Consolation Prize

I was consoling myself this morning, the start of yet another cloudy, dismal day.

Yesterday!  Oh, yesterday was fantastic. The first day of summer.  80 degrees, beautiful blue sky. Sunshine!  But it couldn’t last.  Today was cloudy and cool.  So I consoled myself saying it’s an okay thing.  If it was another beautiful day I’d spend my after-work time out in the yard, weeding and stuff like that.  But if it’s a lousy-weather day I won’t spend my time outside.  Instead, I’ll work inside which I desperately need to do.  I have company coming this weekend.  I need to do some laundry and dust and vacuum the corners. With the lousy weather I’ll get something done inside.

A great plan.  Until I was driving home.  Then it hit me that this lousy weather is perfect for working in the yard.  Not too hot.  Not raining.  Perfect!

And so I did.  Spent 2 and a half  hours out  there.  Got lots done and that corner of the yard, with the sage,  chives, mint, raspberries, and my asparagus shoots, looks pretty darn good.

Unfortunately, the corners of the house don’t look too good.  And now, at 7:00 pm, the sun has finally come out so I’ve gotta get out there and soak up some of it!  While I’m there I’ll pull a few weeds.

The house will be dusty but the yard will look good!

Waiting for the Chickens to Come Home to Roost

The kids are grown and gone.  It’s been many years since I was kept up at night with a small child who wouldn’t go to bed.   It’s  been a long time since I was kept up at night waiting for the children to come home  from a date or a late night outing.  No, it’s not the kids that are keeping me up at night. These days I’m kept up waiting for the chickens to go to bed!

We let our flock “free range”‘ during the day.  As night nears they make their way back to the coop.  But with these longer days the “ladies” are staying out later.  So I’m  having to wait for them to decide it’s time to go to bed.  If I head down to the chicken yard too early, even if they are all in the coop, they’ll hear me coming (just like little kids will hear you sneaking down the hallway!) and they’ll come running out thinking I’m going to feed them.  Then I get to start all over, waiting for them to go to bed, so I can “snug them in” closing the gate on their yard so the predators don’t get them during the night.

Funny how life changes but each new stage is so like the other.

I hope you have a good night!

Bird Count

My apologies to the  guests in our summer house.  They are chickadees, not sparrows.  It’s the first time I’ve had chickadees in one of our bird houses and I feel quite honored.

I saw a hummingbird today.  I’ve heard them humming around but it’s been some weeks since they’ve frequented our bird feeder.  Today, I saw one check out the feeder, then head over to the hanging  flower basket that has real food.  I filled up the hummingbird feeder, tho’, just in case they want some junk food to go along with the good stuff.

And I’ve enjoyed several sightings of goldfinches this spring, more than I’ve seen in previous years.  They are such brightly colored birds, so unusual compared to most of the birds in this part of the world.

I’ve yet to see “my owl” but many nights, long after darkness has set in, I’ve heard him (her?) calling in the night. I have no idea what kind of owl it is but it has a most soothingly eerie call that helps me go to sleep.

Speaking of birds, last year I saw my first quail, here in southern Puget Sound. I’ve lived here for decades and had never seen a quail here.  I thought quail were just eastern Washington birds  until I saw some just down the road…but maybe they were just passing through on vacation.

Fashion Diva

It’s been said that if you hang on to your clothes long enough they will make a fashion comeback.

Sometimes it’s true.  My ’50’s pedal pushers are now capri pants. My ’60’s hip-hugger bell bottoms have became low-rise flares. And those thongs of yesteryear? They are now flip-flops  (or dental floss underwear but that can only be counted as a resurrected fashion if you considered wedgies stylish.)

On the other hand some fashions haven’t returned.  Who, in the last 80 years, has seen a bustle (other than perhaps in a wedding gown) or  boys wearing knickers?

Then there are the styles that should never return. I’m sorry to report that I wore some of those. And I’ve recently seen some of them creeping into the high school where I work.  It’s  like seeing myself, and not at my best, 40 years ago:  big, ratted hair, white lipstick, and miniskirt.

I’m sure hoping it doesn’t catch on.

It’s Almost Here!

It’s almost here!  I spend 9 months of the year waiting for it and it’s almost here. Better than Christmas when you’re a kid.  Better than a birthday with cake and presents and funny hats.  Better than a sleep-over with a roomful  of your best friends.  It’s summer! Long, lazy days of warm sunshine, sweet smelling flowers, strawberry short cake, puckery lemonade, and wonderful days off work. Ahhhh!  I can feel and smell and taste it all.

Summer!  I’m still hopeful that we’ll actually have some summer here in the Pacific Northwest.  I did see some sunshine a few minutes ago and it’s 64 degrees.  That’s summer, isn’t it?  Sure it is, if you’re in Labrador.

But the lousy weather can’t stop the days from getting longer or the birds from singing or the daisies and marigolds from blooming.  Surely there will be some sun and warmth.  Enough to soak up and save for another 9 months. There will be warm days and we’ll go out for ice cream.

But until then I’m still too cold to eat ice cream so I’m counting on you.  Head out to your favorite neighborhood ice cream shop and eat a triple-decker one for me.  Let me know what flavor I missed out on!

Bits and Pieces

I did it!  All of the wood is moved from the unsightly wood pile location to the more hidden-behind-the-garage-location.  I moved much of it as I’d planned, three pieces at a time…hubby moved the big chunks and I finished the cleaning up today. I raked and smoothed the now vacant ground and threw out some flower seeds.  It’s pretty late for flower seeds but I’m thinking that summer may actually come and something may grow!

I’m using my old buffet as a potting bench.  It didn’t take much transforming.  I put three coats of verathane on it to protect it.  Then I bought a thick piece of clear plastic to cover it  and provide more protection.  It’s pushed up against the house  on the patio and with it’s drawers it’s got all the storage and work space I need. It’s working great.

Some years ago my brother gave me a cute birdhouse which I think was really intended to be a decorative piece.  But I hung it up on the eave of the patio roof and there it’s been for several years.  This year it has occupants!  A sparrow family moved in and I heard the babies calling mom and dad today.

My purple-June garden has a couple of white daisies now joining in.

That’s it for today.  Looks to be a great week!

Pretty in Purple

All of my blooming flowers are purple.

The lilacs are purple.  The iris are purple.  The violets and pansies are purple.  The columbine and the bleeding heart are, too.  Even the rhodie on that side of the house is purple. The lupine are purple.  And there are a couple more plants, whose name I don’t recall, that are also purple.  Various shades of purple. All of them.

It would be fun to say I planned my garden this way.  A June Purple Garden.  But I didn’t.

It would be even more fun to say I’ve observed this in past years!  Only the pansies and violets are new this year; all the rest have been there for several years. But I can’t honestly say I’ve ever noticed this before. But it’s a great idea.  A June Purple Garden.  I’m kind of diggin’ it!