A Pivotal Day

How do you spell relief? Ocean air! Our heat wave is broken, swept away by cool air from the Pacific. It was actually foggy this morning. Don't get me wrong. I don't want foggy mornings all summer long, but I want to get back outside, not holed up in my air conditioned house. The World Cup is over, finally won by Spain over The Netherlands. I've enjoyed it very much, but I'm happy to get the time back, not spent in front of the TV set. As some of you know, I like to watch the Tour de France. I record it early in the morning and then fast forward through the commercials and uneventful sections. But today, sadly, I watched Lance Armstrong have a very bad day, with crashes and lost time, to the extent that he no longer has any hope of being competitive. Now his role will change to that of supporting another member of his team. It's the end of an era. Tom has most of the heavy work done on the hedge trimming. Oh, there is always more to do in a garden, but he's come to a turning point. It will now be easier. I'm ready to get back out in the garden, where the roses and the lavender are blooming and the look of summer has finally arrived.

There are roses and daisies and lavender on the kitchen table. Tomorrow I'll be back to my summer routine of picking raspberries or produce from the garden, dead heading roses, snipping and clipping as needed, picking bouquets, and spending quality time on the patio.

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But first, later today, we're heading downtown to Qwest Field where we are finally back for a regular season Sounders home match. We can only hope it too is pivotal, and we get back to winning ways.

Holly Hedges, Heat, and The Hornet's Nest

Our suburban lot measures 300 ft by 150 ft with an access driveway of 150 ft. Much of the lot is bordered by hedges. July is hedge pruning time. I used to be the chief helper, ladder holder and picker-upper, but with my back condition, I have to limit physical labor that includes ladder holding and bending and stooping. On Tuesday of this week we hired son Jake to come help trim the fir hedge across the front of the yard and the inside of the 100 foot holly hedge that borders much of the side yard. These hedges were planted over thirty years ago using materials that were cheap, since at the time we were living on my husband's teaching salary while I stayed home with two little kids and we'd just bought this house. We used fir seedlings we got from my forester brother-in-law for the front hedge. It is now quite a wall. The holly hedge was started from seedlings we found in the yard. Birds eat berries and poop the seeds. Hollies grow. Tom would collect them and plant them along the wire fence we had put up to keep dogs out. Over time he began to prune them into a hedge. They grew too.

Yesterday it started to get hot around here after a long period of below normal temps. It got hot fast. We went from 65 to 75 to 90 in three days. Yesterday morning I was scheduled to help Tom with the neighbor's side of the holly hedge, so we got an early start and had the job done by 10:00, just as it started to heat up. Then I parked myself in front of the TV to watch that day's stage of the Tour de France that I had recorded earlier in the morning, after which we watched the World Cup semi-finals between Germany and Spain.

Then I finally started a new book, one I had pre-ordered from Amazon, that had arrived a month ago. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the third and final book in a trilogy by Swedish author Steig Larsson. Just the perfect thing for hot, lazy days, a can't-put-it-down thriller. Lazy for me anyway. Tom is still working on those hedges!

And the stand alone pillars of holly, of which we have several.

Yesterday evening we went to a Sounders soccer match, not at Quest Field, but at a much smaller venue, with a capacity of 4000. It was quite warm but we were in the shade of the covered bleachers and enjoyed watching our team win finally!

I got up at 6:00 this morning so I could get in an aerobic walk before it got hot. Since then I have been a lady of leisure, spending time here.

With my book.

It's up to 85 now and I'm moving indoors. Last November we had a new furnace/heat pump/AC installed, and the AC has just kicked in for the first time!

