Really Spring

Great Sippewisset Marsh

We had such a nice warm weekend that I am confident about spring really being here.  We haven't passed the last frost date yet, but the winter was so mild and the temperatures so warm now I don't expect to see a hard freeze. I hope I don't live to regret my confidence! The trees are leafing out and the garden is coming back to life in force. I started a bed of hydrangeas and hostas in the back corner of our lot which I hope will be a lovely place to sit in a few years. Everything looks good back there, and I was able to apply a generous top dressing of compost to give the new plants a fighting chance against the existing tree roots. Lucky for me I can take as much compost as I want from the dump because my own is no where near ready yet. That will be the corner where Inace's little boat will be living as a planter. I have great hopes that in time it will be a gorgeous part of my garden. Due to the kindness of one of my knitting friends and her handy husband my lawn mower issue is settled and the grass is cut. I'm sure this improves my standing in the neighborhood; the weeds were outstanding and the grass was looking like an unmade bed by the time we got it cut. Last night we went to the local hardware store and bought a trimmer to finish the job and a pair of loppers to allow me to finish up the pruning our giant forsythia so richly deserves.

Last night we had a salad  straight from our lettuce planter - you can't get any fresher than that! There have been a few cold nights since we set up out lettuce and herb planters. This did not agree with the basil but everything else is doing just great. Next things in pots will be some cilantro and a few pots of flowers, and when the nights are a little warmer we'll try some tomatoes. Now that we have some chairs on the deck we are wishing for colorful pots of blooms.

Sunday after the lawn mowing Shana and I went out for a ride on the Shining Sea Bikeway with some friends. Shana and I had not been out since last year and our friends had been out only once; we were all trying not to be too ambitious. It was a perfect day and we all had a great time. Ten miles out and back were plenty for me on my mountain bike, and Shana was glad she rode a shorter distance. We both need some more riding time to avoid feeling saddle sore. One friend wants to train for a long distance event so she'll be up for some mileage but needs to shop for a new bike to replace her 70's vintage steel motobecane. It is in perfect condition but weighs as much as my mountain bike. With weather like we had Sunday it won't be a hardship to put in some miles. Of course today is grey and cool and tomorrow will be rainy and cooler. I hope to ride some this weekend when the rain is over and the warm weather returns.

I'm done with baby blankets for the moment except for weaving in some ends. For my next project I have a few knitted items in an unfinished state and some house projects that need to be done. There are some baseboards waiting for paint and a watercolor in progress that needs about a day's work to finish. The big outdoor projects for the season are done but the weeding is never ending as is the task of adding compost to the existing planting areas.

Roxy is showing her age these days. Her hearing is pretty awful and she sleeps sounder. When I woke her up to go outside last night she nearly jumped out of her skin. She may not live to see another birthday if she does not stop eating my Georgia Peach heuchera. Nearly every day she walks into the middle of the bed to chomp the leaves right off of it. I have several varieties but this is the only one she has any interest in.

The Festivities

My new Shrub Bed

Today is my birthday, and my birthday weekend has been quite festive. Through no fault of my own I did not have to work Saturday, so Shana and I have had the entire weekend to have fun except for a few scheduled errands and one trip to the office for Shana.





Saturday morning we went out for pancakes and then on to the selection of by Birthday Bushes. The original plan was to purchase and install my new shrub bed on Monday, but with a beautiful sunny day forecast for Saturday and solid rain Sunday through Tuesday a change of plan seemed indicated. We planned on going to Mahoney's Garden Center in Falmouth, which has a terrific selection, but I was also set on visiting Cape Cod Wholesale Nursery just up the street from Mahoney's. I always see rafts of cars going in and out, so I was sure it was worth a visit (Cape Codders are very "value conscious"!). Once in I found it to be much larger than I expected, with all kinds of shrubs at excellent prices. In every category that interest me I found loads of shrubs to choose from, and all looking healthy and robust. My main problem was selecting shrubs without going mad and picking recklessly!

