We. Don't. Need. A. Larger. Garden.

When I look at our garden...

Which doesn't quite go the fence in the background, but almooooost...I don't think: "We need a larger garden". Nope.

Doug does. He was out planting seeds the other night...but I couldn't see him in our garden. He proudly pointed out the "new garden" today. Planted with all kinds of ornamental gourds, corn, etc.

"It's only 25 feet by 25 feet," he said, "very small." Did I mention that he has also taken over the base of the children's play area:

As a place to grow beans? Since the trellis shape is already there, why not? And in his favor, it will make a fun retreat in July and August from the sun.

I can imagine how fun it will be to play in there for the kids. Truly, though, I wonder how much (or how little, rather) of our yard will not be garden by the time Doug is through "getting enough space" for everything he wants to plant.

What's Bloomin'

Simply happy to report that there are still things coming into bloom. And that we had an extra weekend day this weekend (thanks to our veterans for both the holiday and - more importantly - our freedoms) to play outside.

More irises came into bloom, along with my delphinium (that's the dark purple one):

I'm especially impressed by the two-toned irises. Maybe (maybe) they'll change my mind about not liking irises:

These dainty white bulbs bloomed at the front of my yard. They're called Allium Graceful. And if you've heard the name "allium" before...in connection with onions, you are absolutely spot on...I love the flowers that I get from my allium plants. Chives. globes, these little white ones...the variety is wonderful (and I'd bet they're all edible, though I'll stick with just eating my chives).

And then there are the primroses, which are native to this area. They bloom all summer long, and well into autumn, as I found out last year. And then - there's still more to them, can you believe it? - their leaves turn red. Fancy. They do tend to take over and become invasive, but honestly, I love that about them. Only because I have a large yard that needs lots of flowers, though.

There are also some plants that I bought last week, after discovering a new nursery. Very dangerous. Me in a new nursery, not the plants themselves. This is a sedum of some sort, which has a cute little flower much like the allium above, except in yellow:

Then there's the tradescantia (or Widow's Tears), which promptly decided to fall over and look pretty sad.

My neighbor also gave me a ton of blue salvia (in exchange for dividing her very large salvia). Love that about neighbors! It does look a little sad after transplanting...

But I have high hopes for it. This salvia is planted along with my daisies all along the rock border at the front of my yard. So imagine this...

With tons of these in front of the rocks...

Along with the blue salvia above interspersed between them. I can't wait until next year!!!

Working On It!

You might be wondering about some of those old projects that I started, but haven't finished.

I wonder about them every now and again - am I ever going to get around to reupholstering those chairs?  They started out in a blue flowered pattern...

Morphed into a sad foam-covered nothing of a chair...

And then sat on one side of the dining room. For a long, long time. I got them last August at a yard sale. Seriously, we're coming up quickly on a year here. So last weekend, I got myself working. And here's what I have so far:

Still no side and the cushion is still blue flowers. But did you notice the orange piping detail where the arm meets the back?

Pretty fancy! And it was so much easier to put together than it was to take it apart - seriously. I still have pieces that need to be put together, and a whole 'nother chair to start on. But it's a start.

And...remember me drawing on the wall a few weeks ago? Well, it's still in progress. I work on it probably 1-2 nights a week, but that doesn't mean a lot of progress is being made. Here's where it was when I first brought it up:

Not a whole lot to look at. Now, it's a little more than that:

But I'm still on the bottom of the wall. Those outlet covers are also really eye-catching, too - maybe I should paint at least one so they're not so noticeable. Anyhoo, I still have this large amount of space to cover...

Painting these squiggles is very Zen-like, though, so I'm likely to keep up with it. Doug is just tolerating it, hoping that I won't like it when I'm done, so we can go back to a boring solid color. Doubt it!

Hope your projects are showing a little more progress than mine...but a little bit is better than nothing. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

There's the Sunshine

Having lived back east for so many years, I feel just drenched in sunshine here in the west. With fewer trees and many more sunny days, there is simply no lack of sun.