Step By Step

It has been a week now since I began wearing a pedometer and keeping track of my steps daily. It has been a good motivator to get moving and keep moving. Today's count is 10,448 steps. Out of the seven days I have made it to or over 10,000 steps five days. A sixth day I did housework in the morning, which didn't register much on the pedometer, but I was on my feet. I was feeling sore, so I did not do an exercise walk that afternoon, and rested instead. On Saturday I toured gardens, but did no aerobic walking and fell short. Today I spent about four hours working in the yard, and then did my aerobic walk in the evening. I really would like to lose some weight, but since I started counting steps, if anything I seem to have gained weight! Go figure. And I'm having leg pain at night. I am going to moderate a bit, aiming for 10,000 steps no more that five days a week, but I want to keep going to see if I can build up to the point where I no longer have pain. If I can't lose weight on this plan, at least I can keep from gaining, especially when there is no more holiday food in the house! Those potato chips, that potato salad, and ice cream to go with the fresh raspberries have go to go. But hey, it was the Fourth of July!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

This hydrangea kind of reminds me of a "bomb bursting in air", one of those lovely fireworks that will be exploding all over the country this evening.

Yesterday we went garden touring in the Gig Harbor area. We took along four guests, including Tom's sister, who lives there. It was a fun day with beautiful gardens, beautiful scenery, good company, and the sky even cleared for a while.

Today will be a quiet day here. I've made potato salad and we'll have a BBQ for two. We'll watch a Sounders match on TV this evening and then, if it isn't raining, we might go to a local fireworks show. Here in the City of SeaTac, fireworks are banned except for public shows.

I really would like the blue of red, white and blue day to be in the sky here today. I can hope!

BTW, I love the GOOGLE logo this morning!

Watching The Sky From My Secret Garden Sky Window.

I haven't participated in Skywatch for a long time, but yesterday, as I was out snipping and clipping in the garden, I wandered into the Secret Garden and plopped myself down in a chair and looked up.

Well, it was a great little "sky watch", so I went back across the yard and got my camera, and added another 100 steps to my pedometer in the process!

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The Secret Garden was Tom's creation. We had this wild corner of the yard, overhung with hazelnut trees and filled with salal and Oregon grape, which are native undergrowth. It was an area I didn't like to go in. It just seemed buggy and untamed.

Well, Tom tamed it. First he cleared an indirect pathway into it through the brush, and then he cleared a small patio area, paving all of this with used bricks he picked up free.

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By now I was intrigued, and excited to furnish it. We first had driftwood chairs here, but they deteriorated and were replaced with these motel chairs. The little table we bought in a pasture probably on Vashion Island where a dealer was selling things like goat carts imported from Europe.

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I liked the idea of contrasting the humble with the elegant, and we decide on the pedestal and urn to give it that look of faded elegance, as it if were the remains of an old estate terrace. In England they would call such an invented place a folly.

It's actually quite a lovely place to linger and peer through the plantings that we no longer refer to as brush to the garden beyond.

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And a great little place to look through the sky window.

Ten Thousand Steps

So many of you out there in blogger land have been posting about healthy life styles. I agree it's important, but I like to take a more casual attitude. That's probably why I'm overweight! Anyway, walking has long been my choice of exercise, and now that I'm in a battle with arthritis, I know the importance of keeping moving. 10,000 steps seems to be a target that is commonly written about. Also, this week I'm getting back to a normal routine, including exercise walking, so I decided to see how I measure up. I found my pedometer, dusted it off, and bought and loaded a new battery. Yes, it has been that long since I used it. I hooked it to my waistband about noon on Monday. By bedtime I had over 6,000 steps. That included a 4,000 + step walk. Good, I thought, I can do this. Yesterday I wore it all day. Here are the results. Total steps by 8:22 - 11,327! This is the equivalent of approximately 5.18 miles. This is based on a measure of my stride and has a error factor. 5,150 of those steps were aerobic, which account for my exercise walk. That means if I get up and move regularly around the house and then go for a 40 minute walk, I can easily hit my target! But today will be more of a challenge. So far today, by 9:15, I only have 779 steps. I had a haircut appointment at 8:00 but parked right in front of the shop. I have a retired teacher lunch at noon today, so I'll be sitting for several hours. This evening I have a Sounders match on TV. So excuse me, but I need to start moving!

