I sit down to breakfast and look at my hands. Purple fingertips, blue-ish palms.
I'd scrubbed them well, but flower juices are strong. My hands are merely showing two hours worth of pre-breakfast garden work.
My intentions when I set out hadn't been so noble. Trim a few day lilies that were in my line of vision, that's all. I picked up a bucket and headed out front.
And then I got carried away.
Because the beds really do look so grand when they're well tended!
(A spectacular lily in the front road bed...)
Scotch is hoping for some bread. She gets it. Eventually. Today, breakfast is very late for everyone at the farmette.
Having snipped and clipped the front bed, I of course had to do the one that lines the driveway. Which leads me to attack the bed by the parked cars. And how could I not work through the main lily bed by the porch?? I needed to clear that one out! It all looks so much finer once I'm done!
Leaving me then only with the bed by the western edge of the porch and of course the great bed the grand dame of them all. I could not neglect that!
After the work view toward the barn:
View toward the farmhouse:
Nearly a full two hours of work and it would have been wonderful, meditative work except for the mosquitoes. I did wear a mesh jacket, but my head and legs were bare. You know you're torturing yourself when mosquitoes fly into your open mouth, your eyes, your neck.
Ed commented that I should have stopped, sprayed and dressed in full protective garb, but I told him I never intended to do the whole thing. I just worked from one flower to the next and could not stop, because the vision of that completed field was too lovely.
Even though I know that tomorrow, dozens of spent blooms will again fill the yard.
Breakfast. At 10:50.
This is what we see from the porch table, looking out toward the front:
And this is what we see looking out toward the west side (I rarely photograph this bed, but it really is a pretty potpourri of blooms):
I tell Ed that he could not possibly enjoy the long breakfast as much as I am enjoying it this morning. Two hours of swatting bugs followed by an hour of total bliss.
When I pick up Snowdrop, I really begin to feel the heat of this day. The sun comes out and the air feels still and heavy. The little girl is always just a little tired after school and today, when I ask her if she wants to linger at the play ground or the coffee shop, she chooses the coffee shop.
For once, I'm glad of the air conditioning. Snowdrop's sweater is not inappropriate there!
After a double snack, Snowdrop is revived and ready to go to the pool. Though perhaps she wants to conserve her energies, because she asks -- can you carry me, gaga?
Oh, that's way too far. It would wear me out and who will then carry gaga?
She gives this some thought and then answers honestly -- I don't know... She then reconsiders: Snowdrop!
Yes, I think she's feeling peppy again.
At the pool, I take time with the sun screen. This is how she looks without a sweater!
Here's how things look when we enter:
Snowdrop is joyful to be in the water again!
But if yesterday the crowd was tame, today, it's as if all the school programs decided to pack the kids into the pool to cool them off. Slowly but surely the place begins to fill up.
Snowdrop holds her own, even in the thick of the chaos that ensues. She is mindful of the dashing splashing, screaming kids around her and she watches carefully, oftentimes trying to imitate or at least make sense of someone else's game.
After an hour though, she is tired. She has had a long day. Can we go to the showers gaga?
Back at school, where I left the car: Can I sit here? And then: what is this? And this? And this? Everything on the dashboard interests her! It's a long while before we head back to the farmhouse.
Happy girl. A brief play with babies...
A few good old books, a couple of new ones and now comes the much needed rest period. For me, this means a prolonged period on the porch, looking out. The afternoon light is different, but the garden is still fresh, vibrant, thriving. My beloved lilies, in the company of so many other "friends" are doing just fine!
And so are we.
I'd scrubbed them well, but flower juices are strong. My hands are merely showing two hours worth of pre-breakfast garden work.
My intentions when I set out hadn't been so noble. Trim a few day lilies that were in my line of vision, that's all. I picked up a bucket and headed out front.
And then I got carried away.
Because the beds really do look so grand when they're well tended!
(A spectacular lily in the front road bed...)
Scotch is hoping for some bread. She gets it. Eventually. Today, breakfast is very late for everyone at the farmette.
