If yesterday Ed and I strained to get work done out in the fields, today is different. After a delightful breakfast on the porch...
...I take rosie to campus to tidy up paper details and bring exams home. I'm giving myself three weeks and not a day more to finish grading a very hefty stack. The way to accomplish this is to plunge right in and do a big load the very first day. And so that's what I'm doing. Out on the porch. My first day of grading...
...while the daffodils keep their dance going and the buds of their neighbors are getting confident enough to keep shooting up.
I have my laptop near me and as I sit and read exams, my Skype phone rings and it is my sister and she, too, is out in the country. She's in the village house in Poland that was once my grandparents' home. It's where she and I learned to love the outdoors. Trees, flowers, growing things. I have to shake my head in wonderment at the passage of time, because when we were kids, there was no running water, no electricity, not any of it and now she tells me that in this same village she has a choice of internet providers (even though the place is remote enough that it still has no paved road running through it).
My sister and I are in cahoots to put in order my citizenship papers without the aid of the soulless bureaucrat sitting in the Polish Consulate office in Chicago. When she describes to me how, when presenting my case in Warsaw, she was aided and assisted by truly helpful office workers, I think how different and pleasant life would be if we could always turn our backs on the obstructionists and grumpy naysayers out there!
By evening, I take a grading break and I water the poor flowers that are just not sure what to expect, weatherwise. From frost, to 91 degrees, all in the space of a day. What next, they want to know. What next?
I have no answers. We soldier on no matter what and do the best we can, no?
A supper of Thai take out. And an eye toward the rest of the week -- we're in for days of sunny skies and mild temperatures. A gift. A real gift.
It is glorious weather-finally! I'm excited for your endeavors in Poland; I hope people there really are much more helpful than the grump in Chicago. And finally, as always, what are the purple and red flowers in the picture directly below the daffodil picture? Thanks in advance for helping me color my garden!
ReplyDeleteAre those apple tree buds in the last photo? I would love to have an apple tree but husband says no, they are dirty trees. I had one growing up and always loved it even though rotten apples covered the ground under it. I really love the flowers on an apple tree.
ReplyDeleteSara -- Here are some color suggestions: the blue flower you note is a "Campanula Takion Blue" -- good because it likes part shade or sun and blooms for a long time. But I think it's sensitive to the very hot, so I treat it as something that's especially strong in early summer. The pink is the same Heuchera you noted before -- Coral Bells -- that I think of as an underrated knock out!
ReplyDeleteIf you want color all summer long I highly recommend the Gaura plant: it's just beautiful and throws blooms June through October. It doesn't usually winter over, but this year I took mine inside and kept it alive and now it's picking up again outside! You'll see it in today's post later on. Also, the ever wonderful daylillies -- pick ones that are in the "Happy Returns" family -- they bloom wonderfully from July til October. Pink or yellow.
Then, get yourself some coreopsis -- they come in all shapes and sizes. I love the delicate fern like ones best and they spread and spread....
Oh, flowers!
Bex -- the answer is yes. It's an old old crab apple and so yes, it does shed what the birds dont eat, but they eat a lot! I get all my robin shots from the crab apple.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Paul will agree to a dwarf apple -- we put in mostly dwarfs in the new orchard -- so you can reach them without climbing. They aren't nearly the trouble that full grown trees are. I also think they're worth it for the blooms alone.