And yet, I still want to bring that sun inside. Sunburst mirrors have been on my wishlist for years, but I've never gotten around to getting one. Mostly because the ones I really wanted were quite expensive. Okay, maybe $100-$200 doesn't sound expensive to you, but it certainly does to me.

Last weekend, the girls and I got a chance to go garage saling. This is something we normally don't do - mostly because we end up with a bunch of junk we really didn't need and spend actual money for said junk. This time, I went with specifics in mind: we needed a side table for the guest room and a tricycle for Jack. Both of which we found (yahoo!). The table was a mere $10, and the trike was $2. Totally do-able.

We also found additional stuff, like clothes for Sophia and my great-nephew. And, finally, I found a sunburst mirror that I can afford:

See that price tag? Oh yeah, one buck-a-roo. It does have a broken ray, but that was easily fixed.

See how cool super glue is? The guy who was selling it told me he didn't want to fix it, in case it was deceptive. I couldn't decide if that meant he was really honest or really not interested in fixing the mirror. Either way, it's mine and it's fixed now!

And just to top it all off, it actually found a place on a wall.

The wall is just perfect as far as size, and it gives me something happy to look at when I go into the hallway. Beautiful things in unexpected places make me smile.

Here's the irony of me wanting interior sunshine: I don't actually like sunny days. In fact, rainy days are my favorite. But what is life without irony?

A Bloomin' Explosion!

Finally, all those plants I've been stalking have bloomed. That's not to say there aren't plenty left to give us something to look forward to, but these are the ones I've been dying to see.

Why? Because we started them as seeds last spring - yup, 2011. Last year, they got all bushy and happy, but no blooms. So we waited. And were rewarded!

Painted daisies, in both light and dark pink:

Shasta daisies: there are only a few of these this week, but you can see tons of blooms about to spring into action...

Shasta daisies are actually my favorite flower. This one is doing so well, I decided to plant a whole flat of peat pots this year (72 plants), and ended up with about 50 + starts. So several of them ended up along this really long bed, to the left of the rocks:

Now, that makes me excited for next year. You can't hardly see them because they're so small. But they are there, and they will bloom next year (so help me). Hehe.

Sweet Williams: Now, I know I showed these to you last week. But you just have to see them now - each stem is like a mini-bouquet. Light pink and dark pink...

And here they are in white, framed by that really spectacular verbascum that I wanted to rip out last year (yes, you've already seen that one, too). The potentillas also took a full year to bloom, but were worth waiting for (even though I'm not 100% sure they really are potentillas...so correct me if I'm wrong!).

The roses in front of the house also decided to start blooming.

This bush looks horrid, but the flowers are quite nice. Maybe a trellis would help tame it? It grows a lot during the season, so it must be a climber. This was one of the few plants from the days of the previous owners, and I'm grateful - truly - that it is here, but I am thinking about moving it. This is the front of the house - not really a great place for a bush that isn't tidy or really even that pretty.

Iris: Now this is a plant that has me conflicted. This time of year, it's one of the only plants that is really glorious. However, the flower doesn't impress me much. This was from a grab bag of bulbs (though technically it's a tuber, not a bulb) that I ordered from Breck's (online nursery) last year. What makes me very happy: it's yellow. It's still an iris, but I might be able to live with it if I mass a few of these together. Then you would see more color than flower shape. At any rate, it's very cheery.

Sage: this one was a surprise. I purchased this plant last year, and it has really taken off. The flowers are nothing like anything I've seen, though. They are almost luminescent, the true blue of their little petals just glowing against the blue-green foliage. I tried many, many pictures, but was never able to capture the actual look. Still, you can see how many flowers there are...

Peas: Technically, not a flower per se. This is from Doug's Pee-Tee-Pees. The flowers on those sugar snap peas are just so sweet, they had to be included.

That's all the new flowers...the thyme also bloomed, but the flowers are super small, so they aren't included. I had to add one more picture, because our pear trees are both producing an amazing amount of fruit. This was also unexpected, much like the sage flowers, because we thought there wouldn't be any fruit in our orchard for several years. Hooray for pears!

What's blooming in your garden and/or neighborhood? Share, share! And have a great week, everyone!

