Designing in Life

Rain, Rain go Away...Please

Cold, rainy and just plain icky out there.  I decided I needed to work at home this afternoon so that I could pull together some things for a photo shoot tomorrow morning.  My heart isn't in it because my garden is calling my name, and I just can't do anything out there until it stops raining.  We needed some, but probably not this much. But still, there are things happening out there, in spite of the continuous downpour.

A bit out of focus, but here are two lonely lily-of-the-valley – must be related to that one lone daffodil a few weeks ago!

The hostas seem to like the rain.

The wigellia from Jersey City is blooming nicely.

The Jackaronda clematis is starting to climb.  So, I guess I should be happy that there are some things out there that are loving the rain.

And this is my half-hearted attempt at pulling some things together for the shoot.  I think you'd better wish me luck!

Memorial Day and Frost?

Yup, they're once again predicting frost and by the daytime temperature today – 60's– it feels a bit more like fall.  The sky is clear and blue and the wind is a blustery stiff one that makes it feel more like it's in the 50's.  So, instead of planting, I stayed inside most of the day moving furniture around, baking and sewing.  Not much of a Memorial Day celebration, I guess, but a day off is a day off and I always welcome one.

I picked the last of the French double lilacs from the yard.  Their fragrance is intense and heady.  They are here for such a short time, so I try to have a vase-full from the time they bloom until the very last one is gone.

The flowers, herbs and vegetables are going to have to wait another day to be planted.  Tomorrow the garden is being tilled, and then, I hope, all possible frost will be a thing of the past.  Gee, if I wanted to live in Alaska, I would have moved there.

Hope you all have a nice day off, and take a moment to remember what this day is really all about.

Pool Time!

About this time of year – every year – I help Nick open pools.  Most of them take about 2 hours, on a good day.  Tonight we opened a pool not far from our house.  They're the best...close by!  The in-ground pool's cover was easy to roll up and as we finished rolling at the end of a pool – YIKES – a whole herd of enormous snakes emerged from a crack in the seam of the cement.  I've said this before, I don't have a major fear of snakes, but I do have a fear of those things that suddenly appear and race for your pant legs.  Honestly, I felt like I was in a Harrison Ford movie, except the snakes weren't cobras, and, well the truth is there were only four.  Two managed to fall into the pool.  I got the net and managed to pick up one and toss it into some bushes.  After trying to scoop up the other one and missing,  it was obvious the direction of my lob would land the next snake on Nick.  He immediately scooped the snake on a screwdriver and tossed it into the bushes.  Snakes aside, this pool's view is wonderful.

Here is the path to the pool.

And below we have Nick cleaning the pool

Oh and here is one of the remaining snake in the crack.  Can you see it?  Better yet, can you tell how big it is?

Okay, it wasn't so big after all. 

Spring Green

Everywhere I look I see color emerging from the sleepy long winter.  For many of you, winter was so long ago you've forgotten there ever was one, but not here.  Winter is long.  Summer is short.  You savor each and every day the thermometer is above 50 degrees!

The last frost date at my home is May 26 give or take a few days.  We had scattered frost last night –  I saw a hint of it this morning on the grass.  I don't usually plant anything until at least Memorial Day, but it's early this year and the ground is still pretty darn cold.  I don't even have it rototilled yet, but I'm not worried.  I have a friend who planted her garden one year just about on the Fourth of July, and wouldn't you know, she had vegetables about the same time as everyone else. 

Here are a few pictures of some things that caught my eye.  On Sunday, the morning sky was wild.  The clouds were sort of undulating and didn't look real.

As you probably know, Vermont is well-known for it's fall foliage, but did you know that there is another foliage season in late spring?  Peak green season happens the beginning of June and it really is amazing that there are so may green hues to be seen.

The contrast of this light green maple against the blue sky was astonishing and I had no choice but to stop and take a picture of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the better camera with me.  Oh well, there are still quite a few days before summer is in full swing so I'll be sure to get some pictures of what's happening on the color front all around me.

Decisions, Decisions

I received a wonderful Mother's Day gift from Beth and family – a gift certificate to White Flower Farm  I have looked through the catalog cover-to-cover, over-and-over.  Everything is so beautiful and tempting.  I marked a few pages for things I was planning to get this year.  Baptisia is something I have wanted.  The  long-stemmed blue flowers are very graceful and long-lasting.  When the flowers have died off, the green foliage makes a great filler with other flowers.  Thumbing through the pages I kept going back to one page in particular.

This is clematis terniflora – a fall blooming clematis.  A friend of mine has one that grows over her porch.  I'm sure you can imagine by looking at this picture just how gorgeous it is.  It is also very fragrant.  It reminds me of another of my favorites:

 If I lived in California (where this photo was taken) I could have a Jasmine just like this one hanging from my upstairs balcony – if I had an upstairs balcony – but I don't so I'll settle for the clematis since it likes the climate in Vermont.

So I'm off to browse through the catalog again to make some firm decisions.  I want to call in an order tomorrow and get a few things right away.  Now these are the kind of decisions I like to make.

