Notes from the Deep South

 Finn, Annie, and I are in Charleston this week, spending time with my sweet stepmother.  We arrived Monday evening and are leaving tomorrow--a quick visit, squished between ballet rehearsals and play practices.  Unfortunately, we missed the azalea bloom.  There are a few shrubs still flowering, but most are done and have dropped their blossoms. Oh well! Maybe we'll hit it next year. (Two years ago we hit it at exactly the right time--which was the very end of March!)

This late winter has been busy.  Both children are in both a ballet (Finn doesn't dance, but got roped into being a man in a waltz scene!) as well as a local community theatre production.  Schoolwork is keeping Finn extremely occupied, which gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am so glad he has the opportunity to learn!  He loves physics, for instance.  (He loves all subjects except algebra, and even in algebra he has an A, but he doesn't love it.) But on the other hand, after many, many years of freewheeling homeschooling, being tied to classes and homework and schedules is a little bit of a bummer. At least online classes mean that school can be portable, and that he can--for better or worse--set his own study schedule.

This week I am learning to prune camellias.  My father taught me to prune azaleas, and there are hundreds of enormous ones in this year.  But he never taught me to work on a camellia! So I'm doing that now.  There are at least two dozen in this yard--I haven't actually gotten into the camellia grove itself.  So maybe there are three dozen. In any event, it's enough to keep me busy! I pruned three yesterday before smashing my fingers in the garage door.  Life is always an adventure.....

The wisteria is in bloom, and it is gorgeous and smells divine.  The guy my stepmom hired to help with pruning came yesterday and went through the yard with me so that I could give him some input and guidance. I did instruct him to poison and kill the wisteria, and it did make me feel *slightly* sad.  But it's truly an invasive weed in this yard.  Perhaps one day I can have a big twisty wisteria dripping over a pergola!

I am working on my continuing legal education credits for the first time in something like 16 years.  Here's a strange story: I was, completely out of the blue, offered an ultra part-time, remote-work employment situation for a local manufacturing company. A family friend walked into the room where I was talking to his wife, and asked if I wanted to work for his company reviewing documents and contracts. It's not technically in-house counsel work, but it's sort of pseudo-in-house counsel work.  I will work almost completely from home as an employee, and they provided me with a laptop. I could not think of a single reason to say no. So I said yes. 

I set up a little office area in our schoolroom, changing my sewing desk into my working desk.  (No worries, the sewing machine has another little table now!) Last week was an intense week of training: I think I clocked a whopping 7.5 hours.  This week I don't know that I'll even clock 3.  I guesstimate that I'll work between 5-10 hours most weeks, which is just enough to learn and enjoy, I think, without negatively impacting my duties at home and my ability to rest and exercise. 

But in the interim, I need to amass some CLEs so that I can switch back to being an active member of the state bar.  When I last took CLEs, I did not know how to knit.  Now I do! And I am happy to combine the two.

More good things in life right now--

Listening to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in its entirety on the way down here; looks like it'll be Prince Caspian on the way back tomorrow. The children and I decided we'll listen to all of the Narnia books this year on our road trips!

A second cup of coffee every morning in Charleston, a luxury I do not allow myself to have at home

Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy turned one last Friday; Annie made them birthday hats and they tried their first canned food.  They were unimpressed by both. But goodness, I love those cats.  Especially Bingley. 

Gas logs in the living room during an unusually chilly snap in South Carolina--perfect for that second cup of coffee

Spending quiet moments talking with my stepmother.  She is such a sweet person. I am so thankful for the way she looked after my father in his illness. 

Cuddles with Annie.  She may be twelve years old, but she's still a little peanut and she still likes a nice cozy snuggle.

Marveling at how my son is now officially taller than I am. Wasn't he just a tow-headed toddler walking with me down the lane, looking at Queen Anne's Lace?  Time, you do move so swiftly.  Slow down just a bit....just for a little while.

Finn saying the Lord's Prayer every night with us in unison...but he says it in French. So lovely. 

Old-Fashioned Flowers

 I like old-fashioned things: doilies, milk glass, embroidered linens, tablecloths.....and I like old-fashioned flowers, too! I was thinking the other day that I sure have a lot of old-fashioned flowers in my yard--these are flowers that seem like the sorts of things grandmas might have planted decades ago. I've planted all of these myself: 

the dwarf lilac outside the bedroom window...

the enormous bleeding heart by the front porch (I also have a couple more bleeding hearts elsewhere!)...

the lily of the valley, also near the front porch.....

