Mother's Day

"You should be sitting back with a glass of tea today!" called out my neighbor as he passed me knee deep in clay on Mother's Day, digging out roots in the side yard where I am soon hoping to plant a cherry tree, some pumpkins, and an espaliered peach, among other things:


"Oh, I did that already!" I called out cheerfully, but really: hard manual labor, outside in the sun with eye toward a future of greenery and produce--you couldn't have gotten me to do anything else, yesterday.

My work from this time last year is starting to look established

if a little dry, now that I look at it. This photo makes me want to rush home and water those poor little seedlings.

Snow peas, arugula, spinach, radishes, carrots and cilantro, in case you're wondering. With rhubarb and daylily in the foreground. If the weather stays warm, I'll be planting summer squash and beans before the week is out, and hopefully next weekend I'll get my indoor seedlings into the ground.

We also did some of this:

And found this as we were getting our new EPA-blessed fireplace installed:

Woody. The sight of which made Helen instantly want a Woody doll, and also about seven other Toy Story-themed toys. She followed me around all day on Saturday with her notebook and marker in hand. "How do you spell Buzz Lightyear? How do you spell Lotso? How do you spell Santa?"

"Christmas is a long way off, kiddo," I reminded her.

"I know. I don't want to forget," she answered. "How do you spell SlinkyDog?"

Another Helen tidbit: two weeks ago she cornered me when I came in to read to her at bedtime. "What order are they in?" she demanded, pointing at a chorus line of Disney Princess dolls laid along the floor.

"In order of your favorite?" I answered.

"Nope. Tangled is my favorite."

"In order of the Disney movie release?"

"No. Need a hint? 'Ah...ah...'"

"... Aurora first?"

"Close. But why? Give up? Alphabetical order. They're in alphabetical order. Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, Jasmine, Rapunzel, Snow White, Tiana."

Oh. Of course.

Boring garden post

Baby steps: it's not really possible to tell in this picture, but the back yard is looking better.

In the beds: two kinds of peas, three kinds of beans, tomatoes, zucchini, patty pan squash, radishes, carrots, and cucumbers. I *may* have overplanted just a bit.

Also, I'm too tired from working all weekend to post (*lame*). But I will say this: the trailer bike, and Helen's total and utter fear of riding on it and my resulting frustration, may have figured prominently.

Hope y'all have a good Monday.

Friday favorites

Man, I have been DROW ZEE this week. It's killing me. Whenever I get like this, I always say "the weather must be changing" and roll my eyes in an exasperated way at that old screwup, Weather. Then I feel about 80 years old. My kids, and most likely my grandkids, will remember this as one of my traits that I think is loveable and they think is just annoying.

Speaking of grandkids, Helen told me the other day that when she has a "girl kid" she's going to name her Maggie. I said, Hold your horses right there, Missy! Ain't NO grandkids coming to this house until the kids have moved out! Okay, I kid. I did say something awkward about how that's great! But you don't even need to have kids! Lots of people don't! Apparently I'm worried that she's going to pay too much attention to the cultural imperative to breed. (note: she is FIVE. Also, it's Si with his lax attention to things like dental floss and helmets that is likely to make him an early breeder.)

Moving on! I believe it's been a while since I did a Friday Favorites post. I'm going to travel again for work next week (Duluth! in April! whoo-hee!), which could be a great topic, but I think I'm going to take the easy way out and list my favorite things about April:

1. The shrubs and trees are starting to make their flowering plans known. I run out every evening when I get back from work and check the fruit trees for bud action (last year neither of them flowered, due probably to a late cold snap but which in my mind was due to my negligence and/or their recalcitrance). I also keep poking my fingers in the lilac buds, trying to determine the size and color of their flowers-to-be.

2. We can leave the windows wide open at night again. I love sleeping with the windows open. There's been a great-horned owl in our pine trees the past two nights--listening to it makes me feel like I'm listening to somebody's fascinating secret life (although I think his secrets are probably more like, Come here, baby. Woo-woo. Come here, baby).

3. Arugula! I strategically let a few go to seed last year, and now half the weeds in my garden area are arugula. I find this stuff addictive in small doses. It's like the macadamia nut of the leafy greens world.

4. Ants! We have carpenter ants in our roof! Isn't that gr--okay, it sucks. SKIP.

5. Long days. I have daylight or at least dusk at both ends of my day, now. Partly this is because I haven't been able to drag myself out for a run before 6 a.m. this week, but still! Daylight! LOVE!

Answer: harebell.

So, had that job interview today! *Siiigh.* It went okay, I guess, if you count replying, "ooh, this is a hard one," to the interview classic, "What drew you to this position?" as "okay." Grog. I need an interview coach, to videotape my interviews and give me point-by-point feedback. And then let me DO THE DAMN THING AGAIN.

Oh, well. It'll be nice if it works out; if not, unemployment has its benefits, too. Especially in the summer: vacations! gardening! home improvement projects! letting the kids have a real summer vacation, instead of endless "camp" that suspiciously mimics school.

In fact, as I lay last night fretting over the day to come (not so much the interview as the fact that I had to DRIVE, and then PARK IN THE CITY), what I was thinking about was where in the yard is the best place to put daylilies. Also: what about those half-pots that bolt into the wall for our slightly barren-seeming courtyard? Or clematis? Does the courtyard get enough sun for clematis?

I spent hours thinking about this. HOURS. I wish THAT had been a question in the interview--So, you're going to plant daylilies bordering the aspen trees out front. What's a good companion plant?

Answer: harebell. Licked that one.

Enjoy your week, homeys.