Ah, the smell of iris in the morning

It was, according to MPR, the third-driest May in recorded history for our area. That means that some areas of the garden are looking a little stunted: the hydrangea are small, astilbe are struggling, and even some of the weeds look a little anemic. The south lawn is already browning.

However, the iris seem to love the dry, mostly cool weather. We've got varieties blooming this year that we haven't seen in years. Vanity has buds! So does Black Tie Affair. This is even more surprising when you consider that the spring got away from me this year and I never fed/fertilized the yard.

So, first pics of this year's lovely iris display:

Empty Nest Syndrome

We're smiling like happy mommas... the robins have fledged!

About a month ago a robin started nesting on the gutter just next to our porch. Since then, we've watched with baited breath as she weathered windstorms, Rosie's insistent curiosity (and our own) and finally hatched three little robins. Then the parents spent hours bringing them earthworms (we are so proud of our lush, organic yard with so much food for robins!!), until finally we knew the nest could not take too much more.

Today I came home from work to find the nest empty. I went outside and found one intrepid baby surveying the yard from the top of a garden light. I took a quick pic with my phone then ran in for the camera. When I came back out he'd moved to the keyhole garden, and then onto an iris. Love that picture!

Looking back at our Robin-journey:

May 8th: It seemed like such a crazy place to park a nest.

May 29: Momma does not like us sneaking peeks.

May 31st: They've officially outgrown the nest.

Summer and Sauce

My favorite things about this recipe:

The satisfied feeling that summer is drawing to a close and we’re heading into another glorious Minnesota fall. It means we’ve moved past the lovely, hot-weather standards of fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil salads, and that it’s cool enough outside that I look forward to using the stove and the oven and filling the house with both warmth and the deep, rich smells of slow-cooked sauce.

The fragrance of garden-ripe tomatoes blanched in boiling water.

Standing across the butcher block from Gabi, both of us skinning and seeding tomatoes, and instead of talking we each focus on the ripe, fragrant fruits in our hands and softly sing along to love songs playing on the stereo.

The buzz of a dozen bees plundering the garlic chives while I harvest basil, oregano and Italian parsley from the herb bed.

The way it evolves, over the better part of a day, from a light, fresh-smelling mixture into a sauce that is dense, rich and glistening, the flavor intensifying until it feels like a soul-warming indulgence. Then, with the final addition of the basil puree, the feeling of summer comes back full force: light, bright and fresh.

My most favorite thing: the look of satisfied bliss on the faces of my guests and my lovely Gabi when they tuck into a plate of pasta graced with this fabulous sauce.

My recipe is based on “Nach Waxman’s Simple Fresh Tomato Sauce,” from the New York Cookbook by Molly O’Neill, © 1992. My mom gave me the cookbook in 1994, and it’s still one of my favorites.

The Last Summer Fling Tomato Sauce

Red Sauce

5 pounds Brandywine or other beefsteak-type tomatoes, as ripe as possible
1 ½ pounds fresh, ripe plum tomatoes
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup grated carrot
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dry red wine
½ teaspoon brown sugar
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

Herb Bundle

1 sprig fresh oregano
2-3 stems fresh basil
2 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
2-3 celery leaf sprigs
1 dried red chili

Basil Puree

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup water
⅓ cup pine nuts
¼ tsp. kosher salt

1. Make the Red sauce. Bring a large pot of water to boil and dip the tomatoes for a few seconds. Remove the tomatoes and place in a colander to cool slightly. Peel and discard their skins and remove the seeds, saving as much juice as possible. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add to the juice.

2. In a large Dutch oven, warm ¼ cup of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent, 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice and the tomato paste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover the pot, and simmer for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. At each stirring, drizzle in 1 tablespoon olive oil.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F.

4. Make the herb bundle: Place the ingredients for the herb bundle toward the center of a large piece of cheesecloth (approx 18”x24”). Roll short-ways, securely but not too tightly. Twist the ends of the tube and bring them together to tie in the center, securing the herbs and pepper inside the cloth.

5. After the sauce has cooked for 2 hours, stir in the brown sugar, red wine and pepper. Add the herb bundle in the center of the pot, making sure it is covered with sauce. Transfer the pot to the oven. Cover and cook until the sauce is dense and thick, 1 to 1 ½ hours.