...and peonies and irises and day lilies all around (but none of those are in bloom just yet). 

I haven't had much time at all this spring at all to work in the yard, with commuting back and forth to Charleston, and then, when I'm home, with taking care of all the bits of domestic life that get a little neglected when I'm not here.  But that's okay.  The flowers carry on without me (so do the weeds, rest assured), and they all know that I'll turn my attention to them as soon as I can.  

Gardening is my favorite thing!

An Afternoon of Flora

 Last week in Charleston we had a beautiful afternoon full of flora: just the way I like my spring afternoons!  Dad suggested we drive to Mount Pleasant to go to Boone Hall Plantation.  I realized it may be the only plantation house in the entire Lowcountry that I've never visited.  

It was fun!  The property boasts a live oak that is allegedly 600 years old.  Imagine that!  The house is quite new, by our standards--built in the 1930s, it isn't even a centarian.  We all enjoyed the tractor tour of the farmland! But my favorite part was, unsurprisingly, the formal gardens. 

Serpentine walls inspired by Thomas Jefferson's design work in Virginia. 

Textures (may I please just take a nap in that fennel?).  

Massive, gorgeous kale!

Perfect mounds of lobularia. 

Roses, my newest minor obsession.  I wasn't able to get any ordered this year (something to do with running back and forth to Charleston all the time).  Maybe next year. 

This rose had a gorgeous spicy-sweet scent.  She's a lovely climber.  I need trellises!

My Dad walked like a trouper all over the house, gardens, and part of the grounds, but eventually settled down onto a bench to rest, and I decided to call it Time To Go. The chemo has made him a little more tired than usual, although he never complains about it.  Did I mention that my previous post about the PET scan was wrong?  The one where I said his liver tumors are behaving themselves? WRONG.  

Actually, there's no cancer in his liver at all right now.  

The original tumor in his lung, which was 4cm in January, has shrunk to about 1/4 of that size.  

Spring is so very beautiful this year. 

Easter Hydrangeas

 My stepmom returned from the store this morning with two pink hydrangeas, which she plopped into the ancient lichen-and-moss-encrusted concrete urns outside, in order to give the entrance a more gracious and welcoming feel.  They're so cheerful! 

We had such a nice Easter Eve: a short walk with my husband this morning, some casual and unhurried food prep for tomorrow, a gentle rain that lulled my jet-lagged husband to sleep this afternoon, and a quiet, late-night talk with Finn about matters of faith. 

The clothes are ironed, the Easter baskets are assembled, and the pie is done.  Now it's time for my favorite holiday!

The Last of the Camellias

 Every time I have gone to Charleston this year, I think "these are the last of the camellias.  Sigh!" And then when we return, the camellias are still hanging on.

See how it's just a bit dark on the edges, just a bit "turned?"  They're on their way out, I just know it!  But Annie found this perfect and oh-so-tiny bloom.  My father's garden boasts a wide variety of camellias, from creamy whites to deep pinks, including some fascinating twists (ruffled-petals, double petals, double-color!).  

They're all so beautiful. 

Yellow Roses, Early August

 My yellow rosebush finished its bloom this past week.  I was so pleased at how well it did, in spite of Japanese beetles (for a while Annie and I were picking them off the bush morning, noon, and night!).  The fresh blooms on new growth did not disappoint, and I'm going to bravely (I'm a little scared), do a second gentle pruning this month in order to encourage a September bloom--and also to try to retrain the shape of the bush, which needs a little help.  The flowers are wonderfully fragrant.  They are so nice that I sometimes feel badly, plucking the Japanese beetles off in the midst of their exult, because can you imagine being buried among the petals of a sweet-scented rose?  And then having two cruel fingers wrench you out of it?

But I don't feel too badly about wrenching them out, because if they're left unchecked, they will eat the blooms to pieces in no time at all. 

    My squash plants didn't fare so well, and I grew weary of trying to battle squash bugs.  I sort of gave the garden over to them, and what lives, lives!  Same with the silky dogwood in the front yard, which is a happy place for the dogwood sawfly.  I spent a couple mornings picking the chalky larvae off the underside of the leaves, and then sort of shrugged and gave up.  Maybe I'll be more diligent next year. I have ambivalent feelings about the silky dogwood anyhow; its spring bloom is rather delightful, and if it survives the wasps, it has nice little fall berries, and the birds seem to love it, so on balance, it's probably a good shrub to have. 

