Spring (or planting!) fever

Every year for four years, a group of men and women from Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee mark their calendars for one Saturday in April, and agree to meet up at Rita Randolph's greenhouses in Jackson, Tennessee.  We do our best to clean out her inventory (don't worry - she's got plenty more where that came from...we think!), and we giggle and gossip and snatch plants left and right.  After we all tally up our bills (we usually don't compare notes on spending.  What happens at Rita's stays at Rita's), we head over to Casey Jones restaurant to continue the fellowship over a leisurely lunch before reluctantly parting ways.

You may be wondering, WHY?  We all have nurseries and garden centers much closer to our homes - we probably all drove past one or more on our way.  So why drive for hours to this one nursery?  Is it that special?  It's true that Rita has some of the most fabulous container ideas around.  But more than that, it's an excuse to visit and catch up with each other.  Some of the travelers make plans to stay overnight and visit several more nurseries before heading home.  (I've been known to haul unsuspecting passengers through extremely rural parts of Dickson on our way back from Jackson, in search of Marianna's tomato plants.)

You may also be wondering how we know each other.  High school or college? Nope.  Work? Nope.  Sports? Still nope. Church? And no again..  Give up?

What brought us together was a website called Dave's Garden.  Over the years, we've shared gardening tips and tricks, recipes, ideas, and recommendations.  We've also shared stories about our lives, weathered many storms, from Katrina to last year's Tennessee floods, and more tornadoes than we can count.  Always, there's someone in this group making sure everyone in an affected area is okay.  What started out as online acquaintances has deepened into abiding real-life friendships.  I rarely mention my day job here because I try to keep work and blog separate, but I've been privileged to be able to work for this website for several years, as well as be part of this vast but tight-knit community.  What a treat it is to work with and for such a great group.  And get to see some of them at least once a year, and ooh and ahh over gorgeous plants all ready to be tucked into containers to  welcome visitors to our homes and greet us on our decks and back porches.

This year's trip is tomorrow.  And it has an added benefit:  it gives me an opportunity to get away for a day before we start moving next week.  I have already vowed to not buy as many plants as usual, since we're going to be betwixt and between over the week. But those plants have a siren's call that is difficult to ignore.  So I will probably come home with plants a-plenty, as always.  The containers are ready and waiting at the new house.  An advanced thank-you to Rita for her graciousness in letting us use her site for our annual soiree.

Happy planting!

My favorite afternoon of the year

I confess: I absolutely, positively adore Daylight Saving Time. I wish we stayed on it year-round and just made it the new norm. But since we don't, each year I get to welcome my old friend when DST comes back. It's kind of like the first M&M out of the bag - for some reason, it's just a little more enjoyable than all the others - although the rest of them are plenty delightful too.

"

Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte"

It's true that I do not necessarily care so much for the first couple of mornings of DST, but I will take the trade-off of having the extra hour of light that extends the afternoon into early evening. It makes the day seem longer.  Yes, I know the day isn't any longer, and yes, I know we don't even really get an "extra hour" of daylight. but it sure is an extra hour of daylight that I'm awake and able to fully enjoy, and somehow the days seem longer when you stay outside later.

Happy spring-ing forward!

Move over, Donna Reed

Last night, I made a casserole with crushed-up Ritz crackers on top.  How retro is that?  It was poppy-seed chicken, which is not my favorite, but my family seems to like it (and it always gets raves when I take it to new parents and shut-ins...guess it's creamy and bland enough to qualify as "comfort food.")  Disclaimer:  I only use a few tablespoons of butter, and I toss in some shredded cheddar for good measure.  What's a casserole without cheese?

Tonight's entree was stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes.  The stuffing for the peppers is a cross between my mom's stuffed pepper recipe and a friend's baked bean recipe - no rice involved but definitely another throw-back to old-school cooking.

Today was cool and drizzly, so I'm planning a roast for tomorrow (in my apple green Lodge pan, of course)...now just watch: the temps will swing back into the 80s and I'll be sweltering all day.

Our congregation's all-Summer Bible Vacation  (we're knocking the old VBS model for a real loop) is approaching kickoff. I'm not sure how the months flew by, but we're down to just under 3 weeks before the sneak preview day on June 5.  Yes, the sound you hear is me hyperventilating.  One more major workday to paint and finish the props, then we move in over Memorial Day weekend, converting six classrooms into a bookstore, a museum, a movie theater, a radio station, an art studio and a game show set.

As with all such projects, there's lots to do, and never enough time to do it at a leisurely pace.  But we have such a fantastic group of volunteers at Highland Heights, I'm confident it will all get done somehow.  Every time I've asked for help, someone has been there to step up and do what needs to be done, and I'm thankful for that spirit of generosity, giving of themselves, their time and talents.

