The pear trees are in full bloom. We’ve had a week of warmer than normal weather, so the daffodils have almost run their course. Usually we would have their blooms into May. The forsythia is shifting from bloom to green, and the star magnolia blooms are gone.
Most of the plants that I moved into the garage for the winter have made it. I thought the shrub rose had died, but it finally began to leaf out this week. The Peace Rose, in the ground, made it through the winter, despite the fact that I didn’t give it the traditional protection for our winters.
The Darwin tulips have come and gone. The yellow Appledorns decided it was too hot to stick around. I have six or eight pods of tulips that I planted a year and a half ago. I was surprised to see that the chipmunks hadn’t gotten to them yet. One that has opened reminds me of a pink Oriental poppy. It has pink petals with black inside at the base of the flower.
I need to renovate the garden across the east face of the house. Dear Husband cut down the viburnum that used to spread over half the wall. Elegante Mother was complaining that she couldn’t see out the windows any longer, but the kicker was that the raccoons were using the viburnum as a ladder to the roof.
I will either have to have someone come and professionally remove the stump, or we will have to work around it. I want to plant a specimen tree forward from the stump about six feet, and then fill in behind and to the sides with perennials.
I want to look at weeping cherries, or something that has a weeping shape, so that we don’t risk offering the raccoons another ladder.
I have to dig up the Japanese Iris and replant them. There’s a ring of green leaves, and a bare center, where the plant has died out. Poison ivy is trying to encroach, so I sprayed it today. There’s a Lady’s Mantle that will miss the shade of the Viburnum. The face of the house, and Elegante Mother’s rooms will be warmer this summer without it’s shade.
The viburnum at the end of the driveway is in bloom. It has a lovely pale pink blossom with darker pink buds, and a lovely scent. Between the hyacinths, the pear tree and the viburnum, the air is fragrant.
I sprinkled cinnamon around the roses today. A friend on the herb list told me that cinnamon is an anti-fungal and will help keep black spot at bay. I figured it was worth a try, and have started early enough this season to give it a chance to work.
I pruned back the winter savory today, and discovered that a sage plant in a wonderful terracotta planter made it though the winter. I’ll have to put it on my list for regular watering. The rosemary in that same pot died, but that didn’t surprise me. I have dreadful luck wintering over rosemary.
This week, I plan to cut back a tree and some honeysuckle that has encroached on my raised vegetable beds. I want spinach and lettuce and more room for tomatoes!
Now, do you see why the gardens are getting to be a bit much??
Gardening
I have come to the point in my life where the product in gardening is more interesting than the process. I love having my gardens look manicured and eye-catching, but the work to do it is no longer what I’d call fun.
I spent three hours working outside today and accomplished perhaps 1% of what needs to be done. I need a CREW of able bodied young people who know a weed from a flower who can make and spread mulch and compost, use a weed eater, cut down volunteer trees, water, and plant shrubs. I also need someone to help weed, and plant, and mow. I have a spare bedroom, if you know of anyone who is willing to work for room and board.
I spent two of the hours on my hand and knees, cutting back the lavender, trimming back a shrub and a sage bush, and weeding one small area of the front garden. I hope to get an earlier start tomorrow morning. If the weather is good, I may try to get to the nursery for the first round of plant buying. If not, I’ll have to squeeze that visit in soon.
Wines
I’m going to have to add a “Wine of the Week” category.
My sis brought a bottle of wine for us to enjoy when she was visiting, and so we did!
Rosemount Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 Coonawarra, Show Reserve.
Very nice!
Word of the Day
If you’ve checked out the “Word of the Day” box to the right, you’ll see that Google has chosen “prolix.”
In reading the definition of “prolix” I suspect that many of you are thinking it applies to this blog! *G* Yeah, what can I say? I’m mired in detail, and rarely see the bigger picture.
It strikes me that if ALL of us were to be focused on the “bigger picture,” there would be no one to handle the details, right? I’m content to be a bean counter, and a tiny detail person, as long as I can quilt, too. Take away my quilting and I’d have to get involved in the “bigger picture.”
I’d be focused on improving the quality of education in my school district, while cutting the budget.
I’d be removing fast food and vending machines from the cafeterias at school, and requiring the students to eat a healthy breakfast prior to class.
I’d be gathering votes to push our representatives and senators into participating in the Social Security system, rather than paying them a lifetime salary after retirement.
I’d be campaigning to limit the benefits of our welfare system. (I believe in giving a helping hand….but not a welfare lifestyle.)
I’d be pushing for increased research on alternate forms of energy.
I’d be focused on finding ways to check every cargo container that comes into the United States, for drugs, disease and weapons of mass destruction.
And more….I know there’s more that I worry about out there.
Creating Links
Okay, this is going to display to everyone my total ignorance of all things computer, but what the heck!
My sister, Nan, at Just My Opinion, would like to learn how to embed pictures in her blog, and how to create links. I’m going to try to explain how to create a link, and if any of you have suggestions on ways to improve this tutorial, please share them with us in the comments.
