…I’m a boat widow.
I rose early today. Dear Husband kissed me awake as he usually does, and then he headed out into his day. I hurried to dress, but I wasn’t quite quick enough. I made it to the window to see the stern of the Arr!! start it’s ghostly trip down the driveway.
I fret on this day. Not because I will be a boat widow for the coming summer, but because I can envision DH pulling the Arr!! on the Chicago tollways as rush hour builds. It can’t be a fun trip!
It’s light out, the trees are still, so he has the advantage of little or no wind. He’ll be in Chicago in less than an hour, and then I think he takes the Dan Ryan south. No one in his right mind travels the Dan Ryan, especially towing a boat, unless he MUST. You can tell what an obsession this is for Dear Husband.
Sooooooooo…….quilting, gardening, visiting antique markets, looking for garden walks to visit…..girly things rule! (If we do this long enough, one day I might actually sound happy when “The Season” is upon us. Until then, I’ll just fake it.)
Cicadas
I hope to get in another long day in the gardens tomorrow. I have to make a short trip to the bank, and to the nursery tomorrow morning, but the rest of the day I can focus on the gardens. I planted several containers today, rather than pitching out the extra plants. I still have a few more plants that had been intended for containers, and Dear Husband says that I should plunk them in the garden, where ever I have the room. It could make for interesting gardens.
I hope to weed for two hours very early in the morning, run my errands, and then come home and put more plants into the ground. Things look amazingly good so far, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. The 10:00 news just reminded me that we are on cicada alert, but the ground was cool last night, so that might delay their visit. Apparently, the ground needs to be 60 degrees or warmer for the cicadas to make their appearance. I hope that they stay dormant until I get all these plants into the ground! *G*
We did a little mowing, and Dear Husband spent most of his time readying the Arr!! for the trip to Lake Michigan. Boys and their toys. He’s just like a kid! He’ll be gone all day, and I’ll be in the gardens.
I’ve been holding off using the air conditioning. I figured it was just May, that I didn’t need it, but they are talking about some really warm weather coming up. We’ll have to see how things turn out. Perhaps, with all the windows open, we’ll be able to bear the heat.
Here’s hoping for a cool evening, a good night’s sleep, and a safe and productive day tomorrow!
Go Visit Nan
Just a little advertisement for my sis at Just My Opinion. Go visit and see what her family life is like right now. Communication is the by-word, no matter what the age!
I’m going out to water. We’re supposed to have three days of HEAT and then finally a little rain. My iris are astonishing. I’ll have to take pictures to share, just in case the storm gets them. I hope you’re all enjoying this Spring. I am!
She’s THREE!
Our granddaughter is THREE! Gosh….where did the time go!? We’re going to celebrate Sunday with cake and presents and lunch.
While I worked in the gardens, Dear Husband went off in search of the perfect birthday gift. He was disappointed in his shopping. There were several things that didn’t seem to be available. Ultimately he came home with a full car, and we’ll be wrapping gifts all night! *G*
This is the year of the princesses: Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, and Snow White. I think the trip to Disney is firmly lodged in her mind! *G* I’ll keep score and let you know how many gifts featured one or more of them.
Bruises
What’s with bruises?? Why is it that when I bump something and think “Boy, is that gonna cause a bruise!” that it never happens? And where do these mystery bruises come from? I have several bad ones on my arms and legs, and I have NO idea what I did that caused them. I’m sure that it’s something to do with gardening. I’m not the most graceful person, so I’ve probably bumped something and forgotten about it.
Do I need more vitamins? More potassium? Why does getting bruises seem cyclical?
Satisfaction
I have had the most satisfying day!
We went to bed at 9:00 last night. I fought the urge to watch a little more TV or read another few chapters in my book. I hit the sack and slept soundly until about 5:45 or so. I was ready to wake, as the light was changing, and felt, at last, that I had gotten a decent night’s sleep.
I left DH sleeping soundly, and had a cup of tea and some toast, before going to the office to work for an hour.
By 8:00 a.m. I was out in the gardens. I had planned to tidy up the driveway garden. It’s the first garden you see as you enter our grounds. The peonies bloom there (or will very shortly), and there are some iris, perennial salvia, day lilies, bleeding heart, hosta and a lot of purple coneflower in that bed. I wanted to trim the edges of the bed, get one area ready for some rudbeckia, and pull a little grass that thinks it should live there. Instead, that work has been delayed until early tomorrow morning. Today, I worked on the north side of the house.
