How Does My Garden Grow?

Dear Mom,
Can you believe a month has gone by since we planted the cottage flower garden? So far, everything seems to be thriving. I've just lost one english daisy and the delphinium I transplanted has disappeared. I'll make a trip tour favorite local nursery to replace them. I've added some Dame's Rocket transplants from a friend's garden and some sort of sedum ground cover between stepping stones from the same friend's garden.  I need to thin out the marigold seedlings, which will require some hard hearted-ness on my part. I am not sure I can actually do it. I think every single marigold seed germinated! I should probably sprinkle more zinnia seeds throughout some of the bare spots as fillers until the perennials can.

The temporary Olive barrier fence is still in place. I've tripped over it enough times that I am ready to take it down and keep my fingers crossed that she will not trample everything. However, the fence  is now working hard at keeping the peonies from falling into and smothering the cranesbill so it will remain until I invest in a plant support for the peony.

I planted both perennial and biennial varieties of foxglove. It is the biennial foxglove that is blooming now.

This is ice plant- something I'd never heard of before. I fell in love with the charming little daisy-like flowers. The foliage looks like it is a succulent of some sort. The flowers open and close with the sunshine.

English daisy

Daisy and columbine in bloom along the fence border, under the pussy willow. I've planted stock, asters and pinks along the edge.

The fruit on the serviceberry trees is ripening. We planted one just outside the screened porch to filter the sun as it sets. I have a somewhat hidden spot to watch the birds eat the fruit. They are quite determined and acrobatic, and extremely entertaining. 

I've tried three times to get this next photo to load vertically, not horizontally. I give up. Just tilt your head onto your right shoulder and pretend. 

I am slowly but surely lining the borders in the back yard with rocks. A new cul-de-sac is being developed as part of our neighborhood, in what has been part of a horse farm for as long as I can remember. I wish some things could stay the same. Anyway, that abused and savaged piece of farm field is ripe for rock hunting, and My Hero and I armed ourselves with a shovel and the wagon and went hunting. I was able to fill in one section and have 3 more areas I'd like to cover. Don't worry, I won't line the entire back yard! 

As I am writing this and uploading photos, I realize that our backyard is a reflection on the new chapter in our lives. We've taken the swing set down.  17 and 21 year olds don't climb into tree forts, slide down curvy slides and see how high they can swing. Our goal was to raise adults, not children and letting the swing set go is expected. However,  I can't help but wonder if Maybe the world would be happier if we never stopped swinging.  

As I contemplated the demise of the swing set, I began to plot a use for some of the lumber. Up 'til now, my clothesline has been a retractable line that extended from the house to the swing set. Might we build a real clothesline with some of the salvaged swing set? 

Yes!

 I now have 4 lines for pegging up my wash. I think I will actually be able to dry all the sheets and pillowcases and maybe even a blanket at the same time. 

And lastly, because we are talking flowers and marigolds- here is the shawl I knitted using the handspun, marigold dyed yarn. Elle decided to tiptoe through the tulips squat in the marigolds for this photo shoot. I used Orlane's Textured Shawl Recipe, and knit up every single centimeter of the yarn. (I had to go to the tiny bit that was left on a bobbin to finish binding off the last 20 stitches.)

 This came off the needles last night and blocked and dried while I slept. There is something very soothing about knitting and wearing shawls. This one is knit from the top down, so I cast on using the skein with the least amount of yardage and worked my way up in yardage as I worked my way down the shawl. It will be nice wearing this one with its ties to summer marigold flowers.

Enjoy the sunshine and blue sky. My sheets are going to smell heavenly!
Love,
Kim

Starts and a Finish

Dear Mom,
School has started, projects are nearing completion and others are finished with great satisfaction.

The Young Lady started her Junior year of High School and I was able to take a First Day of School photo on the front porch. A clear sign of Growing Up-  the Starbucks Light Vanilla Frappuccino in her hand.