August is a lovely mess: the morning glories are over the porch, all my spring and early summer blooms are gone, the lavender has gone grey, the weeds overtake the tomato plants, and it's too hot to do much more than sip iced tea and watch the junebugs whiz by, but oh--I love it anyhow!

White Bean & Ham Soup and Whole Wheat Rolls

Yesterday was gorgeous and springy, with lots of sunshine and birdsong. I spent the afternoon and part of the early evening putting in most of our garden.  I planted tomatoes, a couple of butternut squash plants, peppers, basil, and some late lettuce plants, and also sowed the seeds for three types of pumpkins, green beans, cucumbers, acorn squash, and more butternut squash. When I began, I thought, our garden space is so large, I certainly will have lots of room left but by dinner last night I was thinking we really need to till up another garden plot.

Here's the sketch of this year's planting!  I will be rotating in zucchini, yellow squash, more tomatoes, and more beans in a week or two.

I wanted to get everything in yesterday because I knew today was supposed to be rainy, and it is! In fact, it's both rainy and cold.  I had to wake both of my children around 8:30. We have spent the morning reading in separate corners of the living room while the washer and dryer do my chores.  It's not even lunchtime and I've already had a cup of coffee and a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea!  

Well: some days are meant to be quiet and cozy, so I'm just going to let this one unfold that way. If the rain ceases later today, I'll take my walk; if not, I'll just make peace with having a sedentary Tuesday!

One extra cozy thing to have on a rainy, cold day is soup.  I make lots of different soups, but this one is a newer favorite.  Although I tend not to eat much meat, this soup does contain ham, because it adds such a good flavor.  It's the simplest soup in the world to throw into the crockpot in the morning, and it cooks all day and infuses the house with coziness.  Later today I'll start a batch of rolls with freshly-milled wheat--another cozy touch, and another recipe I'll include below!

White Bean and Ham Soup

1 lb. dried white beans (great northern or navy) 

32 ounces chicken stock 

2 cups diced ham*

1 onion

3 cups water

Place these ingredients into a crockpot and turn it on high.  Let it cook all day; after a few hours I usually turn it to low or warm and let it simmer.  

Half an hour or so before serving, stir in 1c. of milk (or, if you're really needing some energy, heavy cream or half-and-half!). 

The recipe is deceptively simple!  I'm serious: this may be my favorite soup of all-time. The flavor combination is just so satisfying on a cold day. 

Easy Whole Wheat Rolls 

1 c. warm water

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. salt

2 T. butter

1 packet (or 2.5 tsp) yeast

3 1/4 c. flour** 

Combine 1 c. warm water and yeast in a bowl, and stir.  Let it sit for a few minutes.

Add 3 c. flour and 1/4 c. sugar plus 1 egg and 1 tsp salt, then chop the 2 T. butter into bits and add that. Mix with a dough hook. (I have also just mixed by hand.)

If the dough is still too wet, add 1/4 c. flour and mix. It should form a ball that is not sticky. 

Cover with a towel and let rise 1.5 hours. 

Flour hands and punch down dough, then form it into a ball again. On a lightly-floured cutting board, cut the ball in half, then cut eat half in half again, and so forth, until you have 16 mostly-equal pieces of dough.  Form these into roll shapes and place in a lightly-greased pan.

Cover with a towel and let rise 45 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Optional: brush tops with butter when they are hot out of the oven. 

*      *      * 

I like to serve the soup and rolls with a side of fresh fruit (or a salad for grown-ups who like raw vegetables!).  And that's dinner here tonight!

*For the ham: I buy a ham and dice it (a laborious task made better by listening to something uplifting) and freeze in 2 cup quantities in quart freezer bags for the sole purpose of making this soup! Because frankly, we don't eat ham otherwise--but it's so nice to have on hand for soup.

**You may use all-purpose flour, or half all-purpose and half whole wheat; I grind wheat berries and make these rolls 100% whole wheat, but I don't think you can do that with store-bought wheat!

The Great Garden Expansion

One of my favorite things in the world is working in my garden.  I find it meditative, restorative, therapeutic, peaceful.....

When Annie was little I could barely keep my gardening head above water; the weeds got me every single year.  I was generally overwhelmed.

