A Year Down the Road

Yes, dear readers, it HAS been a whole year since we closed on our house in High Point and began the odyssey down I-85 South to make a home in GA. [You can read that post by clicking here.]

To recap a bit...Missy M graciously shared her home with us (dogs, too, thank Heaven!) while we became locked in a much more protracted house-hunt than we could ever have dreamt. Thanks to the best realtor we have ever worked with as purchasers (yay, Rose!), we eventually found “it”...exactly the right house on the right lot in a town and a county we’d never known nor would ever have found on our own.

Check one off the bucket list:
find a whole sand-dollar

Along the way, we had a grand adventure to Arizona and have been to the mountains and to the beach, where I was able to check “find a whole sand dollar” off my bucket list. We said sad goodbyes to our Abbie-girl and M’s Miss Dixie...both left holes in our hearts that have only begun to mend with the additions of Logan and Pepper to Casa 303, as well as Rowan at 2244. The Adsit Adventure continues, and the Drool Gang is back to the full complement of 5.

Newest Drool Gang Members:
Rowan and Pepper

MDBT to WDW

Missy M and I renewed our annual tradition of Mother-Daughter Bonding Trips (MDBTs) with a week at the Most Magical Place on Earth. And it is...and it was...!

I found a wonderful group of Master Gardeners in my new County of Walton to help close the gap created when I left Guilford...and to reenergize me with lots of volunteer opportunities. I have worked closely with this year's MG training class (which has kept me on the go every Tuesday and Thursday from early January through the end of  March)...such a great group of people I might add. Slowly but surely, I am learning my way around Walton, one MG commitment at a time.

Columns in Walton Tribune

I began writing a bi-weekly gardening column for the Walton Tribune, as well as a monthly "gardening tips" column for the Loganville Insider, which means I get another check on a bucket list item: "become Elizabeth Lane* when I grow up."

So, what’s happening now, you might ask? Well, we are focusing our time and energy on maximizing our 1/3 acre property to create a kitchen garden space as well as a berry patch and a rose garden. Smaller than our 4-year plan for HPNC in size and scope, but more effective use of the ground we have, we hope.

Not to be too eye-rollingly obvious with the references...while we are putting down roots here, I feel like we are spreading our wings and embracing retirement.

And how is that coming along? Let me let the pictures do the talking...

We brought plants & things with us from NC...

...and then we had to till up the GA clay.

 OK, tilling up GA clay might work for a few irises, daylilies, and liriope (oh my...aching back!), but we are NOT planting our kitchen garden in the native soil here, folks. To mis-quote the Great Wizard: "No way, no how." Altogether now: RAISED BED GARDEN (RBG)...WOO HOO!

...and it should go about...here!

A raised bed garden (RBG) is in our future...

...and then we fill it!

First Mr. T builds it...

Voila! It looks like this!

I have seeded the new RBG with beans, melons, squash, and cukes...but you will have to take my word for that. It is way too chilly still to put the tomato and pepper transplants in the cold, cold ground.  Another week, maybe...

Meanwhile, the seeded transplants wait patiently...soaking up some rays on a sunny day...

Tomato and pepper transplants...waiting for 55 degree nights

Folks, trust me when I say, this is really starting to feel like home.

And, to think, it only took a year...

===========

*So, who is Elizabeth Lane, you ask? Have you ever seen Christmas in Connecticut, a "true" holiday classic from 1945, and one of my all-time favorites? Certainly, the story is a bit farcical at times, but the characters more than make up for it. Barbara Stanwyck plays the character of magazine columnist Elizabeth Lane, who is one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as having a farm in Connecticut, where she spends her days taking care of her child and her husband and being an excellent cook.

Lies...all lies! In reality she is a single New York City apartment dweller, who can't boil an egg and who doesn't "even own a window box." The recipes all come from her good friend Felix (played by the ever-delightful S.Z. Sakall). The owner of the magazine she works for (played by Mr. T's personal favorite actor in mid-century movies, Sydney Greenstreet) has decided that a heroic sailor named Jefferson Jones (played by the engaging Dennis Morgan) will spend his Christmas on *her* farm in Connecticut. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out, so what can she do to save her job?