A week later we moved The Young Man back to IU for his Junior year. On the hottest, humid-est move-in day, for us, so far. With the longest walk from vehicle to dorm, for us, so far. Thank heaven his room has AC and we only had one flight of stairs. After making several trips back and forth, laden like pack mules, and still faced with transporting the really bulky, heavy stuff, we decided to risk our parking spots to pull into a drive meant for Official Vehicles Only to do a quick unload, thus cutting our walking and carrying distance in half. Since mine was the vehicle with said Heavy Load, I pulled into the drive with My Hero and the Young Man standing by. They unloaded onto the sidewalk in record time and I almost as quickly pulled around and began a new hunt for a parking spot. I lucked out and got a spot even closer than my previous one! My Hero babysat the load on the sidewalk while I was parking and the Young Man took a load to his room. As I approached My Hero in his perch on the sidewalk, I saw him signing a clipboard and handing it back to two camera wielding folks. When I got to him, he flashed me a huge smile and proudly stated that he was "going to be on a website somewhere".  Last week, the Young Man forwarded this photo from one of IU's Facebook pages.

Yes, there he is, in a garage sale rescued dorm chair, with the mini fridge. 

While we were moving in, I noticed several resourceful people pulling collapsable wagons loaded with belongings. We are going to have one of those for the next move. 

*******

After 20ish years, our backyard barn was an eyesore. We needed a new one, and one with a bit more useable space. After unloading and dismantling the old barn, and storing all its contents in the garage, we finally got the new, cute little backyard building painted and reloaded. This one has two sets of doors- one for easy access to the things kept there, and one for John, Dear to drive in and out. We are calling it our cottage because it is probably the closest we will ever coming to owning one!

We've really accomplished a lot of home improvement projects this summer. The kitchen facelift is almost complete! I can't wait to show you how it looks!

Love,

Kim

Around My Backyard

Dear Mom,

( The End )

Love,

Bonnie Jo

The Birds and The Bees

Dear Mom,
As you know, upon Bonnie Jo's request I reported bright and early Saturday morning to your backyard, camera at the ready. Bonnie Jo would be inspecting the beehive she recently set up there and wanted me to document the event for the blog. It is hard to take pictures when you are dressed like this:

Things seemed rather serious when I arrived because there was crouching down and leaning in involved.

As I understand it (and Bonnie Jo may have to jump in and correct any errors), the main purpose of the Hive Inspection was to search for Queen Amelia. When a Princess Bee comes to live in her new castle, it seems the first thing she does is fly away to go visit some bachelor bees before she can come home and be Queen. Sometimes the Princess Bees never come home. Maybe because they can't find their way back, or maybe they just really like the bachelor bees. Considering that this Princess Bee was named after the famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart, there was some concern that she may have lost her way somewhere over the reservoir never to return.

Thankfully, unlike the other Amelia, this Amelia's flight had a happy ending.

Bonnie Jo was pleased and proud to find Queen Amelia in the hive and laying little bee eggs like all Good Queen Bees are supposed to do.

In her official capacity as family beekeeper, Bonnie Jo declared that Amelia "IS A BEAUT!"



Where's Amelia?



All those jigsaw puzzles we did with Daddy when we were little must have been practice for finding bees later on. And if I remember correctly, Bonnie Jo was a gifted jigsaw puzzle piece finder.

Anyway, now that I know where Amelia is in that photo, I can find her, too. Let me give you a close up.



Queen Amelia

Before leaving, we took a peak at your nest of Barn Swallows.

It looks like these guys are running out of room and will be making flights of their own soon.

Especially this guy.

And let me just add here that the way "the Birds and the Bees" was explained to me all those years ago included NOTHING about spending time alone with a bunch of bachelor bees.....

Love,

Kim

The Light of Day

Dear Mom,

This is what was revealed in the backyard when the sun came up this morning. (And yes, I am swallowing alot of pride revealing the desperate condition of our burned out backyard and the Patsy toys scattered about- even her chewed up swimming pool- so you can see this. Considering there has only been about an inch of rain since July, and record heat along with it, it really is a wonder there is anything green here at all. As you can see, brown grass is the least of my concerns.)

