Dogwoods, and The Deck

 We have two big, beautiful Korean Dogwoods, Cornus Kousa, that are in full bloom now.

One is in the front yard, which we can enjoy most from our upstairs windows. 

The other is in the back yard, where it joins maples.

Both trees were planted to replace native Pacific Dogwoods, which succumbed to a fungus, Dogwood, Anthracnose. We had several of the native dogwoods, but we have only one left. It is over the garden deck and the other day I was out there sweeping up the falling wisteria petals and the diseased leaves of the dogwood. The fungus causes the trees to defoliate right after they bloom. The big tree is looking pretty sick and probably doesn't have many years left. The Korean dogwoods are not susceptible to this disease so we see a lot of them planted in our area now. 

We also have a dry stream bed running next to the deck. The rocks are all from rocks we picked from our tilled ground before we planted the lawn many years ago.  Two days ago Tom finally got to another project, taking the leaf blower to the dry stream bed and cleaning out the tree debris from the past year. When he was finished we both took the opportunity to just sit and enjoy the deck.

 

The stream bed all cleaned up.

 A little shrine to Peacefulness.

 

Peacefulness which we sat and enjoyed when the work was done.  We need to do more of that. 

Slowing Down

 With most of the big jobs done in the yard, at least for me, I am slowing down a bit. Monday was house work and laundry day, and while Tom continues to find more jobs outside, I let that be enough for me.

Tuesday was very warm in the afternoon, officially 86 F, our warmest day so far. After our Zoom meeting, I puttered in the garden, snipping and clipping. We shut down in the afternoon. I got a haircut. I finished my book " The Correspondent" in the shade of the umbrella on the patio. We enjoyed a grilled dinner in the evening, and watched TV. I have been watching baseball, the Mariners, now that our regular TV programs are done for the summer. We are trying to find some good series on Netflix. 

Wednesday we had a very slow start, not getting up until after 8:00, because we didn't have to and it felt so good just to snooze a little longer. 

About 11:00 I drove over to the park for a walk. It was hard, but I got my mile. Tom worked in the garden, pulling binder weed. Such nasty stuff, commonly called Morning Gory, but not the pretty kind. 

When I got back Charlie Mewdini found me. We hadn't seen much of our borrowed cat for a while, but today he seemed needy for attention and kept returning. He ends up where his bowl is, waiting for a handout. 

Later he joined me at the patio table. He likes to survey the territory. 

He followed me around while I did some puttering in the garden and then I took some time to enjoy some blooms.

The first Oriental Poppy popped. 

Delphiniums, foxgloves, and columbine. 

Add Rose Campion 

Roses are beginning to bloom,

This afternoon we had our first pick up from Ridwell. That's a recycling company we recently signed on with that finds outfits that can recycle items that would otherwise have to go in the garbage, especially plastics that regular recyclers won't take.   

They supply a bin, cloth reusable bags, and at the door pick up. 

I keep a basket on the kitchen counter for the stuff, and then the bags and a bin in the garage to accumulate the stuff until pick up, which is every two weeks. There is a $20 a month charge but some of that will be off set because we have ordered the smallest garbage bin from our Recology Company. 

Our garbage had been mostly plastic food wrappings so now we have very little garbage and that plastic isn't going in the landfill.

And that's what's new, or old, in the neighborhood. 

Another Week Gone Already.

 I have every intention of posting more often, and then another week zooms by and I haven't. We get busy and then we got tired and then time vanishes. Now it's Sunday evening and by the time you see this it will be Monday, June 1st!

In my last post I mentioned that we would be providing a garden tour for our friend Jan and her friend Debra. A few days later we got a lovely thank you note from Debra on a photo card she made of Jan and us in our garden.

What a delight to receive her thanks on in hand written note with a photo. Very few people write notes anymore. I loved it.

On Tuesday we finally reclaimed my sewing machine that I had taken into the shop for servicing. They had never notified us that it was ready for pick up and then they had to find it buried in a deep corner. I spent much of the rest of the day sorting and organizing and putting away. I probably won't do any sewing until gardening season is over.

On Wednesday we finally got to tending the raspberries. I weeded and then Tom got them tied up. Now they look tended. I moved on to trimming the boxwoods that are in planters on either side of the garage doors. 

Tom did the heavy work of moving them out so I could get to them, putting them back in place, and cleaning up the trimmings.

Knowing that we wanted to get to the big job of trimming the Candy Tuft (Iberis) that grows on the top if the broken concrete wall so we could get that last big job checked off our list, we started with the shorter wall in the back yard on Thursday then enjoyed the warmth of a slower paced sunny afternoon. 

Friday it was cold and rainy, Jill showed up at breakfast and entertained us with all of her comings and goings, work and play stories. Grocery shopping got done, and the afternoon was mostly quiet and restful. It was payday so I paid the bills and did the bookkeeping. 