6. Make the basil puree: Bring some water to a boil (you can use the left-over tomato water, if you’d like). Place basil in a colander and rinse with boiling water. Drain well. In a blender, combine all basil puree ingredients. Purée at medium speed until smooth. Set aside.

7. Once the sauce has finished cooking in the oven, remove the herb bundle to a small bowl and let cool. Check the sauce for salt and add as needed. When the herb bundle is cool enough to handle, squeeze out any excess liquid back into the sauce. Throw herb bundle away.

8. Serve sauce with whole grain pasta or polenta. Top each serving with some of the basil purée and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

The Perfect Glass of Iced Sun Tea

A recipe in honor of the last day of summer vacation.

1) Sleep late, taking extra time to snuggle with your sweetie.

2) Once you get up, do it slowly. Listen to the birds singing outside, pet the cats (don’t forget to feed them too). When you get dressed, make sure comfort is more important than style. But wear cute shoes.

3) Start the sun tea: fill a one-gallon glass jar with filtered water. Add 8 bags of Nestea, regular or decaf, and 4 bags of Constant Comment, also regular or decaf.

4) Place the tea jar in the sunniest place in the garden, next to the basil and garlic chives. Talk to the chickadees while you take down the feeders to refill them, and enjoy when they talk back when you return with full feeders. Be sure to put out some peanuts and sunflowers for the chipmunks and squirrels, and pass through the garden looking at the new blooms, encouraging the recent transplants, and enjoying the very last daylilies of the summer.

5) Pull a few weeds with your sweetie. Water any dry garden beds and all transplants. Putz around the yard before having a light lunch.

6) Load up the kayaks in the back of the truck and go to a favorite lake or gentle river. Enjoy time in the sunshine, counting eagles and kingfishers and turtles. Stop and rest if you get tired. Eat a snack if you get hungry. Talk about anything that pops into your minds, or just enjoy the silence.

7) Head back home. Take in the tea. Remove the tea bags and refrigerate.

8) Do one productive thing from the to-do list that’s still too long.

9) Get a book and sit on the porch or the patio, reading out loud to each other. Or talk about what a great summer it’s been. Call each other Mrs. Laugh. Smile a lot.

10) Pour a glass of tea over ice. Add a slice of lemon or a little sugar if desired. Watch goldfinches eating sunflowers that the sparrows planted in the spring. Watch chipmunks run through the yard with perfectly peanut-shaped cheeks. Talk about school plans, weeding the library, and projects that need to be completed before fall. Feel completely happy and right with the world.

Photo credits: this is a picture of Crimson Shadows, the last great bloomer of the season. I purchased the plant from Oakes Daylilies a few years ago. Highly recommended.

Blooms in my garden, rum in my salad

It's been a blissfully lovely last couple of weeks here. Highs have been in the mid 70's to 80's, and the humidity has been low (at least for Minnesota). It's hard to be indoors, knowing that this gorgeous weather is going to be all too short-lived.

This morning I took advantage of the weather to do lots of transplanting. Last year I started coreopsis, rudbeckia and other perennials in a nursery bed. Today I transplanted several of them into the beds at the back of our lot where the plantings were pretty thin and anemic looking. It made a huge difference.

The big garden story of late, however, is the back corner.

The mess we started with... an old, icky sandbox, piles of old branches and yard waste, and views into the neighbors back yards.

This neglected spot of our yard has been the "this is the year" project for the last several years, but somehow we never got around to it and it just kept getting messier and more neglected looking. Finally, we spent some time on it (less than I imagined it would take, frankly) and now it looks like it belongs with the rest of the yard.

We cleaned up upwards as well, culling out crossed and low-hanging branches and dead wood from the trees along the property line. It's amazing how much more open the space feels.

It's a little premature to call it finished, but it looks so much better now that we've taken out the old sandbox (it was a great thing to have when the nephews and niece were little, but for the last four or five years no one has used it but local cats). We also made a firewood holder using cinder blocks and the recycled 2x6's from the sand box. In addition, we pruned trees and put up reed fencing.

