waning on winter

It may only just be the end of January tomorrow, but I feel like this winter has gone on long enough. Here in New York we've had snow pretty much every other day since November. If it's not been falling thick and hard, it's been blanketed and frozen from the last storm. I've never known snow like this. I've never known cold like this - it hasn't been above freezing during the day for weeks. We gave up clearing the pathway sometime late December and just gave into the soft crunch under foot every morning. The birds are all so active this time of year. So I'm trying hard to keep my feeders full and my suet supply stocked. The thing is I love winter.

When Fall starts dwindling I get so excited at the prospect of the first snow, the sparkling ground and snow laden pines fill me with so much joy. Our property here is just under an acre consisting of a large lawned piece at the front and a wood of Maples at the rear. From the end of Spring when the last of the dogwood and cherry blossoms have fallen - it's pretty much green central station. Green trees, green grass, green bushes.. it's hard to grow flowers well at the front because of our resident deer families. So I welcome that roll into the colorful Autumn oranges, and then the white out that follows. But after three straight months of white, I find myself once again craving the green. Everything looks so dead at this point, with no twinkling white Christmas lights to give it that joyful glow.

 I planted my seeds the night before last. Broccoli, Kale, Watermelon, Zinnia, Sunflower, Moon Flower, Morning Glories... That gave me a bit of a boost, the thought of what's to come in a few months when the snow has gone, and the world wakes up again. but the children look so cute in their mittens and hats, thick winter coats and snow boots, I think I need to take a walk in the mountains to grasp the beauty of what's still here, because even though my love for winter is hiding, the sparkle is still twinkling.

gone fishin

So my pond now has not just fish but tadpoles too! Very exciting. I put an Iris and a Cardinal Flower as marginals, and some creeping Jenny, and pond weeds in also. So far I've seen a couple of birds bathing around the edges, but no turtles yet.  Fun times

Phil?

Excitement broke out around 5pm in this household yesterday - over the site of our first groundhog of the year! Now yes I know this brings lets say complications to my gardening situation! But with them comes pure joy at seeing an animal I didn't have growing up in Scotland, and my children have not seen living in NYC their whole lives.  So hello Groundhog! And yes I took our male puppy Bear out to pee near my peonies last night and again this morning - just to try save them from Phils munching!

He's probably the most photographed groundhog in the whole of New York - but I think he's quite sweet! And here is a montage of my Spring pics taken yesterday.

nothing goes to plan

What's new.  Nothing ever, not even if I wish my hardest and pray to the heavens. Nothing ever goes exactly to plan.  So the tree guys came, cut down the big Maple, the smaller maple and something else I don't know what it is.. they took down the big half tree over hanging my bedroom, and they cut some branches off the tree next to the guest room. But they didn't cut the branch I asked them to ie the one that hangs over the guest room, ahhh! Also my months of work is trashed pretty much. The paths are all gone, the mapped out with stones areas for my raised beds and everything else has gone, replaced with more leaves and little twigs and just stones scattered.  It's somewhat heartbreaking to have to begin again, I was so happy with the paths the way I had them, and of course I'll not be able to do them that way again, I know that.  And now tomorrow I have to deal with the tree guy coming to show me he did cut down the branch we talked about, and I have to say no look the one that hangs over the house is what I said, and he'll try get more money probably.  Sigh.  I do however now have a patch of sky - no more thatch of bare branches.. found this picture that looks pretty similar to what mine will be like when the leaves come in:

I'll have to wait and see if when the sun rises through the leaves there's enough light to garden, but it looks promising. And of course no more threat of being crushed in the night by a falling branch - so that's positive.  We have enough wood for next winter - another positive.  If I can get through tonight's worrying about the "talk" I may be feeling a lot brighter this time tomorrow.

8 yrs of love

So today is my 8th wedding anniversary with my wonderful, adoring, patient husband.  It has been a roller-coaster but I'm glad I stayed on for the ride! It's a gorgeous Spring like day today and as it's to stay in the 60s for the next few weeks, according to good old accuweather, I intend to accomplish greatness! I'm hoping by April 1st, that I will have a patio, a pond, several flower beds ready for planting, vegetable beds ready to go, a couple of Adirondack rockers on the deck, maybe a bistro set too.. the grass will be reseeded and all summer bulbs will be planted.  The trees that need to be down will be, the picket fence will be up around the veg garden, and my paths will have gravel.  As for inside the house, well that's on a slight hold, but I'd like the wall next to the cooker to be down and the floors to be tiled.. but realize the above list may be enough for now! So as for today I'm stuck in a laundry nightmare with a cleaning hell as icing.. going to be a long day! My thoughts, as always on this day are pining to be at the Mohonk Mountain House, in New Paltz http://www.mohonk.com/

This is where my husband took me as a surprise on our wedding night, and where we have spent many an anniversary since.  The house is beautiful but the grounds are spectacular, and walking the trails and up the mountain is what it's all about.  I love you beau.

down the path

Today it's to be pushing 70f! Can't believe it, Spring is really finally coming our way.  I say this and know it is early March and therefore we may still be dumped upon by the snow factor - but as the weather forecast next week is 60s all week - I'm really hoping Spring has sprung! So do all the plants on my aching windowsills - all fighting for their light and warmth.  I'm going to wheelbarrow as much of the organic debris from my garden beds and paths to the dip at the bottom of the garden today, hoping it will decompose and fill it eventually. Need to keep making my new paths, as the Pachysandra has really taken over! I bought a few roses yesterday - I'm hoping to plant them out in the next few weeks.  The Periwinkle is looking beautiful, Crocuses, Tulips and Daffodils are all sprouting up too. Still no sign of woodchuck or chipmunk but getting new birds in the garden so a change is a coming!

