I bet you thought I wouldn't do it...

A week or two ago Jane, at Smallbutcharming, mentioned she had a lot of weeding to do in her garden, whereupon I said I thought I might have more weeds than she did.  More than anyone could imagine, maybe.  A few days later Jane threw down the gauntlet, shall we say?  Well, Jane, here you go.  Proof that I just might have more weeds than you can even dream of.  At least I hope so, for your sake.

Yikes!! Scary, isn't it? Granted, this is in the very far back corner of my backyard, the one that nobody ever visits.  Inluding me.  One day this area will be the bf's shed/workshop, so I don't really want to spend a lot of time on it.  Right now it is used mostly for temporary living quarters for plants I don't know what to do with. And by that, I don't mean the weeds!

I did spend the better part of the weekend cleaning this area up, and after I add the 5 bags of mulch to this area I will take new pictures and post later this week.

To redeem myself to all the gardeners out there I give you this:

The Salvia is blooming.

And how about this:

Equisetum

I'll be back with updates later this week.  Hope y'all had a great weekend?

what's new?

"There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.'
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster."    ~ Dalai Lama




So maybe you've been wondering where I've been? Maybe not.  Maybe you're getting used to me being gone for periods of time and don't think a thing about it?  Well.  Here I am, none the worse for wear.  It's been a long and crazy week and a half, so I'm here to update you on the goings-on around here.

I've had some time on my hands (more about that later), so we finally got this done:

The gate was done a few months ago, but we just now finished the lattice fence on each side.

Can you see the wine bottle "fence" there on the left?  We drink wine fairly regularly, but it took over a year to save up all those bottles!

The raised beds we put in for the veggie garden seem to be doing the trick - we have a stellar harvest in store for us this year:

Three tomato plants.  Right now they each have about three dozen tomatoes on them - and that doesn't include the flowers.

Swiss Chard.  Two more weeks for the first harvest, then there should be another harvest 2 months later!

Yep.  That's a baby sized zuchini right there.  I'm doing a happy dance, because this is the first year, in this house, that I've been able to get anything from my zuchini.

Peppers.  Lots of them.  Lots of different kinds.

We had a toad orgy in the pond and the first Water Lily bloom - both on the same day:

You can't see the toads in this picture and you should be happy about that.  It's pretty gross.  There are hundreds of them with  lots of 3 on 1 action, and they make a horrible racket.  I don't think the fish approve, either.

And probably most importantly, but far and away not the best thing to happen recently - I got laid off.  I guess technically I'm not laid off, because I worked freelance (under contract - therefore no unemployment - sad face), but it was completely economically driven.  The company hit a real, big bump in the road, in terms of sales, about six months ago and they haven't recovered yet.  My boss thought he'd be able to get it righted, but it will take months (maybe longer), and I can't wait that long.  Yep, it's kinda scary.  But a couple of good things have happened because of it - my friends have circled around me, filling me with love, and caring, and positive thinking.  I've always known I have these fabulous friends, but sometimes it takes something like this to remind me of just how wonderful they really are. And how lucky I am.  I got a bit of a severence package, so I have a small amount of time to find something, but it's tough out there.  Wish me luck on that, would ya?

The other good thing is I've had more time for all the things I love to do, including this:

This pose is good for self confidence.  There are times when I could definitely use more self confidence (now).

Seriously - there is nothing better than an inversion to clear your head.

So, I'm spending my mornings online, connecting with people and looking for new opportunities, then from late afternoon on I'm in the garden or on my mat in class, clearing my head.  I haven't actually looked for a job in a very long time.  Most of the jobs I've had in my lifetime have been with or through people I know.  By the way - were you all aware that 99% of jobs posted on Craigslist are scams?  I found that out quickly.

I'll keep y'all posted!

ahhhh...

The one good thing about being sick?  I feel so damn good when it's over.  Being sick makes me remember that without our good health we don't have much, and it makes me so grateful for my normally healthy body.   I still have some sniffles, and to be on the safe side I took some Sudafed this morning, even though I didn't feel terrible. And I skipped the gym this morning for one more day (it's scary how easily I  could get used to this skipping the gym thing - especially when it is so beautiful walking around the garden with my coffee at 8 am!).  But, for the most part I feel excellent!  Ahhh...life is good. 