The beginning of (work) day two: still a long way to go.

We're planning to put in pavers, a fire pit and seating area, and adjust the plantings to bridge the area better, but most of that will likely have to wait until next year. For now, I'm just thrilled to have it cleaned up. We had Jane and Nancy over last weekend and enjoyed a fire after a great dinner. It was so nice!

With a light reed fence, the corner still feels airy but more private. Still more to do to make it "lovely," but at least it is tidy now instead of being the corner I'm embarrassed about.

We fixed the sun-dried tomato burgers that were in last year's cookbook as well as a Mojito Salad from the New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook (2007). It was fantastic! The recipe says that the rum is optional, but but I would really recommend you use it. Also, the recipe makes a very big bowlful and does not keep well ~ the fruit gets mushy after it sits in the fridge overnight. It should be served within an hour or two of mixing together.

MOJITO SALAD

For the salad:

1/2 cup red onion, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
Juice of 1 lime
1 medium jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 seedless hothouse cucumber, sliced 1/4-inch-thick crosswise
1/2 seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
1/3 cup packed fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced

For the dressing:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 1/2 limes)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tsp light rum

1. To make the salad: marinate the onion in the juice of 1 lime for at least 2 hours or overnight. Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl.

2. To make the dressing: whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad*. Toss. Serve or transport to a picnic.

Yield: 12 servings.

* I used about half the dressing on the salad and saved the rest to be served on the side. It was delicious on the left-over watermelon a couple of days later.

Before I can leave for vacation

I have to take pictures of the garden. I will be missing it.



These stately sunflowers marking the entrance into the yard... planted by birds. I bought and planted 5 packets of fancy sunflowers. One plant is coming up. The birds, however, grab some seeds to eat from the feeders, sit on the fenceposts and spill seeds. And theirs grow into small trees.



The keyhole bed, finally looking mature and lush. I love the delphiniums.



The lily bed, just getting ready to bloom. We'll miss the height of the display this year.



The front border, lush with lilies and salvia.



I love the combination here: coreopsis moonbeam, purple sedum, iris, yellow lilies, and salvia.

The economics of beauty

We've finished dividing the front bed and potted up lots of Stella d'Oro daylilies to sell, as well as some of the gorgeous red Asiatic lilies. We also potted up three gallon pots with shoots from the Anabelle hydrangea that was encroaching too far toward one of the rose bushes. A few plants are to be given to friends, and the others we'll try to sell. By trying to sell, I mean simply that we put out a sign that says "Plants for Sale" whenever we're putzing in the yard... it's fairly haphazard and only intermittently effective.

That said, we have managed to sell a few Stellas and Asiatics, so since we had "free money" we went to Fairview Nursery to buy two fancy perennials that I've wanted for quite a while, Brunnera "Looking Glass" and a Siberian iris called "Butter and Sugar".

This is a weird quirk of mine: I'll happily lay out around $30 for each truck load of compost from Mississippi Topsoils, and every year we fork over funds for the tomatoes and peppers, as well as pretty annuals for pots. While I'll happily buy several of these little plants at $2.50 to $3.00 each, the thought of buying one gallon-sized hybrid perennial for $17 makes me shudder, sigh resignedly, and turn away empty-handed.

I've never seen the salvia so big and healthy before...
they are loving all the rain and the cooler days we're having this June.

Instead, over the years I have I purchased biennial campanula, false dragonhead, and other nuisance perennials in pint-containers at end-of-season sales for $2.50 each. Now I rip them from the beds and throw them away as weeds, unwilling to even pot them up to try to sell them for a buck or 50 cents, grumbling as I go that these fairly pretty but generally horrible plants should come with warning labels.

Ten (!!?!) years ago when we began planting the garden beds, we had lots of vision, a seemingly endless supply of lawn waiting to be converted into garden beds, and very little money. Accordingly, we started many of our perennials from seed. Coreopsis, salvia, rudbeckia, blue flax, gallardia... all of these came from seed, and so for the first few years our garden beds looked like neatly tilled soil with pin-pricks of tiny plants.