Now I get it

I've been a DIYer for a long time. As is my Mother.  However there are some projects, knocking down walls, tiling floors, installing worktops - that I'd rather leave the professionals.  I just had a contractor in to give me estimates on the work i want doing around mainly the kitchen.. well my.mind.is.officially.blown. and not in a good way! I can see why people do these crazy big jobs themselves.  The costs are just crazy when you think about what's actually being done.  Looks like I need to scale back on what were already quite modest plans!

Cottontails and Ducklings

When I was small my Mother, Aunt and Grandmother read to me the wonderful tail of Peter Rabbit and all the great Beatrix Potter stories.  And now I read them to my children.  What enchanted me as much as the little clothing clad animals were the gorgeous gardens which are based on Potter's own garden in Cumbria, the English county bordering my Scottish homeland. My own Mothers garden had within a large vegetable garden featuring an abundance of produce including rows of potatoes, clumps of rhubarb, and high staked sweet peas. The hen house in one corner, the potting shed near the gate, and further in the glass greenhouse, full of tomatoes and grapevines, and a resident toad - Warty Bliggins, we called him.  The far end was the duck pond and to the left the barn. The stables were off to the side of the house, but the horses were in the field behind the veg garden.  It was a lovely place to be.  My garden planning here has started with the central spot I call my vegetable garden.  Like my Mothers, it won't be only veg in there.  I plan to have a lovely bench with an arbor, rambling roses overhead, lavender and rows of sweet peas, a butterfly bush and a few old fashioned roses near the chicken house, which I'm hoping to be a barn style with a small enclosure.  My 5 hens will be in there, ever-changing breeds in my mind, but this week I'm going with 2 Araucanas and 2 Silkies and 1 Buff Orpington.  The Araucanas for their Easter Eggs, the Silkies because they look like Eagle fledglings, and give you the teeniest little eggs so sweet for the children to collect. The Buff Orpington because when I think hen that is what I picture, a big golden bird. Today is to be pushing 50f so I'm going out to clear some more debris and dig over some of the garden beds.  They are still predicting 4" of snow tomorrow, but it's to be 55f by the wkend and in the 50s all next week. Please let this be the start of wonderful Spring!

how does your garden grow....

I've been planning my dream garden since I was about 5 I think.. so I'm very excited to actually be planning it for real this time. I've drawn and redrawn my plans (so far for only the back) about three million times, but I think I'm about ready to get to work! I plan to use the existing stone, of which there is plenty, to edge out my paths and borders. Then hire a chipper to make chippings out of all the branches laying around to start the paths. Then it'll be onto setting up the beds, adding topsoil where needed, and a lot of clearing. I'm ordering my seeds today and plan to get some lighting hooked up to a big shelving unit I have so I can do this the right way from the get go. The guys are finishing up the fence today, so tomorrow starts the fun :) I have planned a woodland garden, an alpine garden, rose and cottage gardens, childrens garden, and a picket fenced raised veg garden. I would like to add a bit more lawn probably by means of turf strips. There will be a bench with an arbor of climbing roses at the end of a long path through the woodland garden. And a lily pond past the rock garden. I'm very excited to see this progress, and will be posting pictures as I go.

onward

So we have found another house, that passed inspection with mostly flying colors. It is a 5 bedroom, 2 living rooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 fireplace spread, and suits our needs just perfectly. There is a large almost acre garden, and it is set 600feet up a mountain so lots of fresh air for my asthmatic daughter. Also it is still the same great school as the termite-filled house, and there's a school bus, so all in all - great. We made an offer which was accepted, and now the waiting game has begun. The buyer of our house was on vacation for 2 weeks (with no one covering him?!) and so there was the first delay. It is now almost a week since he got back, but still no word. Although our buyers have paid deposit, and all contracts have been signed, they could still jump. This being my biggest fear, as then we are left with starting the whole selling process again from scratch. Argh! Meanwhile I have been planning the new house to keep myself busy. I have chosen paint colours and designed my garden front and back! Also the children and I have been packing up not needed stuff, and still it feels like the house is full. Really hoping to hear from our lawyer in the next few days with good news, so we can start working out dates for closing and moving. It is now too late in any case to move in time for the children starting school, as that's only 5 weeks away, so we will need to put them back in to their old school for a while, which is not the disruption I wanted for them, but cest la vie. We are off to Disney World for the first week of September, so I'm hoping that will be a welcome break for them and us. At least it will take our minds off all this uncertainty.

Making a start

I made a start on the bathroom today. I know potential buyers won't be inspecting the walls with a magnifying glass - but I am, in fact I should have taken out shares in the Spackle company! I've decided to do one room at a time. Doing bits around the house in various rooms, just wasn't cutting it. I hated that feeling of having done a load of work, but not being able to actually see a difference. I made a start out front over the weekend, weeded, bagged up all the trash people throw in my garden. I planted some annuals for that all important "curb appeal", tomorrow I'll put down mulch to fill in the gaps. I feel if people start noticing it as being a lovely front they'll be more interested in the house when the for sale sign goes out. Onward and upward.