I've also found that proffering homemade cookies greases a lot of skids, too.  Hey, I'm not above a little bribery.   Besides, what else am I going to do with those two Ultimate Brownie Pans I got for Christmas?

I'm a transformation junkie

That explains a lot about me.  I get a big thrill out of a reorganized sock drawer or a totally clean refrigerator.  I probably waste a lot of energy opening that fridge when I have cleaned it out, just to admire the neatly arranged contents.

Today it was the deck's turn.  I took the shop vac to the outside rug, which got rid of most of the ground-in winter detritus (still have some pesky moss problems that an oxygen-based cleaner should remove when I get the 9x13, 50-pound thing hauled out to the driveway for more indepth cleaning.)

I ditched the 3-year-old seat cushions in favor of new ones...it seems wasteful but the old ones had the double-fate of being mildewed and dry-rotted so it was time for new ones.

Three planters got the top foot of soil removed and replaced with fresh container mix and plants.  The 3-foot long troughs on the side of the deck got new coir liners (I discovered you have to make them yourself - no one in the 'boro carries this size...argh) and new plants were introduced as soon as the liners and soil were in place.

The grill got new innards:  new burner and flame diffuser, plus a new cover (the old one was suffering from dry rot, too.  The grates are sheathed in a foamy cloud of de-greaser for now.

That leaves just two final tasks to complete the deck:  replace four containers that have failed due to winter damage; I guess they will only hold up for so long if I don't make room for them in the garage.  I'm not sure what I want to replace them with, so the search is on.  And power-washing and sealing the deck.  That may have to wait a few more weeks.  But I can stroll out on my deck tomorrow morning with that first steaming mug of coffee, and enjoy the freshly planted flowers and sit in a chair whose cushion doesn't crunch when I touch it.  Hooray for transformations!  Pics coming soon!

His fingerprints are everywhere...

Chalk it up to overdosing on VBS stuff over the past ten days, but I woke up this morning with a line from the "Hip-Hip-Hooray Hippopotamus" song running through my head, like a record with a deep scratch. Over and over and over. I could even see little hands moving and creating handprints all over the walls of my mind.

It's annoying to have a children's song scratching across your psyche like nails on a chalkboard, but if it had to happen, at least it was a true line: His fingerprints ARE everywhere.

I watched two storms roll through the midstate today. Both times, sunny skies darkened, the wind blew, the rain lashed against my windows, and then it receded just as quickly as it came, leaving everything clean and sparkly and sunny once again. We are no match for nature's fury, but we can take comfort that we are nestled in the shelter of our creator's arms.

It made me think of a recent lesson on the providence of God. Although I am a bit of word geek, that lesson struck me because I had never really thought about the root and obvious meaning of the word providence: to provide. He provides us with a habitable planet to sojourn on, air to breath, light to grow plants which feed us and the animals, which in turn feed us. Our bodies and brains are beyond comprehension in their complexity and perfectly elegant functionality to do everything we require. He sends rain on the just and the unjust, and he makes the sun to shine on us all, too.

The children's education program this summer is going to be an amazing (and wild) adventure. Thirteen weeks, six classroom rotations, and four lessons for grades K-5. All pointing out how we can know God's plans and promises for us, which He made at the beginning and He will keep to the very end.

Indeed, His fingerprints are everywhere, just to show how much He cares. That's a lot to hip-hip-hooray about, isn't it?

Room for rent

Darling toad abode, perfect for a single renter or couple. Cool, shady, damp and adjacent to a pond, via protected crosswalk. Available for immediate occupancy. Must be willing to eat your weight in mosquitoes and other flying and hopping critters every day. Serious inquiries only, please.

We spent the weekend in the backyard, finishing out last year's pond project, when we tore out the large, free-form pond and replaced it with a smaller pre-formed pond. The extraneous area was filled in with dirt and we got some basic landscaping done before fall and winter set in. This allowed us to widen the path around the pond and add a paved area behind the pond, where we'll move a concrete bench for sitting (that's next weekend's to-do.) My sweet husband finished the gravel and rock paths this time - he did a great job!

Flashback - here's the pond back in 2001, after we installed paths and plants (before that it was a pond in a sea of mulch.)

The pond evolved over time - we added a bog filter/garden to the backside and then streamlined the filter to operate more efficiently. But the silver maple, which does give a lot of shade to the area, has a nasty habit of aggressively rooting and the roots buckled the pond liner twice. The final straw was when a large branch fell into the pond a couple winters ago, and punctured the liner - again. There are only so many times you want to empty a pond, tear out the liner and replace it, or even patch it.

Here's the landscape you see as you come through the arbor. It's going to take it a while to fill in, but I think it will be pretty when it does.