Love,
Kim

The Weekend

Dear Mom,

I did finish this sweater ( my design ) over the weekend. A good intermediate weather type sweater. I am happy with it, but there are a couple of details I will tweek when I make it again.

I also took these pictures over the weekend. I brought this columbine with me from our first house, and I am sure it came from your yard before that.

And check out the bumblebee. I just love this zooming in on a zoomed in picture. These are those great big Hindenberg bees. I think they are fun, but Bumper wants to protect the yard from them. He will launch himself at impressive heights and speed (especially for a thick, 10 year old dog) to try to get these bees. Once he has had a successful catch, he spits them out quickly and guards the wounded prey until he gets bored with it. I warn anyone to approach at risk when he is protecting his catch. The thing could be dead and pulverized by his paws, but he won't let anyone near. You would think it was a t-bone steak or something.

Love,

Kim

Yesterday

Dear Mom,

After too many cold, wet days, we were treated to a beautiful, sunny, warm day yesterday. A good day to spend working in the yard, tending to the lawn and gardens, and remembering.

I always think about Daddy when I am mowing with his John Deere. Now my John, Dear. I remember the time he came out trying to help me figure out what was wrong with my old John Deere, which always worked just fine when he got on, started it up and whipped around my yard at lightening speed, giving me that look that was pretending to be irritated with me for the interruption but the sparkle in his eye, the tilt of his head and the barely concealed smile told me that he was really tickled with the situation and his dumbstruck daughter.

I moved some perennials and planted some new ones. I planted hollyhocks, foxglove, delphinium, shasta daisy, as well as a few that I was not familiar with but looked pretty: silene, soapwort and viola labrador. Now I just need to keep them watered and hope the bunnies don't eat them.

I weeded a bit and cleared up some of the dead stuff from around the perennials. I could spend the entire day today doing the same, but the inside is looking neglected. I need to find some balance. The weather is predicted to be nice through the weekend, so I should be able to manage keeping up with both, and still find time to sit on the porch with my knitting and enjoy it all.

Love,

Kim

Yellow

Dear Mom,

This yellow week has been interesting. I thought it would be a challenge to come up with yellow stuff, but now that I've been looking, I see yellow everywhere. I have too many yellow pictures to show in one week! So today I am giving you two. Yellow slides, one at the indoor pool in the Monon Center and the other in my back yard.

The slide in the backyard doesn't get much use any more. The kids have mostly outgrown it and actually use it more to climb up into the tree fort than to slide down, but it is a touchstone to the toddler years and the memories of the Fathers Who Built It, and so it shall remain in my backyard.

Yesterday, I finished knitting the February Lady Sweater. She is washed and blocking and if dried in time to sew on a clasp, she will have her debut tomorrow. I will definitely take a picture.

But today, the hampers are full of laundry, a pattern needs to be proofread before sending it off to the magazine editor and I imagine I will take the vacuum cleaner out for a spin before the kids get home from school.

Keep warm. It is cold out there!

Love,

Kim

Catch and Release

Dear Mom,

I am thinking (hoping really) that the Ground hog may have been wrong. I see the buds swelling on the Climbing Tree in the backyard.

And on the Service berry trees.And then there is this:

My first chipmunk capture of 2009. Rather early. Maybe Chipmunks are the cul-de-sac groundhog......

Shortly after this picture was taken and before I could drive the chipmunk to the park to release him into the wild, the frantic chipmunk and curious dog teamed up to knock over the trap, freeing the chipmunk. The Young Lady (cooing over the cute little chippy) and I (taking pictures) screamed like the girls we are and danced around in an attempt to keep both feet off the ground at the same time just in case the chipmunk decided to run over our toes during his escape. The dog made a valiant but futile attempt to capture the critter. Chippy lives to be captured another day.

Love,

Kim