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| Yep, I'm a classy broad. I put advertising coffee mugs on beer coasters. But Cliff House Inn in Jasper, Arkansas? Shout out to the best biscuits and gravy in the world. Holla! |
Thank goodness. We've been hit with a long stretch of sub-zero wind chills and gray skies around here, and I say to hell with it.
I can curse it all I want (and do), but it's not going to go away. I live in a state where even May snow storms aren't unheard of, and in January winter sometimes seems more like a prison sentence than a season. I get cranky, sluggish, and my hands and feet are never warm.
For that reason, I really relish the fantasy gardens of flowers and vegetables that get dropped into my mailbox.
I'm facing a summer spent scraping and painting my house, because it simply can't go another season, so I'm feeling a little pessimistic about getting any real progress done in the yard. Last summer, we started with this:
Which I believe is what my farming kin would refer to as a "poor piece of land."
My son Grant built me a new retaining wall along the driveway in March 2012:
Below you can see day lilies, shrub roses, and purple coneflower finally settling in, June 2012:
And we saw some mighty fine sights in small places here and there:
And this day lily, courtesy of my sister's fabulous Georgia garden.
I need to at least finish the front yard so that it looks presentable to the neighborhood. I have to go the rest away across the front of the gable end of the house with planting beds, and plant some shrubs.
The little boys have said they want a vegetable garden. So do I, but I don't even have beds prepared. That's a lot of work too. I'm trying to figure out a way of doing some easy container vegetable gardening instead, until we get something more permanent figured out. In my fantasy life, I also keep chickens and bees, and have apple trees and a green house!
Are you already dreaming of spring? What's on your list of things to dig, plant, and grow?
Oh, yeah: I have vegetable garden fantasies, too. Last year our summer got high-jacked by painting our house. (So much hard, hard work--and we didn't even get done. Only the front and back. I'm bitter. Yes I am.) But we did also do some front yard work, just like you. Tore out some boxy hedges that lined the driveway and put in a garden. We had a clear, sunny day last weekend and went outside and daydreamed a bit.
ReplyDeleteBest of all, we saw the first shoots from some bulbs poking out of the ground! In January! Although I actually do love winter, that made my pulse race just a bit. And I would so love to have an entire day in which my feet didn't feel cold even once.
Is it possible to be bitter in advance about a painting project? I am absolutely dreading giving up my entire summer to this chore, but it "must" be done. Gah.
DeleteOh, yeah. I was in the same boat last year. We had to to do it--and I'm glad we did so that we didn't have to replace more panels of siding than we did. But it sucked. Hard. We are paying someone to do the two short sides we didn't get done. I think. Still negotiating on that one. But I'm bitter in advance about anything we have to give to it. Hmmm. Need to work on the whole gratitude practice thing. :-)
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