Wedding Gifts

We will be attending a wedding July 10th, when the granddaughter of a good teacher friend is married. Of course, that means buying a wedding gift. Today's couples register at their choice of stores by going around with a scan gun and zapping anything they would like to have. Some lists are just amazing. This young couple has quite a practical list. They are registered at JC Penny and Target. She has just graduated from college and he is in the Navy. He is being reassigned to Hawaii, where he will go after the wedding and arrange housing before she goes to join him. The Navy will pack and ship household goods. So of course I went on line to check out the gift registry lists. While the choices were all commonsensical and practical, they left me uninspired. So when I purchased the gift this morning, I did not buy it from their registry. I don't know if there was or will be a bridal shower, but many of the items seemed appropriate for a shower gift. And I know most people will shop off the registry. But when I give a gift I like it to be something special and I just have this old fashioned idea that a wedding gift should be something you have a long time and treasure. So, I shopped at Macy's. I went on line to find what I wanted, and then went to the store this morning and bought the Marquis by Waterford crystal candle sticks; classic, elegant and timeless, to me a true wedding gift. So I'm wondering, do you give only from a registry? Do you give a gift because someone wants it, even if you don't really enjoy giving it? What do you do?

Partly Productive

I can cross one more seasonal chore off my list today. We have an old freezer in the garage that is not frost free, so once a year it has to be defrosted. It's really quite easy. I just take everything out, drape the stuff with towels, turn off the freezer, put pans of boiling water on the shelves, leave the door ajar, and go off and leave it. In about two hours I come back, wipe it out and dry it with old towels, and load it back up again. Because it's in the garage I don't have to worry too much about making a mess on the floor. Once again old towels do the mopping up. I know it's time to clean the freezer when I see the raspberries getting ripe. They are slow this year, and maybe not as heavily fruited, but they're coming. I had a handful for lunch with my yogurt yesterday. I also picked some more lettuce from the garden. Here's where I should comment that I truly love my salad spinner! We have a second crop of radishes, but even though it has been cool, the darn things must know it's summer and not spring because they are bolting and getting woody right away. I salvaged a few to add to our salad.

Then I went grocery shopping. After a quick lunch in front of the TV, keeping track of the World Cup, I was off to a sewing group called SewFun, where we get demonstrations of new products and techniques. When it wasn't over by three o'clock, I left so I could get home to have my time on the patio with coffee, chocolate and my book.

Now, dinner done, Tom and I will go for a short walk before settling in for the evening.

Not a totally lazy day yet, but quite enjoyable as it was. It's the luxury of having time and choices.

Finding My Lazy Bone

The work of spring is done. The USA is out of the world cup, so the agony and ecstasy of winning and losing is done. It's time to even out and enjoy some leisure. Our Open Garden had a disappointing turn out, but that isn't new. Most of our members live on the east side of Lake Washington, where the average income is decidedly higher, and where coming out to the south end is a trip to the wilderness. The twelve who did come enjoyed it very much. The good thing is that the garden is in great shape and now we just have to do the maintenance, which means some mowing and edging now and then, and going around with a bucket and snippers once in a while. As we settle into summer mode, we usually spend an hour or so in the morning doing something yard related and then have the rest of the day off. Tom does have the hedge pruning to do, but we'll hire son Jake to help with that after July 4th. Some of you asked for pics of the garden. By the time I got to taking any, the sun was out, which I can't complain about, but it makes for more difficult photography. I thought my snacks were pretty cool - nuts and jelly bellies and dark chocolate M&Ms and dried cranberries, served up in collectible flower pots enclosed in an old berry picking carrier. Just fill up you little cup with your choice of mix. I'm ready to spend some time here. My favorite rose, Gertrude Jekyll, was at her best. This area is full of early spring color, mostly from bulbs, so the summer show comes on gradually and a bit at a time.

The peony was late, so still pretty.

Poppies are just about pooped.

The vegetable garden is finally beginning to grow.

The deck was inviting.

My new concrete flower, purchased last weekend at an open garden, with Sum and Substance hosta.

A clematis opened just in time.