Anyway...makes for an entertaining Christmas tradition in our family.

I totally connect with Elizabeth Lane's columnist character. Not the food writer part, necessarily (although I guess I have done my share of recipes, even if I don't have an "uncle" Felix to cook for me). And not the "living a lie" part either...since I do indeed have a window box and very-nearly a micro-mini farm, so writing about gardening is much more authentic for me than writing about food was ever intended for Elizabeth Lane. No, it's the I-want-to-be-that-clever-of-a-writer-when-I-grow-up part. And have my own column part.

So, when I saw the words "Columnist" after my name for the first time in the Walton Tribune, you know I was thrilled. It matters not that this is in Monroe, GA instead of NYC...no, the bucket list item said "write a gardening column."

Check!

Returning to Our Regular Programming

I'm back! Sorry I've been MIA for a couple of weeks. Some of this...some of that...and, well, you know. That's life, right?

Let's see...where were we? Ah yes. Winter was holding us captive.

Winston chilling out in the Rose Garden

Yeah...still is in a way, even though the calendar has rolled over to Spring. Well, Mother Nature did NOT get the memo because we had snow flurries on Tuesday. March Madness is not just for basketball! (Sadly, my Tigers did not make it out of the first weekend of NCAA tournament play again this year. Sigh. And that's all I'm going to say about that.)

Here are some more frozen photos to chill you out: be sure to click on the windmill one (below) to get the full, freezy effect! It was actually spinning when I took the shot!

Brrrr----
Thomas in the Way Back
"Don't think I'll sit in those chairs!"

Icicles on the Windmill

Actually, here at Casa 3917, March is marching on, bringing on the buds regardless of the temps. First came the tiny, ground-hugging crocus...yellow ones, followed by purples and whites. Severe weather is nothing for them...but how they survived being trampled several times daily by the dogs, I'll never know. Impressive.

Winston in the Way Back
surrounded by King Alfred Daffodils

Now, our daffodils are blooming all over the property (as you see in the picture of the Rondel, right), making me smile whenever I look out a window. Some of you may remember when we moved here 5 years ago (can you believe it has been that long? Neither can I!), I was saddened to learn that the previous owners were apparently not daffy fans, since there wasn't a blooming one on the place. Never mind...I've fixed that little problem by planting over 500 bulbs (so far!). And now we are reaping the rewards...everywhere we look! Big, bold, bright yellow King Alfreds...delicate, fragrant Tahitis...frilly Rip van Winkles and Golden Ducats...beautiful white Ice Follies...and many I don't know the names of because they were in those two big mixed bags o' 90 bulbs each. They are all out there...and I bring countless ones inside weekly.

And, let's not forget the almost overpoweringly-fragrant hyacinths...deep purples (my personal faves), light "blues," pinks, white, "reds." You name it...they are apparently defying the catalogs that say: "may not return in Zone 7 or higher without digging and chilling." The Blue Star ones that I bought on sale in January of 2011, way past the time to plant them...and planted them anyway, some at the mailbox, some in the back yard next at Hyacynth Bucket's feet...and next to the yet-to-be-built-shed? Yeah. They keep coming back, making me smile to see them...and making me smirk to know that together, the bulbs and I, we beat the odds. A gardener's delight!

Next up in the Show of Blooms will be the iris, both the delicate-looking Dutch Iris (which come from bulbs) and the more rugged Bearded or "German" iris (that grow from rhizomes). Both varieties are preparing to astound us again this year, for I see the sword-like "leaves" coming up through the ground, most often right next to the daffodils. Since you should leave daffy leaves alone after they finish their bloom cycle and allow them to yellow naturally in order to feed the bulbs for next year's show, I have tried to interplant daffodils, iris, and (the next in the succession) daylilies, in order to hide the unsightly yellowing process.

And, in the middle of all this actual gardening, I've been working on several Master Gardening projects. The volunteer opportunities are endless! My latest was doing some revisions for the Speakers Bureau Totally Tomatoes PowerPoint presentation...then previewing those for the other speakers who were giving the presentation across Guilford County...and then giving the presentation last Sunday at the Greensboro Arboretum. Tomatoes? I know, I know...it's too early to plant them...but not too early to talk about growing them!

