A gardener's Diary

Monday

I cleaned and weeded that section of our backyard which separates garden from woods... that part which during the winter months it turns into a little creek of sorts, all swelled up with winter rain, and where water wildflowers grow during this time of year.   I like to keep this space looking clean and free of weeds and such, so that there can really be a distinction between where the gardens ends and the wild begins. 

In some parts of that same edge, today I planted all those sunflower seeds I got last fall.  I'm already envisioning this space filled with huge yellow sunflowers on a happy summer day.

I also wanted to clean and free the house of some clutter, so I brought out all the house plants and flowerpots I've been winterizing inside.  And what a tremendous difference that alone made to make the space look larger.  I love house plants, but I also crave uncluttered spaces sometimes, particularly after all those long winter months.   

Tuesday...

Witches.... over a dozen of them—large, silent in their shadowy-black attire were observed spying down on us from high above the trees surrounding our little white cottage.  

They came with the last drops of rain and one by one took over the woods without a sound.  As I watched, my heart leaped at the sight of those large birds roosting in such an amazingly large group, standing so eerily-quiet on naked branches, facing towards our little white cottage.  Perhaps eagles or ospreys?  Witches!  Witches devoid of light making only a few vocalizations from time to time that were grunts and low hisses in my ears... 

Most likely, they were Turkey Vulture. These birds ride thermals in the sky and use their keen sense of smell to find fresh carcasses. They are a consummate scavenger, cleaning up the countryside one bite of their sharply hooked bill at a time, and never mussing a feather on their bald heads...

It was an aerie and awesome spectacle.  I watched in amazement as these creatures of the air opened up their large black wings and stood in that posture for a very long time, I guess trying to get dried from the rain?  It was such an amazing thing to see, and I am very fortunate to have been able to witness this...  

 

When evening came and the sun started to disappear behind the horizon, these birds were still there, watching over us.  They decided to use the trees in our forest as a hotel for the night, and so they spent the night.  In the morning, the first thing I did was run to the back and see if they were still there... And indeed! Half of them were still where I left them the evening before.  Until finally as the sun got stronger and the day advanced, one after one spreaded large black wings, and left... 

Wednesday

I went out for my first walk of the year.  The sun is warming up the land in a most marvelous of sunshine, life is bursting from each tree and each branch and the air feels light and filled with new promises.  

I was hoping to see Winter the cat sunbathing on top of the roof of his owner's car, but I didn't.  

Today, I also planted more elephant ear bulbs.  Some in pots, some in emptied spaced that I didn't know with what to fill.  Then later, I spread out the hyacinth seeds I collected last fall at the feet of every wall and post I could find. And I also cleaned the flowerbed in the front yard where the White Crepe Myrtle stands and where I have lilies growing there too.  The Vinca vine I planted in that flowerbed last year had started to take over everything, as it is it customary ways.  So I removed them without even thinking, and only left two small bushes that I must keep under control to stop them from spreading.  

There must be some kind of a magical "Rabbit Hole" of sorts somewhere in the universe of my garage.  Oh yes, I'm sure of that!  You see, I have seen small creatures come in into our garage when its doors are up, and disappear right in front of my eyes into thin air...  on a certain occasion, a bird got trapped in and was unable to find his way back into the open.  Tired of looking for a way out, even when the doors where opened wide, he found a temporary refuge behind some of the boxes and things storage against the walls, under tables and furniture and things.  I let him calm down for a while, but onto seeing that the poor little thing was not coming out, I went on a hunt for him... I looked behind every single box and container therein to see where he might have been hiding, but for more that I tried I was never able to find him.  Then one day early last autumn the same... this time, it was one of the larger wood frogs, dwellers of the pond... I saw her dazedly hopping about kind of disoriented and tried to redirected her back into the open.  But the creature kept hopping away from me until finally disappearing somewhere into that mysterious, unfathomable magical hole I'm telling you about.    

I want to embark in a Trip Down this magical Rabbit Hole in my garage, if only I could find it and see what's out there... in that other world wherever it is...  But it seems that only the creatures of the woods are entitled to this secret.  Creatures know how to find that hole I'm sure, and I am glad I have never seen the same happened from the other end of the magical hole thought... I mean, creatures from that magical world coming through and appearing in my garage?

I should start running again.  Days are nice, and warm, but once you get used to live in your woolly warm pjs all day long, it is hard to start again...