1. In your blog, highlight the blog or text that you want to link.
2. Open a second window and go to the blog or text that you want to link.
3. At the top of the screen, in the Internet Explorer section, copy the address of the blog/text.
4. Go back to your blog, make sure the highlight is still in place, and click on the small box at the right top corner of the Entry Body that has the letters “URL.”
5. A box will open with a place for an address. Click on the address line, and then right click and select “Copy.” Click on OK.
6. The link is done. You can check to see if it’s working by going to “Preview.”
Any corrections or suggestions?? Oh, Nan, I usually save my entry in Draft mode first, and then go back to do the links before I publish. I forgot that today and had to go back to retype the entire entry. 🙁 And, you can highlight the address on the text and THEN highlight what you want to link….it works both ways.
Happy linking, sis!
Not so short shorts
“April showers bring May flowers…” We had absolutely gorgeous weather for the past week, and I was chained to my office desk or running errands. I desperately wanted to get out and play in the gardens, and kept promising myself that I’d get there this morning. It’s chilly today, and as the sun comes up, we’re between showers. There are thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon. I may still get a little time in the garden before the storms slide in. I’m glad for the rain. We’ve been in drought for more than a year, and were 13 inches short on precipitation by last month. You can feel the plants and shrubs and trees soaking up the rain.
The herons and egrets are back. About three weeks ago, I was in the car with Nan. She was driving and I started shouting about the heron that was flying across our path. She calmly pointed out the four by the side of the road that I had missed. On Tuesday, Elegante Mother smugly announced that she had seen an egret. I was driving and couldn’t stop to look, but last night I saw an egret sitting in the corn field to the east of us, and they have returned to the nesting preserve outside of Plainfield. We’re relieved to see that they made it through the winter following the damage from Katrina.
Dear Husband has been varnishing. While the start of boating season in the Chicago harbors is May 13, I’ve become a boat widow already. There’s tons of work to prepare a sailboat for the season and he works away at it every day. Weather needs to be dry to varnish, so Mother Nature hasn’t been on his side this spring.
Our branch of the family which lives in Australia is returning home today. They’ve been visiting for about ten days, sharing Easter with us, and checking out universities. The twins will be going off to school next fall, and it’s time to make the decision on where it will be. It’s a great idea to see the university before you commit yourself to it.
I have a new long term quilt project started. In one of my quilt magazines, a designer did a “Hands” quilt in black and white. My oldest sister did a variation of that quilt about 25 years ago, and I have thought for some time that I wanted to update her quilt with all the new hands that had come along. Instead, I’m going to use the technique from this article to fuse amber batik hand prints onto darker batik back-rounds. So, yesterday, I collected the hand prints of the Australian family. This particular technique gives you two hand prints, the positive hand shape, and the negative (the area left when you cut the hand print out of the square). I’ll have roughly 120 blocks once I have everybody’s hand prints, so I’m going to make one large quilt, and then five wall hangings, one for each of my siblings. This project will go on forever, so don’t be surprised to see me comment (cuss) about it, a lot more.
Wednesday morning, I went to a TOPS meeting. If you have always been slender you may not know that TOPS stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. I’m going to join this group next Wednesday. I hope not to talk a lot about weight loss as I try to do this, but there’s bound to be a few posts. I can think of one I want to do today about changing eating habits. So….if that sort of stuff bores you, please just skip right on by.
Taxes are done! Personal financials for the year are done! Info for the revocable trusts has been gathered! The emergency information binder is coming along nicely! I haven’t gotten to all my big projects before gardening season opened, but I’ve gotten the most pressing things done. There’s hope that I’ll see my desktop once again, and if we get rain in the summer, I’ll be working in the basement. I NEED to take care of the clutter, and I NEED to start parting with things that we no longer use. I’ll feel better once things are organized.
So…..I hope you are all having a wonderful spring, and that you’ve had the chance to either garden, or be out where plants are blooming. Enjoy the warmer weather coming our way. Open your house and let the breezes in (everyone except Bogie, that is……we don’t want you to freeze, hon!).
Happy weekend!
‘Twas the Night…
…Of the big family gathering, and all through the house not a creature was stirring.
They’re all too pooped to pop, let alone stir, but they had a GREAT DAY!
When everyone was seated, I think we had twenty-seven people to dinner. Several of those people will not have to cook for a day or two, or will have plenty of ham for ham and eggs, ham salad, ham croquettes, turkey and ham tetrazini or bean soup!
It was wonderful. Nan and her family came in last night. We rose before dawn to get ready for church, and filled one entire pew. We made it home for a little breakfast, and Dear Husband and Son #2 came in from the airport around 10:30.
We worked from 11:00 to 2:00 getting tables set, making room for desserts, cleaning shrimp, setting out appetizers, washing and tearing romaine for Caesar salad, and all the things you need to do to feed 27 people.
My sister took over the flower detail and created four beautiful bouquets for the tables, cleaned off the things on the foyer table and organized the decorations, and folded a load of clothes for me. She also found my “To-Do” list, and kept me on track. Her daughters were my slave labor, and they did a fine job of getting the tables and salad ready.
