Houzz.com is such a visual paradise that a good cup of coffee early on a Sunday morning and some Houzz time can just take me away.  But I really love it when the images are accompanied by really good writing, which to me means, fresh/new ideas, or ideas and thoughts that are tried and true but are being presented in a cool, updated way or that make me feel like yeah-I knew it!  I especially love writers who tug at the heart-strings {*sniffle}, but make you laugh at the same time.  I have a short list of fav writers there, but Alison Hodgson is my FAV ever!!!

Yes, it turns out a Home-Design-Decorating-and-Remodeling site can also be a place for great articles and wonderful writers.  Really.  Go there: www.houzz.com.  Search for anything written by Alison Hodgeson and you will know I have read it and loved it.  She writes a lot about our homes and how they reflect what really matters in them.  Her stuff comes from actual experience in losing “everything,” but finding out why what really mattered wasn’t actually lost.  I refuse to spoil this for you.  Go.  Read!

This article today: TRUE!  Wise.  Inspiring.  Took me back to  when my kids were young and you’d find them making up whole scenarios with the simplest “props.”  Heck, it took me back to when I was a kid: forming our very own Drake Relays and homemade winner’s ribbons, or the backyard circus with dogs who refused to jump through our “flaming spheres,” aka hula hoops…ah, good times.

LOVED this article.  AGREE with what she is saying.  HOPE you will enjoy it and know that an unplanned day might just become one of the most memorable in your kiddos’ lives.  Maybe.  The day is so full of possible!

{{A List}}

Sandy-the-Dog will need special understanding and will probably go into deep depression in my absence.  Be sweet to her.  She likes watermelon as a special treat. :)

The snow-in-the-mountain is in serious need of a haircut.  I bet the electric trimmer would work, though I usually snip carefully by hand, for they are delicate and sensitive souls.  If the mood strikes you…

Water the pots out back each day.  If you see an obvious weed, please do not let it grow to gargantuan proportions – remove it.  But don’t hurt my plants.  It’s a dance.

Water the pots out front every-other-day or so.  Since I sorta forget them sometimes 5 days in a row, they’ll probably really take to you.  Dead-head the geraniums and, oh,  pull the weeds between the mountain  rocks for me, will ya?  Also, on the front, south side?  Make sure the blasted hollyhocks are not creating babies everywhere.  In fact – no matter where in the yard, do not let the hollyhocks bully you around – I do not want to have to deal with a zillion new ones when I return.  I must insist on containment.  This is suburbia!

Obliterate any and all grasshoppers and wasps, but not where bees might be hanging out in search of pollen. We don’t want Mansanto happening in our yard!!! {Booooooooo to corporations that are killing the bees, boooooooooo}

Water the garden squares once daily and watch those baby weeds that try to hide under the real plants.  But don’t mistake the beets or okra or something else wonderful for weeds.

There is a zucchini that is lounging at the base of the sunflower patch.  He likes it there.  Please remember to water him daily.  Even though the sunflowers are probably ok with just the water from the sprinkler every few days now.

Watch the cilantro and the basil.  Lop off any and all flower heads very decidedly.  I don’t want either going to seed (the cilantro can hardly be trusted at this point – so watch him very closely).  Use the leaves for your food.  Delish!

Have lovely lettuce for a salad each day.  Pick the leaves in the morning while they are moist and plump from the cooler night air; rinse and refrigerate to crisp up for later: red ruby or green gem, oak-leaf, even spinach and arugula.  Throw in some of the little peppers.  Eat what I have grown.  It is beautiful and good for you, too!

Honestly, I don’t expect you to aggressively cut back the Russian Sage even though they desperately need to be disciplined, as they are a bold lot and can be quite intimidating.  But I actually heard the assembly of them this morning plotting against me -in front of two grasshoppers, nonetheless.  Please do note if you catch “prolificating” happening.  They have absolutely no morals.  Sage prolification is quite rampant. Tsk.

If tomatoes or tomatillos start really sprouting longs arms, tie them gently to their stakes with the green garden ribbon.  And talk to them.  They like the daily chats.  It is important they know they are my favorites in the garden and that we give our main attention to them.  I am sure they will wonder where I am.  Let them know I will be happy for a fresh-ripe-red-tangy-and-sweet-garden tomato sandwich upon my return.

The fridge is filled with fruits and fresh vegetables.  I hope you enjoy them and they don’t go to waste, honey-bunch. xxoo.  LOVE-me!

PS – One more thing: level.  I would hate to have to make you re-do the whole thing if it isn’t level when I return.  And please-please-please stay in our plan?!!  You know what I am talking about!  ;)

I am off to see the parentals.

Yes, I was mesmerized by the chg-chg-chg of the sprinkler.

Yes, it got me.

You’re doing fine, green-plump-tomatoes.  You are worth the wait.  Grow slow, grow well and let me know if there is anything I can do to help you out.  Is the temperature ok?  It’s very hot this week.  Are you getting enough water?  I have tried to be sure no interlopers infringe on your gardener-given space.  For you, my sweets, you are the real reason I go to the garden at all.  Everything else is just to help me pass the time until the day of tomato…

Everything is late this year.  That ridiculously crazy, wintry-spring weather (you haven’t forgotten have you?) where it was warm and dry all winter and then as soon as it should have been spring kept being snow blizzards – in MAY??!?!  Yes, that weather-has caused so much silliness and delay.  It made me fearful, afraid to move forward, afraid to plant at planting time.  Because – what if I lost everything?  What if I planned and worked and bought and seeded and watered and some blizzard outside my control just took it all away?

These are the risks the seed-sower takes, the heartache a gardener might be forced to bear.

My hibiscus are usually flowering by mid-June and are so far just finally fully green and budding.  The Australian Lilies are usually bursting forth the first 2 weeks of June and just one plant has flowered so far.  The rest, though, are about to reach their glory.  They will be at their prime in July.  Late, but beautiful, maybe even more so than expected to make up for the lilacs lost in snow just 6 weeks ago.

I have turned the former pond area, where Snow-in-the-Mountain, Hollyhocks and Russian Sage try every single summer to defy me and run rampant across all borders and any newly-turned soil, into a place for 4 rambling tomatillo plants (left to their own devices, they appreciate 3-4 feet up and all around, as well) and 2 nice, stocky tomato plants.  Eventually, we’ll scape the whole area with perennials and evergreens, but for this year, there is a garden path of grandbebe-crafted stepping stones and I walk through in anticipation, and yes – I do talk to the tomatoes.

I see you.  I have been waiting, waiting all year.  You are proof the Creator of the universe loves me!

The zucchini are fine, thank-you for asking (though a bit battered by the recent hail), however, the spaghetti squash are struggling to make it where last year’s tropical hibiscus flourished, then died over the winter.  What is there causing the havoc?

Everything is a little late this year.  Because you can do what you can do, but there are just some things you cannot control.  I can start seedlings indoors, I can prepare soil, I can dig holes and bury young plants.  I can water and fertilize and pray and hope, but an early-May snowstorm, or a late-June hailstorm can make mincemeat of my flowers and vegetable plants.

All I can do is go pick up fallen leaves, brush away debris, eradicate the weeds that have been roaming to and fro, watching for an opportune time to take over the garden squares, and wait – wait for the hot sun to heal and soothe and give the garden its’ chance to thrive again.

And it will. The harvest will come.