Around the same time, a neighbor hired a professional landscaper and had beautifully symmetrical beds laid out with lovely, flowering plants from gallon-pots. The beds looked mature from the moment the mulch was put down. We were so envious! However, we knew that we had invested in the soil, and so our tender little seedlings would grow well. They did. It only took a couple of years for the beds to fill in and the flowers to come in profusion. Our beds looked established as well.

And then the deadheading began in earnest both to keep the beds looking neat and pretty and to control the rampant explosion of "volunteers."

I can't remember consciously planting chives in the garden,
yet we have oodles. I deadhead scrupulously to keep
the numbers within reason ~ chives are so hard to weed out.
That said, they're pretty this time of year. That's
blue flax right above the date ~ almost ready to bloom.

We also started our garden with many, many pass-along plants. My mom sent us dozens of fancy bearded iris, of which unfortunately a good portion just weren't cut out for our specific growing conditions. We don't have enough room to devote a whole bed just to iris, so to survive in our garden the plants have to be strong enough to compete for space and sunshine with other perennials. Not all can. Oddly enough, it's the yellow and pink varieties that died out. We have lots of blues and purples left.

"Winner's Circle" is one of the iris from my mom that bloomed for us this year after
an absence of several seasons. It's a very pretty flower and looks great
with the lighter blues and purples of the other perennials blooming right now.

We lost several iris one year when we were plagued with a winter that oscillated between freezing and thawing. Those that did survive the winter were then killed by an unusually wet and cold spring. The rhizomes turned to mush. In frustration, I decided that I needed to augment the beds with something that could stand up better to a wet spring. Daylilies to the rescue. They are bloody hard to kill. And, they are stunning. So for a few years we invested in one then another lovely specimen, showering each with compost and the unlovely, wafting odor of milorganite fertilizer. (It smells like poo... because it is.)

So now, we have huge clumps of daylilies, with a few iris varieties valiantly demanding their place in the sunshine.

But back to the passalongs... We rescued dozens of peonies, roses and other perennials from some friends' garden when they had to move. All of the hybrid tea roses succumbed eventually to the Minnesota winter, but most of the hosta, astilbe and other perennials are still growing happily, as are the peonies. It was these same friends who gave us our first Asiatic lilies... huge, stunning white lilies, others with a gorgeous deep red color, and sprightly little yellow and white stargazers.

Oh, and the orange, species tiger lilies.

I now pull out tiger lilies like weeds. I do try to strip them of their seeds every summer. However, I believe that like the hydra, for every fifty seeds I strip somehow a hundred reach the ground. And every one of them sprouts. They are relentless in their plundering of unlilied garden bed, popping up in the middle of mature plants with astounding tenacity. They're like the tufts of grass you find growing on rocky cliffs in California and Nevada. All each seed needs is a tablespoon full of soil to call its own and it throws down roots, logic be damned.

None of the tiger lilies in this corner were planted here... they just
showed up (as did the milkweed). I actually weeded out several last year,
from this same corner. Yet the few that I left have come back, and after all the
rain we've had this year they are growing like gangbusters..

It's a good thing that the tiger lilies are lovely. Actually, they're more than lovely. They are tall and stately, impressive backdrops to the lush profusion of echinacea, liatris, scabiosa and coreopsis at their feet. And their bloom time is complementary to the daylilies and Asiatics, keeping the color going all summer long...

What am I saying... unlike the biennial campanula, I couldn't eradicate the tiger lilies from my garden if I tried. I am forced to love them. Call it a special form of denial.

Favorite place, favorite team

On Tuesday, we kicked off Gabi's summer vacation with a spontaneous day trip to the Cities. We started with lunch with a friend in Maple Grove, then headed to Chanhassen to spend a couple of hours at the arboretum ~ one of my very favorite places to visit.

We were a little early for the height of the peony bloom, but had perfect timing for the iris.



One of the very fun things about the iris garden at the arboretum is that there are lots of older varieties ~ Dusky Challenger, Beverly Sills, Stepping Out ~ that my mom grows in her garden. These are varieties that I haven't seen in years, and seeing them at the arboretum is like visiting with old friends. I get downright wistful.