I've been going to the garden a lot, spending hours doing what I can, or sitting down in the red chair listening to birds.  Sometimes, the commotion is so great and so diverse, that you feel being transported to a magical place, in some jungle somewhere where the sounds of monkeys and parrots come together under a magical cacophony of jungle sounds.

The woods are full of fairies!

The trees are alive:

The river overflows with them.

See how they dip and dive!

What funny little fellows!

What dainty little dears!

They dance and leap, and prance and peep,

And utter fairy cheers!

~Author unknown

Of birds and a front porch revamp

Hundreds, if not thousands of birds inundated the skies above our little white cottage the other day.  I knew something what's going on outside the minute I heard that another bird had been trapped in the chimney and was desperately trying to get out...  when I went outside to see what was going on I was immediately elated by the sounds and sight of many many birds that covering the sun, filled our space with daunting shadows...

Where had they come from and oh how marvelous, and enchanting the very sight of them murmuring in the woods... the sound of many birds, the swish of black wings everywhere, the flashes of shiny blue heads on naked branches like a dazzling cloud, swirling, pulsating, drawing together to the thinnest of waists, then wildly twisting in pulses of enlargement and diminution... I opened up my arms widely to the sky and close my eyes under then, as they went flying in masses over my head, almost believing that I was one with them... flying so synchronously, swiftly, and gracefully.  It was just truly amazing.

 I couldn't stop taking photographs...

Last week I started embellishing the front porch.  I retouched the settee with the same black paint it had and covered the sits in some leftover fabric I already had in a pretty black and white pattern.

I could have bought cushions already in this pretty pattern of black and white, of course, but it wouldn't have make sense knowing that those feral are out there and the pretty new cushions will be soiled and destroyed sooner than soon.  With the fabric, I can always have it remove it in a zilch, throw it in the washer and that's it... simpler, cleaner and cheaper too. 

Then I decided I wasn't going to use the body pillow I've been using for the last year or so and only kept the smaller decorative pillows. A red one for that punch of color to match the door and flowerpots.  

It occurred to me this year to paint the little white table (below)

where I usually keep the reindeer lantern on in black...

Here it is in black!

And why hadn't I thought about doing that before?  I love how this little table looks now, and how now I can see a cohesion that was not there before with the rest of the furniture.  The red from the flower pot is now more noticeable too.  It looks more elegant this little table in black, and I don't know why I never saw this before.  Now I wait for the plants.  I want more red flower pots to fill the little space.  The geraniums that I'm winterizing in the dinning room are almost ready to be taken out, but I want flowers, lots of them all in red.

Remember the CHAIRS I upholstered last spring using a cute little thrift store dress?  Well, the chairs looked very cute then indeed, but the colors got faded away very quickly and by the end of last year the poor chairs had almost lost all its colors and charm... 

I knew they had to be upholstered again this spring, but I had a can of spray paint in my hands, and I was too lazy for the job, so what I did?..... I spray painted the little thrift store dress chairs and voila... like new!

The callery pear trees that grow so abundantly around here in the wild are already in bloom and when you drive on the freeway you can see them carpeting those roads as you pass by them in lovely white flowers that, soon will be filling the air and the pond as spring breezes carry them away in arms of dreams.  It's like seeing snow in May.  They're so beautiful.  Two or three of these lovely trees live in our woods, and I wish there would be more of them instead of that bramble of Chinese privet, but then again when it comes May I love those privets in their white, little rosettes skirting my gardens like they do!...  life is grand and beautiful, isn't it.

I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday and an extra special new week!  I'm looking forward to new mercies, new mornings filled with sunshine and good health!  Hugs, and blessings to you my dear readers and friends!




  

Finding the magic on a rainy week

It's been rain rain rain all week, and it will be so until the week comes to an end.  In those few magical spells between rain and sunshine I go out to the garden just to see how the world is unfurling outside my shell...

Finding threads of magic everywhere...

 The first blooms are appearing everywhere... 

like little yellow flashes of joy, and twinkling bells... 

The azalea tree is pink-blooming deliciously, and beyond over where the pond resides, new inhabitants are now populating it... several big goldfish, and upon finding out about my wishes and koi dreams, the Fisherman went out and got me two.  Beautiful, big and as lazy as they can be... I've never seen fishes sleeping as koi do, but they do!  Like dead-sleep.  The other morning upon believing them already dead I got a little scared and called out for the Fisherman who came running outside to find me almost in tears.  After moving the water around them kois for a while he was finally able to wake them up. It was such a happy sight seeing them swish the waters like lightings... I don't know if they're girls or boys or just kois, but I've named them Sebastian and Medusa, and I hope to see them grow bigger by the day, without any incidents from predators. 

