As thoroughly infatuated as I was watching the red onions carve out their architectural space in the garden (I wrote about it HERE), they were not invited to that spot. No, not all all. In fact, that particular space in that specific 4 x 4 (see Square Foot Gardening) had been called for by another crop and we signed the lease some time ago. However, I was happy tp let them homestead until time to plant the new crop.
I pulled them out today. I was ever-so-slightly reluctant, as the flower heads would have popped into their glorious splendor later this week for certain (at which time they’d have sent their seed frolicking and invading the rest of the backyard and garden). But my pre-soaked green bean seeds could wait no longer.
No pre-thought-out arrangement. I just stuffed them into my biggest container, where they were free to shoot in whichever direction they so desired..
Gathering the uprooted reds to carry to the house, I decided I’d dry and use the bigger onions, but throw the rest in a vase for my own enjoyment. I have them on the coffee table where they are emitting the very slight, subtle and truly sweet perfume that an onion possesses.
Yes, they had put down roots where they didn’t belong and had tried to claim the middle square as their own, but I couldn’t just leave them out on the street, could I? We are enjoying our mutually satisfying arrangement. I have quenched their thirst in a cool house and they are looking very green and happy and structural for me. It is a win-win.
Other garden debris you can enjoy
I also like using pruned shubbery twigs in vases, painted tree linbs on walls or in containers with uplights on them, zinnias from the pots, and rocks. Garden castaways can have a second life if you can take the time to find the beauty.
Yes. Spiderman is hot-glued to a non-stick spray cap. That’s right, what of it?
I hand-carved the small Spiderman figurine using from-scratch fondant… NOT! Bought him at WalMart.
10″, double-layered chocolate cake with chocolate icing, tinted black. I used pre-made icing and augmented DH mixes. I cut notches in a piece of cardstock and ran it around the side to create the comb-effect ridges. A little white icing from a tube. A little red icing from a tube and voila!
And to think: my first “specialty” cake ever (or at least since the ridiculous venture into Wilton-type cake decorating in the 1980s…maybe someday I will have the courage to share those pictures…) was for Gavin’s 4th birthday when his mommy requested a dinosaur cake. I plotted for weeks-it nearly did me in. {sigh} June 2007. Time flies…and I get a little more laid-back about the cakes with each birthday. Nicer for everybody!
On the occasion of the celebration of Gavin’s birth
His mommy got him a Spiderman costume. And Aunt Jovan got Uncle Rocky one, too.
Averi looked lovely in lavender and yellow, from her two-piece and cover-up to her flip-flops and matching bag, not to mention her sippy-cup and sunglasses. Her accessories and coordination were flawless.
Guini was all smiles and cuddly-ness.
The girls looked summery. And it was 90-some degrees out, so – that seems appropriate.
As long as everyone has their own purse, everything is just fine.
Grilled chicken sandwiches on bolillo with the sweetest corn on the cob ever! The boys were on edge with some intense Battleship strategy against Aunt Dessa (and with her accusations of foul play, who could blame them? tsk.)…
First grandbebe dip in the pool this year.
Simple toys are best. A freshly cut lawn for running and staining feet bright green. And good, old-fashioned latex balloons, all while using “outdoor voices”. Entertainment in its most basic form!
Click on thumbnails for a larger view
Family get-togethers before Gavin-the-first-grandkid was born were much much quieter. And less colorful, too!
Fish Tacos, Sort-of-Ensenada-Style Mexican Slaw and all the fixin’s
Summertime and the living is easy
Fish are jumping and the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich and your mama’s good-looking
Hush, little baby don’t you cry
don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
no no no no don’t cry, don’t cry
Uncle Joe has a cabin by a lake near Aberdeen. Rocky fished there and brought home 12 of the best-ever walleye and we had a family fish fry the night after we all got home. Delish! {soft fried corn shells, guac and sour cream, cheese, the slaw with jalepenos, fresh tomato and cilantro salsa…omygosh…yummmmmm!}
No, these aren’t ours. These are google-images. We ate ours too fast to photograph them…but these? Bring back goooood memories!
Gavin and Guini spent the night and started asking for lunch 20 minutes after breakfast was over. You know what they wanted? That leftover fried walleye! They know a good thing when they taste it.
