Whirlwind

Every night I think, “Tonight I’ll blog”, but it’s been a four week whirlwind of activities. Tonight’s the night. There is so much to share!

My 15 yr old purple tulip bunch that I have truly enjoyed each and every year faded this year to one small purple tulip. (Plus one the bunnies might have enjoyed)

I have wonderful pictures over the years and will always remember spring mornings relaxing on the patio, looking at their gorgeous blooms swaying in the breeze.

Besides these giant new tulip “bouquets” I planted last fall,

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Last fall’s planting also brought a new, delicate bouquet of pink tulips out back. At our family gathering last week someone thought they were artificial! I reportedly gave a funny look and said, “Go touch them!” – lol. They were, admittedly, pretty “perfect”.

Right next to them, the bunnies had a munch-fest, so having them spared was awesome!

The amur maple out front flowered last week. It smelled glorious for two days, and then I got a cold. But I trust it still continued to smell wonderful for a few more days at least! Hopefully our family enjoyed it a bit!

Now the pink tulips are starting to fade, the asian lilies are starting to show buds, and the daylilies and hostas seem to have doubled in size this past week.

The days have been full. The sunsets have been incredible.

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We have also spent time up north, where the sunrises were awe inspiring.

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And we saw the sunset reflect off one of our very old old pines. We think this one is over 100 yrs. Notice it’s size compared to the other 20ish yr growth!

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Quite a difference from “Charlie” who we moved to get the camper situated.

Grow, Charlie! Grow, Charlie! He has a companion “Lucy” who we will also need to move. They will both be in decent proximity to “Linus”. You get the theme?

The seeds are half planted up north. Lifting 440 pounds of dirt into a raised bed garden was enough for me for one weekend.

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And that was 2/3 full of branches (see hugelkultur post).

Unfortunately, there is a center support that it turns out bends pretty easily when you push down on branches. Oh well! Live and learn!

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I still have one more (identical) raised bed garden to do. And I have milkweed plants to get in the ground, and stakes and chickenwire to put up once the seeds sprout, plus daylily seeds to try. It’s all so much easier to have “scope creep” in the winter when planning! But slow and steady wins the race. I keep reminding myself my gardens at the townhome are years of putzing – changing this, moving that, adding “one more thing”. This is the Year One Test Garden up north.

The day awakens

We’ve had an almost full moon the past few days. Those nights are pretty neat, with the moon shining brightly on everything sleeping. Sometimes I wake up early, and take a peek at what’s going on outside. Often I will see one of the neighborhood bunnies eating seed that has been dropped under the feeders. This morning was like that.

I looked out front and saw the moon was still lighting up the sleepy scene below. Inside, I turned on the least bright lights and read a bit. (I landed in Genesis a week ago and have kind of hung out there.) After a while I checked outside again. The moon was red, just on the horizon. As close to a moon set as we see with roofs obstructing the full view.

Soon the night gave way to sunrise.

Sunrises on the north shore, when it wasn’t cloudy, were beautiful. This was the view out our window as we had our morning coffee.

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Sunrise, Sunset

Last Friday I couldn’t sleep past 5am so I got up and had a leisurely start to the day. About six I thought about taking a short snooze but then looked out the patio blinds and … It was the start of an absolutely glorious dawn.

Just on the edge, the crickets were still chirping and the first bird flew past. Then I heard rustling, and a chirp. Then the cardinal tested out his morning singing. Absolutely wonderful. I had to grab a sweatshirt, a cup of hot cider, and my phone.

The first squirrel came by.

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Mama cardinal came for some breakfast. Two hummingbirds flitted around and around for over half an hour, sipping at the feeder a bit, and stopping by the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ blooms. An hour and a half later I reluctantly reminded myself that no, an impromptu vacation day was not an option this time. But it was a fabulous start of the day.

The sunset that night was cloudless. A beautiful, gorgeous fall day. No clouds meant a clear sunset.

The next morning the sunrise had just the faintest line of clouds.

Another gorgeous day. The squirrels and birds arrived. The hummingbirds chirped. Our guest in the garden arrived and we enjoyed his company.

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And so it goes. Tulips to lilies to hostas to sedum to an abundance of leaves on the ground to snow drifts. Ground with frost to days with air conditioning and back to days with sweatshirts on. I have worn out another pair of my oldest sandals, dubbed this year’s “garden sandals” and am considering which pair will have the job next year.

There are big moments and tiny moments, moments that sneak up on you, moments you plan for, moments you anxiously await. I had a crazy busy week at work, overbooked myself socially, and fell into bed last night early. My husband had a routine week. After months of planning and outfitting and practicing, our oldest son and his girlfriend will start their first season of bow hunting today. We are waiting patiently to hear our youngest son has completed his Pacific Crest Trail through hike. The sun comes up, the day proceeds, the sun goes down.

Today, in this moment, the sun is rising in a completely different place than last week. It is shining through different pine trees. While I sit here, at the same moment, a few geese went honking by and the humingbirds approached the feeder. The hummingbirds are still, in this moment, dancing and chirping. The first squirrel of the day has arrived. The robins are gone (that we can tell). The geese have been flocking up, and it will be quite a few months until the dark-eyed junkos arrive. We probably won’t be sitting out on the patio for very long periods of time then.

Sunrise, Sunset

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