Neglect

Through pure neglect, we enjoyed a clematis tower this year. 

In the fall, especially after a scorching hot summer, I find garden chores to be especially 

loathsome. So instead of cutting the year's vines back, we just left them to flap in the winter storms. 

Yep—I busied myself with all things pumpkin and never gave it a second thought. 

Until April. 

And then ... it was too late. 

You see, jackmanii clematis grows from the ground and sprouts from leftover old vines.

So by the time I approached it with my shears this spring, it was already hard at work ...

... making itself GLORIOUS. 

What resulted was a huge tower of dark-purple blooms—probably ten feet of jaw-dropping, 

breathtaking, botanical wonder.

Sometimes neglect turns out to be the best gardening strategy after all.

Side Notes 

* Tips on how to grow a jackmanii clematis here.

* Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day around the table with my parents. They live nearby, so gathering with them is not such an unusual event. Yesterday though ... something was different. I sensed an air of mystery overhead as the old stories were shared "just one more time" and old jokes were told from yet another angle. Childhood memories of visits to our grandparents' farm were re-examined, as one tests the frail fabric of hand-me-down table linens. And for the thinnest moment, I caught a whiff of that old farmhouse kitchen. For one second, right at the edge of my sense of smell, it was there—then vanished. Has this ever happened to you? 

* A marauding horde of tiny chipmunks devours every single sunflower seed I plant.    Every. Single. One.
And so I will not have any sunflowers this year. I hope you're growing some in your garden for me to gawk at.

Natural Sparkle

When I was a kid, my grandmother let my brothers and I throw 

great, globby handfuls of icicles on her tree. 

We thought that's how you should put icicles on a Christmas tree. 

How patient she was to let us take part in such an imperfect way!

Later I learned other methods, including the meticulous strand-by-strand approach

 to decorating a tree with icicle tinsel.

And then, there's the frozen fog way to trim a branch with sparkling shine. 

This weekend, my whole backyard was decorated in frost crystals, 

every edge gleaming with natural glitz.

Such beautiful holiday decor, and it all melted away, leaving nothing to sweep up.

Sharing the View

I guess I'm a nosy sort.

OK, I am. 

But do you ever wonder what other people see every day outside their windows?

My window views are very, very familiar to me. Window gazing, especially in these months, can be a

 major distraction from the list of things I SHOULD be doing. (Those annoying SHOULDS!)

In the spirit of sharing, then, here is the window view from our tiny downstairs half-bath.

It looks out into the greenhouse, and when I say tiny, I'm talking about 16" x 30". The window, that is. The bathroom itself is 3' x 5'. It's a great reminder to keep my weight under control.

Pros:

* You have someplace convenient (the sink) to rest your head, if you need to, while 'using' the facilities.

* Clean-up time can be less than 5 minutes.

* It's easy to open the window, reach out there, grab a shovel, and scare away thieving raccoons.

(Husband is saying right now, "Easy for you, since you'd coaching from the bed while I do that!"   Sorry, MWH!)

* As stated before, major weight deterrent.

Cons:

* No laying in the floor, in case of stomach virus. (sorry - yuk!)

* Very difficult to paint.

* Not much room for privacy when wedging self into jeans that may be a teensy bit too tight. 

Which links back to a pro ...

* Odds are much, much greater that your phone will drop into the toilet in such a small space.

ANYway --- all that is a big long side note!

What I really wanted you to see is the stained glass hummingbird hanging out there! Found him at a sale this summer, and got him for a dime. A dime!His sunlit colors against frosted greenhouse glass are causing me to spend even more time window-gazing!

New Creation

(Taken at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden 4/14/11)

You should double-click this photo and get the full effect of Spring Tulips.

Go full size! It's amazing!

These beautiful colors, right out of the cold, dead-looking dirt!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;

behold all things have become new!"

2 Corinthians 5:17

Happy Resurrection Day!

Bread (Machine)

My bread machine still works.

Let me tell you that among those who move in (typical) homeschool circles, this is not an appliance to be bragging about. One should own a grain mill or a kneading board...maybe even a bread rising basket. But SHOULD is a big word, isn't it? Much too big.

And so, I want to tell you that my bread machine still works.

It was a Christmas gift several years ago - I'll bet it's been at least ten years! It's been banished a few times, when I was under the nearly irrisistable pressure of SHOULD. When I (briefly) considered buying the above breadmaking items and trying to bully (fake) my way into the society of those bread making, homeschooling, organic buying, entrepenurial mothers that I do admire.

Then the SHOULD would pass, taking a month or many more, and out it would come again - the Triumphant Breadmaking Machine!

Recently, My Middle Son came home from high school with an assignment to make homemade crescent rolls as were found in a novel they were reading in English class. I thought this was a little on the elementary side, but hey, anything for an extra 50 point bonus. Boys need all the extra credit they can get, right?

I'm so right about this, take my word for it.

So I introduced Boy Wonder to the Bread Machine.

And what a nicely raised dome of bread dough!

A wonder - no banneton required!