Author: Louis Dell'Olio

……………..Considering my house is 118 years old I have had over the years few repairs on the house itself…….After surviving many pretty major hurricanes and Nor-Easters…the old girl is doing considerably well…When Super Storm Sandy hit it took away half of my sea wall and left a huge gapping hole in almost half of my lawn, but the house did incredibly well. Not even a shutter was blown off!!!…..However, over the past year I have had bad leaks on my sunporch facing the water……Something had to be done!….When the work to repair the leaks started we didn’t know what we would find….When the shingles came down we discovered major rot under them. I guess after all those years on the water I wasn’t going to get away scot free!…..The work began and it was extensive, even some windows had to be replaced, but it’s all done after a month and a half of work….All of the leaks and repairs on the house are finally finished! Singles, windows and new gutters that were added are all fixed and NO MORE LEAKS…..FINGERS CROSSED!……..The entire house, shutters and doors were all painted, and I even had the roof painted a dark chocolate brown……The roof used to be a natural beige wood shingle for years, but the dark brown looks so much better with the white house and blue shutters. I even had the outside lamps and railings repainted black…..It all looks great…..Now I’ll never have to do it again!!!………God willing!

………………..Jac and I loved Hydrangeas, and have many bushes on our property….I just added EIGHT MORE!…….This time of year she would cut the flowers, tie the ends of the stems together, and hang them upside down in the basement to fully dry….I’m not so fussy!…..When I think they are ready to cut, and look like they are starting to dry out on the bush, I cut them and put them in vases without water….They dry out just fine, and maintain their color…..I have a variety of Hydrangeas bushes in different colors, so my dried Hydrangeas are different colors too….I have them in many rooms of the house…..so I have Hydrangea bouquets all year long!

………………..I’m watching the US OPEN!!!!……It’s the first time since 2006 that an AMERICAN MAN is in the finals……TAYLOR FRITZ, the American will have a challenge playing against the number 1 seed, ITALIAN, JANNIK SINNER who’s 23 or 24…..It’s not a very Italian name, but an Italian to be sure…….I’m a little torn….do I root for the home team….for the AMERICAN…or being Italian myself….do I root for the Italian……..sorry Jannik, even though I think you will win…..I WILL ALWAYS STAND BEHIND THE AMERICAN and cheer him on!!!………..I hope Taylor wins!…………….GO TAYLOR!!!!!

…………….In the circle, at the end of my driveway where the flag pole is…..I used to have rose bushes…..They were there for years and years, but never did well. In the spring when they started to grow, and the rose buds would form, the deer came and ate them!!!!…..I had enough!! It really looked bad, so I decided to remove them, and put eight Hydrangea plants which the deer and rabbits leave alone……..I had a cinder block path put in so it was easy to put the flag up and take down…….There was a rogue pumpkin plant growing there??? I have no idea how it got there. I can only assume an animal somehow dropped the seed there…..Teresa wanted the ONE pumpkin that was growing, and as soon as it turned orange we cut it, and I had the rest of the huge vine taken out………..Now it looks exactly how I planned………..I LOVE Hydrangeas, and they do very well on my property……..I guess they like the sea air….and the view……I always talk to my plants and trees…..”Good Morning to all”, I say….It’s a good thing there is no one around to hear me!

…………………I LOVE FIGS!……….I remember as a child when we went to visit my father’s father….my grand father, in Brooklyn…..he had an enormous fig tree in his large backyard…….He used to take us to the tree, and pick the ripe ones and give them to us to eat. I loved them!….This was my favorite way to eat them…..fresh, warm right off the tree!…….I have a fig tree up on the side of my garage which is a distance from my house. Honestly, I forgot all about the tree, because I never go there….but….today I took a walk, and was amazed at how BIG the tree grew…..I don’t do anything to take care of it! I don’t cover it when it gets cold, or do anything you’re supposed to do to protect it during the winter……Lo and behold there it was twice the size I remembered. I told Teresa, who takes care of my home, about the tree, and she said….”come with me I want to show you something”….so off we went up the drive to visit the tree. Teresa brought with her a small glass with olive oil in it and a Q-tip…..She said what I’m showing you is what we used to do in ITALY to help them grow and ripen…..She took the Q-tip and dipped it in the olive oil…..She then dabbed the bottom of each fig with a little oil……….There was ONE FIG that was ripe, soft and ready to be picked, which I did. I brought it to the kitchen, gave it a rinse, cut it in half to make sure it was good and bug free……………and ate it!!! It was delicious!!!………Now I have to be very patient, and let them grow and ripen…..and hope the birds don’t start nipping at them!!!!…….I wonder if the olive oil will work????!!!!