Gavin did a self-portrait photo shoot while here.
Good food with people you love intensifies the enjoyment all the way around. You may quote me on that!
So, thanks for the fish, Rocker-Bo. Gotta get you that boat so we can enjoy more-more-more!
WASN’T SUMMER VACATION THE B E S T WHEN WE WERE KIDS??
Are you ready for the summer?
Are you ready for the sunshine?
Are you ready for the birds and bees,
the apple trees,
and a whole lot of fooling around
Three months of…nothing. Three months of everything! Summer was so great. I loved those last days of school: cleaning out my desk and hauling my No. 2 pencils home where they would be used for meaningless pursuits and drawing whatever I felt like. Time off from school!
I liked school. But I lived in anticipation of summer.
Pictured: Left, The dog just hangs out; Right, I snapped this quick shot of a sedum in my backyard. Then I saw grandbebe playthings in the background and realized THAT is really the beauty of summer…
Summer as a kid…
…Where I would spend inordinate amounts of time reading, playing with friends, acting out plays with siblings, watching baseball, playing jacks, organizing neighborhood projects, making homemade macaroni and cheese or pork and bean sandwiches (which were delicious-take my word for it) and listening to music. I loved basking in the sun and speeding around on a bike at twilight. I loved driving around with the windows down and small dipped cones at the Dairy Queen. Collecting fireflies in jars was fun, hopscotch on the sidewalk was normal and a brand new jumprope begged to be used. I skipped-a-rope and hula-hooped on long summer days.
Summer was never boring because if I’d said I was bored, my chores list would have been increased. So I kept busy and it was fun. And wow, I miss it. Don’t you?
Are you ready for the summer?
Are you ready for the hot nights?
Are you ready for the fireflies,
the moonlit skies,
and a whole lot of fooling around
Shouldn’t we all get a three month vacation when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and the pool is glistening? Shouldn’t we all get so much time off that when the fall comes around again and the lined paper goes on sale next to the argyle sweaters, we are thrilled to throw ourselves back in to it?
No more pencils, no more books
No more teachers dirty looks
No more math and history,
Summer time has set us free
My red onions against the puffy-clouded, Colorado-blue sky. They are simply statuesque, very sculptural.
MY ADVICE:
During my workaholic-super-achiever days, I’d get to the end of summer and realize that, as an adult, I’d “missed” summer. Because even though we don’t get them “off” from all responsibilities more like when we were kids, I still had definite ideas on what “summer” should be, simple things…Like homegrown tomatoes, dinners of grilled steak and corn on the cob, big bowls of potato salad and ice cream in the backyard. I’d think of summer as being how many glasses of iced tea I’d enjoyed on the patio after a long, hard day in the yard or garden. I’d wish to have read a book, a really good book that had taught me something new and to have stayed outside until that last shred of light was gone on countless summer evenings. And yes, there should have been at least one miserable sunburn.
And for too many years, come Labor Day, I would look back and realize I hadn’t done any of those things. Or way too few.
See the bee in the middle picture?
So my advice to you? My advice to me? Plan now. Make your list and check it twice. What will you have to have enjoyed by Labor Day to know, that even though we are all grown up and have jobs and lives and responsibilities, you also had your “summer vacation”? What are those things for you? It will be like a Bucket List for Summer. Let’s call it, hmmm….a Sandbucket List. I will get mine started….(o, there will be more)…
My Sandbucket Summer List (the beginnings) ~
Lemonade on the swing, as many times as possible, in the evenings, on the patio (real lemons, yes, please)
A little getting-dirty-in-the-garden everyday – at least try to make it everyday
Fresh-brewed iced tea every time Tara comes over (because we are the tea lovers)
Sidewalk chalk art days with the grandbebes
Reading stories to the grandbebes on the patio swing
Roast marshmallows in the chiminea
An outdoor movie night
Slow walks around the neighborhood after dark
Fast walks really early in the morning
Fast drives over country roads (with the top down on the Mustang, of course!)
“Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind….” Song: Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft
So there you have it. My Sandbucket List for right now. I will keep adding. Get your pen and paper out and start making yours. Tell me what you’ll be up to!
Are you ready for the summer?
Are you ready for the good times?…*
I am now!…Jeanie
*LYRICS: “Are You Ready for the Summer” from the movie classic, Meatballs (1979) starring Bill Murray.
