Work has begun on my backyard project!
Stonemasons Andres and Juan have been steadily at it for three days and I am excited about the progress. One of the first things they did was to clear the robust weeds from a narrow side yard and level the ground, lay down weed cloth and base rock. Tomorrow gravel will go on top of that, and I will have a utility yard. Over the course of 25 years various of us Glads have tried to grow tomatoes, melons, beans and I don’t remember what else in that space, with absolutely no fruit. It was meant for meaner service.
We will soon be able stash “s
tuff” there, like firewood, the garden cart, steppingstones and buckets, to get them out of the way while working on the rest of the project, including the larger utility yard on the other side of the house.
Landscape Lady brought me more plants, two of this native mock orange (above) called Marjorie Schmidt. They will get to about five feet tall and wide, unlike standard types that grow to eight feet. They will live at either end of my patio and smell good.
After the old brick and paver path was removed, L.L. spray-painted lines showing where we want the new brick path to go.
At the end of the second day, we had this:
…and today you can see (below) the place carved out where a small patio will soon be, large enough for a bench, behind which the flowering currant bushes will be planted, and a birdhouse installed. In this picture a level is standing up back in the corner. It’s impressive how much leveling and grading and carving out needs to be done to create this space. When Mr. Glad and I made our brick walkway here thirteen years ago we didn’t do any of that, and our path didn’t keep its shape too well.
My patio is getting crowded with all the plants I have dug up to save for replanting her
e or in the front yard. I bought a pot and a rolling stand for the Christmas Cactus that surprised me by blooming last spring, so that I could keep it indoors on frosty nights. I probably should move it to the garage so it can stay relatively cold, because I read that these plants need temps of 55-65° to produce a good bloom. I will try to roll it out into the sun during the daytime.
In the house, Mr. Glad and I had planned for a couple of years to put a new picture on the wall of our guest bedroom that has a Southwest theme. Pippin said we could use her photograph taken at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. It wasn’t until Kate was visiting me recently that she made this happen by helping me to order an enlargement online. I was purely lucky that the new blanket I’d bought didn’t clash with the colors of the agave, and now the room is all brightened up.
Many months ago I wrote the draft of this post, when I was making pudding frequently for my husband. In the last week of his life he ate little else. Cancer and chemo had made meals a challenge, and toward the end, this was the best solution to the various food-related problems.
myself surely do not need super rich nutrition, and after my husband died I couldn’t imagine what might move me to cook it again.
sh sieve over a medium bowl; set aside. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually whisk in milk, taking care to dissolve cornstarch. Whisk in egg yolks.
Last time I saw Pippin’s gar
den was in May, when planting had barely begun; it is full of lovely things now, with ever more dahlias (inside the deer fence) – and the zinnias that the deer don’t usually eat. They’ve refrained so far this year. It gets so cold in the forest there, she has to dig up the tubers before winter and replant them, along with some new acquisitions, in the spring.
I just came in from working in the yard where if one is digging, toting and harvesting under the sun, it is hot. My last sweaty session of gardening was in the mid-afternoon, this week when the temperature has been in the 90’s; that workout made me resolve to take the first morning available and head outdoors early to get my seedlings into the ground.
d up doing something else, only occasionally preparatory. This morning I spent a while trying to take pictures of the bees drinking from the mums. Last week I accidentally included a bee on a sunflower.
e fruits, and brought them in when I was too hot to work any longer. That’s never happened to me before noon before! I set them on the counter and then pushed them aside to make a smoothie with frozen blueberries to help me cool down.
Gladsome Lights 