Now that my children are older, I've found that it's much easier to take care of my garden.  I have committed to mulching every year, and trying to keep ahead of the weeds--much easier now than it was even 5 years ago! We have flower beds all around the perimeter of our home and they include hostas, coral bells, peonies, ranunculus, azaleas, lilac, hydrangea, irises, Solomon's seal, artemesia, Jacob's ladder, ferns, Japanese silver grass, roses, tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, lilies, coneflowers, Shasta daisies, sedum, bleeding hearts, morning glories, lily of the valley, and more....and our newest flower bed, which runs alongside the patio we had built in 2017, contains rosemary, blue false indigo, Veronica speedwell, a dwarf butterfly bush, and my dear little lavender plants.

And it's good that I'm in this manageable place, because new things are coming here on the farm.

When my mother built this house in the early 1990s, she decided to fence in only a portion of the 1.25-acre lot that she owned.  She thought that mowing such a large piece of land would be too much for her (she used a push mower!).  So for over 25 years, we've had about half--maybe less--of our property fenced in as "yard," and the rest is just cow field! 

My husband decided that it was time for us to change the fence line. And that means my yard will grow from being maybe half an acre to being over an acre.  We had a surveyor come out last week and confirm the property corners, my cousin is going to put in the corner posts soon, and he'll get the fence changed as soon as he finishes haying.....

Our new yard (!) will include a portion of sloped, grassy land to the southwest with no trees, and then a steeper-sloped, rockier portion to the northeast with a couple of beautiful (blooming right now!) black locust trees. When I was young and my mother built the house, my room was the only room that faced these trees, and I romantically--I have some Anne Shirley in me--called it the "locust grove" and used to gaze at it out my window, imagining it as a romantic fairyland.

My cousin knocked down a couple of these mostly-dead fairyland black locusts last week with the tractor in preparation for the fence work, but we should be able to salvage two of the remaining trees; one is quite large and still very healthy; I need to check on the other one.



{the view from our front yard out to the locust grove. those peonies are so close to blooming in this photo--they just began yesterday!  the fence that is pictured will be gone soon....and I love the way the locust trees look when they are blooming!}

So I'm starting to look at these areas every day on my walks, trying to catch a vision for what to do with our newfound land. The ideas swirl! I know it will take me a while to create a vision and begin to implement plans; Finn and I signed up to take an online landscape design course to further our abilities in this department.

 It will be a long process; this year my sole goals are to have the new fence installed and to clean the brush and junk out of the fairyland, and get a feel for what I want to plant where, and when.  Next year, Lord willing, I hope to start planting in the fairyland.  The children and I walked out there yesterday and discussed it: our goal is to have a secret garden where we can sit and relax, and where no other house, structure, or human thing can be seen--just the long view across the fields, valley, and distant mountains.  That will involve planting a few hedges.  And of course, we want it to be pretty.  And peaceful.  And fragrant!

Will the new plan for the land involve cherry trees? A grape arbor? A greenhouse?  Will it involve a wildflower meadow?  An archery range? More lavender plants?  Shall I plant spirea, more hydrangea, quince? Should we expand our potager (this is what you call the vegetable garden when your son is a French scholar :))? Install a wisteria arbor?

Suddenly, an acre and a quarter seems way too small!

The Unfolding of Things

We escaped humidity for a long time, but this morning when I went downstairs to exercise, the windows were all fogged-up: summer is coming. It gets quite humid in our valley, in spite of the fact that we live in the mountains.  These are muggy mountains!

Would you believe this: we are still waiting on biopsy results?

"...the days through which we struggle, finding no way, but never losing the light, will be the most significant we are called to live." --Robert Collyer

The initial biopsy taken last week came back on Thursday as negative for cancer.  We were all so astonished! And I can't describe the hope that surged in my heart. However, the PET scan had clearly showed activity in the mouth and neck (and my husband has a lump on his neck), so we were back into the office first thing Friday for a deeper tongue biopsy and a lymph node biopsy as well.  Although our doctor expedited those results, we are still waiting for them...the holiday weekend slowed things down.

I literally have no idea if we are spending tonight in our own beds or in another state. Last week I called to get an appointment for my husband at a highly-ranked ENT oncology center for tomorrow.  But without positive biopsy results, we won't go.....

We had a beautiful weekend.  I indulged myself by planting a hedge of lavender around our new patio.  I bought 14 plants at the nursery, but need 5 more.....

...and I also arranged the patio furniture, cleaned the patio, installed two storage benches, and cleaned the front porch.  I love our new patio!  Once the rains stop it will be a lovely place to have supper or to sit and chat.

I found the most perfect yellow rose on our rosebush and placed it on my husband's nightstand.  Then I had to point it out to him because he hadn't noticed.  Ha! Men!

