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As promised, here is the latest installment of pictures from the ongoing Garden Project.
I started with this little section – mostly just weeds to begin with and some random poppies in the corner.
I know they’re pretty, but there’s a whole planter of poppies by the driveway, so I pulled them. If they’re persistent enough to come up again next year, maybe I’ll let them. We’ll see.
Anyway, after I pulled everything, I planted two day lilies that came from a friend’s garden last year. I had planted a few things from him last year and just ran out of steam before I found a place for these two. I left them in the plastic bins I transported them in and figured they would never live through the winter. But they did. And look every bit as healthy as the plants that have been in the ground. So I figured if they’re hearty enough to live in a plastic tray for a year, planting them in a real home is the least I could do for them. The little grassy things in the front should spread out and will have purple flowers at some point. But I don’t remember what they’re called…
Then I moved on to the bigger part of the garden. The section I worked on really needed more attention than the rest of it does, so I mentally split it in half and will get started on the rest of it this weekend if the weather holds up.
I hear hostas are good in shade, so I planted a couple of them – and actually found some tiny hostas underneath some ugly vine-y weed…so I moved them and hopefully they’ll get established and grow too.
The balance of the front garden doesn’t need as much of an overhaul as that section did – I think just a lot of weed pulling and a new layer of mulch and it should be set. Famous last words, I know.
So far I’m still enjoying all the digging. There’s so much to do – I figure I should get as much done as I can before the typical steamy Ohio weather shows up…and while I’m still enthusiastic about the project. I’m sure I’ll lose interest long before it’s really finished…. ; )
Our office was closed Friday, so I spent a good bit of the morning vegging on the couch, catching up on old episodes of Boston Legal. Just before 10, the doorbell rang. I think I had fallen asleep. Since I wasn't expecting anyone -- and I was still in my PJs -- I opted to see who it was before throwing open the door... So I went into the guest room and discreetly looked out the window... It was Anna, the woman who used to own my house -- the same previous owner I badmouth somewhat regularly... I figure she's visted the blog and is ready to go a few rounds with me. She's standing on my front porch, hands on her hips with the same annoyed look on her face that I got to know pretty well last summer. What could she possibly need to talk to me about? It's not like we got chummy during the closing... She complained nonstop to Jason (our mutual realtor) about changes I was making to "her" house -- it's not like she'd want to come in and see that there is absolutely no evidence she was ever there... So I opted not to answer -- who needs her unpleasantness to ruin my perfectly peaceful morning off... But I kept an eye out the window as she surveyed the front yard... She took inventory of everything (weeds included, I'm sure, but that's the next post...), walking through the front yard over to the side (where the peonies are *this close* to blooming)... Then over to the other side of the house (I just kept moving to different windows to keep watching) where she inspected my work along the garage and then to the backyard, where she just stood and frowned. Seriously, what's she up to??? I admit to feeling irrationally annoyed by the fact that she was walking around like she owned the place. I know she lived here for 30 years and I'm sure it's hard for her to see someone else's car in the driveway, but GET OUT OF MY YARD!Finally I see her get into her car. But she didnt leave. She backed up across the street, and camped out in my neighbor's driveway, still watching the house. I finally stopped spying on her and went back to Boston Legal, but looked out a while later and saw Lily the Neighbor outside talking to her.Later that day, I went across the street to get Molly's mail and I ran into Lily who says, "I see Anna was stalking your house again." Again? Awesome.She explained... Apparently when Anna feels bummed out about her new living arrangements, she comes by the house. I dont know the exact details, but she bought a place with a younger couple -- the thought being that she would buy the house and they would take care of her as she gets older, then keep the house when she dies... And I guess on and off, she debates the soundness of that decision... So that's when she decides to make a visit to Beacon Street. Sometimes she walks around, sometimes she just sits in her car at the street. I cant imagine what it must feel like, knowing that the place you called home for decades has someone else sleeping in it... And for a second, I felt a little guilty for not answering the door and spying on her as she walked the grounds of her old home-sweet-home...But just before I started to feel too bad for her, Lily says that the reason she was pounding on my door was because she wanted to talk to me about digging some things out of the yard. The yard I've owned for a year. That she left overgrown with weeds. That doesnt have anything exotic planted that you couldnt find at Home Depot. Is she serious? She thinks AFTER A YEAR that she can just come over with a shovel and take what she wants? Now I almost wish I had answered the door. I'm pretty sure I would have laughed in her face. Speaking of the plants Anna will only be able to dig out of my garden over my dead body... The next post (I promise it will be soon) will feature before and after pics of the second major battle between me and the weeds.