Now to get some big, bold-leaved cannas or bananas going in those containers, a few ferns to fill in, and an experiment with some turquoise-y spray paint to see if I can achieve a verdigris finish on a couple black plastic chairs. Oh, and a new wrought-iron hose holder. It's back to a serviceable, hose holder for me...no more hose carts (self-winding or otherwise). Too many broken handles, wimpy cranking mechanisms, and abuse from mother nature each winter.

Then it's on to power-washing and staining/sealing the deck, getting the deck containers planted, getting the veggie garden in...I think the to-do list grows longer and longer every day!

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!

Even the weeds look good this time of year

Everything is so green and spring-y (yes, I could use my big-girl words like "verdant" but somehow "spring-y" fits.)

With youngest child off at a weekend youth retreat, we spent a gorgeous Saturday tending to our property. While Tony ran his new pull-behind sprayer (wayyyy better than a pump sprayer), I hand-weeded the daylily/daffodil bed - all 70-some feet of it. Then pruned the crepe myrtle - with a little help. Once the day's toils were wrapping up, I stopped to look down the street and I was reminded of why we chose this house (aside from its location.) Here's what we see from our front porch, and why we put up with neighbors who apparently self-medicate, and others who probably should be on meds ;o) It really is a pretty neighborhood and it typifies traditional southern neighborhoods, with graceful, mature trees and carefully tended homes and yards.

Once we got the front yard looking good, we turned our attention to the backyard today, where the rose bushes got pruned and weeded, the golf bench was properly situated between some azaleas, and the golf man and sundial were positioned just-so.

Another contorted filbert (they say third time's the charm) was promptly planted after being carried home last night. I do hope this one survives...they're kind of pricey to keep buying, planting and killing.

This week, I'll replace (also for the third time) an Alberta spruce that flanks the sidewalk out back. Hopefully I can find one approximately the same size as the surviving "mate." Then it's on to power-washing the deck, sidewalk and anything else that doesn't move out of my way, and getting mulch in place.

A day for bunnies, baskets and babka

Recently, I stumbled over a scrumptious-looking photo of some sweet bread. Upon further investigation, I found it was called "babka," - a polish sweet cake made with yeast. Traditionally filled with cinnamon or chocolate and a favorite Easter treat. Talk about serendipity.

The babka in the photo was filled with a chocolate and hazelnut filling. Yum. I quickly found numerous recipes for babka, and settled on this one from Cooking Light.

I baked it last night, using chocolate-hazelnut spread (World Market's version of nutella) in lieu of the dark chocolate filling in the recipe. It was delicious with coffee this morning. I'm still wondering how I missed the babka episode of Seinfeld, but it's clear that babka should become part of my sweet roll repertoire.

In other news, the Easter bunny still delivers to our house. Three baskets, each filled with identical chocolate bunnies, peanut butter eggs and malted milk "robin eggs" were lined up on the table this morning. Pretty much exactly like when the kids were little. Although now, the chocolate isn't devoured or hoarded immediately - they're actually pretty laid-back about checking their baskets on Easter morning. I guess one of these days, we'll be done with this aspect of Easter, but for now the bunny still hops here.

After morning worship services, four of us (middle child had to work - bummer) snapped a few photos before we changed into casual clothes.

Then we headed to Lebanon to enjoy a delicious Easter dinner courtesy of my sister-in-law, with the Lea family and some friends. Wonderful food, even better fellowship was had on this gorgeous spring day.

Straight from winter to summer - no foolin!

Wow. It got up to mid-80s today and the forecast is for 86 tomorrow. No April Fool's Joke - this is a good 20 degrees above normal for us. Unfortunately, halcyon years like this stick in my husband's memory, and each spring he grumbles about getting the tomatoes out in the garden by the end of March. He conveniently forgets that just as frequently, our daily highs are in the 40s and 50s until after we get the all-clear in mid-April. And even in years like this, the weather can be capricious: just a few years ago we experienced 3 nights of freezing temps after the magical 4/15 date, stunting and killing a lot of shrubs and trees.

But given the extended forecast, it does look like I can get the containers planted sooner than later. So I just *had* to slip over to Martin's and pick up some plants - orangey geraniums, plum-colored Dracaena spikes, surrounded by golden Lysimachia 'Goldilocks' and a new gorgeous-smelling baby blue Lobelia. I was literally snatching them off the carts before the could put them on the sale benches.

Next up is a foray over to Valley Growers (especially since they opened VG Too over at the Co-op) and see what they're putting out this year. And I'm sure we'll be buying azaleas on Saturday.

So much for getting the car washed and vacuumed today. But the front porch looks great, and thanks to middle child wielding the mattock, the small bed where the sidewalk intersects the driveway is now cleared of weeds and tree roots, and planted with dark-leaved 'Blackbird' spurge surrounded by golden 'Angelina' sedum groundcover. I'll probably plant some blue daze evolvulus and something orange - vinca or celosia, or something else that can take the heat and sun, just to make it pop a little more.