My oldest sis came in with loads of hot veggies and potatoes, and all the girls brought desserts. I have never seen such a collection of sweets, and do not expect to see such a collection ever again! It was absolutely astonishing!
Brownies, iced sugar cookies baked on lollipop sticks, standing in a”garden,” a chocolate FOUNTAIN with angel food cake and strawberry dippers, cupcakes, something that looks like Snickers in bar cookie form, white chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped strawberries, cream and berry pies! There was almost no end to it, and we tried to send it all home with our visitors. And we have enough candy that we could open a candy store.
The best part of the day was the chance to talk to so many of my family members, and that my sister’s families got to meet my stepdaughter, her husband, and their two year old daughter. It was a long day, and it took a lot of work to pull it off, but it turned out fine.
I’m going to toddle off to bed. I’ll check on all of you tomorrow.
Arrrgh!!!
I LOVE entertaining my family. I really do.
BUT……..there are times when I’d like to throttle them!
All through today, I was fairly confident that I could set three tables with eight place settings and have plenty of room to seat everyone. Then, my step-daughter called tonight to confirm that they would be joining us.
No problem, I’m delighted they are going to join us. I’ll get to show off that adorable pixie of a grand daughter of mine!
So…back to the drawing board, counting on fingers and toes…making sure I have enough chairs and room. NO PROBLEM! I’ve got it covered.
A quick call to my oldest sis to talk with her about plastic Easter eggs for an indoor Easter egg hunt. In the process of the call, I confirm who is coming and I’m just about ready to hang up, when I realize that her son-in-law’s brother is going to be visiting. IS HE COMING ON SUNDAY??? No…no…he’ll be going home Saturday. But…….her son-in-law’s MOTHER will be with us. Talk about last minute notice!
Sheesh…..back to the drawing board…..getting out the abbacus…..
Yup…we can do it. 24 adults and 2 toddlers at dinner, 2 adults joining us after dinner, and one uncertainty. I have two tables that will seat 10, and one more table that will seat eight. I have 17 chairs, and I’ve reserved 9 more at the rental place (more than I though I’d need….just in case), and I have three bench style seats that can be used in a pinch.
Does every hostess go through this?? I would NEVER turn a guest away from my door, but there are times it gets really crazy trying to seat everyone. I can remember the Thanksgiving I ate my dinner at the desk in the office. I shared my desk with a handsome 18 year old who was really eager to be included in the adult population, and ended up talking my leg off. I don’t know how the planning went awry that time, but I think my brother slipped a couple of extra bodies in when I wasn’t looking. It didn’t matter….everyone got fed, and they all talked a mile a minute.
I’m planning on running my errands tomorrow, doing a little cooking, and then handing out jobs left and right on Sunday!
I hope you all have a wonderful day, and get to spend it with family.
One Thousand Eleven, Actually
Ya know…..~T~, who hosts me at RedEagleSpirit, told me recently that I had just posted my 1,000th entry! I was really surprised. Despite the doldrums this past year, I’ve still managed a thousand entries.
I suppose I started repeating myself around the 25th one. *G* Don’t tell me….I wouldn’t be able to remember it anyway.
It’s good of you all to come and visit!
Dinner
Easter dinner will be held here for about half of my family. At the moment we’re expecting 24 people, but that number will change back and forth until we have eaten. There are always unexpected changes, and we just go with the flow. Those who can make it will be fed, and those who can’t will get take home meals.
The menu is listed below. I think in honor of Dear Husband there will be Mozart playing quietly in the background during dinner. I hope to steal all the young adults and have them to myself at one table, if they’ll let me. They are of an age when they might prefer to mingle with the adults…..a rite of passage in our family.
Saturday and Sunday will seem odd because Dear Husband, the person I so depend on to pull off our gatherings, will be in Florida. Our son was a part of the largest group of Bears fans to gather outside of Chicago, in the Orlando area. They are holding a golf tournament on Saturday, and it’s been named in his memory. So, DH is going to fly down to play in the tournament, and will fly home Sunday morning. Luckily, my youngest sis and her family will come late Saturday evening, and my oldest sis will come early on Sunday to be sure we have things under control. *G*
Elegante Mother and I found tablecloths in pastels to cover two of the tables. I’ll use antique crocheted mats on the third table, and each table will be set with a different pattern of china. I’m going to do a bouquet of tulips for one table centerpiece, and two small arrangements of spring flowers for the others.
I think I have the schedule in place to get everything done, but we’ll see how it turns out. Truth be told…..I’m the only one who will notice if not everything is done to my expectations. My family tells me to relax, and I have…a little. I’m NOT going to use paper plates, though!
I know that I’ve rambled on about preparations, when actually, the gathering of my siblings and their families are really what’s most important to me. I love having family around me, and working with them to prepare a meal. I wish it was possible to do it more often, but as the family grows, each person is pulled in two or more ways. I choose not to make the kids feel bad if they can’t attend a gathering here, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss them when they are away.
So, this Sunday, we will celebrate life, and family and I will tuck the memories away to savor in the future. I’m blessed, I know.