I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
My wish for you is that this life becomes all you want it to
Your dreams stay big and your worries stay small…
And while you’re out there gettin’ to where you’re gettin’ to
I hope you know somebody loves you…
Yeah, this is my wish…*
Sigh. Happy sigh. Satisfied sigh.
The first one. The first grandson, the first grandbebe. I wonder how long I can keep calling him my grand-bebe? Forever, I hope?
And wow, God gave me a good one. Gavin is only 7, yet he already possesses and incredible work ethic. He is caring and watchful, a leader, but a servant, too. He shoulders responsibility and loves little babies. Spongebob Squarepants makes him laugh and superheroes inspire him to fly.
He’s got red hair and freckles and boundless energy. He is respectful and has a great outlook on life. He believes the best in everyone, thinks school is great and even his sisters sing his praises, “Gavin is a good brother,” Gemma May recently told me. They love their big brother.
I love you, too, Gavinators.
I hope you never look back and you never forget
I hope you always forgive and you never regret
And you help somebody every chance you get
That you’ll find God’s grace in every mistake
And always give more than you take…*
The day you were born, Gavin Lee Kelley, the company I worked for was in crisis and I was working another 16-hour day, firing people, closing down locations in the area, responding as needed. It was hard to tell people, some who’d mentored me earlier in that job, that they wee no longer needed – we were going to make it go without them. I came home that day on my crutches with my broken foot, and could barely drag myself up the stairs when I was told, “Stephanie is at the hospital having the baby.” I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a grandma yet, and I had just had the saddest, most draining day but you were on your way.
And didn’t you just change everything? You made me a Nonna. And you made my heart explode with hope and joy and love. You made what I thought was the worst day ever the BEST day! And you still do that – 7 years later. When Gavin is around – it is a good day! A really, really good day!
Thank-you for the hugs and kisses even though you’re such a big kid now. Thanks for gardening with me and for loving tomatoes as much as me. We are going to have a great gardening year, Gav! I love you for always. I will never, ever get over you.
Happy, happy Birthday!…Love, Nonna
This is my wish, my wish for you
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big…
Visiting the mamala and the papala with two of my sweets, Tara and Tredessa. Avoiding Branson on Memorial Day weekend, though I do want to do Sight and Sound’s Noah’sArk show soon, and maybe tour the “Titanic.” Just not THIS time.
I plan to drive my new car home. $795. Oh, yeah, baby. {just dreaming}
I will strap Tara’s new tub on the top of my car.
Tara is THRIVING on the humidity and believes she was born for it. Ay-yi-yi!
It took us awhile to get this right.
Mom and dad (grandma and grandpa) took us to their favorite Chinese/Mongolian restaurant. It IS good.
Need a tub or shoeshine chair? I know where to find them.
Just mom on her average grocery-shopping day.
Pretty junk. Good prices.
Tredessa hit the jackpot: Her Knight in Shining Armor AND a perfect Director-of-Operations for Heaven Fest vehicle. Vrooooom….watch out!
But I wouldn’t have known anything about that if I hadn’t run across this: the ghetto-version of the “movement” which is somewhat intriguing, I must say.
I personally don’t plan to try this, but people with patio homes, apartments or hot, south-facing sides of their homes say they benefit. It is kind of cute and organized-looking, which does hold some appeal for me. Check out HOW-TO at:
‘MORE MATTER FOR A MAY MORNING” ~ Shakespeare, from Twelfth Night
I thought that spring must last forevermore, For I was young and loved, and it was May. ~ Vera Brittain
MAY IS…
A gentle, cool breeze on a bright sunny day.
Birds frolicking and chirping away. The audobonic* song continuing despite Sandy-the-family-dog’s gruffest orders to cease and desist.
Sandy finally admitting defeat and sprawling out in the shade.
Plopping seedlings left and right into warm, black, nutrient-rich soil – where they will find a home and spread their roots to grow.
Tiny, green weed seedlings coming right out of their moist hiding places with just a quick pinch. Better get ’em now!
Aspen leaves fluttering as their branches sway rhythmically under the pure, blue sky.
Emerald-green grass inviting me to come and sit for tea.
Busy little ants building their cities.