Just another manic Monday in a mad March

What a month March has been: we pulled off two dinner parties, got new Fiesta Ware, spent a week sick, then nursing other family members back to health, (hopefully that was an extremely isolated incident); had a fabulous spring break trip to South Carolina, and Bruce Pearl got our boys all the way to the Elite Eight for the first time ever, and within two points of being in the Final Four. Next year, baby.

Not to mention the mad, mad weather patterns that plagued us this winter, even into March - who knew we could get snowed out of our annual ski trip??? Friday is supposed to hit 80. I'm sooo ready for it.

So now I'm looking ahead at April (if only I could see my desk calendar, I'm sure April is next), and I'm setting some goals for my non-working hours:

1) Clean off my desk before April 1 so I can change the calendar.
2) Clean out my car (I think we hauled home a half-ton of beach sand.)
3) Finish two different newsletters this week and start the next issue of a third newsletter, due out May 1.
4) Paint the hall and den before Bunco on 4/12.
5) Update the mantel with pictures and stuff from our beach trip.
6) Sand and stain the low dresser that's been sitting in the garage since last April.
7) Pressure wash everything - deck, sidewalk, gutters, shutters...everything.
8) Trip to Rita's in Jackson to buy spring flowers - bring home and plant them
9) Get the vegetable garden planted with peas, shallots, and lettuce, then tomatoes and peppers after the last frost.

Nine goals, four weeks: no sweat. I'll save the sweating for the gym; after this morning's tepid performance - barely 3 miles - I need to put in some early morning hours there.

What a weekend

This weekend started off with a bang when two families joined us for dinner on Friday night. Children edged out the adults (7 to 6, I think), and the dog had a blast being chased around by squealing kids. As soon as the guests left, the pooch was sacked out; we joined her in slumber not long after. Other than a slightly sticky kitchen floor (thanks to overly large disposable plates and a too-narrow trashcan - my bad) the house came through practically unscathed. Which meant Saturday was pretty typical: piano lesson, a trip to Sonic, and some afternoon shopping (I am merely the financier on those excursions.)

Saturday night was our annual newcomer's dinner at Highland Heights - always a lot of fun getting to meet our newest members and learning some interesting trivia about one another. A huge thanks to all those who put it together each year!

Then daylight saving time arrived this morning. Now, for the record, I love, love, love longer days. I love the imminent arrival of spring. But oh what a price we pay to get there. Whew. I think I'd give up the extra hour in the fall if we didn't have to torture ourselves every spring. In case that wasn't enough to seriously mess with my Circadian rhythm, we'll be headed into Eastern Time in a few days, so we'll lose another hour of precious morning snooze time. Double ugh.

I am happy to report I ran 11.25 miles last week. (No, not all at once...unlike my marathon-training friends.) My short term goal is to run 4 miles a day (at least 3 times a week) over the next few weeks, then start aiming for 5 miles at a stretch. I have been told (by my all-wise BIL) that if I can break the 5-mile barrier, I'll be ready to start preparing for a long run (i.e., half or full marathon.) I'm not sure I really want or need to do that, but since my original comment last April was, "I wonder how long it would take me to train for a half-marathon?" I guess I'll keep pushing and see where it takes me.

Hope springs eternal...

I've always wondered about that excerpt from Alexander Pope's "Essay on Man," where in the first epistle, he wrote:

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast
Man never is, but always to be blest..."

Sometimes I think it should be turned around: Spring is eternally hoped for even though it's pretty ephemeral, at least here in the South. Yesterday between showers I stole outside for a few minutes and found hope springing forth in the form of daffodil leaves pushing up through the leaf litter. It's a welcome sight, as were the swelling buds on the dogwood.



I was serenaded by sound of the frogs croaking in the distance. Soon the bluebirds will be house hunting, a certain herald of early spring. But I can wait - they're calling for snow late next week (just in time for our annual northward trek to the "slopes" of Perfect North.

This week brought some successful kitchen experiments. A banana bread cobbler recipe from February's Southern Living turned out to be a hit with my family. The hibachi-style surf 'n turf I prepared and froze at The Dinner A'Fare a few months ago was also yummy. I also discovered what "field peas with snaps" are, thanks to PictSweet's picture on their bag. It made perfect sense once I saw it - field peas with snapped beans. They categorize it as a southern vegetable; I guess it probably is. Anyway, they will go in the crockpot with some pork chops as I try out another new recipe next week. Some of the raviolis I made today were dressed with Bertoli's vodka sauce for dinner, which is divine if calorie-laden. Good thing I got in almost 9 miles of running this week, plus another 2-3 of walking.