Month: April 2019

16 April

  • Last week Ian took Friday off and came with us on a small hike at one of our favorite new spots. We found all sorts of new wild things growing since last time we were there, and the kids identified the little chartreuse flowers as spicebush. The fact of their profuse blooms has me mostly convinced that ours did not survive shipping and potting, but I will wait a bit longer.
  • The rainbow runner is for a summer crafting swap I am participating in. I have made a few table mats and runners recently, but I will admit that I usually find the process very dull. I actually enjoyed making this one, with its somewhat (intentionally) wobbly piecing, hint of hand stitching and bit of appliqué. I honestly don’t know if I would chose something like this to purchase, myself. I wonder if there are other makers out there who often find themselves creating work that they enjoy and feel proud of, yet would not necessarily choose to own. It makes me feel odd(er than usual.)
  • Yesterday, Notre Dame Cathedral, a place for which my only personal connection is what I half remember from Art History classes and wishing I could visit Paris, was on fire. Today my Facebook feed is filled with the righteous, reminding everyone of the more important issues of the day, as if we need reminding. Why do we continue to feel the need to measure tragedy against tragedy?
by Valerie

10 April

This week has been a lot so far, but today I caught up on some sewing and laundry, and finally started the bigger kid on his state-mandated standardized test. It was nice to just quietly cross items off my list.

Speaking of lists:

  • Sized my children’s hat up to adult size, for a gardening themed swap. I’m excited to make one for myself. (Unseen sewing included beginning another pants order for a repeat customer. Note to self: document the making process!)
  • Brunnera, given to me by a favorite neighbor.
  • What the heck is that broccoli-looking stuff growing in the ivy in the front yard?
  • Pretty daffodils in the backyard. Among just a few flowers that came with the house and surprised us.
  • Our weeping cherry, sparking joy.
  • Maybe a hydrangea? I don’t remember a hydrangea being here, but it might have been butchered right before we moved in, like the forsythia. I’m excited to see what this turns out to be.
  • Sunset behind the healthier of our two Pieris japonica.

Of course I just remembered that I need to design the flyer for our neighborhood egg hunt, so off I go to do that one last thing before bed.

by Valerie

7 April

An excellent weather day called for finishing up a sewing order first thing, bolting down some leftover pizza and hurrying out that back door into our messy canvas of a backyard. I got so much done, but one wouldn’t necessarily know that just looking, so I will enumerate my accomplishments. My muscles and I do feel accomplished today.

  • Many, many forsythias unearthed, including one which I named The Mother, and which would not go without a fight. I plunked my baby elderberry (seen in the compost with the fence behind it) into her former home.
  • Also removed: Almost as much ivy, which was thankfully more amenable to being ripped from its earthly home. That bare-looking soil under the stairs was covered in ivy. That was a fun place to crawl into. I planted fern babies there instead.
  • Planted ferns among the black cohosh along the shady side of the garage, and also in Saoirse’s back corner magnolia rhododendron fort. (I have SO much to learn.)
  • Plunked 36 viola odorata into the front grass.
  • Placed Saoirse’s two dwarf hairy penstemon plants at the top of the slide.
  • Isn’t my assistant gardener the sweetest?

At one point I came in for a glass of water and flopped onto the living room floor for a quick rest. When I got up, I had this amazing sense of newness and gratitude, and that “I can’t believe this is my life” (in a good way) sort of feeling, which was all the more surprising and welcome considering how grumpy I felt this morning. Gardening is really healthy stuff, huh?

by Valerie

4 April

How do people save their “before” pictures until there are “after” pictures to compare?

One day this yard is going to be truly spectacular, but the more I work on it, the further in the distance that one day seems to be. That’s fine, since the process and the dreaming is probably more than half of the fun for me. I say this, and half-believe it, while simultaneously ripping up, buying and planting without any really solid plan. I think maybe process is more important to me than dreaming.

I just spoke with Alden the other day about the importance of Planning. He wants to make both a movie and a card game, but most of what he has now are the visuals. He is my child. I really tried to come up with a convincing argument for Forethought and Research, Sketches and Drafts! I wonder if he realizes I was mostly talking to myself.

In case you’re wondering, the bag in the foreground holds 30 Christmas fern bulbs, followed by a small bag of viola odorata roots, and four very young Nikko blue hydrangea, all of which I found on Etsy!

The hydrangea are so very tiny, I am debating whether or not to buy two larger plants to go where I planned, and maybe pot these? And honestly, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems to surround what I think is a white panicled variety (given to us by a neighbor) with smaller blue. I mean, I want a sort of wildish garden, but I don’t want it to look haphazard.

We are getting dangerously close to haphazard as my potted shrubbery line up, awaiting their planting days. Does every new gardener feel like this? Give me all the plants–I’ll figure out where they go later!

by Valerie