On Saturday we attended a garden club garden tour and then regrouped and were off to Olympia for a memorial service for the former wife of Tom's cousin and the mother of their three sons, who we hold dear. Cynthia was a remarkable woman, as we learned more and more about through shared stories of family and friends. There was so much love in that room, and a few surprises for me too. A woman from my past as a reading specialist knew me not only because we worked together one year, which I didn't remember, but she had a family connection I didn't know about. She knows all about the Whidbey Island cabin because at one time she was a college roommate one of those three son, Scott, as mentioned above. I also met the new wife of another one of those three sons, David,  and her son, a young man I flagged down to help me open a water bottle. I took an immediate liking to Katie, the new wife I didn't even know about. 

As sad as it is to lose a beloved family member, it is wonderful that families gather on such occasions to strengthen connections and make new ones. 

Sunday morning we got an early start on the wall trimming. You have seen photos of this wall in bloom in the past. In bloom the Candy Tuft is covered in white flowers, but when they fade, they are best trimmed of all of the seed heads. 

Now they are all trimmed. I ran the hedge trimmer and Tom did the cord laying, the tarp moving and the clippings pick up. It took us a little over two hours and I was very glad to cross that job off the list.

While trimming. I found a Junco's nest tucked into the wall and plants. Fortunately it was empty so I thing the young had already fledged. Bird's nests are rather amazing, aren't they. 

Tom did some more work, I rested my arms and shoulders, and caught up on reading. Then Jill texted, wanted to know it we would like to take her and Jake out to dinner, since they were going to be scarce once June rolls around. That's an invitation parents don't pass up. 

Now we are just about ready to settle in for the evening. I'll look for  a Netflix movie to watch, something fun or sweet or just "nice". 

We need nice. 

Memorial Day Weekend: Endings

 Friday saw us at breakfast as usual, then the grocery store, then after lunch we were out in the garden spiffing things up after a week of work. Dinner was grilled shrimp, corn on the cob,  and vegetables on the BBQ. It was a nice day. 

Saturday morning we welcomed friend Jan and her friend Debra to tour our garden. Jan obviously talks to others, praising our garden. Debra wanted to see it and we finally made that happen. It's nice to be able to walk around and see your creation through other's eyes. They wanted, and got, a guided tour of everything.

In the afternoon we visited two other people's gardens as part of the Northwest perennial Alliance Open Gardens program.

Then Saturday night we watched the movie "Remarkably Bright Creatures". Connie of Far Side wanted to know how we liked it because she liked the book much better. It has been a while since I read the book, and I really liked the movie. I think the movie did a great job of replicating the setting and the characters. However I think a book will always have an advantage over a movie. You live with a book much longer. Characters are more fully developed and explained. A book gives more details and nuances. You supply your own mind movie. So, my recommendation: read the book and then see the movie. You'll love both. And as Marcellus the Octopus said in the ending, sometimes even humans can be remarkably bright creatures!

On Sunday I actually got out of our garden and went for a walk in the park. It has been a while. The Golden Chain Trees were in bloom.

Along the path there was one clump of lovely Iris. I think of irises and peonies as Memorial Day flowers.

I finished the book "I Have Some Questions For You" and it left me with a few questions. Books and movies have endings. Life just goes on to the next chapter. This book and that movie both could have many more chapters. That said, I really liked the book once I got into it. It's different that most mysteries, and that's good. 

Now it's Monday afternoon. The dryer just buzzed to announce the last load of laundry. It's towels, easy to fold. Tom has the heavy housework done. I dusted. The holiday weekend is ending. Many folks are working their way home. We stayed put. For some school is ending and summer is beginning. For all of us it's just the next chapter.

Inside and Outside

 

Inside the Amaryllis Tom wintered over has bloomed this week and is now fading. Inside is where we rest after spending hours outside working.

Outside we showed off our garden to a friend and her friend this Saturday morning after spending most of our waking hours working this week. Things are looking pretty spiffy today, but the list of what's next continues to grow, and gardeners know that what's done gets undone and a garden is a job forever. 

Our first rose bloomed. More are on the way. 

Foxglove scattered here and there are opening their "mittens".

Columbine plant themselves here, there, and everywhere. 

The patio is set up for outdoor living and we do occasionally sit down there. Yesterday I spent an hour reading here under the umbrella, as it was quite warm. It was lovely.

The rocking chairs went out yesterday but we haven't landed in them yet. 

This moto holds true, and chocolate in frequently consumed.

Tom spent several days cleaning up the raised beds and now they are planted mostly in flowers since we don't have enough sun heat now to have much of a vegetable crop. I clipped all of the ivy. 

I do land here when I need a break, which is often.

This afternoon we visited two Open Gardens as members of the Northwest Perennial Alliance. Then we rested a bit before it was time for me to fix some food for supper. Hamburgers are easy.

Now Tom is back outside to finish another job. I'm finally getting to my blog to post. Then I'll get back to my book. It's a who done it, set in a boarding school in New England, "I Have Some Questions For You", I am down to the last 10%, and we still aren't sure who did it. 

When we're both settled in for the evening we are finally getting to Sally Field's new Netflix movie, "Remarkably Bright Creatures". I read the book last year and loved it.

Tomorrow (probably today when you read this) is Memorial Day and I may not do any work. I'll check in on the Indy 500, because I always have. I'll get that book finished and select a new one. I'll rest!