If we were having coffee: Recuperation

Man does not live by coffee alone.  Have a danish.

~ Author Unknown

Morning.

If we were having coffee, I’d be thrilled to see you again.  I don’t know about you, but for me it has seemed like a long week.  Maybe it’s because I’m up very early in the morning which gives me more hours in the day for resting, relaxing, and general slackmongering.

How are you?  What have you been up to since our last visit?  Read any good books?  Seen any good films?  Gone on any good walks?  Please share.  I’d love to hear all about your week, the best, the worst, and everything and anything in between, that you’d care to share.

Fire and water.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that even though I whined a lot, it was not an all-bad week.  Sure, I was sick again, but illness doesn’t have to be entirely negative.  There were lessons learned, one of which was to accept that I was ill, and to accept that I needed help and rest.  Plus I got to slack on the housework and the outdoor work.  The porch nap returned, which is a beautiful thing.  It was almost like a vacation.

I wish I could say I did a lot of reading, but it’s been difficult to concentrate.  Mostly I sit and stare out a window, watching the birds and rabbits or the way the wind moves through the trees and grasses.  I am currently reading The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling.  It has been slow going, yet I don’t have the desire to give up on it.  Rowling spends a lot of time on character development, and as I get to know the characters, I want to learn more.  That’s a good thing in a book, but I might be better off reading a brain-candy type of book right now, one that doesn’t require much attention.  Any suggestions?

Goodbye peonies. We’ll see you again next year.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that we finally got a good day of rain.  Thursday it rained and rained for most of the day and well into the evening.  It was a great day for napping.  I know the rain means the grass will grow and will be in need of mowing again soon, but it also means the vegetable and flower gardens were well watered.  The trees have perked up, and we’re starting to see some growth of plants other than poison ivy in the Bare Meadow.  I was worried for a while that we’d end up with a whole field of poison ivy.

Morning sparkles.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you there was some minor excitement around here early this morning.  Last year we set up housing for Purple Martins in hopes some would move in and help us reduce the deer fly population.  A few stopped by last year, but none stayed.  This morning a couple stopped to have a look, swooped around a few times, and came back to the houses to look again.  M and I have seen them a few more times throughout the day, hanging out at the houses.  We are hoping that means they are gathering nesting material, and have decided to stay.

The one and only, so far.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I need to do something about the irises in the scrounger’s garden.  There is only one bloom so far this year, and I suspect that is because I haven’t treated them well.  I need to dig them up, separate them, and then establish a good bed for bulbs.  Right now they are so overrun with grasses, mint, and vetch that I don’t think it is likely we’ll get many blooms from them.  There are two tulips in among the irises that didn’t bloom this year, so maybe it will help to dig all that up and get them reestablished.  The crocuses are located in the same area.

I have been looking at bulb catalogs, thinking about what I want to do in the fall.  I have to be careful not to dream too big.  A little at a time is the best way to go.  Otherwise, I end up with a hundred bulbs and run out of steam when it comes to getting them all planted.  I exaggerate a little.  I’ve never actually had one hundred bulbs that needed planted all at once.  I think I bought fifty one year and only planted half of them, but you know what I mean.  Too much, even of a good thing, often turns out to be a waste.

Iris buried in grasses.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I went to a local nursery yesterday and picked up a few more plants for the scrounger’s garden.  A friend gave me two butterfly bushes last year, but they didn’t survive the move and/or the winter.  Woodland Gnome recently published a lovely post called Dormant Isn’t Dead, and she’s right about waiting to see what happens, but in the case of the butterfly bushes (and the magnolia we moved from the woods), it’s obvious they are not coming back.  So.  I bought a butterfly bush to replace one of them.  I’ll purchase another one next year.  Slow and steady, as I mentioned earlier.  I also brought home some petunias for the planter on the deck, and a few more flowers for the scrounger’s garden that include a red calla lily (the flower looks like a flame and the variety is called Fire Dancer).

Phragmites (something else we’ll have to take care of someday).

If we were having coffee, I would not have to tell you that it is a gorgeous day here because surely you noticed it on your way in.  Cool, dry, sunny, and simply lovely.  My kind of spring.  We should enjoy it while we can.  The temperature will start creeping back up tomorrow, and it’ll be near 90 again by Tuesday or Wednesday.  This is great porch-sitting weather, and even the deck is not a bad place to be when it’s in the shade.  The deer flies prefer to attack in bright sunlight, but will leave you alone when you’re in the shade.

Although these grasses are an invasive species that will have to go, I still enjoy the beauty of them.

If we were having coffee, it would probably be time for me to let you go and get on with whatever else you have to do today.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  If you’d like to stay a little longer, we can go out to the dock to watch the sunset later.  I didn’t make it the Point (or out to our dock) yesterday.  I was busy porch napping.  I should be able to make it today.  Sunset is at 8:13 PM.  I’ll head out about thirty minutes before that.  You’re welcome to walk out there with me, or I’ll meet you on the dock when you’re ready.  Just take the Woodland Trail straight out there (or, if you want to explore a bit, you can head off on either of the side trails — all trails in the woods lead to the dock).

Stop by the scrounger’s garden on your way and visit with the roses.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Lush and lovely.

This post is in response to Part Time Monster’s #WeekendCoffeeShare.  Grab a cuppa of whatever your preference is and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.