All in a Garden Green

In the last 32 days, we have had 27 days with some sort of precipitation. I think the other 5 were actually nice and sunny, and not cloudy at all, but MY GOD, CAN WE GET A BREAK ALREADY?? Seattle is drying up, because we have all the west coast's rain. This is not doing terribly wonderful things to my plants... there is not much mush, but nothing is growing much, and more and more I am grateful for the wonderfulness that is raised bed gardening. It drains and sheds water, even when the rest of the ground is completely saturated. I'm hoping my jade plant doesn't just rot and fall over, but I'm leaving it outside anyway, because at least there's a chance of higher temperatures and sunshine to dry things out a bit... Sam the tangerine is happier than I've seen him (her? dunno, never flowered, and I think citrus blossoms are hermaphroditic anyway) in a long while, all sorts of new growth. Just need some dang sunlight sometime in the next month!

Have been eating fresh peas nearly every day. They don't mind the rain. They are delicious. Once we do get some sun, everything will go nuts (hrm, I note I said exactly the same thing a week ago, still no sun), and I will have more leafy goodness than I will know what to do with, which is just fine by me. Things are getting bigger, just slooooowly. Will have Kohlrabi to harvest just in time for GNEW. Have the wild and crazy thought of putting in a few potato plants once that spot is empty, as I can't see just leaving it fallow. And I like potatoes. Maybe blue ones. I may end up growing whatever I can still find for seed potatoes, though. Not many left at this point, I don't think. Any sources, anybody? There are over 2 dozen scapes on my 'Persian Market' daylily. None on 'Bela Lugosi', but he wasn't looking real well at the end of last summer... a year of growth, then beautiful velvety wine purple blossoms next year, perhaps.

kurlon is a bit lighter in the dental department... had 2 wisdom teeth and the roots of a third tooth extracted on Friday morning. I got some shopping done, did some reading, drove around a bit, and then he socked out on the couch with Abbey's cat while glassbeetle and I worked on her spiffy new doublet. Will be done by GNEW! Nearly there, thanks to the work we did tonight. Is to be fabulous.

Have done 5 scrolls worth of gold leaf for this round of awards. I love gold! Shiny shiny shiny! Though when we are out of the old style permacoll, adjusting to something else will be interesting. The new stuff is wretched. Stays sticky for nearly 2 weeks, everything sticks to it (including tissue paper, which is not good when the gold leaf has a tissue backing), and it doesn't take embossing at all. Argh. Am painting just one AOA for GNEW, very light and swirly, and am loving it. 'Geranium' red gouache is proving to be somewhat transluscent, though, which irritates me a bit.

So ready for vacation. 3 more days of work this week, 2 days (which include training a new guy...) next week, and then 7 glorious days of not work. So looking forward to GNEW. So hoping it stops raining sometime before then, and that my foot will be fine, and that there will be much dancing and fencing. Foot is better. One more week of not stressing it out, then we test... I think dancing on Friday night will be the tell. If I can dance, I can fence. At least I won't be all ramped up and ready to go Saturday morning, get 3 bouts into the tourney, and then have to call it quits. That would upset me some. Not even gonna consider that, though. All will be well.

Thunderstorms rolled through last night, finally... right around midnight, we were treated to the sound of beautiful, beautiful, HEAVY rain. The skies lit up with the flashes of lightning and the thunder rolled. It is cool now. Most of yesterday (here, anyway) was quite comfortable as well. Actually made it to fencing practice, and fenced, and had a wonderful time.

Glad I took this photo before all the weather happened. The light was wonderful, and the contrast between the irises and stone behind them is really something. The wonderful thing about the yellow & purple Iris (Iris germanica 'Enchanted One') is that it smells like lemons! The color is absolutely amazing as well, of course, but the citrusy scent makes it that much better.

In medical news... J got his hand back yesterday! Mostly... the bones appear to be healed, he still has to wear the splint, but the docs want him to move his fingers and get some circulation and strength back in his hand. 6 weeks of PT, starting soonish. All should be better after that. He can drive his own car again, but I do not forsee much motorcycling for us this summer...

And I wasn't even trying. :)

J and I were at the Christmas Tree Shop in Portland this afternoon after his appointment (got stitches taken out! Yay! Have to soak the injured fingers and change dressings once a day, which means I have to help him, which means I have to look... owowowow and eeeeewwww.... but he's healing. I looked at his hand when the had the bandages off. I've seen worse, I think, in movies, but it's quite a bit different when you know it's makeup and not on someone you care about.)

But I digress... anywho! Background: I decided to fix my hair in two braids last night when I took my shower... I like braids. :) J and I were at the Christmas Tree Shop in Portland this afternoon after his appointment, looking for a strawberry planter I'd seen a few weeks ago. (I'm growing strawberries this year! Couldn't stand to leave 'em at the nursery anymore.) No planters. Figures. Wait a week, and the one thing I should have bought is now gone. Oh well, let's wander around a bit... We were over by the pillows/drapery section, near two older ladies who were conversing rapidly in French. I wandered over next to them, looking at the pillows, and I hear a gasp, and "C'est moi!" followed by more rapid French. I looked over, and one of the ladies nearly ran over to me, exclaiming, "When I was a little girl, around 14, I had my hair just like yours, but it was down to here (gestures to my waist). I loved it! Don't you ever cut your hair!! You have beautiful hair!" I thanked her, a genuine smile on my face. "What is the word for that in English?" Braids, I said, grinning. She smiled, and repeated again "Don't ever cut your hair!", and left with her friend, still smiling. I laughed a bit, went back to wandering with J.

I made that French lady's day, I think... made me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. :)

( home again, home again )

In other news, the little cold is threatening to turn into a sinus infection (Advil Cold & Sinus, do your stuff, pleaseohpleaseohplease), and I was at work till 8:00 tonight. That happens about once a year. Hopefully this was it for this year. Done now. Time to find food and snuggle (carefully) with my newly repaired husband.

Happy May Day, everyone... if we were in Paris, I would hand you a little bouquet of Lily of the Valley, but since we're on the internets, this will have to suffice. :)