Finally, from a couple of weeks ago, here's the bouquet I took to Annie's ballet recital.  We had the option of purchasing bouquets from $10-$25, but I opted to use peonies, coral bells, blue false indigo, and sage from the yard for free.  

I have the strangest sensation that although we have no idea what we will learn and when, everything is unfolding as it should, in its own time. Like the flowers do.  And wow, let me just say that our doctor and his staff are doing all they can for us and we are so fortunate that they're concerned, proactive, involved.

If you would like to pray, please join us in praying for further negative biopsy results.

In the meantime, I'm taking loads of comfort in the Bible, my husband and children, and our flowers. In the face of the Great Unknown, these are all reliable blessings. 

Morning Glories Conquer the Porch

The morning glories have conquered the porch. This is *maybe* one-fourth of the glorious tangle, and they're climbing the columns now.  The porch is magical.

They all came from one little morning glory Finn brought home in a cup last year.  I trained the sprouting babies up the porch rail this spring.  

The cherry tomatoes are also volunteers. We get them each year in the front flower bed; apparently they originally came from some heirloom tomatoes we ate and a seed found its way into the dirt in front of the porch. They are among the most delicious tomatoes I've ever had and I look forward to them every year. 

I love sitting on the porch in summer.  It reminds me that if I make space for the unknown, I can end up with something beautiful. 

Glory

The morning glories are tackling the porch quite nicely, I must say.  

I absolutely love them.  I love the way they greet me when I go out to feed the cat in the morning.  I love the way they curl and close later in the day.  A few times a week I pull them out of other plants (today, a hosta!) and train them to climb the porch instead, and so far it's working!

Vigorous and indestructible: even the ones I transplanted (to the other side of the porch) are twining their way around the porch rails now; they're just smaller than this.  

For now......

The Evening Song

This evening I turned a mulching corner and suddenly the end was in sight.  Literally: I rounded a corner and can now see to the end of the last flower bed!  I'm not *there* yet, but I can see it. 

On free evenings I spend a couple hours in the flower beds, pulling up all the fussy little weeds like clover and wire grass, and then spreading fresh mulch. On the east side of the house I'm serenaded (every evening!) by a mockingbird who perches on a post and sings and sings and sings to me. This evening I noticed that when the mockingbird wasn't singing his heart out, a mourning dove to the east called, and another to the west answered. And then slowly the fireflies began blinking into the dusk.

Finally it was time to move the big red truck back to the driveway, and pack up the tools, and water the tomatoes, and tuck the chickens in, and call it a night. 

Morning Glories

We let last year's morning glory (singular) go to seed. As a result we have over a dozen new morning glories ambitiously inching their way to the front porch railing.  Tiny picket fencing hasn't been within my usual aesthetic parameters in the past, but my neighbor was giving this stuff away for free, and I threw it down as a boundary line for the morning glories (wonder if they'll obey?) to keep them out of the herbs. 

Some of the morning glories have already started tackling the porch.  

My vine-covered summer veranda dreams may come true!

Every Gain Divine

This weekend has been all about testing (Finn takes a standardized test every year), gardening, sewing, and food. 

Today I spent six hours in one of our flower beds.  The mulching goes quickly, but the pulling up wire grass and clover goes a lot slower. (Clover! Bane of my existence!) I'm also transplanting a zillion muscari and that takes forever: tiny bulbs deep down in the dirt.......

I just hope I can walk tomorrow. 

Today also involved proctoring Finn's standardized test and a smidgen of sewing, but the best part of the day was at the end: after homemade ice cream on the porch, we visited the chickens, watered the flowers, listened to my cousin's crackling bonfire in the upper field, and watched the sky turn flaming pink over my grandparents' house.  Annie spun around and around in her pink dress, and I can't tell you how beautiful it all was, and how grateful I am for it.

*          *       *

And, in closing, it's a day to remember to whom my freedom is due: our fallen soldiers.  

O beautiful for heroes proved

in liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved,

And mercy more than life!

America, America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine. 

When we sang this yesterday in church, I had tears in my eyes....never fails. 

Peonies and Sage

Just a few days ago I was thinking about my garden's awkward "in between" stage.  Today I was amazed to see how rapidly things changed.....

from this.....

to this!  

The ruffly white peonies and purple sage flowered overnight and this bed looks lush indeed.  I love evening here; the sun is setting behind the pin leaf oak and the garden is aglow.  Words cannot express my delight over coral bells.  Their elegant flowers, their perfect foliage....