So after the open garden closed, we picked up and put away, and then opened a bottle of wine and toasted summer, and the beginning of our days of complete freedom ahead. We had a fresh salad dinner with lettuce from the garden, went for a neighborhood walk, had a conversation with a neighbor we found working in her yard, and then settled in front of the TV to watch a movie, "It's Complicated". It was the perfect light entertainment.

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Today I arose from a good night's sleep, finally! I've watched a bit of the England-Germany World cup match (England's loss made ours look not so bad at all), sort of watched This Week on ABC, read the light stuff in the Sunday paper, and now posted this blog. I will probably go for a short walk before watching the Sounders match at 2:00 this afternoon.

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Who knows? I can do whatever I want. I have books to read, walks to take, puttering to do, or I can just sit in the garden and listen to the birds.

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I'm finding my lazy bone.

The Beautiful Game

As they say around the world, it is the Beautiful Game, and it can break your heart. Oh, the agony, and the ecstasy, .....and the agony. The USA is out of the World cup on a 2-1 extra time loss to Ghana. The only African team left lives on. And here the sun is shining. And tomorrow our beloved Seattle Sounders return to action.

Saturday Morning

It's Saturday morning. Today is the day. Our garden will be open from 10:00 to 4:00 for Northwest Perennial Alliance members and friends that might stop by. After three days of primping, we're ready. I have no idea if anyone will come. It's cloudy this morning, but it's not raining, and we are promised sun this afternoon. Actually I would be happy if no one came between the hours of 11:30 and 1:30, because today is also the day of the next USA World Cup match. Yes, we'll be decked out in red, white and blue again as we cheer on our lads. This time there can be no tie. This time it's do or die. ABC, 11:30 PDT, on your TV machine. USA!

Afghanistan

For those of you who don't care to read about political issues, you might just want to skip this posting. I have had the whole Afghanistan/Pakistan dilemma on my mind as a result of the latest news cycles, and because of reading Greg Mortenson's books. I know enough to know I don't know enough. But what I do know is that as long as we keep killing people, us and them, we will not "win". The Taliban is determined and will not give up. And it's their turf. The innocents that die or are horribly injured cause their families to turn against us. Our soldier death tolls are mounting again as predicted. And yet we here in the US are paying less attention to the war, a point that is leading to the frustration of the troops and their leaders. That was a major part of the cause of the fall of General McChrystal. I just read No good answers in Afghanistan by Thomas Friedman in our morning paper. You can find it at: Opinion The generals and the president have no good answers in Afghanistan Seattle Times Newspaper What it tells me is that we don't really know what we're doing over there. We don't have good answers to some key questions. Most important are these two: Do our interests merit such an escalation, and do we have the allies to achieve victory? Other questions that lead to those answers include: Why do we have to recruit and train Afghans to fight? They are very good at it when they want to be and have been fighting for 30 years. We don't train the Taliban, and they are holding us off. It's not about the way, it's the will. Any lasting action must start with them. The Afghans must have ownership in any lasting solution. We cannot impose order. The Afghan president stole the election and is corrupt. He will take care of himself and his cohorts before giving any thought to his people. If we "win", what do we get? Afghanistan has never been a principal player in the region. And what is "winning"? I have come to the conclusion, at least today, that we need to hold to our time line of beginning withdrawal a year from now, and we need to get the hell out of there! There are many humanitarian concerns that arise if we leave. But let humanitarians deal with those, not soldiers. Soldiers are trained to shoot people.

USA! USA! USA!

We were up early this morning to get a front row table at the Azteca bar to join other soccer fans in watching the USA World Cup match, and to keep track of the England game on the other TVs. When England scored, we knew the USA team could only advance if we won our match. But it took an agonizing 90 minutes to achieve our GOAL! The US scored in stoppage time, in the 91st minute, to win over Algeria 1-0, and put us in first place in our group! We have been back home about an hour now, still full of nervous energy. We'll be heading outside to work in the yard. We have an open garden here on Saturday and we have to spiff up the place. Turns out the USA also plays their next match on Saturday, so our guests might not get much attention. We'll be recording the match in case we get interrupted. USA! USA!