It was also fun to see the lady slippers in bloom. The arboretum has a few different varieties (the fancy ladyslippers weren't blooming yet). These are such unique and fascinating flowers. They were blooming both in the wildflower garden and along the bog walk ~ which we enjoyed on Tuesday but I wouldn't recommend it once the mosquitoes are out in full force.



After spending a few hours wandering around the gardens, we drove to Minneapolis to catch a Minnesota Lynx game. Now, I am admittedly one of the least jock-ish people I know. Please don't ask me to name any professional football, hockey, basketball or baseball teams or players. Or anything like standings, rivalries, scores, scandals, etc. It's not just that I don't know these "vital statistics." What is truly dazzling is my utter indifference.

However, I love going to Lynx games. I love the crowd, I like supporting the athletes, and there's something vibrant and thrilling about the WNBA. Also, the women don't play it like a power sport for the star poser. There aren't many slam dunks in the WNBA. Instead, there's finesse and teamwork, and that is so much more interesting. So, my birthday present from Gabi was Lynx tickets. What fun. I am slowly learning a few of the rules as well ~ although my complete bafflement at what does or does not constitute a foul would likely drive a true basketball fan to tears. Unfortunately, the ladies lost. However, it was a great game.

Oh ~ and in the off chance that it matters to any of you ~ they played Connecticut.

The pretty ladies are back again

Finally, the first of the fancy bearded iris are open.


"Charisma"

They're almost two weeks late this year. However, as though to make up for their tardy arrival they are preparing the best display we've had in a few years. We have buds on plants that haven't bloomed for years ~ long enough that I've lost track of their names. I'll be sending the pics to my mom so that she can identify them for me.



This one has the most intense, gorgeous perfume! And while it's hard to see from the pictures, the beard hooks up instead of laying flat against the fall. The coloration goes from deep blue to tan on the underside of the petals. And the stalk is sturdy and nearly three feet tall. Wow! I have no clue who she is, but she's stunning.

Update: Mom says she's called "Fragrant Lilac." Gorgeous!

Now, if the severe thunderstorms will just bypass St. Cloud for a few weeks, we should have a really lovely show.

The nursery in our garden

It's that time of year.

Newly fledged starlings have been hopping around the yard screeching at their parents for food. These little guys, who remind me of Einstein the way their juvenile feathers stick out in a crown over their heads, are noisy, ridiculous, stubborn and oddly endearing. On Sunday I had to get right down next to a particularly petulant little guy to shoo him off the lawn so that we could mow (Gabi was so sad not to have a camera for that one!).

This morning as I went out to water transplants I saw a baby bunny dash into the hostas in the corner bed. They're so cute when they're tiny! The momma looks lean and a little worse for wear (it was a hard winter for everyone), but the baby's adorable.


Somewhere in there lurks the cutest baby bunny.

Then, as I continued on, I found a young mourning dove crouched behind a planter in obvious distress. I caught him and saw immediately that his feathers were matted with pine-tips, the resinous, flaky brown bits that get pushed off the tips of the pine by new growth. So I sat down and took a few moments to clean him up. Then I noticed that he still wasn't looking good, so I inspected further. I found a whole sunflower seed ~ shell and all ~ lodged in the little guy's throat. So I brought him inside and used tweezers to get it out. From the smell of it, he'd been gagging on that seed for a while, poor little fool.


Fuzzy pic, I know, but he wouldn't exactly pose for me.

Now he's in a cat carrier on the back porch with fresh water and chipped sunflower nuts. Fortunately no cat found him, and there is no sign of external injury, so hopefully he'll survive. I just adore the doves that hang out in our yard. They and the chickadees are my favorites.

Update, 6/6/08: The little guy was looking alert when I left for
work yesterday but was dead when I got home. No sign of cat attack,
so I think there was just more wrong on Tuesday than I could see.

The huns invade ~ and are beaten back

Yesterday we spent gardening. We planted our containers for the south patio: tomatoes, peppers, and two mint pots. One is the mojito pot (spearmint and peppermint) and one is the tea pot (chocolate, ginger and lemon mints). Actually, I'm thinking that the ginger mint might make a very tasty mojito as well. We also began the process of dividing the sidewalk bed. The iris and stella d'oro daylilies in that bed are hugely overgrown, and I want to make room for more different perennial varieties. We did the small section yesterday, and it took three hours and two Advil. I had forgotten just how much muscle it takes to break apart a big daylily. It could be an Olympic sport.

