Okay, it's hanging by more than a thread; picture hooks and picture wire are holding everything up.This week was jam-packed full of activities and precious few loose ends got tied off. But one memorable ending is now hanging in our bedroom.
Last winter, I was scheduled for a painting night at Faithful Strokes when a heavy snow canceled our class. So I waited and watched their calendar for the right class to come along. Call me fickle, but it wasn't until last Thursday that my schedule and their class schedule were in sync. I finally got to paint "Brown Eyed Girl" and "she" is now hung in our bedroom.
I also framed a trio of photos: one from each of our trips to South Carolina and one of the St. Aloysius church ruins at Morley, near where I grew up. (Note to my mom. Yes, that is the 1986 print you gave me how-many-years ago, finally framed and hung. Yes, I found it while moving. Amazing what one finds when one moves one's uhhh, "assets" from one abode to another.) Note the blank spot beneath the photos. Wouldn't a dresser fit perfectly in that spot? I'm determined to make that happen in the next 30 days.At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I moved more (yes, more) plants this week. I can now say this is truly "my" garden. In addition to the irises and Shasta daisies and peonies and gladioli that were here, this area now has clumps of my favorite daylilies and coneflowers, bellflowers I grew from seed, a tickseed Coreopsis that has survived years of neglect, my Verbena bonariensis, which is supposedly not hardy to this zone (ha!), a lone Dahlia survivor (harsh winters and a weed-warrior neighbor did the rest in over the past few years), the one-and-only lily I have ever bought (a red 'Garp'), some blue Echinops, a Kniphofia and my precious ornamental Alliums. They join some new plants I set out a month ago: Guaras, Amsonias, some ornamental grass, and the Dahlias and Acidanthera bulbs I planted a few days ago. It's the best of all worlds - old, new and inherited. Hopefully next spring will show a melding of colors and textures (and not a shouting match.)
I brought some 'Herrenhausen' oregano and my rosemary over to start a kitchen herb garden next to the house. (My car now smells of rosemary - mmmmmmmm.) And I brought other plants, too - variegated 'Illumination' vinca and native Pachysandra are going in the ground today.
One new loose end got tied off promptly this week: thank-you notes for the wonderful (and completely unexpected) gifts we received during our first housewarming party go out in today's mail. Friends have a way of knowing EXACTLY what to surprise us with, and I am humbled beyond words. Y'all rock.
The final loose end for the week: summer swim practice and meets are officially over for swimmer girl. For the past eight years, this occasion has been accompanied by a thundering rendition of the Hallelujah! chorus. (There are 23 stoplights between our house and the pool. Ask me how I know. Ask me how many times I stop at each of them while taking swimmer girl to practice 4 nights a week. Go on...ask, I dare ya.)
But the celebration is muted this year; there's only one more summer swim season left on our mother/daughter dance card, and she'll be driving herself next year. Sniff. Can someone please, please make time slow down for the next two years? Because I don't want to miss one. single. minute. She's our baby bird, and she's swiftly growing a beautiful pair of strong and capable wings that will send her sailing into her future.
This week should prove interesting: a long holiday weekend launches it (and we ARE taking some time off from projects), and another gathering of friends is slated to cap it off next Saturday. Wonder what I can tie off between now and then?
Happy tying,
