Renaissance

Shall I compare thee
To a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely
And more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling
Buds of May.
And summer’s lease
Hath all too short a date. –William Shakespeare

As it fell upon a day
In the merry month of May.
Sitting in a pleasant shade
Which a grove of Myrtles made,
Beasts did leap and birds did sing,
Trees did grow and plants did spring. – Richard Barnefield

Plants and earth are constantly on my mind and I am convinced that now, regardless of the extreme heat and the berry-red skin, summer will be my favorite season. We have put up a shabby fence (ridiculously done so we could save money instead of buying the ‘good stuff’.) In the end, I do think the bunnies and deer will, with bulging cheeks and ever-full bellies, delight in our frugality. Perhaps next year, recollecting our misfortunes, we will fork out more money to buy the fencing that will do the job. I doubt it though.

Another happy note: I noticed a hummingbird nest outside of our window the other day! They are shaped more like a ball than a bowl. I wish I would have discovered it when there were babies in it-although I wouldn't have been able to peek in anyway...

Flowers are poking their wee little heads and smiling at us on our walks and in our yard. And bursting with smiles too, is our little Andy Panda who delights me to no end with his first smiles. Yesterday he had a long ‘conversation’ with me (that I just happened to get on video!) and has since been quite generous with his charming grin. I love him so.

Today the childer and I walked to the neighbors’ behind us who have a little girl just days apart in age from Corynn. Corynn had a grand time in the house-but as we left, she spotted the swingset and sandbox in the backyard. Undoubtedly, she will be asking to visit again-just to visit that fenced in treasure-trove.

When visiting with our neighbor, she told me of a few local greenhouses (of which I was not aware…) one Mennonite and one Amish. Not only do they sell plants-but all growing needs-PLUS handmade furniture. I think that Corynn and I will head to those places to visit and perhaps buy some annuals. It would be so nice to check them out and compare for next year. Perhaps I am discriminating here, but to me, plants from the Mennonites or Amish would be healthier. Why would I think that? I don’t know. Really, it is just hogwash I suppose, but ever since Beverly Lewis, I seem to idealize the Amish anyway. :-)

Because it has been so rainy and cold for the last week or so, I think all the cloth coverings we own are dirty-I haven’t wanted to wash them if I couldn’t line dry them so the piles just kept building and building. Today is a glorious day and the line has not been lonely. By the time I was ready to hang the second load-much of the first was already DRY-and that was just 30 minutes later!!!

I promised you all a ‘virtual tour’ of my house-but haven’t yet followed through. That is because I am finding it VERY difficult to find the ‘perfect spot’ for our wall hangings, photos, wreaths and such. I wanted to wait until they were ALL decorated before doing so-but my inspiration is just not shining through! I might be weeding through some things and not even hanging some things up. I don’t know. But right now-the walls are still quite bare and the house doesn’t have that completely ‘homey’ feel yet.

Tomorrow Matt plans to give me my herb soil. Hurrah! Tonight and tomorrow I hope to finally plant my veggies. Up until this point, the soil has been TOO WET . Matt assures me this isn’t so, but it seems like the ‘soil’ is 25% dirt and 75% manure. In anycase-the plants I purchased last week are crying out to be established in the garden so it NEEDS to be done.

Yes I ramble about my garden-if I talk this much about it on my blog-imagine how MATT feels! (Although he is ever so gracious and even now and then adds an ‘uh-huh’ to the mix. What a good man.