The first third of the sidewalk bed ~ daylilies freshly divided and ill-mannered varieties pulled out roots and all.

We also ripped out every last bit of a couple of other varieties that I foolishly brought into the garden. There are some plants that should come with warning labels. Biennial campanulas and false dragonhead. Horrible things. The campanulas, at least, are lovely when they bloom. But each plant makes ten kazillion teeny tiny seeds that spread everywhere. First-year growth forms a dense mat that overwhelms all but the sturdiest plants (think asiatic lilies). Then after the second year's bloom it all dies off, leaving empty spaces as it mats up and takes over another neighbor. Truly a horrible border plant. The false dragonhead is almost as bad ~ it sends out runners and invades neighboring plants as well. But it doesn't clump, it just pops up here and there the way dandelions do (though dandelions are easier to remove and, frankly, prettier as well).

Biennial Campanula ~ a small clump, but getting ready to bloom. It would be lovely if it had a whole field to plunder, but it's not such a good plant for a small border.

I wish garden tags came with this kind of information. Along with sun/shade requirements, climate zone, water needs, couldn't they also say something about whether the plant plays well with others? Flower gardening is always a matter of crowd-control, at least to a certain extent. But some varieties really take it to the extreme.

Whirl-a-weekend

I had such a great weekend ~ far too entertaining to pause in the midst of it and blog. It is that time of year, however, when I want to spend all my time outside. Kayaking, playing in the dirt, going for walks, just sitting on the patio watching birds splash in the fountain... anything and everything. I didn't read a thing all weekend. Barely watched t.v. (excepting, of course, for Battlestar Galactica), didn't want to cook, absolutely no interest in the computer... ah what bliss.

Friday, for my birthday, seven of us went to a new restaurant in town... Mi Famiglia. The ambiance is so elegantly swanky. We did not go for dinner, no, we went for cocktails and desserts. We ordered seven different desserts and then shared them all. The best part: each dessert came with a candle in it, and we lit all the candles. Then my friends held them all up for me to blow out after singing Happy Birthday. Very, very fun. We stayed three hours. Laughed ourselves silly.

Saturday, we had the family birthday party. We loaded up the nephews and niece, along with Gabi's brother and mom, and all headed out to Lake Maria State Park. We took the kayaks, although it was too windy for the boys to venture far from shore. I took a tour of the lake and saw blue and green herons, deer, turtles and lots of pelicans. Also had a couple (only) swells come over the side of the kayak when I was on the far side of the lake where the wind/wave momentum had some time to build. Thank goodness for the skirt! I was still soaked. But it was very fun.


(green heron pic from 10000birds.com)

After picnicking and kayaking we loaded up and went to another part of the park where we hiked out to a more secluded little lake. It was mating time for the toads, and their chorus was incredibly loud. The kids spent about 45 minutes investigating and catching toads before we walked back. I think we all were exhausted by the time we got home.

Sunday was cold and rainy, and we spent the day cleaning house and grading tests and homework. Gabi needed to get a huge pile of work done so that she could post grades today ~ and so certain kids would have the time, should they also have the inclination, to rescue their grades before the end of the year.

We had an amazing hail storm on Sunday. Fortunately, there aren't too many flowers out right now (the garden is about 10 days behind schedule). The only hail damage we found is some torn daylily leaves. Most of the hail was nickel or dime sized, although there were a few that were much bigger. After the hail came an impressive rainstorm. Dumped about 1/2 an inch of rain in a matter of minutes. Thank goodness, however, that we were spared the tornadoes. I've watched news footage of Hugo, MN and, as always, am dumbfounded by the devastation they bring.






Fortunately the iris buds are still tight ~ no damage from the hail.

Can Flickr get me through the morning?

I just keep telling myself... Spring will come again. Spring will come again.

If these pictures are proof, just two short months from now and I will have my garden again.

And then, there won't be ANY time for this Web 2.0 foolishness. I'm so glad it's happening during the winter. I would never waste this much time indoors when I could be having fun outside.