So, winter weather or no...gardening has been front-and-center. And you can read more about that topic over on our garden blog, Gardening with the Giants. Click here to go there.

I'm guessing you have figured out by now that I've been off my bike more than on. Yes, folks, I'm still biking to Disneyland...just not as much or as often as I was. I made it to Kentucky...and then weather intervened (3 days without power...and my stationary bike has a vital electronic component in keeping up with my mileage, etc.), followed by garden intervention, both here and out at the Extension's Demo Garden/Rose Garden...and oh yeah...life in general. Some were real reasons creating real time constraints...some were/are just plain excuses.

Well, no more of that silliness. I'm back in the saddle(seat) yet again, and I'll do my next post on my ride tomorrow. I'll also get my Twitter feed up to date this afternoon following my ride...which will hopefully follow my annual visit to the eye doctor, which will be followed by a stop at the grocery shop. And probably a run to the bank...the post office...the cleaners...

See? There it goes again. Life in general...interfering...just like at your house...

FO and UFO Report

Look at that...the calendar is ready to change to a new month, which will bring us another Fall Season. Before I flip the page to September, I thought I would report on the state of Finished and Unfinished Objects in the ol' knitting basket(s):

FO's include:

• Nana/Momma/Edith's Cornflower Blue Pullover (photo to the left) - I finished it up this week, and N/M/E is happy as can be (both because she loves the sweater and that it is finished!).
  
  I used the beautiful Queensland Bebe CotSoy yarn in Color #1, a cornflower blue. This yarn is 50% organic cotton, 50% soy...and 100% soft! As I've said before, N/M/E is allergic to wool, so I am always alert to non-sheepie fiber. I have 6 balls in blue left over (better to have too much than not enough, right?), which I plan to use for a baby sweater or two...using a pattern that Missy M shared with me from a book she purchased on her last trip here.
  
  I also used my favorite Oat Couture pattern called "Metro Pullover." Well, as I've said before, I modified my favorite pattern. This yarn's gauge is 5.5 stitches per inch versus the pattern's recommended 5 stitches per inch. Ho hum...get out the calculator. And, N/M/E liked the Metro Pullover I made for myself so much that she kept saying she wanted hers to be "just like yours." I did add the cable down the front (instead of the pattern's suggested false button placket), but I choose a different cable pattern. And, I made her sleeves a bit longer since she is so cold-natured. She's going to wear her new sweater with some white linen pants on our upcoming trip to Tennessee.



• Sailor-Collared Baby Sweater and Cap - I finished up this little gift set late last night. It was a pleasure to knit, as the yarn (Bambino Four Season's Grundl in #33 yellow and baby boy blue) is so soft. It's 50% wool, 30% nylon, and 20% cotton...or, at least I think that's what the ball wrapper says, since my German is practically non-existent. I bought this yarn online from Herrschner's on sale, and found that the gauge from my swatch on US 7's matched the recommended gauge from a Crystal Palace (credited) pattern from my 2008 Calendar box for a Sailor Collar Sweater. (NOTE: I have yet to find a pattern in this box that doesn't require creative license, shall we say? This one was no different, with several mistakes and unnecessarily difficult directions. Sigh.) Since I had so much yarn left over, I decided to knit up a hat to match, using the seed stitch border and the stripe pattern. I imagine that this set will go to ... oh wait, it's a gift! Mustn't spoil it...:)

UFO's include:

• Two scarves that are gifts, so I'll not say anymore about them yet.
• One pair of socks pour moi, using the Maizy (corn fibre) yarn in colorway "Miami Nice." If I can finish the second sock (why does the 2nd sock always take so long...hmmmm...?), they should go nicely with my new Teal Summer Sweater which I finished for the Ravelympics recently.
• Too many crocheted baby blankets that I've started but put aside in favor of knitted sweaters. Too. many. Maybe I'll work on one of these on my upcoming trip? We'll see.

Time to close for today. It's a sunny, 86 degree day here...which means that outdoor projects are calling. I'll be on the road for a few days so I'd better make hay while the sun shines, huh? Or rather...dig iris for dividing and mulch the roses and pull some weeds in the Contemplation Garden and...and...and