Noodle Lightsabers

When Collin asked for a lightsaber (about $20 for the extendable one at a toy store), I was less than excited. Star Wars is great and all, but I don't like to outfit my kids with weaponry. Not that they don't make their own from sticks or whatever they happen to be near, but at least it doesn't come from me, right?

So here's my compromise: a lightsaber made from a pool noodle. Or rather, four pool noodles, sliced in half, so we end up with eight lightsabers. That should be enough for five children and some friends. Here's the cost breakdown (all costs are rounded up):

• 4 pool noodles: $8
• Duct tape: $6

Total: $14 for eight. Much better than one for $20.

Besides, they are soft. Those toy lightsabers are hard, and I know that someday I will be smacked by anything that is brought into the house (accidentally, of course).

Jack and Sophia really enjoyed the pool noodles just as they were...

But I had to go and use a bread knife to slice them in half...

I wrapped the end with duct tape. And then we played with them until we were so tired.

What's even better: all the kids in the neighborhood were having a lightsaber fight last night. It was great to see probably 10 kids playing with these (2 had their own lightsabers).

So where did I get this idea? I definitely didn't come up with it on my own. The city had a fair last year, and they did this for the kids - they even had "Jedi training" using bubbles. And the kids could have their Jedi name inscribed on their lightsaber, meaning their own name spelled backwards written with a sharpie.

I'm truly starting to learn that marketing is really the name of the game when it comes to motherhood.

Mini-Vacation: Donut Falls

No, we didn't choose Donut Falls as an excuse to eat doughnuts. We didn't even bring any doughnuts with us, although the kids certainly tried to talk us into it.

The hike was moderate, only 3/4 mile. Not bad, right? Even with a toddler, right?

Oh, minor tangent about said toddler. Sophia had a fever of 102 - 103 degrees all weekend. An hour before we decided to go camping, she felt cool and was acting pretty normal. By the time we got home, her fever was back. The extra sunshine probably didn't help...since it was sunshine for about 4 hours...

The kids were impossible to get into the car. Heaven forbid we should get out and have fun. First they didn't want to go on a hike. Then they didn't want to get their tennis shoes on. Finally we got on the road. After about 10 minutes, Doug realized that he had forgotten his shoes. Oops. We returned and got them.

Then we drove up the canyon - a lovely 30 minute drive. The hills reminded me a lot of the hills on the I-80 from PA to NJ. Minus the Delaware River, and adding the Cottonwood River, which is a tad smaller. At any rate, it was gorgeous. The weather even cooperated, staying at about 70 degrees.

The parking lot was a little farther from the trailhead than we had anticipated - a mile away from the trailhead, to be exact. So our 3/4 mile hike turned into 1-3/4 mile, 3-1/2 both ways. Still, manageable, right? Not according to the kids on the way back, but whatever ("My feet hurt!"). Poor Doug - he had to carry Sophia most of the way. Next time, definitely bringing a stroller - for at least the mile before we get to the trail!

Donut Falls, by the way, is so named because the river actually goes through a rock - it's difficult to see in this picture. But it's very cool in person.

Jack, cling-a-lot Sophia, and me - sitting at the falls

See the floppy hat I'm wearing in the picture? Jack helpfully tossed it into the river about halfway back to the car. Not the best fashion statement anyway, I guess. But still! Now I need another gardening hat. Argh.

Been on any fun mini- or major vacations lately? Share, share! These small vacations manage to be enough to get away, yet are very inexpensive. And - I don't have to pack!

What's Bloomin'!

It's Monday, meaning...it's time to see what's blooming in the yard! Apparently, stalking hasn't actually stopped my plants from blooming (whew!).

You got a preview of my Globe Alliums on Friday, but here they are again:

These have to be some of the most startling flowers

Some Alpine Rosy Bells, tiny but pretty:

Here's another few that I think are Potentilla (from seed last year), but that surprise me with multiple blooms - each of those pom-pom endings will have five flowers each. And I have them in light pink..

Dark pink...

And white...and there's another one that waits to be seen.

