hello june ~ peonies, yard project, patio and good book

Even though it's technically still spring, I always think of June, July and August as the summer months. It sure feels like summer is here already. Last week it was 90F. And dry. We haven't had rain in weeks. Our grass is brown and brittle like it usually looks in August. My peonies bloomed a couple of weeks ago and the bush is so laden with blooms, that the top half is falling over despite having a peony cage.

I love when the peony and clematis are in bloom at the same time. Gives me a pretty view out my bedroom window instead of the neighbor's ugly brown fence.

I know peonies should be cut when they're budding, not when the blooms are full, but I cut both. I like to leave most of the blooms on the bush though, since they're so pretty. This year there were plenty for the bush and a couple of vases in the house.

We had a big, messy yard project that got done a couple of weeks ago. Our back yard had been flooding when it rained heavily. We have clay soil and over the years, it absorbed less and less water. We needed to have french drains installed in the back yard. 

Looking the other way towards the south side of the house. The underground pipes wrap around to the side of the house by the patio.

In hindsight, we should've moved our patio furniture to the back of the yard by the arborvitae! We had no idea it would be this messy. They had to dig out all the lilies and hostas alongside the patio.

The pipes came down the entire length of the house, along the front yard and ended up in the drainage ditch in front of our house. You can see in this photo how they had to dig down the middle of the lilies and pachysandra. We didn't have them replant any of those, as both spread quickly. It doesn't look pretty this year, but hopefully by next summer, that area will start filling in.

Seeding and blanketing was done where they dug out the grass.

We've been watering every day but with this intense heat, no rain and being late in the season, I don't think much grass is going to germinate.

Hostas that were dug up were replanted alongside the patio. (Though they dug out my Joe Pye Weed too, and must've thrown it away, grr.) Brian got the patio cleaned off and bought a new umbrella, which we desperately needed for the late afternoon sun.

So my yard might not look too pretty this year, but at least there's the patio. For now. Those of you who have been reading my blog over the years know that the neighbor's dreaded mulberry tree is going to wreak havoc on my patio probably within a week or two. We have a new neighbor in this house and he told us he was going to have the mulberry tree cut down, but so far, nothing. We even offered to help him pay for it, explaining how it's been our nemesis over the years and nothing would make us happier than getting rid of that tree!

In the meantime, nothing more relaxing than an evening on the patio with chips and salsa, an icy cocktail, and a good book. This one - The Covenant of Water - is 715 pages long. I'm only on page 100-something. Hope I can renew it because there's no way I'll be able to finish this before it's due! 

From Amazon:

"Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years."

💖💖💖

slow spring, books, and framed art

Spring is behind here in Illinois. Most of the month of April was unusually cold and rainy. It felt like an extended March. No drinking our tea on the porch in the mornings, no yard clean up yet, nothing planted except some pansies. This was my view across the street yesterday. Overcast (as usual) and the maple tree just starting to bud. Today is cold with wind-driven rain. One of those days where you just want to stay in bed and read or watch movies all day. I've actually never done that unless I was sick or recovering from surgery.

 Have you?

Taking a walk around my yard yesterday, I did find some beautiful things to photograph. Isn't this blooming leaf exquisite? This is my next door neighbor's maple tree, which borders our property. The leaves are a dark red, almost maroon when they're in full bloom. 

My peony bush coming to life.

Bleeding Heart finally in bloom.

Hostas growing more by the day.

Cheerful daffodils in my butterfly garden. They're late bloomers as they don't get much sun.

Does anyone know what these flowers are ~ are they a variety of tulips? I saw them by a library a couple of weeks ago and was smitten.

Libraries and books

We don't need anymore books, but there are a couple of Chicago suburb libraries that have fantastic sales and sometimes we can't resist. This was the stack I came home with a couple of weekends ago. I recently finished Anne Tyler's, "French Braid" and was disappointed. I'm hoping "Redhead by the Side of the Road" will be better.

Brian's picks.

Framed art

Our hallway bathroom is small and the main wall by the sink holds the towel bar. Otherwise, this wall is blank and boring. I'd been thinking about getting some kind of art work for this area for a long time, but never came across anything that I felt was just right. I bought this double matted frame at Michaels, hung it up and liked it. Funny thing is, the prints in the frame are the ones that came with the frame. I went through my stash of paper art I keep for art journaling plus some photos and nothing worked. So the store prints are staying for now.

