I expect it will be mid May by the time we get another day like this. Mostly sunny, breezy and a whopping afternoon temperature of 68F (that's 20C). And in case you're not convinced of the total craziness of our weather this week, we're told that tomorrow, we're not going to get beyond 38F (that would be 3C).
How do you proceed when everything is suddenly so intense?
Today -- it's easy. After a thorough farmhouse wash (including upstairs windows), we eat a quick, sunny breakfast...
... and go outside. And that's where I stay until it is time to cook dinner for the young family.
A whole day outside... Do I put my feet up and listen to the willow branches heave and sway in the wind? Do I sip lemonade on the porch and think how wonderful it is to have summer in April? Do I salute the sun and ease into a downdog or warrior pose before a cheeper audience?
No I do not. I work all day long with the intensity I feel as I witness the garden, the beloved garden emerge after a long winter rest.
Fortuitously, two of the tree trimming companies we work with were looking to offload full trucks of wood chips this past week and so we have a huge pile of chips to distribute. Huge.
We heave cartload after cartload of chips to fix old flower beds and yes, we extend them, and, too, we create brand new ones as well.
You can never have too many flowers.
Working with wood chips -- yes, there's that. In addition to the clipping, digging, pulling and tugging all day long. The cheepers watch, sometimes participating in their own way, sometimes resting under bushes as they like to do in the middle of a summer afternoon.
Oh, what a day it is! There aren't many photos for you. Only crocuses and the first daffodils have displayed their best spring faces.
But to me, every perennial clump, even if still only a few inches tall, represented a future, a promise.
I work around them all with loving care and grand anticipation.
Such a brilliant day it is -- absolutely brilliant!
Dinner is a simple affair -- pasta. But I hear no complaints! Indeed, I have a willing assistant who is very good with the big stirring spoon.
And even better at slurping.
Down to the last spaghetti noodle.
Clap your hands! Such a beautiful day... Clap your hands!
How do you proceed when everything is suddenly so intense?
Today -- it's easy. After a thorough farmhouse wash (including upstairs windows), we eat a quick, sunny breakfast...
... and go outside. And that's where I stay until it is time to cook dinner for the young family.
A whole day outside... Do I put my feet up and listen to the willow branches heave and sway in the wind? Do I sip lemonade on the porch and think how wonderful it is to have summer in April? Do I salute the sun and ease into a downdog or warrior pose before a cheeper audience?
No I do not. I work all day long with the intensity I feel as I witness the garden, the beloved garden emerge after a long winter rest.
Fortuitously, two of the tree trimming companies we work with were looking to offload full trucks of wood chips this past week and so we have a huge pile of chips to distribute. Huge.
We heave cartload after cartload of chips to fix old flower beds and yes, we extend them, and, too, we create brand new ones as well.
You can never have too many flowers.
Working with wood chips -- yes, there's that. In addition to the clipping, digging, pulling and tugging all day long. The cheepers watch, sometimes participating in their own way, sometimes resting under bushes as they like to do in the middle of a summer afternoon.
Oh, what a day it is! There aren't many photos for you. Only crocuses and the first daffodils have displayed their best spring faces.
But to me, every perennial clump, even if still only a few inches tall, represented a future, a promise.
I work around them all with loving care and grand anticipation.
Such a brilliant day it is -- absolutely brilliant!
Dinner is a simple affair -- pasta. But I hear no complaints! Indeed, I have a willing assistant who is very good with the big stirring spoon.
And even better at slurping.
Down to the last spaghetti noodle.
Clap your hands! Such a beautiful day... Clap your hands!
Love the one noodle at a time approach... and enjoying the sauce first. One year old gourmets are amazing!
ReplyDeleteLove the photo contrast between Saturday and Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI like your combination of blue&white vase with only orange blooms.
ReplyDeleteAlso your closeup of a delicate petal with the sun shining through it.
I thought about you late last evening, as I scrolled through my own mental photo journal of the day. I wondered, and admired, that you've not tired of Ocean after all these years. (I would be disappointed)
I like to think that persistence is a trait of mine, BUT I took daily garden photos for three or four years and then just stopped. I always did enjoy playing with light and angles, and the real benefit is that you look...and look...and appreciate. The camera helps you see in new ways. But, one summer the camera just stayed inside.
I do have a lot of great photos to put under plexiglass on my science table at school. A spider web shimmering with dew, a green mantis on a green leaf, a bee with a perfect little bullseye on her back...
doesn't it sound like maybe I'm talking myself into garden photography once again this year?
Welcome, Spring.
Wait a minute, did you say you WASHED WINDOWS BEFORE BREAKFAST? I don't know anyone like you. :)
Okay, there's a reason for that! We've had a winter of box elder beetles and Japanese lady bugs invading our upstairs rooms! "Catching" them has left smears on the windows and I was determined to wipe them clean. I should admit that I always do the weekly farmhouse cleaning before breakfast -- a question of doing the objectionable before the sublime.
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