Last, but not least, there were just a few pink blooms on my Weigela:

In total, I think there are four blossoms. Rats. Hoping for more, here! Anyway, there seems to be lots of blossoms ready to burst open for next week. Have a wonderful week!

Staking and Stalking

Doug has been staking his plants, which are now tall enough to need a place to climb. Specifically, the Pea Tee-Pee, is his current project. He has tied each string to the base of a pea plant. Not sure how that will work out, but I'm hoping that not many plants get pulled out by the wind storms we've been having lately.

You can even see the staked grape in the lower left corner

 So that's the staking.

Now onto the stalking. Each week, I've been noting flowers that are blooming. Usually at least twice daily, I can be found checking out each of my flowering plants. This is not new - at each of our houses where I've tried landscaping, I would be "surveying the estate" (as one amusing neighbor put it). I wonder, though, what my plants think of this over-attention.

The globe allium, almost (!) in bloom

Do they feel stalked? Pressured?

The verbascum, looking lovelier every day

Maybe, like my kids, they just enjoy the attention. At any rate, I'm not going to stop stalking them anytime soon. The "constitutionals" are bright points in my day - especially when taken with a child or two to help point out what's different and beautiful today.

A Welcome Wreath

Last year, our front porch was graced with hanging baskets:

Even with colorful flowers, the baskets just blended in...

Yup, it didn't really work with the house. So this year, we're rethinking the whole welcoming porch idea. Truly, the hanging baskets worked on our past few houses. Sigh.

What else can we do? Well, we could...

• Have lots of pots with plants in them. Would look lovely, but would require the purchase of many pots. And would also require watering (not my strong point). 

GardeningGoneWild.com: nice use of plants to "decorate" a hardscape

• Add some accessories. Would also require the purchase of said accessories.

DecoratingForEvents.com: love the color - what a fun rug!

• Add a wreath. Kinda satisfies the need for more plant material and adds another accessory.

From a farmer's market in NY:price unknown

Maybe I need to ask around and get some more ideas. But for today, the wreath won. Why? Because:

• Wreath-making materials have been sitting around in my craft box for years. No cost involved.
• There is also the benefit of using said craft materials, instead of letting them sit.
• Wreaths are really lovely. In my neighborhood excursions, wreathed doors have been drawing my eye for the last month or so.

So a stick wreath was moved, by hand, to the upstairs table (stairs are really annoying after a morning of cleaning - up, down, up, down...). Along with a bag full of eucalyptus and some fake flowers. Yup, these are really old. Probably older than my oldest daughter, who is turning 12 this year.

The idea was to wrap the eucalyptus around the stick wreath, starting with this star of greenery.

Kinda looks like a weird spider.

Didn't work so well, since eucalyptus tends to break instead of bend (argh!). Then I thought about hot-gluing it to the wreath. Spent many, many minutes searching the house high and low for one of my two hot glue guns. This even required a trip to the dreaded room of my tween. Sad to say, the gun was never found. So, onto the next idea.

Which was: stick the @#$&! eucalyptus pieces into the stick wreath. This actually turned out to be very easy and fun. Even Jack joined in, and his pieces didn't need removing and replacing (there is some serious un-diagnosed OCD in my family, just so ya know).

Not too bad, if Jack and I say so ourselves

And just to top it off, I added a few white flowers so it wouldn't just blend into the door.

Not too sure about the white flowers once it's in place, though...too little?
Not needed? Hm.

The front door is now wreathed in glory. Or at least, eucalyptus. And it didn't cost me a cent! If you don't count what I paid for the materials over 10 years ago...although I'm pretty sure the total there might not even hit $5. These are the types of things I stock up on when they're on sale. Or used to stock up on, when I didn't have a crazy cache of craft materials.

And the pot really needs some flowers...or something!

What do you think, should I have gone with a purchased wreath? Here's some I liked from a Google search:

Barnes and Noble: $64.04

Gadget.com: $112.32

Major sticker shock! Glad I just made mine.

$0.00. Love the price. Still deciding on whether I love the wreath.

The front porch still needs some work. But it's a start.