In the meantime, my mother's antique rosebush started blooming as well.  That pink peony is almost about to bloom...but not quite yet.

Today we bought some plants.  I rarely buy plants; nearly everything in my garden is a cast-off from someone else or a division of one my plants.  But I'm bulking things up a bit, and I made a list recently of plants I need to acquire.  Today I crossed the Japanese painted fern off this list, as well as the false indigo and two more bleeding hearts (I have one, but she is hiding behind the lavender right now).  Annie chose seeds--columbine and echinacea.  Finn chose an English ivy plant (!).  We decided to make it a houseplant because we don't have many places for ivy to safely grow.

And finally, sunflower seeds.....because I hatched a sweet plan for them.  Stay tuned!

In the Garden

My garden is in an awkward "in-between" stage right now: the lilacs, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth are all done, but the peonies, rose, lavender, lilies, irises, black-eyed susans aren't ready yet......

but the coral bells are!!

This is just a tiny sliver of the large amount of flower garden space I have--but it shows one of my coral bells.

Late this week I worked on weeding--it truly never seems to end--and lots of transplanting my muscari. I also had a liriope salon day (they get haircuts every spring). 

Giving some attention to my garden late this week generated some great finds:

*Last year Finn brought home a tiny planted seed from his scouting group.  Soon it germinated and became a tiny morning glory.  Then we planted it carefully in front of the front porch, and eventually it climbed up and wrapped itself around the railings and delighted us with its blooms and heart-shaped leaves.  As the season wore on, I just allowed it to dry up on the porch, then ripped it out in the fall...hoping it would re-seed itself.

It did!  I now have over a dozen baby morning glories popping up out front, and I hope to train them all to run up the railings and give us a blooming front porch oasis.

*Annie planted periwinkle last year in the east garden.  Her periwinkle now has....a baby!

*Early, early this spring, I looked at my antique rosebush with extreme consternation. It didn't bloom worth anything last year, so a month or so ago I pruned it back, back, back to the ground.  I was delighted this week to see that it's nearly as tall as I am and covered with buds.

*I found a sweet little oak tree starting to grow in my west flower bed. I dug it up and potted it--and maybe, just maybe, I can have a little oak tree to plant later this summer.

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about the extraordinary thrift store extravaganza that occurred yesterday. I bought 156 items.  (This sounds insane, right? My husband says what's really ridiculous is that  I counted it all.)  Remember that we're under austerity measures, right? (Note that in my post I did say I am going to purge.  Yes! I am! Starting tomorrow!)

I got all that for......[drumroll]....

well, you have to wait until tomorrow to see. :)

Happy Sunday. Be sure to take a nap if you can!

Evening with Annie

Last evening the boys had a scouting group meeting, so Annie and I were on our own for a couple of hours.

We began our time together with a walk to the mailbox, observing and commenting on the cattle (so many babies right now!), the dogwood tree *just* ready to burst forth, my aunt and uncle's energetic border collie, the new gate my cousin put in down the lane......

When we got home we cut lavender, sage, lilac, snowballs, yellow tulips, pink and white tulips, crabapple blossoms, and the piece de resistance of the garden this week (and a surprise; did I plant these last year?!!): fiery yellow and red tulips.

Then we lingered outside, reluctant to leave the fresh air and slanted sunlight of late evening.  But leave it we did, and we came inside to watch the first scene of "Swan Lake" (so beautiful, so graceful) before leaving in the dusk to go pick up Finn while his father had a scout leader's meeting.

As we drove, twilight settled all around us and we watched a fat, luminous moon rise in the east.  And we could hear the spring peepers through the open windows.

A beautiful evening with my sweet little girl. 

Yard Bouquet: Hyacinth and Rosemary

Yard bouquet season is here again!

This morning I wrote and drank my coffee while enjoying a jar of hyacinth and rosemary.  

And then, this afternoon, the same bouquet helped me in my hostessing..... 

when a friend came over for a delicious double batch of scones: dried cherry and almond on the one hand, chocolate chunk and orange on the other.  And a pot of earl grey cream tea.  It was a lovely midweek luxury.  Now: back to work!

Typical July Harvest

Zucchini, squash, mint, basil, cucumbers.  

I'm also harvesting sage, but that's not pictured here!

Peonies Aplenty

The world seems cruel and dark at times.  Sometimes I think my little corner of it needs to be extra-beautiful, just to combat the darkness.

The peonies are helping right now.

(So are the coral bells, flowering sage, and roses.)