a little night magic

This is a tough time of year for blogging, because not only is it incredibly busy in general, but it's so beautiful outside that I've taken a ton of photos...this week alone, I've edited and saved 132.  It's hard to narrow it down and choose favorites!

Some things aren't pretty, but they're interesting, like this centipede in the process of molting.

Some things aren't exciting or rare, but I find myself admiring them every single day...like our red maple.  In different light, the leaves range from pale yellow to bright red and I love them so much!

And some things ARE fleeting and worthy of mention.  It's PEONY SEASON (said in Oprah's deep announcement voice)!!!  I have big drippy bouquets all over the house.  PEONIES!!

Peony time means poppy time.  I got these seeds from the famous Sissinghurst Garden in England.

The perennial garden has positively sprung to life this week and I can't help posting more pictures!  

Everything you see here will be in bloom by July...lemon balm, coneflowers, obedient plant...but until then, I'm just enjoying the different leaf textures.  

Todd has been working in the yard...

...and I've been working too, lots of weeding...

...and working on my annual cutting garden.  It's been so cold this spring (down in the 40s this week!) that my seedlings just haven't done well.  I'd hoped for a better yield, but I'm getting maybe 40% germination.  I'm going to keep putting out greenhouses and hoping for the best!  

Claudia had to go to the vet this week for a sore paw, but she's feeling better now and is back on duty.

Not fast enough, though.  When I was weeding in the tomato garden, I kept finding these big grass balls buried a few inches below the soil surface.

Vole nests.  Their little holes are everywhere!  I found other little secret nests, too, like this sac spider nest.  Just a bit of mud, suspended from wire, completely hidden until I weeded.

And from another nest...I think this is a song thrush egg.  I found it in the driveway.  Isn't it pretty?

A little night magic...someone's been visiting our front porch under the cover of darkness.

A big raccoon is leaving tracks in the pollen (thankfully pollen season is over, so I can clean up this mess at last!).  I see possums, raccoons, and skunks on the trail cam, right in front of our porch, almost every night!

Of course, I'm still checking the ones that are down by the pond.  Look at the tiny buds on this sweet little buck!  Pretty cute!

(Date is wrong...this is from a couple of weeks ago)

So many other things, but I'll have to save it for next time!

Have a great week!  

lettuce get ready...

 It's crunch time!  Now we're reliably in the 70s and lower 80s, and I'm working just as quickly as I can to weed, mulch, and plant in the beds surrounding the house.  I'm 2/3 of the way through the largest bed.

From winter sowing, I have plenty of bachelor buttons, snapdragons, and nicotiana, and I'm flinging them into bare spaces as I weed.  I'm putting in 3 hours at a time and it's a lot of work.  My body aches, my fingernails are constantly black, my cuticles are dry and splitting from the gloves, and Todd picked the season's first tick off my back yesterday...but the work is moving ahead and I'm really pleased with the progress.

I gathered up my dahlia tubers from last year...cleaned them up...and put them in trays to see if any were viable.

This was a good sign...

After three weeks, several had sprouted. 

I cut the sprout, dipped it in rooting hormone, potted it up, and put it on my heat mat.  Ditto for the rest of the sprouts.  They're looking pretty limp right now, but hopefully they'll perk up soon and root.  I also planted my edible crop yesterday:  cantaloupe, zucchini, watermelon, peppers, 10+ types of tomatoes, and the herbs - all in small plastic containers, put on the heat mats.  Nice to get a head start on these for summer!  

Some nice things popping up outside...my lupine, which I winter-sowed years ago:

The cranesbill that I planted a few years ago in multiple clumps is growing really well too!  Nearly ready to pop!

Makes nice bouquets too.

I'm still seeing our possum every day, but no babies yet.

But we did have babies this week...goz!!  A nesting pair hung around our front pond for a couple of days.

I miss the goz from our South Carolina house - they came back year after year and weren't a bit afraid of us - so this was so nice to see.  After a day or so, they slipped into the stream that runs through the side of the property and headed for a new resting place!  I think that Claudia was watching them a bit too closely for their comfort.  She's the property manager around here!

Speaking of green and growing, I was cooking with cabbage this week and noticing how pretty the leaves were...

I am a HUGE fan of lettuce ware/cabbage ware.  I used to have some, but the pieces got broken with our multiple moves.  I'm dying to get a few pieces from this fancy set:

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

It's Dodie Thayer and costs tens of thousands of dollars...but it's so whimsical! Wouldn't it be fun to eat from these dishes?

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

The next level of affordability (Tory Burch) loses a lot of the whimsy, in my opinion.

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

The most affordable line (Bordallo Pinheiro) is flat-out wrong, from the color to the design...for me, anyway!

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

I'm still hoping to come across a few authentic Dodie Thayer pieces someday.  It would be just perfect for summer dining!

Have a great week!

"Barkeep, make mine a double."

With temperatures in the mid-90s daily and no rain in sight, I don't have much motivation to work outside.  But, while the indoor cats do keep me entertained...

"Whiskey.  Neat."

...outdoor chores have to be done.  Weeding, in particular, has fallen behind, so I picked the coolest day of the week (a mere 89 degrees), got up early, and started working.  It can be extraordinarily difficult to weed when your cat thinks that your weed bag is a giant pillow.

Once I got her situated, though, I could enjoy the morning.  This tiny soybean beetle (colaspis brunnea) landed on my leg for a brief moment.  I've noticed a lot of insects that prey on soybeans lately, which is odd, since there are no soybeans nearby!

This mottled sand grasshopper (spharagemon collare) stayed one step ahead of me.  Like the soybean beetle, this type of grasshopper isn't considered a serious pest...and I think that their speckled camouflage is so interesting.

I've often seen these "gnat plumes" outside, but I started watching them with great interest while working last week.  Why do they congregate like this?

Well, it turns out that to gnats, this plume is a perfect singles bar.  It's easier for gnats to find mates in groups, so the males will form a cluster - usually against a contrasting color, like this tree -  and will circulate.  Female gnats can easily see the cluster and slip in for a quick mating. 

The most interesting find of the morning, though, was this female wolf spider.  Now, if you don't like spiders, you should skip ahead - but I encourage you to peek!  I used to hate spiders, but now I think they're fascinating.  This female wolf spider was dragging her egg sac behind her.

I pushed her away with a stick, because I didn't want to accidentally squish her as I worked.  To my surprise, she shrunk up...

...and rolled her egg case to the front.  Apparently the sacs are attached to her abdomen with silk thread, enabling some flexibility.  Wolf spiders carry their egg sacs because they are ground hunters and don't make webs, so they need to cart the eggs along when they travel. 

I suppose she moved her egg sac to the front because she felt threatened and better able to protect it there.  Once this hatches, the tiny spiders will cling to her back for about a week before dispersing.  I really hope I can see this in action soon!

From my ground vantage point, I could also see the many pollinators on the flowers, like this sweat bee...

Just seeing the flowers themselves was nice.

Some much-needed work happened around here this week - we finally had the back fields mown!

The barnyard, which was such a horrible mess when we moved in (abandoned tractors, huge piles of wire, 5 years' worth of weeds) is finally coming together.

Before:

It's a winter pic, but you can still see the weeds, the junk surrounding the barn, and the decrepit chicken coop.  So much better now!

I love having better access to the back pond.

Being outside is really rough right now, but at least when we go out, we've got beautiful views.

Have a great week!