No photos today … but I will try to paint some pictures with words today!

I’m a multi-tasker .. as are most women.  Why do just one thing when I can wear myself out doing four or five?

Example.  Yesterday.  Finally .. outside in my favourite dirt-stained Carhart bibs .. looking forward to bringing more new plants to the back yard (more on this later!)

I fully intended to do just this one thing.  Then, decided to go back inside the house to get some bird seeds for the feeders.  And here is where it started.

Might as well take care of the laundry while I was inside.  So I emptied the dryer and filled the washer.  Then, well, might as well heat up a quick cup of tea.

The compost bucket was full, so outside it went.

Soon I was outside, enjoying the warmth of the cup of Yorkshire Tea.   Next, over to the compost bins .. emptied veggie & coffee material to the compost.  Added seaweed, layer of cardboard, sprinkle of glacial rock powder and some EM.  This is going to be awesome compost.

Next, check the hummingbird feeder.  Topped up the bird seed stations.   Began picking up more of the hundreds of apples that had fallen from the tree.

Finally .. the time came to move the new plant purchases.  Two more of the lovely spring-flowering evergreens, a winter flowering pink currant (for the hummingbirds and some ground covers.

I know … I know .. a month or so ago I promised myself that I wouldn’t weaken and would not buy any more plants.

Well .. I only bought these yesterday … because I happened to go downtown and just wanted to make a quick visit to Capital Iron.  And I thought, well, if it’s meant to be … meaning, if there were any more of those trees left there in the lower lot (half price!!!) then I’d purchase them.  And you know what!  There were two of them left!  So I took this as a sign and soon I was loading my new purchases into my car .. after paying for them, of course.

When there is a plant sale on, I can justify every single purpose.

So, that is my most recent plant story.

Back to the yard.

By now, after all my running back and forth it was late afternoon and the skies were slowly darkening.  So I spent some time chopping up my oak leaves for mulch.

Soon, dusk had seriously descended and it was to hard to see what I was working at .. so, begrudgingly I gathered up all my toys and trudged back to the house.

But wait, one more thing to do.  One of our homework assignments (landscaping course) is to take the measurements of a staircase .. so I grabbed a tape measure, pencil and paper and began this task.

The math part of the course has been a struggle for me and for some others in the class also .. so I don’t feel quite so bad.  I’ll work my way through .. though.  And so very lucky that everyone is so sharing in the class .. makes the struggles more bearable.

Just as the Organic Master Gardening changed forever the way that I garden, so to will the landscaping course change forever the way that I look at gardens, structures, placement of landscapes and all that.

Sigh.  Just have to struggle through and I will be ok.

And so .. I’ve been quite busy with all this and other things also.

For I have gotten back into soap making!  Found some of my notes from 1986, when I was writing out soap recipes!

So I’ve been spending evenings mixing up soaps.  Playing around with colours (using herbs & flower petals) and some with scents and some without.

My good pal D gave me a wonderful gift of dried Calendula petals.  She gathered the flowers and carefully dried them.  I think it was 5 cups or so of petals were reduced to several cups, once the moisture was removed.

And last night I mixed up a soap with these beautiful petals, some ground up orange peel and they look so pretty.   I’ll take some pictures later today and will post them.

Next will be the packaging of them .. for I am going to try to get a table at a local artisan type of craft show.  Fingers crossed I’ll be able to do that.   Because I’ve made nearly 30 pounds of soap.   Bought the most beautiful fabric to wrap them in.

And so my life continues in its little multi-tasking way.

And I’ve only listed the highlights of the past week.

Yesterday I saw the most beautiful rainbow .. saw it twice actually!  Once when I was downtown (coincidentally, I was on my way to look at the plants on sale!)  And another time when I was nearly home.  No camera with me .. but happy to see a young guy taking lots of photos.  So the beauty was captured, except not by me.

Anyway .. on with this day.  Shopping to be done.  Homework assignments to be completed.  Soap to wrap.  And all the other daily things that need to be done.

But first .. I’m going to spend a few more minutes looking out our kitchen window.  Admiring the beauty of the birds that are visiting the feeders and flitting about the trees.  The Juncos, the Flickers!!!The Anna Hummingbirds, a few European Starlings, Chickadees, Nuthatches, sparrows and some lovely little songbirds.  Yet again I am so very happy that we planted all the trees in our yard, so many years ago.  Safe little places for all the birds to settle in and relax and preen themselves.  And I’m also rewarded by their songs!

🙂  On with this day.