The Years To Remember

The baby bunnies are setting out on exploring the yard. I see them on their own, like this one in the lavender. Sisters weekend was a success and over way too soon. We mostly caught up, reminisced, and did some walking and playing games.  From Friday morning until Sunday afternoon we did a lot of laughing too. I wish they lived closer to me. We played “washers” which is a more compact form of the cornhole game.  Theresa and I worked on my dented bumper and were able to pop out the dent with the use of a hair dryer. By the time we finished you could hardly notice where it had been dented. A green eyed jumping spider made an appearance during the  washers game. Monument Square at the Troy Farmer’s Market. We found lots of garlic scapes to purchase. I thought I had deterred the robins from building a nest on my deck weeks ago. They got this far in one night/morning before I knocked it down. It had no bottom yet, and no eggs, or I would have left it alone. It rained all day a...

 Monday A cutworm chopped off my new salvia flower stalk the day I planted it out. Then something - I'm thinking chipmunk or squirrel - just uprooted two of my bean seedlings. Didn't eat them, just pulled them up, out of spite I guess. They were growing in the EarthBoxes which are usually safe from marauding creatures since they are not visible from the ground. Then there are the mice and voles lurking near the hot tub for nefarious reasons. The battle with the critters begins ... There are a few rabbits in the yard that do not bother me. They nibble some of the flowers, but not too badly. Last evening I went out to put something in the shed and saw this adorable scene: I counted at least 4 babies, but it was getting dark and I didn't want to get too close and scare them. I'm guessing a few more of my plants will be nibbled soon. Tuesday  More mayhem in the garden. I just planted a phlox and wild geranium in a new bed yesterday, only to find them dug up and strewn about...

  Peaceful view on my walk. It is very hot and humid these past few days and the scattered thunderstorms are missing my area. We had one very short one last night, but it barely quenched the ground. I'm getting tired of watering my garden every day. Amyjean came over the other day to mow my lawn, for which I am so grateful. I fed her dinner, and promised her a baptisia and iris from my garden.  I repurposed two window screens and some garden fencing into this kale cover to keep the cabbage moth larva from making lace out of the leaves. My still working friend Janice wanted some help with starting a garden. Her husband had bulldozed this side of her house and laid down a thick layer of wood chips as mulch. On Sunday I went up the plateau to her house in the woods to begin. I brought lots of plants from my garden to add to the ones Dale brought and we began with a stone path through the bed. Janice moved most of the stones because I am still under activity restrictions. She is t...

 Like this baby robin, I have been watching the garden grow at an amazing pace, while my efforts to control it have been minimal up to now. I have another week to go before diving in, but I don't know if I can contain my gardening enthusiasm. An early morning visitor on the deck railing. I learned something new! I thought I saw loads of bumblebees visiting my flowers, but they seemed different. They hovered in a way I hadn't noticed before, and they were very skittish. Turns out, they are not bumble bees, but carpenter bees. They look similar, but do not have a furry abdomen like bumble bees. They are very territorial, and good pollinators so they are welcome in my garden.  A carpenter bee with its shiny, fuzz free abdomen.  They are harder to photograph than the gentle bumbles. A fuzzy bumble bee sipping on baptisia. I'm attempting much more observation than action in the garden and I've started a priority list for when I get the OK to resume strenuous activities. I...

  Recovery Day 1 I should not be doing anything, much less writing in this blog as I recover from the general anesthesia from this morning's ear surgery. I was delighted to wake up alive in the recovery room! I asked a million questions which seemed to amuse the nurse. My dear friend Dale kept me company through everything except the actual surgery. The surgeon remembered Dale as my former teaching colleague, having met her six months ago for ten minutes - I was just amazed at his memory.  The 1.5 hour surgery went well, I have a new piece of titanium in my ear, it's full of packing, and I can't hear a thing for now. Six weeks of healing should reveal its degree of success or failure. My other ear is doing all the hearing thank goodness. As I sit here researching the recovery process, it seems my post surgery behavior was a bit cavalier with the December surgery. I intend to take this one much more seriously to ensure a positive outcome. I also noted that a resident partic...

Before I left for my trip, I watered the garden well to withstand two days of 90°+  weather. The newer deep purple iris I liberated from a roadside ditch.  We certainly filled our four days on the cape with fun and activity. The weather was more like summer the first two days. My car thermometer hit 97° F on the drive down, but dropped into the 70°'s once I hit the coast. Driving up to the Bourne Bridge - we were meeting at the Canal Trail bike path on the other side for our first adventure.  The drive to the Cape was a little over three hours and I saw AJ's car somewhere on the Mass Pike. We couldn't check in to our rental until 4pm, so we started off with a 16 mile bike ride on the Cape Cod Canal Trail.  We parked by the elevated railroad bridge seen here in the distance under the Bourne Bridge. It was a great ride, but everyone we passed kept commenting on the difficulty of the return trip due to the wind.   We rode off towards the Cape Cod Bay and had a wond...

 For three straight days, I have not been away from home. I've been in the garden pruning, planting, mowing, and mulching. Yes, I do love it and I consider it a "work out" as I hauled rocks, branches, and 40 lb. bags of mulch, rocks, and soil this week.  Forget-me-nots in a (purposely) wild corner of the yard. This beauty is for the woodland border under the spruce trees. I couldn't resist the leaves. Susan invited me to see the comedian Nate Bargatze at the Knick arena. We drove into Albany early to avoid the crowds, but ended up walking a couple of miles in search of a bar for a pre-show drink. I live six miles from the state capitol's downtown, but rarely go there. The show included three opening comedians who were all surprisingly funny! I guess I had low expectations.  I watched a Netflix special of an earlier tour to see what his comedy was about. This live show was even better! My roadside find for free, but the supplies for the rehab ran about $30. The Rus...