As you might expect, I haven't done much lately, but Mother Nature didn't stop.

The Irises are beyond beautiful.

This beautiful climbing rose is one that I never even knew existed until I started cleaning up the gardens last summer.  It has rewarded me with dozens of blooms so far this year!

What can I say?

Before I started feeling puny I did get around to cleaning up the front yard.  I trimmed all the liriope back and now the sidewalk looks twice as wide.  Not sure if you can see it in the picture, but the Lady Banks Rose is blooming on the arbor. The Jasmine won't be far behind and the fragrance will be unbelievable.

Also went to opening day for the Farmer's Market and found a new bakery.  This Foccacia was SO good!  And the fresh strawberries (in salad) were sweet and beautiful.  I noticed there were several new egg suppliers.  They all had pictures of their hens, and the coops and yards where they kept them.  I always like to see where my eggs come from.

While I've been lying low with this cold/allergy/whatever thing, my office has been moving.  We moved just one flight up where where we were in this historic old building in downtown Wilmington.  I'm getting pictures of the new space now and hope to have them up tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow - I'm hoping I'll be back on my bike to get to work tomorrow.  Haven't felt up to it for several days now, but with gas prices going up daily, I'm thinking I better get back on it!

Our weekend activities!

It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved,  to have thought, to have done. ~ Matthew Arnold

Well.  Here it is Tuesday already and I'm just getting around to my weekend.  So, what did I do? 

Friday night was spent cooking and enjoying some corn chowder, nice, warm, crusty 9 grain and sunflower bread, a lovely little salad and plenty of wine, with a couple of girlfriends that I haven't seen in weeks and needed some serious catching-up time with!  The bf was working late, so we girls had a great time.

Saturday was spent at yoga and running around town in my new-to-me car.  Love that thing!  I got some fabric to try out making some very simple slipcovers for the chairs in the living room.  I haven't tried that before, but I'm armed with directions from several blogs.  But I think if I figured out how to make drapes, I might be able to do this.  I'll let you know how that goes in the coming weeks.  Then the bf and I went out for our weekly "date".  Date night is usually Friday night for us, but the movie the bf is currently working on is shooting a lot of late nights, so this week we went on Saturday, instead.  We went to a place that we've been to before, but only for wine and appetizers at the bar.  Saturday night was our first dinner experience there, but it won't be the last.  It was fabulous! The mango salsa alone was worth the price of dinner.  Janet, at the Gardeners Cottage, posted something about going out for date night the other day, and she had pics of how cute she looked.  I was not that ambitous - it was jeans and a sweater for me, although I did wear heels, and made the bf put on a nice shirt!

Sunday morning, after our coffee in bed time, and then the bf''s world famous French Toast with Walnuts and Bananas, we headed to the local nursery for some soil amendments (peat moss and chicken poop!) for our new raised bed veggie garden.  I had a veggie garden last year but wasn't thrilled with it's productivity, so I asked the bf to build me some raised beds.  I filled them with a years worth of our own compost, the peat moss, chicken poop and a load of good, dark topsoil.  If I don't get better results this year I may have to give up.



Cute!




Two 8'x4' raised beds.  And, yes, my veggie garden is in the front yard.  Technically it's on the side of the house.  That's the only place in my yard that gets enough sunlight.  It's fairly common in the neighborhood.




Three kinds of tomatoes, basil, parsley, bell peppers (2 kinds), Jalepenos, Swiss chard, zuchini, summer squash and eggplant!  Keep your fingers crossed.



So, a wonderful weekend was had by all, I hope?



every day we get a little closer...

"A hush is over everything, Silent as women wait for love; The world is waiting for the spring. "~
Sara Teasdale  (and no one more than I, I might add!)






