Monday, May 17, 2010

Beautiful Weekend

Oh what a lovely weekend. Sunny, warm on Saturday, cool for gardening on Sunday. Perfect after a week of rain.

We did the normal weekend things:
  • slept in
  • coffee and omelets in the sunroom while reading the paper and listening to the wrens singing - and watching the cats stare out the window, dreaming of wren for breakfast.
  • mowed
  • cleaned and tuned bikes although the girls have been riding theirs for awhile. Mine is new (that's another post) but the Burley trailer was nasty mildewy and Rich's bike stored hung in the rafters for the winter had apparently been used as a birds perch. Yuck. He's riding to work for Bike to Work week and added upright handlebars so he doesn't have to lean over so much. Being 6'7" isn't always an advantage!
  • a bike ride to the store & around the neighborhood. I'm hoping next weekend we will start riding bikes to church.
  • Mira helped me move my basil from the herb garden next to the house to the vegetable garden. The herb garden used to be a sunny place, but the oak that was teeny tiny when we moved in 15 years ago now shades the yard between the house & garage - and the Lilacs, and the Azaleas and the herb garden. Mira also helped me clean up the veg garden border and plant the Marigolds and white Verbena she helped me pick out a few weeks ago.
  • Took photos of the just blooming Peonies (hey, the peeling garage gives the back yard a rustic cottage look, doesn't it?) and pine bushes in the side yard being eating from the top down by scores of squirmy creepy dark green caterpillars. Blech. They make a nasty clicking noise and every so often they all twitch at once. The bushes are beautifully green too - halfway up. Rich took care of the caterpillars yesterday...
  • Grilled homemade pizzas for dinner - oh yummy.
Some not so normal weekend things:
  • attended the school carnival. Fun fun fun - especially Mira who can not wait to start Kindergarten. Sarah ran around with her friends getting her hair and face painted, eating junk and playing games. If you look closely at the peonies photo above you can see Sarah's still-orange hair on Saturday morning. Natasha caught up with old friends who attend different middle schools. And I won the 'Lunch with a Teacher' basket for Sarah & her WONDERFUL Teacher Mrs. B - the three of us get to go to lunch at Flarah's before school gets out - during the school day! How cool is that?
  • Took Natasha to a friends Birthday party - for hair and make-up Oh my. It's too bad we weren't planning to go someplace special, so I settled for a photo shoot instead. Just one here for now. Ok, two. Not the best light for either, but I love the photos anyway. Beautiful.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Garden Itch

Beautiful weekend. Sunny, warm, green.
Weeding and planting makes Michelle happy.

Now I itch. I tried to ignore it.
Even though it tickles NONSTOP.
Even though I knew I'd uncovered a funny three leafed plant on a red stem while pulling leaves out of tangle of Wisteria vines. (Oh I make sure to shower off the instant I finish gardening. I NEVER touch my face while gardening, and I always toss my gardening clothes right into the washer. Because I get Poison Ivy EVERY year, even if I never see the stuff.

But not this year.
Oh no not me.
That sloooow, tickly feeling on my calves, ankles, wrist, elbow? I must have disturbed a few sleeping mosquitos while digging up those runaway decorative grass sprouts trying to take over the lawn, right? Right?

Sigh.

At least it's mild. Goes well with the sniffly nose from all the dust I stirred up over the past two weeks while pulling old stuff from closets (and sorting and washing) to take to the church garage sale. 3 carloads, 1 FULL Jeep load and one more to transport an old bedframe. Dust galore.

Oh well. My garden looks lovely, my house is so much less cluttered and I am happy.

I think I'll mow tomorrow.