Our kitchen garden

My selection for my new bed was: two white rhododendrons (Rhododendron Chionoides), a white variety of modest size, one mountain Laurel (Kalmia Latifolia 'Peppermint') a moderate sized laurel with pink and white striped flowers for the front row of evergreen shrubs. For the back row of larger shrubs: one Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') a filbert cultivar that grows only 8'-10' tall with corkscrew branching to provide winter interest, and one Ivory Halo Dogwood (Cornus alba 'Ivory Halo'), a dogwood with variegated leaves, red branches for winter interest and a very moderate size - only about 6' tall. I've added a couple of little hydrangeas from my late MIL's garden to the back row for summer color. It will take a few years for the bed to mature, but they are all good looking shrubs already.

Flower bed with no space to spare

Shana selected some herb plants and we went on to Mahoney's for pots and lettuce plants. We picked out a fancy-shmancy pot system for the fancy-shmancy lettuces and some more ordinary pots for the herbs. I already have a big pot of mint on the deck, so our kitchen garden it pretty comprehensive. I also slipped in an Alchemilla vulgaris (Lady's Mantle), which is meant to be a medicinal plant although I just love it for its leaves that open up like little umbrellas. My Alchemilla is not going to live with the herbs, it's tucked in near the Stella D'Oro day lilies where its flowers will echo the yellow blooms.

Bed with Giant Forsythia

I had dug up some "starts" last week when I was in Falmouth - some heather, some offshoots of hydrangea and oakleaf hydrangea, and some day lilies which I had tucked under the deck in a plastic tub to wait for a good planting day. Those went into the ground as well. The oakleaf hydrangeas are the start of a hydrangea and hosta corner in a damp and shady back corner of the yard where I hope to have a cozy seating area in future. A six inch tall start of a hydrangea does not look like much now, but after I get a few more in there and a few years of growth I have great hopes. Gardeners play the long game, after all!

Roxy has no interest in gardening

Shana tells me that my main flowering bed is full, and I must agree, but I have started a bed of sun lovers right next to the deck where I plan to indulge in a wild profusion of blooming plants. I've got space to spread out there. My main concern with this area is that is is right behind our shed and I suspect a skunk may be living under the shed. I don't want to come face to face with our "renter" under any circumstances!

I started the day today with a proper biscuit and gravy breakfast and will end it with an Indian dinner. Perfect meals for a celebratory weekend.

Goodnight & Goodbye

This week in addition to Dick Clark, who's all over radio and TV we also lost Levon Helm.


Dick Clark was arguably more famous, but it's anybody's guess which is a larger loss.

Spring Beauties

Spring seems to be here for real, and new projects with it. I finally finished Vivian's Big Pink Afghan and got it out in the mail. I think it turned out well and that Vivian will love it, but I have to admit that I got tired of it before it was finished. I suspect it's just because I've had so many blankets in the queue this year. I still have one on the needles, and when it's done there will be no blankets with deadlines for a while. I'll be starting my Christmas knitting because I love to have the gift inventory build up without pressure. There is also the matter of a naked monkey whose pajamas have been on the needles for more than a year. Shana has been very patient, but poor Mr. Foster the monkey must be cold.

I picked our road bikes up from their yearly tune up on Friday, but haven't been for a ride yet. If the weather holds next week will see me getting back out. We'll see how hard a year off the bike has been on my endurance. If I had not been doing the strenuous stockroom work that I recently have it might have been worse, but I expect  to be very disappointed in my riding for the first month or so. I've been picking everyone's brains about good safe routes. I can't wait to get out and see for myself.

After Stitch & Bitch today Wanda and I went out for a stroll through Spohr Gardens. I had never been there and wanted to be sure to get there before the daffodils were finished blooming. It's a lovely spot and well worth a visit. It's so much the ideal of what I would want my garden to be and really far from what my garden can be. Spohr Gardens is only six acres, but so beautiful and well laid out that it seems much larger. It helps that it is laid out on a hill and along a pond. The property also has a lot of old millstones attractively displayed, both as sculpture and as part of walkways. These are not something I can afford or accommodate in my space, but I did get some good ideas from how they were used.  My lot is only a quarter acre, but with a variety of exposures available I have hopes of making it something beautiful.  This year I will put in a shrub border in the front yard and the beginnings of an herb and cutting garden on the south side of my deck. A water feature would be nice...probably I will put some kind of smallish fountain on the deck. When I got back home I "planted" some columbine and viola seeds. I've got more seeds to get in, but I want to wait until I can get my irrigation system turned on. We are still in a drought, with the nearly daily rains I expected not materializing. We are not even getting rain once a week. Although I thought I could turn on my irrigation and outdoor faucets myself it turns out I should have taken better notes. I'll be calling the guys Monday to schedule a visit. Once I can water I'll be outside in earnest making beauty appear in my yard.