I have two areas of ferns on the north side of the house. The biggest bed really gets too much sun, and it’s surrounded by brick on two sides, so it’s probably too hot, too. But, the ferns have come back year after year. They have been spreading out into the lawn. I decided to dig the volunteers out of the lawn and replant them into one end of the bed that looked a little bare. Then I weeded most of the bed, and moved a timber over to create a finished edge to the bed.
I watered the ferns, and the herb garden, and then mulched around the ferns and watered them again. Then, I cleaned out a tiny garden box to the right of the back garage door. I’m going to try rudbekia there. It may like the heat.
And, I took a break!
When I went back out, I moved a chunk of English thyme, planted two silver thymes, a lemon basil, an Angelica (something new to try this year), and planted six tomato plants. I like the miniature yellow pear-shaped tomatoes for salads, and the Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes. I planted a good-sized Early Girl bush tomato, and a Better Boy (I think..).
By 2:00 there was nothing more important than my date with the shower! I’m feeling (and looking) more human now, and I’m VERY satisfied with the work I finished. (Pictures soon, just for Janet! *G*)
Planting Today
3 Homestead Purple Verbena
4 dark ruby petunias
1/2 a packet of Rose Queen Cleome seeds
1 purple calibracoa
6 sweet basil
1 purple ruffles basil
2 curly leaved parsleys
2 flat leaved Italian parsleys
2 upright rosemaries
1 tricolor sage
1 cilantro
4 lemon verbena
1 large fever few
As usual, I have loads left to plant, including tomato plants. May 15th is the last frost date for this area (Zone 5, Chicago suburbs), so I could have planted them today, but I held off for two days to let a storm system go through. It seems that all around us are getting rain, but we’ve just had a sprinkle or two.
I need to have Elegante Mother choose more pots to plant. As usual, she bought more plants than needed. Perhaps I can send a planted container to one of my sisters, when EM goes to visit at the end of the month.
I still need to find a Bridal Wreath shrub (spirea), annual purple fountain grass, Goldsturm rudbekia, Victoria Blue salvia, Bluebeard shrubs/perennials, and more Russian sage. I haven’t planned what I want to add to the little garden across the driveway, yet. And, I’m waiting for Dear Husband to move the dingy so that I can plant the south raised box of the veggie bed.
Ya know….I’m glad I live where the snow flies part of the year. I don’t think I could keep this up year round!
Poison Ivy Revisited
I’ve lived with poison ivy so long that I’ve almost come to take it for granted. A new visitor to this blog, Andrea, asked for help identifying poison ivy, so I thought I might write a bit more on the subject. My apologies for not taking pictures of the dreaded visitor before I ripped it out.
This link from Cornell University shows low growing poison ivy that acts as a ground cover. You’ll find the leaves grouped in threes, and the edges of the leaves are notched. We find this type of poison ivy in our gardens, or mixed in with the wild raspberries. It has a genius for lodging at the roots of plants you’d like to keep, and spreads by roots on the surface or just under the surface of the ground.
This link will take you to an on-line article on poison ivy with several excellent pictures. One type of poison ivy is a climbing vine. We find it climbing the trees with a tough stem covered with aerial roots that help it attach itself to the trees. Scroll down in the linked article for a a good picture of the stems. When we find this type of stem, we tend to cut it at the base of the tree.
The leaves of climbing poison ivy turn red in the fall. So do the leaves of Virginia Creeper. To be on the safe side, I don’t touch anything turning red, unless I personally planted it, and can identify it.
You know….just writing about this is making me itch!!!
Speaking of itching…we use the Tecnu products once we’ve come in contact with poison ivy. Frequently, I can forestall a trip to the doc by washing very thoroughly with Tecnu, or I can at least lessen the effect of the urushiol on my skin. I tend to wear long pants and socks, long sleeved shirts and latex gloves just to be on the safe side.
Occasionally, in late fall or early winter, I’ll find I have a tiny bit of a rash that is very reminiscent of poison ivy, when I shouldn’t have had any contact with it. It finally occurred to me that I was picking it up from our pet’s fur. As I stroked the dog or the cat, I’d pick up tiny bits of the oil and then distribute over my arms by accident. If you have pets and a small child, this might be something you really want to keep in mind.
