Ah, solitude. It restores my inner calm, especially after a week of company with fluid plans and no schedules. My ideal life resembles a two-track lane in remote country – yes, even the 'ruts' (I like routine!). My reality, of course, is not so quiet; the unpredictable schedules of the other two adults in the house, inside and outside chores, three part-time jobs, regular visits to an old friend in a care home, responsibilities at/for church, and all the things I do for 'therapy' – playing with fiber, riding my horse, agility with Poppy (when class isn't cancelled due to heat), blogging.
For now, I am enjoying having the house to myself for a short time. Rick and Brian are off ocean fishing with a friend for a couple days; they left last night and come back tomorrow sometime.
The dogs, of course, are keeping me company while I try to get a long list of assorted tasks checked off and eat leftovers.
Poppy tends to curl up as she runs cold
Leo tends to sprawl out as he runs hot
Getting stuff done is easier to do now that I am comfortable. My right knee/hip/foot had gotten increasingly painful, so on Sunday I gave up toughing it out and starting taking naproxen sodium. Oh my; I forget how draining pain is, besides making it difficult to be on my feet by day and to sleep by night! Now I feel like a spring chicken. 😁 I've gotten the dose down to one tablet every 36 hours, and may try reducing that to one every other day. But I DO plan to stay on it!
I've got my first four skeins of homespun wound and am ready to start swatching for my Ariya Sweater:
Rick finished a Tawhai (New Zealand Silver Beech) bowl; the bowl blank was a gift from a friend:
The biggest sunflower in the garden; the herb tank; the fading lavender with a butterfly:
Sunday, May 19, felt like a second Mothers Day because my son went to an agility trial with Poppy and me! He was pleasant company and Poppy had two great runs (and two no-time efforts); here is the video Brian took of our best effort, a first place qualifying run in Standard, Level 2:
And here is Poppy, tired, with her ribbons – and the $50 credit for a future trial entry we got in a volunteer drawing:
While we were at the trial, Rick got strawberries planted – all 84 starts! I picked up a few more starts to add to both the 'herb barrel' and the garden proper and got them planted Friday. Now the garden has taken shape, and I'm at that happy anticipation place before the weeds invade and harvesting keeps me harried. 😉 Leigh lists what goes into and comes out of her garden for record-keeping and I've decided to loosely follow suit.
Herb starts in the round stock tank on the east side of the house: Spicy Globe Basil, Sweet Italian Large Leaf Basil x 2, Dill x 2, Italian Parsley x 2, Curly Parsley, Cilantro, Mixed Lettuce (6-pack)
Garden proper:
Tomato starts: Gold Nugget, Taxi, Gill's All Purpose Heirloom, Oregon Spring x 2, Willamette
Eggplant starts: Japanese Long x 2
Sweet pepper starts: Bacskai Feher x 2
Winter squash starts: Butternut x 2
Cucumber starts: Bush Crop, Regal Pickler x 2, Armenian
Summer squash seeds: Gelber Englischer Custard, Fordhook zucchini, Long White of Palermo zucchini (one hill of each)
Beet seeds: Detroit Dark Red, one row
Bean seeds: one row leftover mixed Purple Queen and Bush Blue Lake, one row Jade, one row Calima
Strawberry starts: Albion
new leaves burgeoning, and some of my seeds are sprouting, too
On Sabbath afternoon we met my MIL and FIL at Schreiner's Iris Gardens for a walk through paradise. We used to go annually, but then they started charging admission and the pandemic happened and admission went up.... I've missed the experience, so was glad Rick suggested it and got tickets online ahead of time. He even prepaid for bouquets for his mom and me! Mine is still in bud so photos of it later, but here are a few photos from the Garden of Eden display gardens themselves:
On Sunday morning Rick and I drove to Portland to take in the last of the International Woodturners Symposium. A different kind of beauty from the day before, but just as compelling to me; I love looking at woodgrain and what talented people do to bring it out!
Afterwards we had lunch at a favorite restaurant before coming home to work around the place. That included getting Rick to examine Bonnie who has been lame for a few days (she was already better), and vaccinating the two sets of twins (Bitsy was vaccinated earlier). Speaking of lambs, here's the latest gratuitous lamb spam:
Finally, chicken changes. The friend from whom I got four pullets three years ago got more chicks this spring and offered me some. I didn't take her up on the offer right away; the nine I had was a good number for my space. But our two remaining Blue Wyandottes are seven years old and rarely lay anymore, and Kate, the Rhode Island Red that was part of that four-pullet package, stopped laying eggs with shells over a year ago and has been ailing for months. When my friend said she'd take them for processing, I decided to take three of her pullets to replace them. The swap happened last night after dark, for ease of catching and incorporating. This morning I took photos of my current flock, who conveniently congregated in their original groupings:
Spangle and Splash, three-year-old Whiting True Blues
The four mixed-breed hens, ages two and three, that we got from moving neighbors. From left: Pearl, Ashes, RBG, and Puff
The new girls, Amber Stars and a Legbar, from left: Toffee Bits, Honey Bun, and Snowcone
That should keep the eggs coming for a good while. I wonder what else this super-abundant month has in store for us!
I'm a homeschooling, horse training, animal loving, garden growing, part-time business running, spinning and knitting shepherd who loves the Great Shepherd.