Expanding perennials and flowering annuals.
Look at all the hibiscus buds!
“Pruning is for your own good,” I console the shrubbery.
Hollyhocks insisting on their right to procreate. There is way too much hollyhock tom-foolery going on in my garden!
Neighbor kids filling the air with the noise of life.
The neighbor’s cat being somehow unable to pull his fat behind back over the fence to home unless Sandy is charging him. A lesson in the importance of vision. It is energizing.
Five pieces of bright-white paper lined up just so on the kitchen counter for making lists as I go. Gardening to do before I leave for Springfield, gardening for Dave to do while I am gone, gardening to do when I return…etc. I love lists! Did I mention that?
May is kinda perfect. Especially this particular morning in May.
Is it so small a thing,
To have enjoy’d the sun,
To have lived light in the spring,
To have loved, to have thought, to have done?
Matthew Arnold
“Springs’ last-born darling, clear-eyed, sweet
Pauses a moment with white, twinkling feet
And golden locks in breezy play
Half teasing, half tender, to repeat Her song of ‘May.'”
~ Susan Coolidge
Oh! That we two were Maying down the stream of the soft spring breeze;
Like children with violets playing,
In the shade of the whispering trees. ~ Charles Kingsley, from Saint’s Tragedy
ANOTHER NOTE: {I could be mistaken, but I think I just invented the word Audubonic. Audubon Society conserves and nurtures natural ecosystems particularly with regard to birds, and harmonic is a musical term – oh yeah, baby, let’s get this in the dictionary!}
PHOTOS BY STORMIE: a couple of days ago, in the backyard.
SPACE. If you don’t have space for a regular garden square but still want home-grown tomatoes or cucumbers or peppers or any of a gazillion other edible crops, you can throw your seedlings into a 5-gallon bucket, or an upside milk jug or 2-liter bottle and hang them from a fence post or a shepherd’s hook and voila!
WEEDS. No weeds! In a regular garden you gotta keep the weeds from stealing the good nutrients and be careful not to disrupt the roots if you pull them because it can harm your actual crop. In a hanging garden, weeds are rare!
PRETTY. You can paint the containers or wrap them in pretty shelf liner. The whole concept feels pretty bohemian and hippie-ish, but people are getting creative these days. But, you can add beautiful flowers on top to conserve moisture and protect the whole thing, all the while harvesting from below. Wouldn’t wave petunias look marvelous from up there?
WATER. Less water. You water the containers and not a whole big garden plot of dirt.
PESTS. The little critters like grubs and cutworms that are just waiting to munch down on your garden goodies and ruin them before you get the chance to enjoy: they don’t even know where your garden is when it is hanging! They are too short to get there, Ha! Take that, you little evil-doers! (And those egg-laying moths? They’ll now be at eye-level where you can battle them more effectively).
NO STAKES OR CAGES ON VINING PLANTS.
YOUR KNEES. “Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone,” could not be more true. If traditional gardening is hurting the bod, just think: you can water and harvest from a standing position.
NO TILLING OR DIGGING. Takes less than 30 minutes to put together a bucket for hanging. Nearly painless.
PREMIUM SOIL Because your “growing plot” is so small, you can afford to put the best quality, pre-fertilized soil in the container. Black gold!
TIME. You’ll have more to enjoy the actual stuff you grow. Look up some recipes for all those juicy, red, home-grown tomatoes or how to utilize the many varieties of peppers you’re growing! You construct, you remember to water to and feed, you harvest. Delicious!
BONUS (because I said there would only be 10): HEALTH. You can know what you’re eating from your own upside-down farm is healthy and pesticide-free because you grew it. Good for you. Good for your family.
google images
The main drawback for me, frankly, is how sort of odd-looking they are. I hate the vinyl ones you see in TV ads and most of the online examples leave something to be desired, but I am on the look-out for how to make them more beautiful because until I get my farm and I am stuck with my small, suburban yard, I have to use available space!
I grew one tomato plant upsidedown last year (a 5-gallon bucket wrapped in a bamboo shade for aesthetics. It grew at a very fast pace, which was fun. Then it got hammered by a terrible hail storm in late June and one half of the mass and length were shredded. But it still produced a good amount of tasty fruit. I will be growing more upside-down stuff this year. I’ll keep you posted!