I know it has been a while...again.
Thought I'd share the latest Beacon Street Before and After photos...
Now that the sun is out and the inside of the house is more or less done ("done" isn’t quite the right word - there are plenty more things to do, but they're all on a more long-term to do list...), the landscaping projects begin. The previous owner (aside from having hideous taste in paint) let the gardens go over the last few years or so. I've seen pictures of the yard in its "glory" and she was a really impressive gardener. However, by the time I moved in, the only thing impressive about the gardens was the sheer magnitude of weeds.
I've been a bit intimidated by the idea of starting outside – there’s so much to do it’s hard to know where to start…. (Not to mention…in most cases, I’m not sure what’s weed and what’s plant…) But finally I decided I need to just make a list of all the areas that need attention and focus on one at a time – and not really think about the big (scary) picture.
To the side of the house is a 3x33' stretch of...dirt. And weeds. And small trees that had seeded themselves and were left alone long enough to become pretty substantial (and HARD to get out of the ground). 
Sunday morning I dug everything up, turned over the soil and planted a groundcover (dwarf periwinkle). Am hoping I don't kill it - and hoping it will, in fact, cover the ground. I had thought about doing something a little more involved or interesting, but in the end decided I had plenty of other places for "interesting" landscaping. And hopefully a groundcover will make this fairly low-maintenance. The leaves are really pretty – yellowish with a dark green “outline” and apparently in the spring, there are lavender colored flowers.
It definitely feels nice to cross at least one project off the list. This weekend, I think I’m headed for the front yard. Stay tuned...
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
--The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams
After many years as a self-proclaimed film snob, I swore I’d never go digital. I have always loved the smell of film, hoped someday I’d have a darkroom to play in, thought digital photography was making everyone lazy because “you can just delete what you don’t like.” But I finally caved. As of this weekend, I am the proud owner of a Nikon d80 and I cant wait to figure out how to use it.
I spent a good bit of yesterday neurotically reading the owner’s manual. I’m not usually one to read a manual page by page, but there are just too many buttons to “wing it.” So far, my favorite thing from the directions: “When operating the viewfinder diopter control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger or fingernail in your eye accidentally.” Awesome advice.
I did feel a little pang of sadness packing away the body of my film camera. I’m sure I’ll still get it out from time to time, but it is definitely like the old toy that gets put away for a while in favor of the new one with all the bells and whistles. But that “old toy” traveled a lot of miles with me and took a lot of great shots… And as my first “real” camera, it has helped to develop (seriously, no pun intended) a hobby I hope to continue for many years.
Is it weird to get all poetic and sentimental about a camera??
Anyway, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite pictures taken over the last few years… 
This is why John Mayer could be my boyfriend.
A couple weeks ago my dad was down in Cincinnati, helping me with some house projects. Before we started, I went through my CD collection, found five that we could agree on and put them in the stereo on shuffle.
(It’s funny…when we went on car trips when I was little, there wasn’t much beyond Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles that we could all be happy with (especially when I was all about eighties glam rock)…now that I’m older, I find that I like a lot of “their” music…and they like a lot of “mine.”)
But I digress…
One of the CDs I pulled out that day was Arlo Guthrie’s Outlasting the Blues. When I was a kid, this was one of the albums everyone in the car could sing along to, but it’s not one that I listen to all that often these days.
One song in particular struck me as funny…. Here are the lyrics to “Telephone.” (If they’re not completely accurate, blame it on the lyric site I found…)
Every morning just as soon as it's light
Get out of bed and I'm feeling alright
Make me some coffee and I sit down alone
The rest of the day I'm on the telephone
Hang up, hold on
You got a dime so you come on so strong
Save your money and let me be
Hang up the phone and quit bothering me
I got a phone in my bedroom and one in the barn
A phone in my car and one in the yard
A phone on my saddle for when I'm out on the range
A phone in my pocket for when I'm down at the grange
Hang up, hold on
You got a dime so you come on so strong
Save your money and let me be
Hang up the phone and quit bothering me
Now with devaluation all over the land
The whole wide world has got more money in their hand
They'll be calling me up from Peking and Nome
I'm going to rip out my telephone
(It probably loses something if you don’t know the tune that goes with it…)
Anyway, I remember liking the song when I was a kid because it was just so ridiculous. How could you ever have a phone in your pocket? Or in your car? Hmmm…
I know they’re pretty, but there’s a whole planter of poppies by the driveway, so I pulled them. If they’re persistent enough to come up again next year, maybe I’ll let them. We’ll see.