A beautiful day today!  The sun was shining, with highs in the upper 60's, and even better - it's supposed to stay that way all week.  Most years this would be normal for us.  Not so much this year, though.  It makes me appreciate it all the more.  So I spent the entire afternoon out in the garden, doing some much needed clean up work.  Ahhh...it felt so good.  Jack spent the afternoon outside with me, following the sun across the yard and laying down in the warm patches of sunlight.  I'm a summer person, he's a summer dog.

As I worked, I noticed all the little (so far) signs of Spring:



Tiger Lily, just poking up.




A few Azaleas already!




The moss on this rock is amazing.  Once it warms up that probably won't stick around.




Hydrangea leaves are budding.



Of course the Camellias are budding.  They're late this year.  Normally they would be flowering now.



Buddha has moss all over his head and on his right arm! (The stone in his hand says "imagine".)

 Guess where I'll be again tomorrow?  A happy week to all!

 "There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling".    Mirabel Osler



Fall is really here.  Cold, dark, mornings and earlier sunsets.  The leaves are turning and the garden is settling down from it's crazy and riotous summer antics.  On my early evening stroll through the garden yesterday I noticed a few blooms, though.  The roses, although much healthier looking than they have been since May, still are not blooming.  Any day now.  And they'll bloom through January once they start. They've been known to bloom in snow around here!  Anyway, here's a little look at some of what is still blooming.

The Hydrangeas are fading fast, but I love this phase where they turn a beautiful shade of green.

One of the Sedums, getting ready to bloom, along with a Purple Heart.

A white "Encore" Azealea, and of course, Mums!

This was supposed to be a white Coneflower! Oh well...still pretty.

Some more Purple Heart - I LOVE those little flowers - and a Gaillardia.  Oh, and some weeds! Hehe...just keeping it real!

I'm not sure, but I believe this to be some sort of Hibiscus? The flowers are white and look very similar to a Hibiscus.  Earlier this summer some moth caterpillars wiped this entire shrub out in one day, but it's come back nicely.

More Mums, and a potted Pomegranate - I'm experimenting with that.

One of my favorites, the Canna Lily.  I have several types and colors in the garden, but this is the only one still blooming.

I'm enjoying what's left in the garden for now, and already thinking about what to add next year.  Now if the mosquitoes would just get the word that fall is here...

p.s. don't forget to vote!

you can't see me...

Look real closely.  Can you see him?  There's a little real frog sitting under the big not-real frog!  He lives there!  And just so you know - that big plastic frog is a joke.  The bf and I move it around the yard to try and scare each other.  But now that this guy seems to have taken up residence, I think it'll stay here for a while!

A few weeks ago I woke up, and as I usually do upon waking, pulled up the shade on the bedroom window, only to find a big ol' heron  taking off out of the pond.  We ran outside and looked in the pond.  Where there had been fifteen 8 inch long fish, now there were none.  When we first built the pond (last summer) we decided that given the heron/raccoon/possum threat in our yard, we wouldn't put the money and emotional investment into koi, and bought regular old 1 to 2 inch goldfish instead.  That way, if the wildlife got them, we wouldn't be sad - or so the thinking went.  In reality, faced with no fish left in the pond, we were devastated!  We had named them! Then...yesterday morning we spotted three of them!  By last night we saw at least 10 of them.  I guess all those hiding places we built in to the pond came in handy.  And who knew gold fish could go that long without food?   And the new little goldfish we got to replace them seem to be thriving, too.  Life is good.

In the beginning...

Today's the day!  Why not?  After years of looking at (and drooling over) other blogs, I've decided to join the fun!

But where to start?  I know!  How about some pictures from my garden?  Maybe that will give you an idea of who I am...

My boyfriend and I spent all last summer on the garden, adding this pond, a waterfall and stream, and 3 (yes 3!) patio areas.  The goal was to not have any grass to mow, but in the end we kept a small grassy area, mostly for the dogs.

Waterfall with buddha

Different area, different Buddha

Little grassy area for the dogs to the left, a new as of yet unplanted flower bed on the right.

Louise, world's greatest cat, doing what she does best (besides catching lizards)!

 There is lots more garden to see, and I'll definitely show it all at some point, but that's enough for today.