  

Can we grow azaleas in pots?  I'm so hoping they'll survive.  I put such high hopes last year in a gardenia plant that I adored.  I planted it in a huge pot and took extra time and care to make it thrive, but the thing never did, until it had to be put away.  I'm hoping that wouldn't be the case with my azaleas. 

The Queen is growing a cilantro mustache!

Deep within the privet forest among the bramble wide you can find a magic place where witches live and fairies hide... oh, yes, this looks like our garden is hiding a secret beyond those walls...  shall we go take a peek around!

Last week when the sun was shining and I didn't have the flu and was able to worked a few hours in the late winter garden, I decided it was time to be courageous and dig out my dear Chicago Peace rose from where I'd originally planted and replant it in a better spot.  I am glad I did.  And this beautiful rose should now perform as it should.  

I'm already anticipating blooms like the ones I used to collect from my gardens at the house in the roses... unforgettable!

Unforgettable indeed... those days.  

Why am I always reliving the past?  

It is not healthy, I know... 

and yet...    

Not much I can do outside today either, but I am glad is another rainy day!

I hope you're having a marvelous week!

Diary of a dreamer...

It rained all day yesterday, and I didn't get to see the sun, except for just a very few hours in the late afternoon.  Which, it was a good thing in the end, because for a shadow of a morning and a half rain helped me forget all about my duties in the garden and kept me inside the house working on a project that I was most eager to get my hands on.  And thus, I've finally got my beautiful peacocks painting framed. 

My original thought was to paint the frame in metallic.  I love metallic paints and accessories in gold, and I have been incorporating them more and more into my home styling lately. The use of metal and metallic in interior design is modern, it add glamour and texture to any room, and I just feel right at home using them... however, after much thought, I decided to paint the frame in plain white...

...in the kitchen area, where this painting is to reside, and where the color palette is composed of aqua, greens and navy blue, gold was out of the question... although maybe not?  

I love this painting. It is bright and colorful and although we had to trim it down considerably due to a disastrous boo-boo the Fisherman made while cutting the wood for me (Oh yes, I have forgiven him... after all, he is a fisherman, not a carpenter you know! ;)), it is still beautiful and large enough to make the impact I was hoping for.  What do you think?

It looks lovely in the evening under the soft light of lamps... 

Today, the sun has returned to the land, and the woods are alive with birds and mysterious sounds.  I started cleaning the front yard—a task I was fearing doing, because I already knew the amount of time and energy it presented with all those mountains and mountains of dead leaves that have been accumulating throughout the winter under the spiky holly bushes and front yard.  But after trips and trips of wheelbarrows filled to the brim with leaves and debris, all is done. 

Spring cleaning the gardens is a hard job.  A job of love, done by love with love.  And I just love it.  Love the sunshine gently warming up my back while I work, the balmy wind tossing my hair, and way above my head the loud crackle of witches... those dwellers of my woods the crows, making such ruckus while I work. Are they quarreling among each others, or perhaps just having a friendly talk in their own loud, squabble language?   I so love them...

Those crows dwellers of my woods... they are witches, you know!  And on misty, cloudy mornings I've seen them do their things over there in that parts of the woods.  Mean looking black ravens that they are, with sharp, long yellow beaks and yellow claws... something like Maleficent's raven in the Disney' movie, "Sleeping Beauty".  Remember him? Well, maybe they don't look anything like Diablo,  but that's how I like to see them any way! Haha

This year the amount of fallen leaves surpasses anything I have ever seen round here since we moved, and I'm wondering if those large dead leaves that are still hanging from semi bare branches are yet planning on coming down... to laugh some more at me I suppose... looking down at me as they do from over there where they sit up in their branch-houses, all the while laughing at me and giggling among each others as they see me raking mountains of dead leaves... or dead friend?

    

This here is the cemetery where all dead leave come to have their final rest.  The pile is so big now, that is making me work double because the wheelbarrow can't go any further and I have to actually drop the leaves by hand... beyond the "Leave Cemetery" lay the bramble paths to the witches' shack... I never go there no ma'am.  Won't even go close if you asked me, lest I want those pesky witches to sniff my rose scent in the air and come out looking for me... silence is gold around here when you are working in the garden near those woods.  And I won't be the one to disturb it ;)

Hoping you'll have a beautiful weekend my friend!