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Monday, July 21, 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Confessions

When life feels out of my control, as pieces have over the past couple weeks, I find solice in two divergent ways. On the one hand I clean, which makes sense I suppose. I restore order to our home, when other things can't be put in any sort of order. When Erik was in Germany for two weeks my oven was sparkling and the burned grime was diligently scraped off our grill. Today, the inside of our refrigerator is spotless. Tonight I washed the kitchen cabinets and even scrubbed the knobs on the stove. I only meant to do the dinner dishes and got a bit carried away.
On the other hand I create some chaos. This week I decided to rip up the carpeting in our bedroom and into the upstairs hallway and stairs. I'd been thinking about doing this for a while. I hadn't planned on starting the project at 6:30 on Sunday night. Not the best time to start in on something like that. So now I'm working a little at a time. The project itself is incredibly theraputic, pulling out all the staples, prying up the carpet tack boards, and uncovering the beautiful wood that has been hiding for years under drab carpet. Our bedroom may be in disarray, but I've found my way towards some peace and healing.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Garden Update

I completed the mulch project as scheduled, though I'm behind in posting about it. I don't have any pictures yet of the greatest improvement. But, here are some shots I got much of the backyard garden before some nasty storm clouds rolled in last night.

The garden is growing voraciously, thanks in great part to all the rain we have had this summer. I've learned lots from my first raised bed. One is to pace myself better next year and not try to squeeze in as much as possible. It is just so hard when growing plants from seeds to limit them, to thin the tiny plants, and to remember how big the full grown plants will be. Also, I've decided peas are just too much trouble; the birds find the pea pods before I do and I would need many more plants to get more than 5 peas at a time. All in all the raised bed is a rousing success, though we have to watch out for the pumpkin plants that are threatening to take over our entire yard!

This is a flower bed I put in two summers ago.
Cooper jumped into the shot and said "Cheese!"
I don't think he comprehends that I would ever want
to take a picture of something other than him.
The giant sunflowers are growing tall.
Baby pumpkins
Baby zucchini, and judging by the amount of flowers
on the zucchini plants, the freezer full of zucchini bread
I've been dreaming about will become a reality in a month or so.
Baby tomatoesGigantic basil made for delicious grilled mozzarella, tomato
and basil sandwiches a couple of days ago.
Farmer Cooper. Check out the size of those zucchini plant leaves!