I've had these white framed mats for six years. They used to hold Tim's college graduation photos. He's been replaced by cats. 😉

Zippo (who passed away in Nov 2018) and Monkey (who passed almost three months ago) now have a place of honor on the wall of my office/guest room. Photos taken by Tim.

Here's to warmer weather, morning porch sitting, and working in the yard. Have a beautiful week!

"The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May."
~ Edwin Way Teale

this and that on thursday

 It's always wonderful to have the snow melted from your yard (finally!) but it

does leave behind the ugly truth. As you can see from this photo, we not only live
close to the road and have a teeny patch of front yard, but the ground

is just gross. It's muddy and full of dead leaves and wood chips and rocks all flown

from the street and garden beds while shoveling. Unfortunately, I can't even start

raking this spring due to my shoulder injury.

When I was just outside taking the above photo (and I nearly froze - it's only 31 degrees!),

I noticed green shoots coming out of the ground on this prairie grass plant. Hooray!

Always exciting to see the first signs and promises of spring renewal.

Did some puttering in my office...this little bunny found a home amongst the plants.

The top of the dresser got touches of spring with yellow and green.

 A project that was on my to-do list got done: touching up all the white baseboards and

door moldings in the house. I'll let you in on a little secret. You don't know how dirty

your house really is until you're on your hands and knees looking at baseboards.

 Tim's room/the guest room is coming along...the hardwood floors that were installed and

had some damage were repaired. We're finishing some touch-up painting, I ordered a

Roman shade from blinds.com and purchased organic cotton bedding at Target. I have

an antique twin headboard in the basement ~ Brian will bring that upstairs and we can

set up the bed.

 I saw the orthopedic doctor again this week and he determined my range of

motion and strength were greatly diminished. I'm also in pain pretty much 24/7.

He thinks I now either have frozen shoulder or a tear. I had a MRI last night and

will meet back with the doctor next Tuesday to discuss results and next coarse of

action. Always a good time in the Middle Age Kingdom.

a walk around my yard

Welcome, sunshine. I have missed you so. 

Clouds and rain have their place, but not for days on end.

It felt so good to putter and work around my yard again today,

 so I thought I'd take you on a little tour.

 Walking up to my front porch, there's a table full of spider plants

basking in the sunshine.

 A vintage pot of purple and yellow pansies by the front door

greets you with its cheer.

 But, watch out for Mama Robin! She always has her eye on you

while you're lingering on the porch.

 This is the south side of the house. The paved walkway leads to the patio.

There's still work to be done here. I'd like to paint the bench that's by

the fence and we need to put the patio rug on the patio. We're waiting

until all this rain is done though. When the rug gets soaked, even though

it's an outdoor one, it stays wet for a long time. There's too much

shade on this side of the house with all the trees hanging overhead.

Walking around to the back yard, you will see I started lining the little garden

in the middle of the yard with large, round rocks. I dug those out of our

front ditch area this morning. There's a few more to dig out, but I think I'm

going to fall short. I will have to hunt for roadside rocks on my walks.

The dirt patch to the right is what used to be our fire pit. Brian needs to get

rid of the cinder blocks (they won't go in the garbage, of course...we'll either find

some kind of unique way to use them {little planters?} or put them by the roadside

with a "free" sign.) The barrel you see is our composting barrel. Which we love, BTW.

We don't have to buy any dirt or potting soil. This thing makes the most beautiful

dirt you've ever seen. My plants thrive in this stuff.

 Against the back of the house is an herb garden that is constantly threatened

to be overtaken by the mint and the lemon balm. That's lavender at the back left,

with rosemary and parsley in front.

We planted some lettuces against the back area of the house too,

but it doesn't look so great. Lettuces like cooler weather and I think we

planted these too late - near the end of April.

Walking around to the north side of my house, you will find what I fondly call

"the plant from hell", AKA a comfrey plant, and a pot of tomatoes. The comfrey

plant was just a tiny cutting from my mom's yard last year. She had warned me

that it grows huge and pretty much takes over everything else. Moms are

always right.

One of my favorite flowers is begonias. They remind me of little roses. This

abundant basket hangs by the side door that leads into the kitchen.

 And then we have this row of flowering bushes that desperately need

trimming right now. Brian does that job with a power hedge trimmer.

 Well, I hope you enjoyed my yard tour. Thank you for taking the time

to share this beautiful day with me. We are grilling pork tenderloin for dinner

and I made a homemade BBQ mole sauce to go on it. We'll also have asparagus

with a buttery balsamic vinegar glaze and macaroni salad.

Linking up to Savvy Southern Style Wow us Wednesdays