden Club of America? The GCA has been around since 1913 and has 199 clubs and 18,000 members. And know that they have raised $500k for the entrance up date to Central Park. Way to go GCA!
"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."-- Claude Monet
If I only knew how to photograph properly to do this exquisite garden justice. It was all going great till Bubba thought he could follow Jane and hop along the stones...
But he didn't care that he was all wet and muddy....he still wanted to see his personal favorite space-THE VEGETABLE GARDEN of course.
Per Jane,
When planning your garden, it is important to ask a few basic questions:
Who will be doing the work? Will the garden be a group project with family members or friends who will work willingly through the season to a fall harvest, or will you be handling the hoe alone, in between camping and swimming? Remember, a small weed-free garden will produce more than a large weedy mess.
If you plan to can, freeze, dry, or store part of the produce, this will be a factor not only in planning the size of the garden but also in selecting the varieties grown. Some varieties have much better keeping quality than others. Care should be used in choosing the seeds, making sure the varieties you select are adapted to your area and intended use.
And the spoils ended up on Alexandra's kitchen counter top. But not for long. Hello Terrie and Peggy- we await the Ratatouille!
"I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green. "
~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from and Old Manse
THE CHRISTI'S
To top off a beautiful day, a stop off at Dr. George and Christa's house also in Barrington. The Christi's visited us in Boca this past winter while on a get away from the Chicago snow. It is always a pleasure- as all 4 of their children are so well behaved and darling. Good job Mom and Dad! Glad to hear the practice is going well (heart) and good to see Christa has charge of the Casa de Christi. All is well. Our favorite discussion evolves around politics- great minds think alike. This article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal was interesting.....
Millionaires Go Missing
In 2007, 390,000 tax filers reported adjusted gross income of $1 million or more and paid $309 billion in taxes. In 2009, there were only 237,000 such filers, a decline of 39 percent. Almost four of 10 millionaires vanished in two years, and the total taxes they paid in 2009 declined to $178 billion, a drop of 42 percent, says the Wall Street Journal.
- Those with $10 million or more in reported income fell to 8,274 from 18,394 in 2007, a 55 percent drop. As a result, their tax payments tanked by 51 percent.
- These disappearing millionaires go a long way toward explaining why federal tax revenues have sunk to 15 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years.
- The loss of millionaires accounts for at least $130 billion of the higher federal budget deficit in 2009.
But the millionaires who are left still pay a mountain of tax.
- Those who make $1 million accounted for about 0.2 percent of all tax returns but paid 20.4 percent of income taxes in 2009.
- Before the recession, the $200,000 income group paid 54.5 percent of the income tax.
- This means the top 3 percent paid more than the bottom 97 percent, yet the 3 percent are the people that President Obama claims don't pay their fair share.
Source: "Millionaires Go Missing," Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2011.
So who will it be...Romney or Perry?