The Pinkest Thing I've Ever Made

I'm nearly finished with Vivian's afghan, and nearly finished with the whole idea of pink. It's the second pink blanket this year, and easily the pinkest thing I've ever made. This is not a great picture - it's not quite finished and hasn't been washed, but the color (as it shows on my screen) is correct. It really is this pink. She asked for pink and purple with flowers and that's exactly what she's getting! I may put another couple of rows on it and then put a shell edging around it. It's not an adult size afghan, but it's not an adult style either, so I don't feel bad about winding it up at a smaller size. When she's grown up she can ask for something suitable for her age.

So far this week at work has been physically strenuous. One of the stockmen and I checked in 142 boxes from UPS. The UPS guys offload the truck, but we have to get everything on carts, into the building, and distributed to the correct aisles in the stock room. Because 142 boxes (and rugs) were too many for our four big carts I ran a couple of them downstairs and offloaded them onto the floor so we could reuse the carts. By the time we got everything distributed around the stockroom I had probably moved the equivalent of  250 boxes, not counting the ones I had emptied earlier in the day before the truck came. When I came home yesterday at noon the few minutes I was in the car was enough to make me stiff all over. Probably a sign that I need more exercise.  I didn't do much yesterday afternoon, but today I had to get out for some walking to loosen up. Lucky for me the weather was perfect. These perfect days before the summer people arrive are golden, and I try not to let many get away without taking Roxy for a walk in the woods or on the beach, or both.

Today Roxy and I visited the Jehu Pond Conservation Area, which is part of the Waquoit Bay Estuarial Reserve, and a wildlife refuge. The paths are broad and well maintained, and areas which are restricted are clearly marked. Given the number and enthusiasm of the local tick population I am not all that tempted to leave the main trails in any wooded area. I was hoping to see some birds, but with Roxy snuffling along I imagine most birds quite sensibly left the area.  Once we returned to the car we went on the the Mashpee Town Beach for a walk along the shore, with a short detour into the dunes. It's getting close to piping plover nesting season, so trails through the dunes are not available although we could walk around on the larger trails. Someone was apparently taking a nap in the dunes. When I passed I saw someone lying there and had to go back for a second look. I thought that a normal person would not be out there so maybe it was a dead person. Fortunately he moved and I went on with my walk.

Unbridled Enthusiasm

Anyone who has had any close contact with The Amazing Roxanne knows that not only does she have a luxuriant coat, but she is also all too willing to share it with the rest of the world. She sheds like crazy. This is particularly noticeable on hardwood floors and on my white sofa. Over the years I have experimented with a variety of hair control options. Finally I have found one that is completely satisfactory:  the Gonzo (revolutionary) pet hair lifter. The packaging on mine sports all kinds of optimistic words and imagery like "works instantly!" and a magic lantern. For once I don't think this is an exaggeration. Each gentle swipe over the sofa lifts up a mat of hair that can be dropped harmlessly into the trash or compost bin. I am going to buy a second one for the car and you should too! Between the Gonzo Pet Hair Lifter and the Furminator, both conveniently available from Amazon, I feel like at last I have the hair war under control. The only remaining issues are how to wash the dog without filling my sink with hair, and how to avoid getting dog hair in my eyelashes.

The Amazing Roxanne had her yearly checkup and vaccination fiesta today at the Forestdale Veterinary Clinic. Everyone quite appropriately admired her beauty and sweet disposition, and then poked holes in her. We took a little spin in the Pickerel Cove Recreation Area, which accesses Wakeby Pond from the opposite shore from the Lowell Holly Reservation (one our favorite places to visit).

I'm still working on Vivian's afghan, and it is easily the pinkest thing I've ever seen. I'll post a picture of it later this week, although I doubt it will be finished by then. The other completed blankets will have left the premises after this weekend, then we'll be down to one to finish and one to start. I'm running a sweatshop with one struggling fiber enthusiast.

Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee

Apparently NOM has called for a boycott of Starbuck's due to Starbuck's support of marriage equality. Let's have another cup! Clip from the Shareholder's meeting below (recorded by NOM):