If you choose to cut poison ivy down, or rip it out, do NOT burn it. You could inhale the urushiol. Also, if you have a compost pile, do not dispose of the poison ivy in the compost. I tend to be an organic gardener, with a very few exceptions. Where it’s possible, I’ll use a disposable paint brush to paint Round-up, or something similar, on the leaves of poison ivy. You’ll still need to be careful removing the leaves and stems of the poison ivy, and sequestering them where you won’t come into contact.
I’ve learned to live around it. If I’m going to be at the verge of the groves here, I tend to be very careful where I walk. There’s no way you can completely eradicate this pest from your land.
If you need more pictures of poison ivy, Andrea, go to Google, Image, and type in poison ivy. They have all the pictures you’ll need! Good luck!
Poison Ivy
Yes….I have poison ivy in my garden. Woe is me. This morning I rose and donned clothing that I wouldn’t mind throwing away: long socks, long pants, a long-sleeved mock turtleneck, and an old bandanna. I carried another bandanna with me to cover the lower half of my face, in case the ivy juice became airborne as I pulled out the roots. I wore two pairs of latex gloves.
At first I thought this was going to be easy. I should have known better. The root making its way across the ground was roughly half the diameter of my little finger. I should have watered before I weeded. I might possibly have gotten ALL of the root that way. As it it, I think I left some small suckers. The poison ivy had twined itself around and through a pod of Dutch Iris that I’ve been meaning to replant.
I got most of the root, except any that grew through the roots of the iris. After they’ve bloomed, I’ll dig up the iris and re-plant them, checking for poison ivy roots as I separate them. For some time to come, I’ll have to be careful when kneeling and planting and cleaning up in that area. The irritant (urushiol) from the poison ivy is likely to taint the ground and plants for some time. Luckily, I’ve gotten into the habit of wearing gloves when I work in the gardens, but I’ll still need to be careful.
I had a great morning. I got two thirds of the outer bed at the front of the house cleared out of old plants. I was able to see what made it through the winter and what needs to be replaced. The Russian sage is coming back nicely, and I pruned away the dead wood. The two French lavenders didn’t make it, but I was surprised to see that there were starts of Homestead Purple Verbena, which is usually an annual in this area.
I hope to do a little early morning gardening before we go to brunch for Mother’s Day. And, there may be time in the afternoon, too. It’s time to put plants into the ground! YEA!!!
Concert Expectations
In the entry below, you’ll find that Dear Husband and I attended a recent concert by Itzhak Perlman, and were surprised by some of the audience behavior. I was talking about this experience with the Red Hat Ladies at lunch today, and discovered that behavior at a classical concert is not universally known.
When I described the faux pas of applause following the first movement, one of the ladies asked if the custom of waiting until the end of the piece was posted in the program. I don’t know. Because of my background, I’ve just assumed that everyone knew that tradition. Posting the guidelines in the program is not a bad idea!
On WGN720 this morning, John Williams was talking with his audience about the same subject. A grade school band director called in to say that not only did they need to teach their students about proper concert behavior, they also needed to teach the audience. Society has become SO casual, that we all act as though we are at home in front of our own TV and can do whatever we please, when there are actually guidelines for concert goers.
I tried to think what I would tell a first-time concert goer. I suppose the most important thing is that you don’t do anything which would either distract the performer, or bother the audience around you.
1. Specifically, NO TALKING (OR SINGING) during the performance.
2. Turn off your cell phone, or turn it to “vibrate” for the duration of the concert. (Personally, I’d make you turn it in at the door!).
3. Remain seated, unless you are deathly ill. DO NOT walk up the aisle during the performance.
4. Be in your seat BEFORE the performance begins, or be prepared to have to wait to be seated between the selections, or at intermission.
5. At a concert of “classical” music, wait to applaud until the entire piece is finished. The program will list how many movements there are to a piece. If you’re not sure that the piece is over, let the rest of the audience or the actions of the performer(s) guide you.
Perhaps there are other suggestions that I could make, but these seem to be the most basic. Having courtesy and consideration for the performer and for the audience just about covers it all.