5/30/07

My bi-annual Blog Posting (a very big deal)

Phew I'm back. Sorry, I've been all taken up with Facebook there, I lost track of time and now it's almost June. One has only so many hours of wastable time at work, you know.

The garden is in. Not bad, it's May 30 and the veggies have all been planted. Frost is done for the spring, and everything's going hog wild already. In honour of this momentous occasion, and because I need some consistent place to write these things (rather than scraps of paper lying around the house), here is my annual list of the herbs and vegetables I am growing. And a new feature for 2007 - alphabetization!

- Artichokes
- Basil, Thai
- Basil, Italian
- Beans, Green
- Cayenne Peppers
- Cherry tomatoes
- Corn
- Chives
- Cilantro (perennial - it's everywhere)
- Cucumbers
- Dill
- Eggplant
- Garlic
- Leeks
- Leaf lettuce
- Lemon thyme
- Mint (always - invasive)
- Potatoes
- Pumpkins
- Red onions
- Red sweet peppers
- Romaine lettuce
- Rosemary
- Spinach
- Thyme (perennial)
- Tomatoes (red, forget the name)
- Turnips
- Vietnamese coriander

Fruit (aside from tomatoes):

- Black raspberries or blackberries, depending on whose team you're on.
- Cherries (I got a tree!)
- MacIntosh apples
- hopefully, Plums, but methinks my tree is on its way out.
- Rhubarb, also perennial. In fact, all of these fruits are.
- Strawberries, which have naturalized in the veggie garden.
The yard is always overrun by raspberries as well, at least until the vermin get them.

Here's a photo of the veggie garden, taken May 28, 2007:

I need a new garden gate. And superpowers.


I also planted sunflowers, canna lilies, and marigolds in the veggie garden, just for kicks. I figure, go big or go home.

That's my beautiful hand-made potato bin lurking in the background.

Keep checking back for my always-thrilling garden progress reports.

In other news, I'm still not pregnant. So no news there really. Also, my cat Peter died. We had to put her down just before Easter, they think she had cancer but she declined really really quickly. She was 18, had a good life, blah blah - I cried for 4 day straight and now she lives in this adorable wooden box in the wall unit. (ok her ashes do). The other two have adjusted to being spoiled rotten and are still fat, though they're on a hardcore diet now that Peter and her canned food are gone.

Oh I did build a new garden this year: the continuation of the terracing project from a couple of years ago. Finally I've finished it.

Turn your head sideways (to the right) to appreciate it.

I'm desperately trying to figure out what else is new and exciting but so far nothing is. We went to the Great Glebe Garage Sale on Saturday and made off like bandits with other peoples' junk. We bought an old video camera for $5 and hubby thinks perhaps it's time for a fishing show. Guess who gets to be the camera (wo)man? That's super fun.

I am knitting feverishly, even though it's essentially summer (for those who are interested, I am working on this sweater first - minus the linebacker shoulders - then I'm going to start in on this one for hubby), and I'm really enjoying the pottery class I'm taking. I've produced a few things, so far nothing's cracked badly and it's all good. We're getting three new windows as I write this, which is thrilling to me - no longer will I have to sit and watch t.v. in the winter while being blasted with arctic air through the windowsills. The frames are red, which excites me. We're looking to replace the siding of the house with board and batten (sp? Who cares) and insulate it with styrofoam underneath the siding, and then I want to paint it THIS COLOUR (sort of, more gray. Damn you Blogger!) with THIS COLOUR trim. So I started with three windows, trimmed in that colour, and we'll go from there. Fun and games! As my hubby loves to say, let's load up the money cannon!

Work is blah. I feel blah. I am burnt out and ready for a good relaxing vacation. I feel like I've been sapped, like a tree. See my fancy analogy? I guess I'm not too sapped to be an awesome poet. Again with the brilliance.

Summer's shaping up nicely. We have a bunch of concerts (Ottawa's Bluesfest and Toronto's Virgin Festival being the standouts) to attend, a few get-away camping and cottaging weekends, a wedding/beach getaway in September, a bunch of BBQ's - standard issue stuff. I have to work in between but I'm off the last two weeks in June, and still have 4 or 5 weeks of vacation that I need to take. I rack up crazy overtime, you see - hence the sapping. I don't think the Austrians are coming this year, but the Germans are later on - likely in late September. I'm sad re: the Austrians but I'm saving up my Aeroplan points to be able to fly to Vienna and visit sometime in the near future.

So yeah, those who know me can find me on facebook most days, those who don't can't unless they're like private detectives. Like Harriet the Spy. Or Ace Ventura. Good luck.