Having snipped and clipped the front bed, I of course had to do the one that lines the driveway. Which leads me to attack the bed by the parked cars. And how could I not work through the main lily bed by the porch?? I needed to clear that one out! It all looks so much finer once I'm done!
Leaving me then only with the bed by the western edge of the porch and of course the great bed the grand dame of them all. I could not neglect that!
After the work view toward the barn:
View toward the farmhouse:
Nearly a full two hours of work and it would have been wonderful, meditative work except for the mosquitoes. I did wear a mesh jacket, but my head and legs were bare. You know you're torturing yourself when mosquitoes fly into your open mouth, your eyes, your neck.
Ed commented that I should have stopped, sprayed and dressed in full protective garb, but I told him I never intended to do the whole thing. I just worked from one flower to the next and could not stop, because the vision of that completed field was too lovely.
Even though I know that tomorrow, dozens of spent blooms will again fill the yard.
Breakfast. At 10:50.
This is what we see from the porch table, looking out toward the front:
And this is what we see looking out toward the west side (I rarely photograph this bed, but it really is a pretty potpourri of blooms):
I tell Ed that he could not possibly enjoy the long breakfast as much as I am enjoying it this morning. Two hours of swatting bugs followed by an hour of total bliss.
When I pick up Snowdrop, I really begin to feel the heat of this day. The sun comes out and the air feels still and heavy. The little girl is always just a little tired after school and today, when I ask her if she wants to linger at the play ground or the coffee shop, she chooses the coffee shop.
For once, I'm glad of the air conditioning. Snowdrop's sweater is not inappropriate there!
After a double snack, Snowdrop is revived and ready to go to the pool. Though perhaps she wants to conserve her energies, because she asks -- can you carry me, gaga?
Oh, that's way too far. It would wear me out and who will then carry gaga?
She gives this some thought and then answers honestly -- I don't know... She then reconsiders: Snowdrop!
Yes, I think she's feeling peppy again.
At the pool, I take time with the sun screen. This is how she looks without a sweater!
Here's how things look when we enter:
Snowdrop is joyful to be in the water again!
But if yesterday the crowd was tame, today, it's as if all the school programs decided to pack the kids into the pool to cool them off. Slowly but surely the place begins to fill up.
Snowdrop holds her own, even in the thick of the chaos that ensues. She is mindful of the dashing splashing, screaming kids around her and she watches carefully, oftentimes trying to imitate or at least make sense of someone else's game.
After an hour though, she is tired. She has had a long day. Can we go to the showers gaga?
Back at school, where I left the car: Can I sit here? And then: what is this? And this? And this? Everything on the dashboard interests her! It's a long while before we head back to the farmhouse.
Happy girl. A brief play with babies...
A few good old books, a couple of new ones and now comes the much needed rest period. For me, this means a prolonged period on the porch, looking out. The afternoon light is different, but the garden is still fresh, vibrant, thriving. My beloved lilies, in the company of so many other "friends" are doing just fine!
And so are we.
Yes, the beds are grand. I've heard other people exclaim, about other yards, "it just makes me so happy every time I drive by!"
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you, Nina, that is a thing worth doing.
Tending my daylilies, I saw someone brand new in my little universe, a small, bright canary-yellow spider. She was so beautiful! Looking her up, I find she is probably called a "Goldenrod Spider" and yes, she will bite you if she has to, but you won't be poisoned. :)
Well, I prefer gloves for the daylily job anyway, for one thing there's the dyed fingertips, and too, I don't like the slimy feel of the fallen blooms.
Snowdrop at the pool! Her situation is ideal - a consistent, social, learn-through-play experience every morning, and then the sweet sweet time, adventuring, with you!
Our pool looks just the same as yours, right down to the slides and fountains, but our own C is not here. :(
When she was here on July 4, the pool was closed. She did seem so happy in our little wader with kitchen things like funnels and a baster.
Who do I take to the fancy pool? Our Grand-dog! After the pool closes in September, after a few days of no chemicals, all the doggies in town have an evening romp. It is just amazing fun for him and funny to us!