A Wonderful Gift

As you know if you're in the working world, Mondays can be somewhat of a drag on your psyche.  So it was with great pleasure that when I got home there was a gift from my brother-in-law, John, waiting for me.  He burned all the photos he took at last weekend's First Communion and sent it to me.  I've picked out 4 (I certainly don't want to overwhelm you) that I think are very sweet and funny.

This is Lauren.  It was her first Communion.

Lauren and Phoebe

Lauren, Chloe and Phoebe

Sisters, Chloe and Phoebe. 

I'm so lucky to have such sweet little faces in my life!

A Wild and Crazy Day

On Saturday afternoon I jumped on the mower to finish the mowing Nick had started the day before.  In case you need a visual on the lawn we mow at our house, it's about 2 acres.  We are crazy, it's true.  No one in their right mind should spend as much time as we do mowing a lawn.  But when it's mowed, it's quite a beautiful sight to behold – however, when it's not, because it has been raining too much, my mood is quite an ugly thing to behold!

So I'm on the tractor and there is a brisk breeze from the south and the sky is getting dark to the west.  Suddenly the wind took an about turn to the north, and a fine drizzle was blowing along with it.  I mowed a bit longer and was just about finished, but started getting pretty cold.  After pulling into the garage, I took out the earplugs and realized it was thundering at a fast and furious pace.  Then I noticed the lightening, so I ran into the house.

For an hour it rained buckets and the thunder just rolled and rolled.  Even my sister on the other end of the phone in New Jersey could hear it.  Then suddenly the sun burst out in that sort of late-afternoon- long-shadowed-splendor and I ran outside because I knew what I would see in the eastern sky.

 

And a double one to boot!  To heck with the grass, what a lovely ending to a stormy afternoon.

Weekend Enjoyment

Perhaps you don't have children, but that does not exclude you from being remembered on this day.  In your lifetime you have probably given a motherly hug, given motherly advice or even been given a roll of the eyes (which only children can do) when you gave that motherly advice.  So if you have or don't have children, I wish you a happy day this Sunday.

When I was about 9 or 10, I asked my dad if I could have $1 to buy my mother a gift for Mother's Day.  (Translated into 2009 monetary values, I suppose this would equal about $20).  He gave me the money and I went downtown to the Five and Ten (aka 5 & Dime), to look for a gift.  After searching and searching and making many trips upstairs to the part of the store that sold toys (where I really wanted to spend that $1), I finally found a scarf that I liked very much.  It had light green leaves and tiny peach and yellow flowers and it was big enough for my mother to wear wrapped around her head and tied under her chin.  Because she had her hair "done" every week, she would wear a scarf if the wind was blowing or it was raining.

Now, I believe this may have been the first time that I had bought my mother something other than dish towels or salt and pepper shakers.  It was a personal gift.  The best part about this gift was the look on her face when she opened it.  She was surprised – and I knew that surprised look meant that she liked it.  We went to the diner for dinner that night and she wore the scarf wrapped around her neatly coiffed hairdo and I can tell you that it made me so very happy.  I bet you have a happy memory too of a special day with your mom.

So I thought I'd leave you with some things to do this weekend if it's raining out or you just have a hankering for a project.  I've pulled these from some of my favorite blogs.

Flourles Peanut Butter Cookies – From Joy the Baker

Do-it-Yourself Key Holder – From How About Orange

Bitty Bug Pin Cushion – Through Craftzine

And for those of you who need to whip up a Mother's Day gift in a hurry, this one is for you.

Mother's Day gifts – From Instructables

In Hopes of Cherry Blossoms – Some Day

As I looked out the back door at work the other day – dreamily, I might add, because the sun had come out and the sky was blue and I really, really, really wanted to be on the other side of the door – not confined to a cubicle, I noticed that the ornamental cherry tree which is blossoming out back had some new shoot growth coming up.

Hmmm, I wondered, maybe I could get a cutting for my own beautiful spring tree.

So, out I went with shovel in hand (my answer to all questions about where I was going resulted in "Digging to China" since I wasn't really looking for spectators) and started to dig.  I got one very good somewhat rooted sprout.  On my way home I stopped and bought some Root Tone (aka root take or root start). 
I dipped the root part in the powder and planted it in a small cup, then went to get my camera to show you how I did it.  Well, it seems as though our DSL modem died so there was no connecting to the internet last night.  I told Nick I can certainly live without television, but I need to connect to the internet.  Hopefully the modem will be here tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'll just post these from work.  So, anyway, I'm hoping that there will be a little ornamental cherry tree to plant this fall - a very little one to say the least!

And here is a picture from my Amelia Island vacation.  I asked the piano player to play "My One and Only Love" which he didn't know, so I settled on "Moonlight in Vermont" which everyone knows!

Designs that Inspire

Marimekko has been around just about as long as I have.  The Finnish company has been widely known for their bold colored designs for textiles.  They were the perfect fabric for the 70's and now again, I see Marimekko fabrics all over the place.   I've seen quite a few lately that aren't quite as bold as I remember, but they are just as interesting as they've always been.
These are sheets that I spotted in the Crate and Barrel catalog.  I love the seasonal feel of the color, plus the design seems so relaxing.  I could easily wake up to these every morning!

Does this design look familiar?  Another Marimekko and I believe this one has been around for some time...like me!