Saturday, July 21, 2012

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Friday …. started off as an overcast day .. .which later on morphed into a sunny afternoon!

Spent some time enjoying the antics of the birds cavorting about the skies, in and out of the trees!   Visiting the bird feeders!

The female Downy Woodpecker visited one of the suet blocks .. I wonder if she and hubby had some babies this year?   I haven’t seen any, but they most probably are flying around in the wee hours of the morning so I might not see them for a while.   Still, I enjoy seeing her so close by.

I can hear the tiny Bushtits  .. their cheerful little piping cries sound out from the interior of the trees!   Haven’t seen the Nuthatches but do see the Chickadees flying around.  They are so sweet.

Admiring the growth of the plants, bushes and trees in the yard!!  Spent a good few hours digging away at one side of the yard which had become very weedy.  Found a few more garlic bulbs from a couple of years ago.  Clipped and weeded and soon was rewarded with a tidier bit of yard.   Noticed the raspberry plants have been taking over.  Sigh.  Thought that I’d removed the majority of them last spring!  Well, I’ll just dig them up in a few months and will transplant them into the berry section.

Spent some time looking at the garlic harvest.  Plan to save the largest to plant in the fall.  And have been looking at the garden, thinking of how I can change the layout of this area.   And, not that I’m getting too obsessed or anything .. with garlic ..but am visualizing a slightly larger block of ground for the garlic.  This year I’ll plant them in rows in a more rectangular shaped bed.

I can plant lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes in containers next summer.  This will leave me more room for garlic.   Toying with the idea of ordering a few more varieties from Richter’s herbs.  And this time, I’ll carefull label them.

Noticed the squash, cucumber and zucchini plants are flowering and growing.  I’ll be happy with a few fruits from each . .I’m not greedy.

Picked more cherries and froze them, washed, with stems and pits in them.   After having spent hours pitting them with a single pitter .. I’m done enough.  Saw a great multi-cherry pitter on a blog site a few days ago.   It neatly pits about a cupful of cherries in one go, and the pits are neatly contained in a little square holder.  How decadent!

The highly scented lavender-hued Buddleia is flowering away at the side yard .. this explains the presence of some butterflies .. seen hovering around the yard.   So pretty.  Am sure that I saw a Monarch, all lovely in yellow hues.  And then there is the brownish/black/cream butterfly that has been flitting about.  So pretty.

Enjoying quiet time, sitting on the back steps, in the sunshine.  Mug of Yorkshire tea.  Sudoku.  Relaxing music playing on my iPod.   Watching the birds fly around.  Looking up at the skies.  Seeing planes travel about.  Seagulls soaring by.   Crows with their nasal screeching.

Having a good time.

🙂