A Huge Old Tree

 St. Gaudens National Historical Park has one of the largest thornless honey locust trees in the country.  Up until recently it was the largest. Now one in Virginia is larger. This tree was thought to be planted by Augustus St. Gaudens in front of his house in the late 1800s.

The steps to the house have been moved many times to accommodate the girth of this tree. One member of our group worked here 50 years ago and said that the tree was to the right of the door then.  Now you can't see the door to the house.

The head gardener is trying to grow offspring of this tree.  One way is that clear ball around the branch below.  Somehow roots develop and it can be planted.

The tree has it's own ecosystem (maybe that's not the right word) as shown by these lilac sprouts growing above ground between the trunk and a large branch.

I didn't step back far enough to get a view of the entire canopy.  It's outfitted with lightning rods as a precaution plus horizontal supports to support the heavy branches.

Some more views of these lovely grounds.

Gardens

The Little Studio

And a reproduction of a famous sculpture.

Come to New Hampshire to see this wonderful park.  With latest cutbacks on national park funding it's only open Thursday-Monday.  We were there on a Tuesday for a special presentation to our historical society and garden club members.  The buildings weren't open but grounds were.

Good Eats

Made eggroll in a bowl again tonight.  Recipe came from Denise in VA HERE

Tonight I used 1/2 lb. ground turkey and bok choi instead of cabbage.  

I served it over rice with a side of fresh snow peas from my garden sauteed in sesame oil.

Thank you again Denise from sharing this recipe.

Three Great Pieces from The Contrarian

 

Confirming Blanche Might Finish Off Republicans’ Careers

How voting to promote the Epstein cover-up architect could play out.

JENNIFER RUBIN JUN 15

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Senate Republicans who vote to confirm Todd Blanche for attorney general should take heed: They will be haunted for the rest of their careers (some of which may very well end with the midterms) by the courageous survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s monstrous crimes.

CNN reported that last week 19 Epstein victims “responded to The New York Times’s reporting that Blanche and other senior officials participated in Situation Room meetings to discuss how to respond to growing pressure for more transparency as the issue became a public relations crisis for the administration.” The survivors’ statement read in part:

We are deeply disturbed to learn that so many senior members of the administration gathered in the Situation Room to discuss the release of the Epstein files as a reputational problem, rather than an opportunity to pursue investigative leads and try to figure out what actually happened.

Read the rest here  

A Concept of a Plan for an Iran Deal 

What happened — and did — not so far?

JENNIFER RUBIN JUN 15

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Sunday night, Donald Trump announced an Iran ceasefire deal had been reached. In the days to come, we will learn more, but it will be critical to keep an eye on what is NOT in this memorandum and to understand the ceasefire will not curtail, let alone end, Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Council on Foreign Relations Middle East expert Steven Cook told me that his initial impression of the announcement “is that there is nothing in the agreement on which President Trump can actually claim ‘victory.’” He noted, “Even if there is a return to freedom of navigation in the strait, it is merely a return to the Feb. 27 status quo.” Though we are supposedly going to sit down to talk about the Iranian nuclear program, Cook pointed out, “that is what we were doing before he launched the war.” He asked, “Why did he fight this war? Strategically, the president achieved nothing.”

Read the rest HERE

You Removed the Name — and the Curse — of Donald

Inside our Kennedy Center and slush fund successes: Publisher's Roundup 71

The Contrarian and Norman Eisen

Jun 14, 2026

You did it, Contrarians. Out of all the over 300 legal cases and matters that your paid subscriptions have helped make possible, few have garnered more attention than our fights to remove Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center and to stop his $1.8 billion slush fund. Now both are finally happening — and that’s good news for our democracy.

Let’s start with the Kennedy Center, where this happened in the wee hours early on Saturday:

A worker removes a letter from Donald Trump's name from the wall of the Kennedy Center on Saturday. (Cliff Owen/AP)

The removal of Trump’s name was thanks to our client, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), to my colleagues at Democracy Defenders Action, to our co-counsel Washington Litigation Group — and to your paid subscriptions, which help fuel my and my colleagues’ pro-democracy litigation.

Read the rest HERE

Ice Cream and Sunset

First ice cream of the summer season.  We went to Wade's Place in Claremont.  I ordered a carmel sundae with Moosetracks ice cream.  I didn't realize it would be so big.  Dan had a malted chocolate milk shake and helped me eat this sundae.  It was delicious.

On our way home we realized the sky was on fire.

We drove to a cemetery with a great view of Mt. Ascutney in the background.

When we got home and I took this photo from our back yard.