Renovations

 There are renovations happening with the garden and with me this month. Keeping busy and creating are bringing me joy and purpose in my retired state. 

I say hello to this girl each day in the garden. She's a bigger garter snake that I usually see, so that means she's been here for a while. I'm trying to think of a nice name for her.  Maybe Violet?

The garden is getting some renewal this spring. I've been digging out a planting bed in back and now I've found a metal aquarium stand (for free!) that I will renovate and use as a plant stand on the patio in summer, and indoor salad garden stand in winter. It is the perfect size for both applications.

After rust removal and paint, a series of ceramic floor tiles should make a decent table top. I've got a stack of those from leftover flooring jobs in the house.
Or perhaps I'll pick up a few fancy ones from the ReStore.

This crabapple tree sat in a patch of thyme and grass. I'm tired of mowing so I dug out this planting bed around the tree and two viburnum shrubs. I will be expanding it over time and adding lots of perennials to cut back on mowing - and make it pretty!


Saturday was a full day starting with meeting a group of friends in Lake Placid for the ORDA volunteer appreciation luncheon. I got some swag - a sweatshirt, insulated soup crock, and stickers to mark the event. It was fun to see all the volunteers in a casual setting, and to enhance the mood, it actually snowed on May 2. Even I was a bit amazed by that.

The mountain tops had a nice frosting of snow, while we had snow showers at Mt Van Hovenburg.

The luncheon.

The moody and changeable sky.

Once we headed south, we stopped at Carson's above Saratoga Lake for a concert by the Lustre Kings and a few drinks and snacks. A few others joined us on a much warmer (but still chilly) day of outdoor fun.

It's so nice to enjoy outdoor entertainment once again. 

I've just organized a sisters weekend in June at my house, so I'm excited about that. May is surgery month with two procedures that will both limit my activities. But the Cape Cod trip in a couple of weeks will inject some fun between the medical nonsense.

Tuesday - Surgery #1 is over and was not too bad. I confirmed with the Dr that I can resume normal activities in just a few days, not weeks as I feared. She wanted to reschedule this for the OR and under anesthesia, but I really wanted to get it over and done today with just a local numbing agent. 

Two layers of internal stitches and surgical glue are holding this together. I nearly fainted during the procedure and  alarmed the nurse as I went very white in the face. The body's trauma response is a pretty amazing thing. In hindsight, I can see why she wanted to do this under sedation. I'll save that for the next procedure.

It’s hard not to work on the garden as there are sooo many projects to keep me busy. Due to today's red flag wind warning and a 3 hour nap after my procedure, nothing got done at all. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and I have Poll Inspector training to attend and a game night with friends in the evening, so I won't see my garden until Thursday. I still have some tulips going to tide me over until then.

These bicolor tulips are the last to flower in the new tulip bed.
They are stunners paired with the red fringe tulips.



Comments

  1. PamMay 6, 2026 at 12:05 PM

    Oh dear, poor you! That looks very nasty! I hope it heals soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MargaretMay 6, 2026 at 12:20 PM

    Those are stunning tulips; you know how much I love the two-colored ones. Those remind me of my Rembrandts. You're keeping busy and doing so much work. Unlike you, I would rather mow than weed so I've kept my flower beds to a minimum--except now! I may go out to buy annuals today. I'm undecided. The weather has cooled down so it's better planting temperatures. That surgery looks painful! Hope it heals quickly and isn't too uncomfortable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maureen MMay 6, 2026 at 1:04 PM

      I'm off to a plant sale on Friday at a botanical garden, so I'm hoping to buy some really showy specimens.

      Delete

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